The Leftovers is an HBO original about an event called the "Sudden Departure" where 2% of the world just suddenly disappeared. The premise of this show sounds incredible. The cast, also incredible. Justin Theroux, Carrie Coon, Christopher Eccleston, Liv Tyler, Amy Brenneman and more. The first season of this show was great. The mystery of what happened and why it happened, the emotions felt by the characters. The sadness, the intrigue, the want to know more. It was all there. But as the show went on, all of that seemingly fell apart.
What started out as an A+ show with an A+ cast and an A+ plot turned into a How-Can-We-Prolong-This-Series project that never actually answered any questions and just gave the viewer more questions than answers. And while the acting was still good and the emotion was still there, the story just ended up turning from a "What happened" to a seemingly forgotten event that was just something that was remembered but never done anything about.
It's unpredictable, yes. That's what keeps you watching. The plot is intriguing, yes, that's what keeps you watching. But there are no real answers. The premise surrounds this "Sudden Departure". Yet there is no exploring what it was or why it happened. There are no answers to what caused it or how to prevent it in the future. It's just this act of randomized bad luck and the viewer is just expected to receive that and never ask more about the event itself. I would have loved to see this script head in the direction of what the Sudden Departure was, how it happened and how can they prevent it from happening in the future.
Not all is bad on this series. Not only is the first season great, but the acting is incredible. Theroux, Coon, Eccleston, Tyler, I mean I can go on and on about the acting in this show. It's incredible. The acting carries this show to, as a whole, be as good as it is. So, is this show worth the watch? I'm hard pressed to say 100% yes. However, if you can go into this show understanding that this show isn't about the event itself, but instead, the aftermath, the heartbreak and the "what now?" of the event, then yes, this show is 100% worth the watch. But if you are like me and would like to know more about the event, understand what it actually was and why it happened, then no, I wouldn't say this show is worth the watch. Unpopular opinion, I know, and this isn't a bad show, this isn't even an OK show. But this is a show that could have been much better.
