“Uh oh.”
By Matt Fowler
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow…
As much as I enjoy Ann Dowd (in general) and her work as Patti back in Season 1, I’ll admit to having had more than a few reservations about her returning to play a ghost in Season 2. Or – you know – a figment. Or whatever it is that Kevin’s now secretly seeing and trying desperately to ignore. There’ve just been so many TV shows and movies that have done the ol’ imaginary “not there” character that I couldn’t get excited for this new bend in the story. Plus, some of this also felt like a type of “We liked this actress a lot and didn’t want her to leave the show” rejiggering.
But, man, this was all handled really well. I mean, this issue – this “Patti” problem – wasn’t treated lightly or flippantly. Nor was it given the cliched “guilty conscience” treatment (not that Kevin isn’t haunted by the ordeal). And so “A Matter of Geography” wound up being an amazing episode, filled with heart and some truly genuine shocks.
So what went so right here, despite the less-than-fresh Patti predicament? Firstly, the idea of seeing people who aren’t there had already been established within the show in Kevin’s father. So whether or not Kevin is mentally ill or experiencing some sort of Departure-related phenomenon, he’s got the same bug his dad’s got. And due to the severity of it we can now more clearly understand why Kevin, Sr. had such a hard time “playing sane.” Because this Patti persona is essentially so persistent that she’s ruining younger Kevin’s life, right when he’s started finding happiness again. It’s a big issue. One that causes Kev to blast music in his ears at top volume whenever he’s off on his own.
By the way, I’m not sure if Scott Glenn’s set to return again this season, but it was nice to see him briefly here before our remaining players uprooted and moved off to a new town. His character’s off to Australia so…Season 3 in the Outback? Remember, that dude in the Miracle mini-tower was sending a letter off to Sydney last week.
So what might the specific deal here be? Who knows? Whether it’s somehow a passed-down illness or a common mystical malady between family members isn’t clear. But the ending of this one seems to suggest that it’s part of the same blackout dilemma that Kevin was dealing with in Season 1. An issue that returned in a huge way this week right at the end when everything cut to Kevin waking up in the drained spring, a cinderblock tied to his ankle. Just a really great, shocking tweak to the story right there at the end. After I’d assumed the episode was going to end with Kevin laying down in bed.
And so even though this episode worked to catch us up on the Garveys and all it took for them to get into Miracle, up to the point where we saw them drive up to the house next door to the Murphys, there are still gaps to fill in. Not just Kevin’s blackout time (and how Evie ties into it), but also what Tommy and Laurie have been up to. When Tommy entered the diner to meet Jill, it’d been months since the Season 1 finale, and he had a cold. There’s a story there, we’ll just have to wait and see it plays out.
And I love the new Jill. Not that I had issues with Season 1 Jill. Normally, I’m anti-teen angst on big supernatural premised shows, but this series is specifically about how everyone was in emotional turmoil. And Jill basically being abandoned by her mom for that awful Guilty Remnants cult, when no one in their family had even vanished, was enough of a dick move for me to buy Jill’s behavior. But now, thanks to Nora, Jill’s found her footing again. She even admits now to being “okay,” despite Tommy insistence that no one is.
I will admit to missing Season 1 Nora though. Carrie Coon presented us with such a weirdly and wonderfully broken character. “Fixed” Nora isn’t as interesting, but the moment when she impulsively spent millions on a run down old colonial just so that she and her family could get into Miracle (where, understandably, she feels they’ll all be safe – after that one scientist put the bug in her head that there might be another Departure) felt like beautiful touches of the old stubborn Nora.
By the way, did anyone else immediately think of the line “don’t f*** this up” right after Kevin broke down and screamed at Nora for being too impulsive with the house buying? And then Jill said it a few beats later? Amazing. Jill knows what’s up. And that despite everyone’s craziness and odd behavior, Kevin is still the one who stands the best chance and ruining everything. Perhaps she even knew about his affair (s?) before the Departure and how her parents marriage was probably going to end even back before the world was thrown into chaos.
The Leftovers is using more songs this year. Gone, for the most part, is Max Richter’s score. Replaced now by dubstep, The Pixies, or whatever else Kevin’s blasting in his ears. Cody Crump’s “Burn” played over the closing credits this week and that sort of had a sad piano refrain element to it. I get it. This season isn’t as “burdened” as Season 1 so it shouldn’t repeat the same measures. But I do miss the score. It popped up briefly when Kevin and Nora got the good news about the adoption and, yes, my eyes welled up. It’s a trigger for me at this point.
“A Matter of Geography” took us back to the end of Season 1 and picked up Kevin and Nora’s story. And despite the excellent opening scene in which the two of them confessed their respective madness to one another, Kevin blackout issues, he’d starkly discover, still remain in a big way. Now with the added bonus of Patti being in his ear at all hours of every waking moment. At one point, Kevin even tried to “blow up his life,” as it was put. The question now is: Is Kevin destined to blow up his life regardless? He’s committed to making things work now, but he’s still so out of control that he might not be able to help it.
This was an excellent chapter that, within just two episodes now, worked to tie so much together (reason for moving, Isaac’s house fire, Steven Williams’ “knowing” character, etc).
