TV Review: HBO’s The Leftovers 1X02 “Penguin One, Us Zero”

With the first episode just days ago, The Leftovers has been like trying to get into your favorite pair of jeans; going slowly to ensure that by the time it reaches the important parts there won’t be any complications.

For starters, they’ve got this really awesome intro with paintings that slightly resemble Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” except the people in this painting are slowly moving (if you watch closely) and there’s a whole hell of a lot more drama going on. People fighting one another, sexual images and obvious pain while loved ones are being carried away into the heavens. It’s quite the introduction to the show and anyone who just started watching should be able to put two and two together and figure out what the show’s about.

The first scene of the second episode opens with two persons sitting down and discussing Wayne or, as he calls himself, “Holy Wayne”. Their discussion helps in giving some insight on this so-called healer-of-burdens. Apparently, Wayne sells his “mystical hugs” to senators and congressmen to release them of their burdens in exchange for a hefty sum of cash. He also has to recharge by indulging himself in young Asian girls. One of the persons discussing Wayne goes on to say that the FBI has tried to catch Wayne on more than one occasion for statutory but he went underground before they could arrest him. However, they’ve been tracking him for a while and got word about his new location. Then, without hesitation, the show dives right into action as the cultish organization formed by “Holy Wayne” undergoes siege as the FBI or some kind of authority charges his harem. Whomever they don’t kill, they take under arrest. Except for Tom who takes down a – probable – S.W.A.T member before he could shoot Christine. Then finds a weird looking bomb shelter and hides with her till everything is over.

Then the scene switches to Kevin who is clearly dreaming as Aimee (Jill’s best friend) takes him from his house and into the woods where the same coot who he shot dogs with the other day is holding a gun. She tells Kevin to stay quiet as the coot focuses on something in the shadows that looks human and shoots. Then the guy turns to Kevin and tells him to take note of his burning feet. The chief wakes up only to realize that it wasn’t his feet that were burning but something in the neighbors’ yard. Premonition much?

Viewers then see Laurie, Kevin’s former wife who joined the Guilty Remnant, taking Meg out to the woods and getting her to chop at a tree. She gets angry after a while and then says that it should be easier to join a cult. Then Laurie writes down on the little notepad that she carries around that the GR aren’t a cult. Wow, sure. You dress alike, do the same thing every day and have meetings about who you’re going to track down and coerce to join you next. Totally not a cult. That’s like denying that you’re not drunk when clearly you’ve had more than ten beers and on the verge of calling up your ex.

Meanwhile, Tom and Christine meet back up with Holy Wayne (who apparently survived the siege) and Christine runs and straddles him like a true Stockholm syndrome victim.  I mean, apart from being a total scam and insane, Wayne is a very skilled manipulator. He gets senators and congressmen – people who should have more common sense – to believe his shit and a bunch of teenagers too. Apparently his son was taken in the “departure” and I’m guessing that’s when he just lost it.

Anyways, Kevin goes to visit the GR (Guilty Remnant) again and investigates whether or not the newest members to the crew are there on their own accord. The place Meg and the other new guy are being held at is apparently called the Pledge House. So now they’ve gone from cultish organization to fraternity? Jeez. These people need to choose a title and stick with it. So this visit apparently pisses Pattie, who is the chief in command of the GR, off and she approaches Laurie and scribbles angrily on her notepad that Laurie is sucking at her latest task (assimilating Meg into their not-cult organization). And the real funny part is that Laurie looks around at everyone watching the non-verbal argument and still feels as if she’s being shouted at and is embarrassed. It’s amazing how body language can replace words so easily and still have that much of an effect on us.

The Mayor also pays a visit to the police chief’s (Kevin’s) office and reprimands him about how he’s been behaving the past couple of days. It’s especially hilarious when Kevin says that he just had a rough night and that it didn’t mean that he had to see a shrink. Then the mayor responds with a “you are aware that people like dogs?” and Kevin is all like “I like dogs too” and then she says all “well then stop effing shooting them because that’s something only crazy people do!” And then when the mayor leaves, viewers witness the doughnuts Kevin put into the toaster oven suddenly disappearing. He proceeds to knock the heck out of the machine till an officer comes by and stares him down. Totally doesn’t help his case.

