༆𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰༆ ★★★★☆ 𝟴.𝟴/𝟭𝟬 I would say I am half disappointed by The Leftovers. I did enjoy watching most of the episodes, but I do think I could have enjoyed this ride a lot more. I would still recommend this show to anyone who looks for an original and interesting story, partially told by a surprising protagonist, and played by a brilliant cast. I think I could use a rewatch to fully understand and analyse each part of the show more deeply. Because yes, this show isn’t for everyone: it isn’t a light topic/plot that is dealt in here; this is a very deep, intense, and complex one. Most of the other chapters of this review will focus on the good side of the show, what I enjoyed. So I think this would be fair to start with what still disappointed me. Firstly, this show probably has my least favourite opening themes. I didn’t like the one of the first season that much but the one for season 2 and 3 is just not my thing AT ALL. If feels like a camping tv commercial… Secondly, I wish they had explained the causes of the departure just as much as they pictured its consequences. They had the potential and the opportunity, but they just didn’t use it. I understand that maybe explaining the departure wasn’t the place of the show, wasn’t the goal. Maybe the goal is that each spectator makes up his own mind about it. But to not know, to not have any straight answers, just bored me at some points, it was really frustrating. Thirdly, I wrote it again later in my review, but I’m disappointed about the work this show did on the dynamics. That’s really poor. The dynamics between Nora and Kevin, or Patti and Kevin are amazing, but the others are too easily forgotten. And same for the characterization. The ones of Matt and Kevin are outstanding, but this unfortunately shadows the other character developments, as Laurie, Nora, Jill and Tommy that had great potential that hadn’t been used enough. Except maybe Nora a little bit more than the others. If it was only one season show, I wouldn’t have mind. But here, even after three seasons, I feel I still don’t know those characters, mostly because the show didn’t give me the chance to connect with them. This is not about bad character writing, this is about too less writing. But the truth is, I think I liked this show more than I would like to admit. And I surely don’t understand the hate all over The Leftovers. Sure this isn’t the best of all times and isn’t part of my t10 long pieces, but still, this was pretty great and I would recommend it. This show is a work of art in a most complex but compelling way. I think I am mostly disappointed about the content, but not about the form: cinematography, soundtrack, and performances. Without it, this would be a 4 stars. I won’t do a too long paragraph about how impactful and meaningful this show can be. I also talked about my analysis of Kevin’s story and his quest for his inner self in my review of 𝟯𝘅𝟳, you can check it there, if you haven’t already. 𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓. 🚬🥼 𝖳𝖧𝖤 𝖦𝖴𝖨𝖫𝖳𝖸 𝖱𝖤𝖬𝖭𝖠𝖭𝖳𝖲 🥼🚬 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] I heard many bad opinions about the Guilty Remnants so I wanna give mine. And maybe not many of you all will agree, but I sincerely liked their storyline. They really were the "living reminder" and that was truly inspiring to see. I even wonder if a group like this would be created if such a thing really happened. Their actions and way of living was full of meaning to me. And even though some characters as Meg made some of their scenes kinda boring, there still were amazing ones. If some of you still have questions about why they are dressed like that, I would say that it’s because wearing black clothes means that you’re grieving, and that you also hope to get better. By wearing white, this is another way of showing that they want to remember, that they don’t want to grief, they don’t want to live with it and move on at some point, they never want to forget, never want to move on. But this is only my own interpretation. However, I still didn’t quite yet what they want to prove with the continuous smoking. If anyone has a guess, I would love to hear it. I liked most of the scenes that involved the GR in the first season because it allowed me to focus more on the facial expressions than on the dialogues. As Patti said in 𝟮𝘅𝟴, "𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕". Silent is powerful, there are so many things to understand in the silent. Sometimes you don’t need any words. Now let’s discover my final ranking! I did this review with an updated template (that I created), so there is small changes from my last usual "show reviews". I might keep up with this new template for now on. ༄——𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦——༄ 🏆 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗦 𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 (𝗧𝟭𝟬) 𝟯𝘅𝟴* - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙖 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟴/𝟭𝟬 𝟮𝘅𝟴 - 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟴/𝟭𝟬 𝟯𝘅𝟳 - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙈𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟴/𝟭𝟬 𝟮𝘅𝟳 - 𝘼 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙋𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙧𝙮 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟳/𝟭𝟬 𝟭𝘅𝟭𝟬 - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙤𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟲/𝟭𝟬 𝟭𝘅𝟵 - 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝘽𝙚𝙨𝙩 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟱/𝟭𝟬 𝟯𝘅𝟲 - 𝘾𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 ★★★★★ ♥ 𝟵.