This week’s The Leftovers, the darkest and most disturbing yet, opens with a familiar face getting stoned to death by a group of masked men.
It’s a horrific scene — a Guilty Remnant devotee, the steely-eyed librarian type seen around town on recruiting missions and spreading the religious group’s philosophy of detached enlightenment, breaks her vow of silence to urge the stone-throwers to “Please stop.”
They don’t.
The victim had a name: Gladys (Marceline Hugot), which is also the title of the episode. She had a son who died in a helicopter accident. Her brutal murder goes unsolved as Police Chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) mounts an investigation that leads nowhere amid rising tension between Mapleton townies and Guilty Remnant members.
They don’t.
The victim had a name: Gladys (Marceline Hugot), which is also the title of the episode. She had a son who died in a helicopter accident. Her brutal murder goes unsolved as Police Chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) mounts an investigation that leads nowhere amid rising tension between Mapleton townies and Guilty Remnant members.
Meanwhile, the feds are cracking down on the post-Rapture religious groups sprouting across the country, dispatching SWAT teams to wipe out the so-called cults and send the bodies into the incinerator.
“Just say the word and everything can go back to normal,” a federal agent tells a freaked-out Kevin, whose permanent state of edginess now makes complete sense. As long as his estranged wife belongs to the GR, her life is in peril, so he must do all that he can to protect the organization over the objections of townsfolk who are out for revenge and a government police state thirsting for blood.
Replies Kevin: “No thanks. We can handle it.”
Suspects are everywhere and nowhere. There’s the creepy Sling Blade-sounding dude who hangs out in the forest at night, shooting at packs of wild dogs. There’s the bitter bearded bro who encourages Kevin not to investigate “too hard.” There’s Reverend Matt (Christopher Eccleston), who’s got an axe to grind despite his holy exterior.
The minister once had a frosty stare-down with Gladys when the GR took over his church, and was allegedly leading a study group at his home during the killing. He expresses contempt for the ascetic, chain-smoking crew (“Killing these people is pointless –‘’ they don’t care because they’re already dead”) but then gathers his leftover parishioners to stage a candlelight prayer for Gladys outside GR headquarters.
“We still feel pain and sorrow. We still feel loss. We still feel love,” Matt intones, prompting a fired-up Laurie Garvey to blow a whistle in his face.
Traumatized by Gladys’ grisly end, Laurie experiences a panic attack so bad that she must go to the hospital where even the doctor is dismissive of her. GR ringleader Patti (Ann Dowd, who’s perfected resting bitchface) takes Laurie to a diner to blow off steam, wear normal clothes and give her a chance to speak for the first time in months. Laurie remains tight-lipped. Patti, her voice more gravelly than expected, says renouncing family to live in the GR is “very, very hard but there can’t be any doubt. … Doubt is fire and fire is going to burn you up until you’re ALL BUT ASH!”
(Anyone else think this show needs subtitles? Or live tweets projected on screen, with some explanation of WHAT THE BLEEP THESE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT?)
Patti’s emotional, room-clearing lecture works a number on Laurie, radicalizing her further, while the stoning mobilizes sweet, sad Meg (Liv Tyler) to make her membership official.
This installment of The Leftovers is about the cultural shift that’s erupted since the Sudden Departure, specifically the formation of religion(s) in response to trauma and religious persecution in response to a fear of change and disruption of the status quo.
Mapleton’s Guilty Remnant branch is extreme, annoying and unrelenting in its quest to force people to come to terms with their losses. Followers stir up trouble by stalking potential recruits and breaking into homes to steal family photos. But they’re also nonviolent, openly risking life and limb for the cause without physically retaliating against attackers and throwing stones back.
They are seen as public enemies rather than human beings, hence the cruel treatment that Gladys’ body receives as she’s unloaded on an assembly line to be burned. She was likely carted off on a truck like the one that flipped over last episode and dumped mounds of bodies on a highway.
“It’s easier to stay silent than it is to speak truth,” says Reverend Matt, voicing his desire to bring the non-speaking Guilty Remnants “back to life.”
What he’ll never admit out loud is that he wants to reclaim his former worshippers — and his church.
The leftovers from Leftovers:
Does Amy Brenneman have the sweetest gig in showbiz? She doesn’t need to memorize any lines! Just emote!
Liv Tyler has a “sister wife” quality that I hadn’t noticed before her Leftovers stint.
Kevin's bizarre outburst over his missing white shirts was less unsettling than his drinking-while-driving. Not cool, Kevin.
Hugot is an unsung character actress, who I love-love-loved in a recurring role as flower-eating oddball Kathy Geiss on 30 Rock.Now’s your turn to sound off: What did you think of “Gladys”? What does “doubt” have to do with “fire”? And who's “Neil”? Anyone?
