The Leftovers: a masterpiece of surrealism (my TV show review)

Hello friends!

Have you ever rewatched a TV show you've seen before? I actually almost never do, but I've done it now in the last few days or weeks. I've rewatched a different, unique and special TV show really. And it has been great.

Lately all the TV shows are the same or very similar, or they are remakes of others that were successful, as if they no longer knew how to be original. And personally, I think that this series was not given the recognition it deserved because it is without a doubt a masterpiece. And after years I think that now I have enjoyed it more.

This TV show is called The Leftovers, and it's on HBO MAX now, I want to talk about it, because it has me fascinated. So I want to share here my review and explaining a little what this TV show is about... Maybe later you feel inspired to watch it too!

What is this about?

It's a TV show that we could say is about a dystopia. Yes, we've seen a lot of dystopias in recent years, but this one is from 2014 and it's from a different point of view. It's about an inexplicable event that occurred all over the world, 2% of the population suddenly disappeared on October 14, literally in the blink of an eye.

Many people, after blinking, saw that one or more of their relatives, loved ones or other acquaintances were no longer in the chair they were in two seconds ago... what had happened?

Nobody knew, and they began to talk about "the departure", about "the raptured", in the face of a situation that neither the mind nor science knew how to explain, because they never returned nor were found, many clung to faith, to religion, and even to false enlightened ones and sects..., they stopped talking and began only to smoke, and to want the rest of the people to never forget what happened, while some speak with fear of the end of the world and others with hope, of miracles.

In fact, this series deals a lot with spirituality in a close way, with how each human being takes refuge from the deepest pain, from a pain that they cannot even digest because it is not understood, in different ways, also depending on how they have experienced it. But all the characters, located in a town near New York called Mappleton, are affected in one way or another.

And then more strange or inexplicable things start to happen, some of them intertwined with the dream and astral world, that which we don't understand when we sleep, and more inexplicable events that break our limits to understanding what is real.
So the whole plot, especially psychological, especially of the protagonist, a policeman from a certain town, develops in a strange way that I don't know how to explain either, but together with the music, with the songs exquisitely selected at each moment, everything becomes an incomprehensible wonder.

The characters & The plot

The main role of Justin Theroux stands out, as a local police officer who is personally, familiarly and also publicly involved, as he is responsible for controlling people in that new life after the event, as some people say.

But he can't, everything gets out of control, somehow he thinks that is getting crazy, all is crazy really... and in the second season things happen somewhere else [SPOILER]... And in the third season, everything turns upside down again, each of the three seasons is different from the previous one.
My favorite is the second one by the way, and the last is really weird, even more! Supernatural events happen, surprises, events, dreams and nightmares come together in a surreal way, and everything remains unexpected and fascinating.

There are other characters, the protagonist's relatives, a reverend, new neighbors, some cult leaders, enlightened and misguided, etc. Important actors appear such as actress Liv Tyler, or Carrie Coon as co-star, both also playing an impeccable role.

Anything else to comment? Feelings and context.

Actually, I would tell you a lot more but I don't want to, because the novelty and the strangeness of this series is very enjoyable and I really don't want to ruin that feeling.

I'll just say that some of the plots, the dreamlike, surreal and spiritual ones, especially from the second season onwards, are great. In the face of many metaphors in many senses, which I have now been able to understand a little more, it gives the impression that the creators of the series (by the way, one of them, Damon Lindelof, was also the creator of Lost, and we can certainly perceive his style), seem to know something that we don't know, about the nature of reality...

And as I said before, another important detail is the value that music has in the series, each song seems to have a specific meaning, as if the viewers had something to take from it or understand, everything comes together in symbolism, in spiritual concepts, in personal psychological behaviors and also of the mass, of the human group when it is subjected to a global shock that they are not able to assimilate, and each group reacts in a particular, radical and profound way.

There is a lot to understand but also to enjoy, thinking about each thing that happens and what will happen to each person. Even thinking about how we would act, although that is reality, is difficult to predict, when faced with unknown or unforeseeable situations. So we can only let our imagination fly and enjoy the series.

I have been telling so much. So now... you have to watch it on MAX!

I have already watched all the episodes of the three seasons, 28 episodes in total. I felt really amazed!

More information about the TV show and all the shared images here:
Original title: The Leftovers (2014-2017) - IMDB: The Leftovers

Thanks for reading! Have a nice and cool day.

The text is totally mine by ©Duvinca

The images screenshots and some info are from imbd.com and the lead image has been done by me using Canva.com