The Leftovers: “Orange Sticker” Review

There are no miracles in Miracle.

The excellent “Orange Sticker” took us back to Texas and picked things up right where we left off. A few moments earlier actually, when Nora was startled awake by the earthquake, saw Kevin was gone, and went into a full-blown Departure panic.

In fact, coming off of last week’s Laurie and Tommy-centric “Off Ramp,” it felt fitting that the ills of Mapleton, and the outside world, began to ooze onto Miracle this week. Grief, angst, confusion, fear, and even a “not our dog,” invaded this famously “blessed” town as Max Richer’s familiar score began to make bigger waves. A distraught John was convinced that Isaac was behind Evie’s predicament (Isaac’s warning + Kevin’s palm print sealed the deal in his mind) while Erika seemed sadly convinced that her daughter had fallen victim to a Departure. One that, apparently, only took Evie and her friends (who we saw previously, in the premiere, running naked through those woods).

Meanwhile Nora, perhaps in pure defense mode, insisted that nothing supernatural had happened while Patti revealed (if we’re to buy that she’s telling the truth to Kevin) that Evie had, in fact, disappeared in a way that no one in town was supposed to be able to. There was a lot going on here as far as what certain characters thought about someone vanishing off-screen. Nora talked to Jill about people using the Departure as an excuse to run out on their families (to pull a “Mark Linn-Baker,” we should probably call it), while lonely God-fearing Michael seemed to know it was a Departure event. I mean, losing a loved one is terrible enough on its own without this whole other phenomenon to explore as a possible culprit.

Now also comes the lesser debate of “why?” Was it the location? The girls? Or the combination? Was it because they liked to swim in the spring and run though the trees or were they just special, or chosen, in some other manner? Granted, to answer why these girls vanished would mean the show would also have to ground-rule the entire previous mass Departure event, which I don’t think it intends to do. It doesn’t need to either. The idea here is to wallow in the uncertainty. And to watch how these different characters react and adapt to it.

“Orange Sticker” also sometimes worked as a suspense piece, as Kevin needed to stay clear of accidentally implicating himself in this entire situation. His palm print may still come back to bite him in the ass, but he found his missing phone while also somehow convincing John that he was someone trustworthy enough to tag along on a trip out of town to beat Isaac’s ass. But the car ride played like a lit fuse for a few minutes while Kevin didn’t know what John knew about him. Also, it was great to see Nora, while still angry about her previous night’s panic and collapse, support Kevin during all this. She’s figured out what she wants, what makes her feel safe, and what she’ll do to protect her own. Erika too, for that matter.

But what does Kevin want? That was a big part of this episode. Because…who is nighttime Kevin? We’ve never met him. The sleepwalker. The guy who attacks and ties up Patti. Who jaunts around with dog-shooting Dean. Hangs out with Jill’s friend Aimee. And the man who apparently got up out of bed, went down to the spring (where he’d never been), somehow acquiring a cinderblock along the way, and tried to kill himself. Everything this night version of Kevin does seems like the opposite of regular Kevin. Which makes the scenario all the more frightening. Because as much as awake Kevin insists that he doesn’t want to die, there’s now (somewhat) clear evidence to the contrary. “Well, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion,” Patti smirked.

The stuff with Patti is still working really well too. Especially now that she’s willing to come forward with Kevin’s nocturnal plots and schemes. It seems like she’s telling the truth, though it’s hard to gauge that completely since we don’t know what her intentions are. Or why she’s there or what she wants. So far, she’s only wanted Kevin to interact with her, but beyond that we don’t know what the supernatural implications of her visits mean. Granted, she could just be a part of Kevin’s own psyche. She could be that and still know all about his sleepwalking adventures. Since, you know, she’d only be an offshoot/extension of the same brain.

Other great parts of “Orange Sticker” include Michael breaking down in tears after Jill’s “Are you alone?” question (not the response a girl was looking for), Matt’s story about Mary snapping out of her catatonia for one night (and mystery about why no one in town wants him tot all about it), Nora’s corner store interaction with Steven Williams’ clairvoyant “read your pain” Virgil, and Nora using handcuffs to keep Kevin with her at night.