Other Doctor Lives: The Leftovers: Season 2, Episode 10 – “I Live Here Now” (2015)

Season 2 finale – lots of stuff happening, but there’s a good portion of it that doesn’t really interest me. The episode is heavy on plots that I’m not a fan of, although it certainly ends with a bang (a few spoilers.)

The fourth anniversary of the departures is here, and it’s all about to kick off. Meg has arrived to shake things up in Miracle in a pretty explosive way. Kevin has woken up from a vision quest to the underworld (yes, seriously) to find certain chickens coming home to roost. And a major event embroils the pilgrims in the tent city outside of town.

I know that The Leftovers is based on a novel, though I’m not sure how closely the show follows the events of the book. But this episode seems to be just about everything Damon Lindelof loves, so either he found the perfect book for him to adapt or he can fit these motifs into any story. We’ve got a vision quest/talking with dead people, dubious “miracles,” a countdown to the promise of some catastrophic event, and more. Of those Lindelofian elements, only the impending catastrophic event really holds my interest. I’m not all that invested in Kevin’s Highly-Charged Symbolism, and the miracles go down a road that don’t thrill me. Meanwhile, the catastrophe is set up well, builds to a fever pitch of suspense, and resolves in a cool way.

I like how some of the stuff with Meg’s big plan plays out. It goes in directions I wasn’t expecting, and in particular, it allows a bit more agency for a character I’d believed was going to be more of a pawn. The best moments of tension, as well as emotion, in the episode come here. It’s another season finale that ends with a bang, suggesting great fallout to come.

The episode isn’t as Christopher Eccleston-lite as some have been this season, but even though Matt is around for a good chunk of one of the major plots, he doesn’t get to do all that much. He’s mostly there to react – and not even just him specifically, but reacting as part of a group. Eccleston does get one big acting moment, but it’s in a plot I don’t care for all that much.

I started out this season pretty interested in the new roads it was taking, and there’s been some really compelling stuff along the way. But it’s also seemed the most focus has often been given to my least-favorite elements, which is disappointing for me. We’ll see where season 3, the final season, takes us.