The Leftovers: A Most Powerful Adversary Recap
Its been a while since we did one of these and truth be told I wasnt planning on doing recaps anymore. But sometimes a show is just too damn good to leave alone and thats where we’re at now with The Leftovers. “A Most Worthy Adversary” is the culmination of Kevin Garvey’s struggles in a post Departure world, and its the culmination of a lot of the themes we’ve seen in The Leftovers from day 1.
From the jump, The Leftovers has been a show about human suffering and the ability to handle death and tragedy. And while there have been spiritual or supernatural undertones the entire time, I think this show is still very much rooted in reality. I think there is one unexplained phenomenon in this whole series – the Departure. After that, everything is reality. Its fucked up. Its bizarre. In some cases somewhat unexplainable. But I think everything you see in this show following the October 14th Departure is the human reaction to incomprehensible tragedy. Matt Jamison’s wife did not wake up one night and conceive a child with him. I think Matt Jamison had sex with his comatose wife. Holy Wayne’s hugs and now Tommy Garvey’s hugs don’t cure people, its just a placebo effect that is occurring inside very desperate people. Kevin Garvey does not see Patti. His father doesnt either. I think they are mental manifestations from 2 guys – both father figures and in positions of authority, expected to help and fix things – that have lost their grip from dealing with the stress of the world they live in.
The title “A Most Worthy Adversary” is very apropos for Kevin Garvey and literally everyone in The Leftovers. In this world, your most worthy adversary is yourself. When the world has been flipped upside down and there’s no way to understand whats right or wrong, real or fake, good or bad, your mind can be your greatest enemy. Capable of playing tricks on you, convincing you to do crazy things, and all sorts of other coping devices when you have nowhere else to turn. Kevin Garvey’s mind is his own greatest adversary. I mean think about how fucking CRAZY he is in this episode. His ex wife – a very intelligent mental health professional with a better grasp than anyone on the ins and outs of the human mind handling this tragedy – gives him an incredibly blunt and straightforward answer to his problem. “You’ve had a psychotic break, Patti isnt real, and shes a figment of your imagination as a result of your stress and inability to cope. You need to take a vacation and get away.” And what does Kevin instead choose to do to rectify the situation? Drink the goddam hocus pocus voodoo potion made by the with doctor on the outskirts of town. An absolutely ridiculous move. Trying to kill yourself to face your demons in the afterlife for 4-5 minutes before being revived by a shot of adrenaline. What?! A smart, once rational man driven to extreme lengths of insanity and destruction because there’s only so much the human mind can take before snapping and getting truly desperate.
Its rather fitting that Laurie was the one giving the advice to Kevin. In a much more reasonable, realistic, less suicidal way, Laurie did face her darkness. In more of a metaphorical way, the Departure killed her. Sent her reeling emotionally until the point that she was dead on the inside. Joining up with the Guilty Remnant – abandoning her family, refusing to talk, only appealing to her most base human feelings – was her death. And after nearly causing Jill’s death, she reemerged. She came out the other side. Laurie seems to be the only one who has lived both sides of the post Departure life. She faced the darkest depths of herself and now has the perspective and understanding to live her life in a healthier, productive manner.
In a fit of desperation, Kevin chooses not to believe in her. Chooses not to follow her words. He almost makes it there – asking Laurie to come with him and help him – but he cant help but try the Hail Mary, supposed quick fix. A preposterous half suicide attempt to rid himself of the Patti premonitions. A truly fucking psychotic move. The mind is the greatest adversary. Cue the motherfuckin music
As for the cause of all this? Nora Durst peacing out on Kevin and Jill. My first reaction was that this was a pretty fuckin dick move from a woman who’s dealt with some shit of her own. Like hey Nora remember when hookers used to shoot you in the chest? Remember when you paid thousands of dollars for a hug from Holy Wayne? Lets not act like you’re the sanest of the bunch huh? Maybe a little sympathy for the dude who mustered up the courage to tell you he’s losing his fucking mind.
But thats exactly what I think may be her reason for leaving. Sympathy. From the previous episode we know that Nora is starting to believe she is a “Lens.” From some cockamamie science studies from the DSD, Nora believes that the reason her entire family disappeared is because she is some sort of magnifying lens. That her presence somehow drew the Departure to take away her entire family. Finding out that Kevin was now having this mental breakdown and visions leads her to believe its more of the same. She’s the cause for all these troubles. Its somehow her. I dont think Nora Durst bounced because the going got tough and she decided she didnt like it. I think she’s trying to do whats best for Kevin and Jill. If Kevin can somehow show her the Patti premonitions are gone, she’ll return because she knows shes not the cause. At least thats just my theory. Who fucking knows. It just seemed weird that after everything they’d been through, she’d just peace out when things got a little bit more weird.
And so now we’re left with a half dead Kevin, a missing Tom, a confused and lonely Jill, a disappeared Nora, and Laurie. There’s no way Kevin is really dead. Not sure what the Murphy kid is gonna do to resurrect him but he’s gonna do it. I’m not sure what Kevin will think or believe after coming to and seeing Virgil’s brains all over the place and realizing he was the fucking maniac who willingly drank poison. We do know, however, that after having scanned his palm, there’s really no escape for Kevin in the disappearance for Eve. And a very vengeful, angry, violent man will be awaiting him. One way or the other, Kevin Garvey will pay for what hes done. Or, potentially done.
PS – I’m back baby. Show is too fucking good to not write 1500 most likely misinformed, incorrectly interpreted words every week.