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The Leftovers S2 |OT| We're Going To Texas - [Renewed for 3rd and final season]

TheOddOne

Member
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Karu

Member
Next week? Awesome! Season 1 was the best show of 2014. Really curious what's ahead and how the setting change will go down.
 

oatmeal

Banned
Loved season 1.

Can't wait for this.

Obviously the girl that is dead is in his head, she's not "back" in the traditional sense.
 
I really enjoyed season 1, and I watched it within about 2 weeks. I'll probably wait a few weeks before I start watching. I'm not sure I can wait week to week so well.
 

near

Member
Loved the first season but not too optimistic for S2 judging by the trailer, hopefully it proves me wrong.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
The Leftovers' Justin Theroux Opens Up About Sweatpants-Gate Fallout: 'No Jogging Scenes' in Season 2

“There are no jogging scenes,” Theroux tells TVLine with a laugh. “His athletic routine has really taken a dive. No running around.”

For his part, Leftovers co-creator Damon Lindelof insists sweatpants-gate has not had any creative impact on the HBO drama’s 10-episode second season (premiering Sunday). “I can honestly look you in the eyes and say that I have been part of no dong-related conversations ever,” he maintains with a bemused grin. “Justin is the protector of his own manhood. And if he chooses to flaunt it, then I celebrate that. If he wants to be more discreet about it, then I embrace that as well.

“I did not expect it to be a thing,” Lindelof adds, “and I have no intention of writing towards it this season.”

Welp...
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Lindelof gave a lengthy and candid interview with Sepinwall - "I was really depressed while I was writing the first season of the show." (possible spoilers)

On stopping production to do re shoots last season:

The shutdown on "The Leftovers" in the first season, we shut down for two weeks. We reshot half of the fourth episode, and that’s the first time that I’ve ever done that. And what was amazing about it was we saw the cut for episode four. We felt like we had made a huge storytelling mistake and we shared it with HBO and said, "We would like to fix this." And they agreed and then they allowed us to take the time to basically figure out how to fix it without getting behind on all the scripts that were piling up in the pipeline.

Q: What was the storytelling mistake you made in episode four?

A: Yeah. In episode four, we did a Tom and Christine story where they encountered this soldier who was returning from this war in Yemen, that is happening in the book. And essentially the story was weighted towards the soldier. And it was like, "Oh, this feels like a guest star episode." It's one of those things where your show should always be in service of your main characters, your main crew, and you can kind of always smell like "Oh, this guy’s only around for this episode." And the actor that we cast, Peter Mark Kendall, who plays Hans on "The Americans," was amazing. But the story was just a bust from the word go. And it was literally half the episode. And so meanwhile the A-story in Mapleton was that the Baby Jesus had been stolen from the manger which was obviously not a hugely pyrotechnic amazing story, but we liked that story and felt that Theroux gave a really strong performance in it. But overall, I thought that if we put this fourth episode on, people will stop watching the show. Because you’re still in the first season of a television show, every episode’s a date and until you get to like date five or six, any date can be the last date.

On the limited point of view episodes from last season (the one with the priest and the one with Nora):

[...] it’s much more difficult, I think, to write and execute stories where there’s a lack of cohesion to it. But embedded in your question is the idea of point of view, which is, "Whose eyes am I experiencing this episode through?" As we move forward into season two, the Murphys and the Garveys are all going to be characters in that. But in every episode, (we're) deciding, "Whose point of view am I experiencing this through and can I get even more specific about it?" So if I’m going to be bouncing between the Murphy family and the Garvey family, maybe it’s just Erika and Nora this episode. So unless Erika or Nora is in a scene, we don’t see anything else. So we’re only experiencing Kevin and Jill through the point of view of those two characters. So every episode in season two, we as writers basically decide, "Here are the characters that we’re experiencing the episode through." It doesn’t mean that other characters won’t be in it, but let’s choose them and be as limited as we can about it. It’s always fun to just choose one as we did with Matt and Nora in three and six of last year. But if we can limit it to like three four (characters) max, that’s really going to help us with our storytelling, and I think that it has.

