The Leftovers comes to a cathartic, compassionate close

At long last, this often oppressive show gave us the ending we so desired

The Leftovers finale.
(Image credit: HBO/Ben King)

The tagline for the The Leftovers' first season — "We're still here" — still captures the show's tone: a punkish sneer of defiance against the unseen forces that stole two percent of the Earth's population in a finger-snap of karmic force; a bitter cry of incurable grief; and a plaintive statement of fact. In the pilot, Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) utters the words aloud while getting blitzed on cheap beer and trying to flirt with a young woman who lost her infant son in the Departure; everyone is trying to remind themselves that they are still alive — even if they aren't moving on, or even moving forward, but fumbling dumbly toward some semblance of real feeling.

But, when an aged Nora Durst (Carrie Coon), who has finally been to the other side, the Great Big Wherever that claimed her beloved children, comes back to our world and tells Kevin, the man she has loved and lost, that, "I'm here," her words thrum with life and love. She might've been going through the motions in Mapleton and Jarden, and upon her reverse LADR-ing back to Australia and her life as Sarah, the bird-keeper; now, though, she is vibrant, full of hope. And The Leftovers, a show that was initially mocked for its at-times oppressive dourness (at least in season one), concludes on a note of promise — even joyfulness — that shocks with its unexpectedness, and the kindness it shows to its long-suffering characters.

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Laura Bogart

Laura Bogart is a featured writer for Salon and a regular contributor to DAME magazine. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, CityLab, The Guardian, SPIN, Complex, IndieWire, GOOD, and Refinery29, among other publications. Her first novel, Don't You Know That I Love You?, is forthcoming from Dzanc.