What I’m Watching: The Leftovers

The Leftovers: Season 1, Episode 4 “B.J. and the A.C.” (B+)

This show continues to be endlessly dark, but it’s still enormously effective as it pulls back and examines the bigger picture, featuring Matt for just one pivotal moment and focusing instead on all the other characters. The haunting score is very strong, and it helps to add to the disturbing nature of it all. Starting with the baby stolen from the nativity scene was a peculiar but still unsettling introduction, and it’s so interesting to see how religion is treated in this post-apocalyptic society. We got to see more of Tom than ever before as he tried to help his friend survive an attack and then realized that he needed to go on the run because all signs pointed to him as the one who attacked her. His reaction to getting the call with a recorded message when he so desperately needed Wayne to call was understandable, and the subsequent scene in which the bodies wrapped in white were sprawled all over the road was certainly chilling. Laurie stopping by the house inspired great rage in Kevin, and for once gave Jill didn’t seem to be filled with hate for her dad. Nothing was quite as cold, however, as the Guilty Remnant staged a distraction at the school while its other members went through all the houses and removed every single photograph from them, which is sure to cause mass panic and unrest going forward. On a lighter note, it was very interesting to see Kevin open up so immediately about his infidelity to Nora, another pariah of the town just trying to keep her life together.