On getting answers to the mysteries:

The inside joke is to put a disclaimer on the front of every show — in the same way that, FX will warn you that there’s violence and sexual content before this episode of "Louie" or "Bastard Executioner" — saying, "If you are expecting any answers to specifically as it pertains to the Sudden Departure, you will leave this show immensely frustrated." But I think it’s even more of a "fuck you" to rub it in people’s faces. We’re much more interested in the condition of living in a world without answers than we are in providing them. I also think that we’re playing fair with our storytelling. For example, if one of the characters worked for the X-Files and it was their job to determine the cause of the Sudden Departure — like Joe Fiennes on "Flash Forward," it’s his job to find out what caused the flash forward — that's the story telling you, "We are going to answer this." But because all of our characters are resigned to the fact that they’re not going to get an answer, we feel that we’re playing fair with our storytelling in terms of showing it.

A couple more quotes:

With me, there is no ambiguity as to whether or not the world of the supernatural exists on "The Leftovers." Of course it does.

When we first started talking in the room about saying, "What if Nora puts on a bulletproof vest and hires escorts to shoot her?," it was also, "Thank God Carrie Coon is playing this character, because that’s not a great idea, but if we have a great actor representing that idea, it might be cool."
 

Frog-fu

Banned
Didn't know the OT was up.

Season 1 was fantastic and thoroughly enjoyable. I have high hopes for season 2. The trailers look very promising.
 

Grizzo

Member
I found the season 1 to be mediocre, except for two episodes (Two Boats And a Helicopter, The Garveys At Their Best).

Still eager to check it out, just to see if that change of scenery might do wonders for the show.
 
Would I need to watch season 1 to get season 2 of this? I stayed with season 1 for 4 episodes before dropping it because it was so boring and depressing.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Would I need to watch season 1 to get season 2 of this? I stayed with season 1 for 4 episodes before dropping it because it was so boring and depressing.

It seems to be a soft reboot (sorry Lindelof!) so probably not. It's not particularly story driven so you could probably just read a recap and be okay.
 
It seems to be a soft reboot (sorry Lindelof!) so probably not. It's not particularly story driven so you could probably just read a recap and be okay.

Wow, it's not story driven? I thought that was the main thing with this show. The story and mystery of what happened, etc. Got a good link to a recap?
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
Wow, it's not story driven? I thought that was the main thing with this show. The story and mystery of what happened, etc.

It's not story driven at all. The showrunner has even gone on record saying that none of the mysteries will ever be solved (or at least the central mystery of what the Great Departure is will never be solved) - it's a pure character study.

Got a good link to a recap?

Maybe try The AV Club?
 
Would I need to watch season 1 to get season 2 of this? I stayed with season 1 for 4 episodes before dropping it because it was so boring and depressing.

Respectfully disagree with the other posters. If you have time to watch, please do. You won't have the weight of season 1 weighing on whatever choices the characters make this season.
 
According to Sepinwall's review, the second season has a different opening sequence and song.

That's nice, I wasn't a fan of the one for the first season.

--------------------

^^The above interview with Lindelof, I like that they are focusing each episode on a few points of view.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
That's nice, I wasn't a fan of the one for the first season.

I thought it was pretty cool but I also appreciate a new approach for the new season.

^^The above interview with Lindelof, I like that they are focusing each episode on a few points of view.

Yeah, sounds like they were able to pinpoint exactly what worked best in the first season and refocus the new season around those points.
 

belushy

Banned
Season 1 opening was awesome. I'm sad to see it go. Though honestly, this season almost feels like a reboot anyway.

edit: Guess I'm not the only one.
 
It's not story driven at all. The showrunner has even gone on record saying that none of the mysteries will ever be solved (or at least the central mystery of what the Great Departure is will never be solved) - it's a pure character study.

And this actually makes me happy here (let's not talk about Lost...). I don't want any answers. I don't think any exist. I want the characters to want answers and I want to see them flail and struggle and react and I want things to be terrible until maybe one day they aren't.
 

JdFoX187

Banned
Really loved the first season, especially its dire, depressing outlook. Not sure I'm a fan of the changes they're making in season two, but I'll catch up on it when I can.
 
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