Later, Meg’s fiancé arrives at the police station and Kevin tells him about Meg and that she’s with the GR. Logically, the fiancé asks what I’ve (probably thousands of other people too) been thinking about since the show started…What does the Guilty Remnant want? Kevin says that they say that they want to remind people of what happened and he guesses that they also want to recruit new people. But what they expect from their actions is still a damn mystery. However, when the chief tells Meg’s fiancé that all she needs is a little coercing to come back home, the guy practically explodes and says that he’s tired of doing what Meg needs and storms out of the station. I could totally get his frustration too. Before he stormed out he said that because of Meg he’d postponed their wedding for 3 years. 3 years?! Seriously Meg? And the guy is not exactly a Steve Urkel.

Anyways,  I’m pretty sure that “Holy Wayne” or whatever the hell he wants to call himself is seriously off his meds since the next time we see him, he’s making out with a dead corpse. When Tom catches him, he excuses his action with saying that the guy wouldn’t have allowed him to do that if he were alive. Mmhhmm…totally sane thing to do. Still I have to give Tom his props. He never yields to Wayne’s “help”. Apparently, he’s chosen to live with his burdens and that’s why Wayne trusts him. I don’t get it but I guess you can’t explain crazy.

Another thing I don’t get it is that the GR prides themselves on being the ones who remember but why does that mean that the new recruits like Meg have to give up all their possessions? Is it that they only want to remember what happened and nothing else? That’s not right. And it’s totally contradictory.

Also, I don’t know why I JUST noticed this but the two “organizations” seriously contrast one another. I mean the Guilty Remnant try to never forget what happened while Holy Wayne’s group strives to forget all their burdens. Yet, I don’t know which one is truly dangerous. I just know that keeping a harem of underage girls is just downright wrong.

Anyways, good news! Kevin’s not totally crazy! The guy that constantly appears to Kevin stops by his house and informs him about another pack of dogs that “need to be put down”. The guy doesn’t want to give out his name, he doesn’t move the truck that’s parked up in the chief’s driveway and he’s apparently not a figment of Kevin’s imagination since his daughter, Jill, and her friend saw and interacted with him. Oh! And the weirdo declares that they’re doing the Lord’s work. So not only is he a crazy-dog-shooter but also a religious fanatic too.

All this seems to weigh down on poor, confused Kevin and he decides it’s time to pay his father (the former police chief) a visit. Apparently, his father lost his shit some time back and got locked up in the nut house ever since. He also seems to know the mayor. Too closely. Anyways, Kevin’s dad is told by whatever spirits he is seeing that he should tell Kevin that they’re sending someone to help him. When Kevin asks what they’re going to help him with, his father says he doesn’t know but that he should probably keep it to himself. Later, Kevin goes back to the office and looks in the back of the toaster oven and finds his burnt doughnuts that supposedly disappeared earlier in the morning. Weird.

Meanwhile, Laurie is kicked awake by Pattie and told that Meg is gone. Then the last scene viewers see before the screen goes blank and the credits come up, is Meg walking in the snow back to the same tree Laurie took her to to cut down and begins to chop as her facial expression changes from happy to sad to angry.

Jeez! What on earth should I make of this crazy show? It’s so damn mysterious and creepy that I’m sure to tune in for another couple episodes. I just can’t wait till episode 3 comes out. Will it reveal who this strange guy that Kevin keeps seeing truly is? Is he a spirit? Is he an angel? What about Meg? Will she go back and join the GR or will she find her own way to heal? What about Wayne’s people? Will Tom ever return home to his father instead of being the henchman for an obviously crazy molester? Will Laurie ever go home and be with her family?

Ah! The anticipation is killing me.

Missed out on the first episode? Read the review here.

Rating: 7/10