𝟱/𝟭𝟬 𝟮𝘅𝟭𝟬 - 𝙄 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙉𝙤𝙬 ★★★★☆ ♥ 𝟵.𝟰/𝟭𝟬 𝟭𝘅𝟴 - 𝘾𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙤 ★★★★☆ ♥ 𝟵.𝟭/𝟭𝟬 𝟭𝘅𝟯 - 𝙏𝙬𝙤 𝘽𝙤𝙖𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙃𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 ★★★★☆ ♥ 𝟵.𝟭/𝟭𝟬 * ⭢ 𝗧𝟭𝟬 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 (+𝟬.𝟭) 🏆 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟯 (𝟴.𝟲/𝟭𝟬) ⭢ 𝗧𝟮𝟬 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗦 (+𝟬.𝟭) 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟭 (𝟴.𝟯/𝟭𝟬) 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝟮 (𝟴.𝟬/𝟭𝟬) ———> 𝗔𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: 𝟴.𝟯/𝟭𝟬 👤𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝟭-𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] Even though Kevin isn’t part of my top 10 protagonists of all time, I still enjoyed his character a lot. He might be the best part of content of this show, additionally to the dynamics he has with every other character. His shifting personnality due to his sleepwalking was my favourite plot of the whole show, especially in season 1. Then, it took a turn I wouldn’t have expected but it was still very interesting. His quest for purpose for the whole show has been also pretty captivating. 𝟮-𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗮 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝘀𝘁 To be honest, this might be one of my favourite female character of all time. Especially in the season 1 and in most of her focus episodes. She is a very compelling and touching character. 𝟯- 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 Laurie definitely is the character I see myself the most in. I wish she had more time screen (especially in season 2) and I wish she wasn’t that underrated by the Leftovers fans. Her dynamic with Kevin is a pinnacle that should have been more developed. 𝟰- 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] I am so glad Patti stayed in the show even after what happened to her in the end of season 1. She is an actor in Kevin’s greatness, and their dynamic is fascinating. 𝟱-𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 I already know some of you will be surprised/disappointed to see Matt that low but yes, here it is. Even though he was my third favourite character at the end of season one after Kevin and Nora, he went down for the other seasons… And I didn’t like his character focus episode in season 2 and 3. Really overrated episodes in my opinion. 👥 𝗗𝗬𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗖𝗦 𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝟭-𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] How astonishing! Nora and Kevin aren’t my favourite dynamic?? Oops. I seriously loved Patti and Kevin dynamic so much! From the end of season 1 to the end of the show, it has been so great. I already said I was glad Patti still had screen time until the end, I’m also glad that it allowed the show to develop their dynamic more deeply. Also, to know that it might actually be Kevin’s dynamic with thin air that is my favourite one makes it kinda funny. 𝟮-𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗮 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] I guess everyone can agree on this one, this is a pretty great dynamic. Not my favourite ship at all but still a very good one. I loved their growing story in season 1 and how they completed each other in the other seasons. I still am disappointed of how their interacted in 𝟯𝘅𝟰. I know it was meant to feel like it cause the goal was to separate them at the end of the episode, but I truly think they could have handled this better. It really felt like they lost their whole chemistry in one episode only. 𝟯-𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] Before the final episode of the show, I couldn’t make a choice if 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲 or 𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗮 was my t2, but obviously that last episode helped me to make that choice. Kevin and Laurie dynamic was so good, even if they didn’t interacted that much except in 𝟭𝘅𝟵 in wich we had them for a whole 50 minutes. I like how there is no ambiguity between them at all in seasons 2 and 3, even though they had been married for so long. But they still care for and look after each other just as much anyway. 𝟰-𝗡𝗼𝗿𝗮⥃𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 Not enough screen time. I wish each season had at least one more episode if it could allow the dynamics to be more developed. But anyway, their dynamic has been so great in 𝟯𝘅𝟲 and in the beginning of 𝟯𝘅𝟴. The last episode also made a great conclusion to their dynamic. 𝟱-𝗞𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻⥃𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 Again a dynamic that I wish had had more time screen. Their dynamic had so much potential in season 1 but has been left out for most part of season 2. And maybe we got few more scenes in season 3, but still not enough in my opinion. ༄——𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦——༄ 🤸🏻𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 (+𝟬.