Departure Day: 10th Anniversary
October 14, 2021. Today is the 10th anniversary of the Sudden Departure—the day that 2% of the world’s population disappeared… in both the book and the HBO series “The Leftovers,” that is. The government ended up calling it “Heroes’ Day”—as if departing against your will somehow makes you a hero. Reverend Matt and the Guilty Remnant (led by Patti Levin—Ann Dowd) certainly disagree with that moniker. So does Kevin (Justin Theroux) for that matter. But you can’t argue with government marketing folks.
October in the Geek Girl Soup world means it’s time for our annual rewatch of “The Leftovers”—the most wonderful time of the year! Dynamic Overlord, B-loved Commander, and Vizual Contender look forward to October all… year… long. (You know us better as Susan, Kelly, and Cort. But we totally dig our Wu Tang names.)
Every rewatch is different. Every rewatch shows us something new. Every rewatch brings us a new perspective on an old favorite or a previously disliked episode. This year we all had a change of heart about season 3 episode 5, “It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World.” We used to not like it—or even skip it. Now, we pretty much love it.
***SPOILERS***
Matt (Christopher Eccleston) has devoted his life to God and, since the car crash on the day of the Sudden Departure, to his newly-comatose wife Mary (Janel Moloney). In previous Matt-centered episodes (s1 e3 “Two Boats and a Helicopter” and s2 e5 “No Room at the Inn”), we see Matt’s devotion, compassion, and cruelty.
Matt lives the life of Job, ever-suffering as, literally, no good deed goes unpunished. He cares for Mary for seven years, only to have her leave him once she has been out of the coma for three years and is raising their son. Matt is so anti-hero that he tries to disprove the idea that the Sudden Departure was the Rapture by “outing” the departed as not being “saintly” enough to be taken by God. Plus, if it were the Rapture, why would he, the most pure and devoted of all (in his own eyes) not be taken?
In “It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World,” Matt confronts “God” in the form of the man David Burton. God-Burton tells Matt that nothing he has done has been for God. It has all been for himself. Instead of arguing with God-Burton, Matt is startled into waking up to this reality. By the end of the episode, Matt has given up on his holy quest to find his Messiah in the form of Kevin (a whole other awesome story) and instead decides to try to win back his family—all while he is dying of cancer. (He had asked God-Burton if his hubris is why God-Burton is killing him. God-Burton almost-imperceptibly-but-still-yes nodded affirmatively.)
***END SPOILERS***
In this week’s podcast, we discuss more than just Matt. We discuss differences between the book (by Tom Perrotta) and the show, “wet Kevin” (if you’ve watched, you get it), Holy Wayne (Paterson Joseph—that look on his face!), whether we believe Nora’s (Carrie Coon) story (do you?), and the music of “The Leftovers” (best ever—like everything else about this show).
By the way, why was Max Richter’s the sublime “A Blessing” (played throughout “The Leftovers”) used this week in the very middling show “9-1-1”? Complete and utter travesty.
How do y’all feel about using nouns as verbs? Grating and yet cool. Relevant here because next week’s theme is “Actors who Music.” We’ll be watching at least one episode of a show from three actors who also make music. In addition, we’ll be listening to at least one song from each of them.
Awkwafina: “Nora from Queens” s1 e1 (Comedy Central/HBO Max)
Oscar Isaac/The Worms: “Show Me a Hero” e1 (HBO Max)
Jada Pinkett Smith/Wicked Wisdom: “A Different World” s6 e21 “Homie Don’t Ya Know Me?” with Tupac Shakur (HBO Max)
Follow Cort’s podcast with Brad covering Surreal Estate at PureFandom.com
Check out Susan’s movie stats on Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/barbisu/stats/
Original music by Garrett Thompson
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