Culture of Pop
The Leftovers Recap – Episode Two: Penguin One/Us Zero
Why is Liv Tyler’s character, Meg, so mad at that tree? And will she remain at the Guilty Remnant’s Pledge House?
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[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hy is Liv Tyler’s character, Meg, so mad at that tree? And will she remain at the Guilty Remnant’s Pledge House? Why are federal agents raiding Holy Wayne, the magic hugger’s ranch? Is Chief Kevin Garvey having his own prophetic dreams or is he slowly just losing his grip on reality? How many packs of smokes a day is Laurie Garvey up to, anyway?
On this week’s episode of The Leftovers we get to scratch the surface (or, er, chop the tree) a bit deeper on some of the residents of Mapleton.
HEREIN LIE SPOILERS in this The Leftovers recap. Beware.
Jill Garvey and her friend Aimee learn by accident that Nora Durst, the woman who lost her entire family on October 14, packs heat (and not just “a lady gun”). Nora is also some sort of insurance caseworker who visits and interviews families on behalf of “Departure Benefits,” having to ask such obscure questions as “To your knowledge, did your son ever travel to Brazil?” and “To your knowledge, did he have more than 20 sexual partners?” The family she’s interviewing find these questions hard to answer, seeing how their son had Down Syndrome, yet I find these questions hard to fathom, regardless of who the departed is.
And now back to Chief Garvey. The pickup truck turns up (mysteriously, natch) in his own driveway! There is a dead dog in a trash bag in the back! Later that night, the Mystery Man Shooter appears on his doorstep with a six-pack and an invitation to set up camp at dawn to pick off a new group of a dozen or so wild dogs that he’s seen roaming behind the local school. Garvey asks the man his name, but he calmly declines. Jill and Aimee arrive home and see the man so, okay, Garvey is now somewhat convinced that he did not conjure up Mystery Man. Right? The man even hands the six-pack to Jill, so tangible contact was made. This is no Tyler Durden situation afterall.
The Chief declines the dog shooter’s offer to go hunt dogs. He instead visits his father at the institution. While watching Perfect Strangers on TV, the father informs Garvey that Cousin Larry, Balki, Jennifer… they were all raptured. The older Garvey seems pretty “with it” for a man sitting among catatonic patients in a common room; he even asks “How’s my house” and “How’s my job,” letting the viewer know that Kevin is merely living in the shadow of his father’s life. For a police chief he is suddenly cast in the light of an unsure, confused child. He asks his father when he thought everything started to change for him. The father insists that his sh*t has, in fact, stayed in tact. And yet he’s in this institution; and yet he starts to speak to an imaginary person, and then tells his son that “They said they’re sending someone to help you,” but he should keep that news to himself. These are perfect strangers, indeed!
The next morning, Patti comes to Laurie with a sign that says, “SHE’S GONE,” alluding to Meg. But the viewer quickly learns that no, she did not leave the G.R. in search of hooking up with the hot cop, or even to return to her own handsome fiancée. Instead, having admitted to Laurie earlier that “I don’t want to feel this way anymore,” Meg has gone back to the woods for another attempt at Johnny Appleseeding that pesky tree. I think someone’s almost ready for her first pack of smokes!
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