They Left But It's Not Over

Here's how I ended my review of the premiere of The Leftovers--a show about the aftermath of an event where 140 million people vanish from the face of the Earth:

[...] I fear that the show isn't interested in solving what happened to all these people.  Listen, [creator of The Leftovers and Lost] Damon [Lindelof], I don't want another character study that tells us the central mystery doesn't matter.  I also fear it'll be too much about the sadness of the people left, and not what they do to move forward.  Though what can they do?  They don't know how to get their beloved back, or how to follow them.

My fears were realized.  The first season featured plenty of character study, but little forward motion. (The first season was based on a novel which I haven't read, so maybe it was all in the book.) There was no attempt to explain the central mystery and there was more than enough depression to go around.

Yet somehow, The Leftovers, in its second season, has become my favorite show*.  It still has the problem that the central mystery will, apparently, never be explained.  (In fact, their new theme song is Iris Dement's "Let The Mystery Be.") But the producers have replaced a general mopeyness with much sharper writing, where characters make clear choices and try to deal with their problems, often in unpredictable ways.  And we keep getting deeper and deeper into the story as we see various events from the viewpoint of different characters. I'm guessing Lindelof made these changes in response to the weaknesses of Season One. (Not much of a guess--he pretty much says so in this Variety interview.)

Another big change is we've left the small town in New York where much of season one occurred and moved to an entirely new place, Miracle, Texas.  The effect was to wipe the slate clean.  The town is called Miracle because no one in it vanished.  But this being The Leftovers, the people there are just as miserable and spooked as everyone else.  And this season, there's a central mystery that can actually be solved--three teenage girls from Miracle disappear.  What happened?  Were they abducted, are they playing hooky, or is this the first recorded case of people vanishing since the Incident four years earlier?

And now, after episode nine (of ten), we have a good idea of what happened to the girls.  I'm looking forward to some real fireworks in the finale.  The show doesn't get big ratings, so I'm guessing most readers of this blog don't check it out (and probably haven't read this far).  But trust me, season two would make for good binge watching.

*The second season of Fargo is also pretty amazing.