The Leftovers is an incredible display of human thought, psychosis, grief, love, joy and life as characters must learn to cope - or not to cope - with a godless rapture.

A beautiful, thought-provoking first season seeks to engage viewers whilst simultaneously ripping their hearts out. I found that this show is one of the only shows I’ve ever watched that couldn’t take me out of it - I couldn’t imagine the actors were acting, and that it was all a performance. The narrative grips you, shakes you violently and spits a masterpiece of a story back in your face.

Outstanding performances from all of the cast, especially Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Amy Brenneman, Ann Dowd, Christopher Eccleston and Margaret Qualley. Individual actors thrives on their individual character-driven episodes, some examples being E03 for Eccleston, E06 for Coon, and E10 for Dowd, along with others.

I absolutely adore how all throughout the season there are little reminders, small and seemingly relatively insignificant reminders of The Departure, and I can’t believe how perfectly it comes together in the finale. Laurie not wanting a dog, Jill letting the dog loose - then it finding the Garveys again, Jill wearing all black before she joins the GR, which is the perfect metaphor for life itself, battling with guilt and trauma and remembrance and trying to forget, as you slowly begin to side with them over the season.

Episode 9 is definitely the highlight of this season, dragging the audience through the pre-events to The Departure, edging you closer and closer to the real thing - using human connection through sex, touch and collaboration, and life itself through Laurie and her secret pregnancy at the time (and that lingering end frame, the cherry on top of the most beautiful cake that never leaves you hungry for more, never leaves you thinking “I wish they did…”).

Nora represents the opposite of the GR, trying and trying to forget her family, pretending to be okay, but being constantly tired of pretending. Her character is awkward and lovable yet so unusual, but how is one meant to act when their whole family disappears?

I loved how Wayne’s character is so vulnerable at the end of episode 10. Characters similar to his tend to have more screen time and can feel like they weigh the narrative down slightly but here he truly doesn’t. The audience gets to witness everything he caused without it being directly spelled out to them. When you least expect it, he becomes human again, knowing he could be a scam, or not be, and though he’s advertising himself as such, it’s truly a beautiful and heartbreaking metaphor for God and His existence itself, a common theme throughout the show for obvious reasons.

I loved how each episode was circular, with the finale starting with Nora being forced to remember her family, and ending with her finding the baby, and the Garveys despite her letter written to Kevin. I think this couldn’t be a better metaphor for her character and how her (and all the other characters), are striving for something - she, nor them, nor we know what, but definitely something familial, something unconditional and something that disappeared on October 14th.