𝟭) 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘅 𝖺𝗌 𝖪𝖾𝗏𝗂𝗇 𝖦𝖺𝗋𝗏𝖾𝗒 [❗️SPOILERS❗️] For real Justin should have an Oscar for his performance. He has been so impressive from the start. He definitely knows how to act and convey a large variety of emotions, and he surely knows how to make me cry. His performance in 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣 is just sensational and I wouldn’t know how to start, but I would know how to conclude; on the magnificent scene of the well. Another moment I won’t forget, that is lock in my favourite moment of the show is Kevin finding the shirts, hitting the tree, and then crying in 𝟭𝘅𝟴, after finding out about his sleepwalking. Also, most of his scenes with Patti resumed in proving once again how talented Justin Theroux is. 🌅𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗧𝗜𝗖, 𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗣𝗛𝗬 (+𝟬.𝟭) If this show was running for the Award of the Best Picure, I would definitely give it my vote. At several times I have been astonished by a precise picture or/and by the whole cinematography of a sequence. I could named few of those: ➩ Tommy screaming under the water of the pool in 1x1 ➩ The sky and all the cinematography of the well in 𝟮𝘅𝟴 ➩ Kevin Sr laying against the cross in 𝟯𝘅𝟯 ➩ Nora’s face under the raining water in 𝟯𝘅𝟰 ➩ Patti and Kevin watching and holding hands in 𝟯𝘅𝟳 Also, I don’t know if it counts has cinematography (maybe more about filming montage techniques I guess), but I really liked how flashbacks were told in this show. A quick but very efficient scene of a few seconds only. Might be the most realistic way of telling flashbacks in the show I have ever seen. 💿𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗞 (+𝟬.𝟭) This show might have the greatest soundtrack of all time, and maybe is my favourite of all time too, which means Grey’s Anatomy loses its 1st spot. Below aren’t even all the musics I shazammed while watching episodes of The Leftovers. I created a private playlist with all the musics I shazammed and I will listen it for a long time. ♫𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 - 𝖬𝖺𝗑 𝖱𝗂𝖼𝗁𝗍𝖾𝗋♫ ♫𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝘽𝙮 - 𝖠𝗀𝗇𝖾𝗌 𝖮𝖻𝖾𝗅♫ ♫𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙁𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙆𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙮 - 𝖩𝗈𝖽𝗒 𝖱𝖾𝗒𝗇𝗈𝗅𝖽𝗌♫ ♫𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙀𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙈𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 𝖠𝗉𝗈𝖼𝖺𝗅𝗒𝗉𝗍𝗂𝖼𝖺♫ ♫𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙄𝙨 𝙈𝙮 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙙 - 𝖬𝖺𝗑𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝖢𝗒𝗋𝗂𝗇♫ ♫𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙁𝙡𝙤𝙬 - 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖡𝖾𝗅𝗅𝖺𝗆𝗒 𝖡𝗋𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗌♫ ♫𝙇𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 - 𝖱𝖾𝗀𝗂𝗇𝖺 𝖲𝗉𝖾𝗄𝗍𝗈𝗋♫ ♫𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙧𝙩 - 𝖩𝗂𝗇 𝖩𝖺𝗆𝖾𝗌♫ ♫𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 - 𝖱𝗂𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗇𝖺, 𝖬𝗂𝗄𝗄𝗒 𝖤𝗄𝗄𝗈♫ ♫𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 - 𝖤𝗅𝗅𝖺 𝖩𝖾𝗇𝗄𝗂𝗇𝗌♫ ♫𝙃𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝘽𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 - 𝖲𝗂𝗆𝗈𝗇 & 𝖦𝖺𝗋𝖿𝗎𝗇𝗄𝖾𝗅♫ ♫𝙄 𝙒𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙒𝙚'𝙙 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 - 𝖦𝗈𝗈𝖽 𝖭𝖾𝗐𝗌 𝖢𝗂𝗋𝖼𝗅𝖾♫ ♫𝘾𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙨 - 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖠𝗏𝖾𝗇𝖾𝗋, 𝖠𝗇𝖽𝗒 𝖡𝖾𝗒♫ ♫𝙉𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙤, 𝘼𝙘𝙩 𝙄𝙄𝙄: "𝙑𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙤, 𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙡'𝙖𝙡𝙞 𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚" - 𝖫𝗈𝗇𝖽𝗈𝗇 𝖯𝗁𝗂𝗅𝖺𝗋𝗆𝗈𝗇𝗂𝖼 𝖮𝗋𝖼𝗁𝖾𝗌𝗍𝗋𝖺 ♫𝙌𝙪𝙚 𝘾'𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙚 - 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗋𝗅𝖾𝗌 𝖠𝗓𝗇𝖺𝗏𝗈𝗎𝗋 …. ༄——𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦——༄ 🧍🏻‍♀️𝗙𝗘𝗠𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 This show has one of the most interesting female characters I know of so far. Laurie, Nora and Patti has all been incredible in this show. I definitely liked how femininity is represented in The Leftovers. 🙍🏻𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗩𝗘𝗬𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗘𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 Directly from the pilot, the story and its characters affected me deeply. Again thanks to the outstanding acting performances, I have been through every states of emotions possible. Here, I can also think of specific moments, especially sad/frustrating/heartbreaking ones, as: ➩ Kevin asking Laurie to come home in 𝟭𝘅𝟭 ➩ Matt struggling to keep his church in 𝟭𝘅𝟯 ➩ Nora hug with Wayne in 𝟭𝘅𝟲 ➩ Kevin singing in 𝟮𝘅𝟭𝟬 ➩ Kevin and Patti at the well in 𝟮𝘅𝟴 ➩ Kevin and Nora dancing in 𝟯𝘅𝟴 🙋🏻𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗙𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗦 𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗦𝗢𝗗𝗘𝗦 To finish, I said in my review of 𝟮𝘅𝟯 that I didn’t think this show could handle character focusing episodes, and I have been proved right a few times but I mostly have been proved wrong. As all Kevin’s focus episodes have been my favourites of the show, just as great as Laurie’s 𝟯𝘅𝟲 and Matt’s 𝟭𝘅𝟯 focus episodes. ___________________________________________ ➸ Check my list EPISODE RANKING - The Leftovers for all the episodes of the show ranked and rated, based on my personal opinion. ➸ Check my reviews on tag The Leftovers for even more.