Put simply, one of the finest TV shows ever made, up there with The Wire and Breaking Bad. The Leftovers is far more than its mystery, it's about its characters and how they react to this new world and the changes brought before them. It's not about delving into ideas of why the event happened, it's about people that were already broken before it, and how disaster brought that into the light. I don't want to get too much into what makes the show great, because that would be spoiling it. You just need to know that if you want to go into The Leftovers hoping to have a Lost style mystery, in the hopes that everything will be revealed in time, then you should probably alter your expectations or watch Lost again. This is about the people, and that's what makes it truly great.
The Leftovers will make you laugh, it will make you cry (oh boy, will it make you cry) and it will make you happy that someone even attempted to make a show so bold, ambitious and complete, that you will never forget. It was criminally underwatched when it was airing, but now you can watch the whole thing. Do yourself a favour and watch every minute of this masterpiece.
A sweaty, gritty, horny, sapphic thrill ride that, if not for it's divisive and dreamlike fizzle of a finale, would be a personal modern classic. Rose Glass absolutely blew me away with her debut in Saint Maud, and her penchant for blurring the lines between fantasy and reality only continues with more fervour in her sophmore outing. A departure from her horror roots, Love Lies Bleeding is part lesbian romance, part crime thriller with a dash of body horror. I absolutely loved everything this movie was putting down for about 90% of the runtime, even down to its manic escalation towards the back half, but I can't help but feel shortchanged by the haste with which concludes things right before the credits roll. Lovely visuals, everything looks so caked in sweat and dirt and humidity; Kristen is quietly hilarious and the perfect fit for the awkward, sprialing-in-love lesbian she's asked to play opposite larger than life Katy O'Brian, who absolutely steals the show with her troubled, muscular, steroid junkie Jackie. I have a feeling that subsequent viewings will only aid this one, as well as musing on the signivicance of a lot of the imagery in play here. Really great stuff, I look forward to now reading explanation posts and watching video essays until I fully understand every part of this movie, and there is no greater praise I can give it than that.
MAJOR SPOILERS!!!
So this is tough. There were some absolutely INCREDIBLE episodes! Two Storms and Bent-Neck Lady stand out... This had the potential to be a 9 or 10. In fact, I initially rated the show a 9 just after finishing it. Then I thought about it for a few days. Thought about how it all ended and what it all implied for the series as a whole. And I got angry... It felt like a betrayal. Such a huge tonal shift...
So the house "digests" these kids and their parents through their fears. It makes them see or do horribly crazy shit till they either kill themselves or others in the house. Dark as hell, yeah? But apparently this isn't actually a bad thing as "those who walk there, walk together". They turned the house with all it's vile evilness... into a somewhat "misunderstood" place where if you die there you can live forever with your loved ones who have also died there (yay!). What the hell...
A couple other weird things that bugged... Not necessarily in a bad way, but things I still think about...
So for Nell to be haunted by her future-self, the house must exist outside of time somehow (confetti monologue?). We don't just have ghosts from the past haunting the present, but ghosts of the future haunting the "present" as well. There seems to be a bit of a time paradox at play here... Chicken born before the egg type of thing.
And why did the Tall Man (who'd always been looked down upon) haunt Luke? Because Luke's future self would always be looked down upon because of his addiction? Maybe the house could take the form of those that died within, use whatever form best suited its purpose at the time. That would make sense with the whole "that wasn't mom" thing. Poppy was just plain evil so the mom's mania at least made a little sense...
And with this foresight the house seemed to have, why'd it target Luke when it should have seen that it wouldn't get him? Was he just a "bigger snack" of sorts (bigger than his older siblings, who were never really targeted the way Luke and Nell were)? Was it because Luke was Nell's twin (the Twin Thing)?
Regardless, it was just the house feeding off fears I guess... Using these ghosts from the past and future to breed more and more fear until folks died. Beautifully dark up till a relatively bright and cheery end. I still enjoyed the hell out of the series, but really wish that ending was different.
There's no denying that this season has seen a downturn in the quality of writing. Characters are not acting like themselves and making choices which don't reflect the journeys they've been on. Ridiculous leaps in logic are made and time compression has suddenly made Westeros feel very small. Spectacle has taken centre stage and it feels like the lack of GRRM's own prose has left the show's writers floundering.
And I've got to be honest, it hasn't bothered me all that much, because it's been so incredibly fun. Say what you will, but season 7 has not been dull for a second. Yes, I've found parts frustrating and rolled my eyes in disbelief at the stupidity on display, but there's something to be said for the pure thrill involved in what's going on screen.
I might prefer things to be slowed down a bit and do miss the insightful dialogue and foreshadowing, but I'm not throwing my toys out of the pram over it as so many seem to be. Even in this state, Game of Thrones remains among the best programmes on television. The finale did make up for some of the seemingly moronic writing choices made in earlier episodes and demonstrated that it can still make me care for these characters and fear losing them.
Not perfect and not up to standard, no, but some of the most enjoyable viewing I've had this year.
Let me first point out that I am a human being – a flawed human being with imperfections and biased opinions. I have never liked film noirs, jazz music, gangsters, the mafia, or anything to do with thugs. Furthermore, I find it difficult to enjoy a TV show if I cannot connect with the main character…or any other character at that. Luke Cage has all of that – which is why I considered it boring, and my least favorite of the three shows. I watched others talk about how great it was…how it is better than the other MCU Netflix shows, or even other recent Netflix shows like Stranger Things and for once, I’m out of the loop because I don’t get it. However, with this universe, it is pertinent to watch these shows for potential continuity.
So I watched the show, and I was ultimately bored with it. There were good episodes, but in general – I found it a lackluster experience from the get go. The best episode was the third, and some others came close as well. However, this show tried to do what Jessica Jones did – as his abilities are practically unstoppable, they introduced an emotional aspect to it that served as his vulnerabilities. The difference between the two comes down to if I can connect with the character – and for Luke Cage, I just couldn’t. As I pointed out before, I also didn’t like the music choices or even villains – the end fight was trying to be epic in a way, but it was so typical and blah-inducing – I’m having a hard time finding something in this show that can be considered a “wow” factor. I’m just glad I’m caught up and don’t have to worry about it anymore…I just know there’s going to be a second season…sigh.
I had a decision to make – how was I going to rate this…because I didn’t want my own personal objections to get in the way. So here’s what I came up with. Netflix had a specific goal in mind when they made this TV show, and a lot of people really do like it – so I have to say they did what they sought to do. However, I believe there is also an entirely different group of people that didn’t like it – and I feel like this rift between the two is more apparent than any other the other shows Netflix has done with Marvel. I’m not one to explain why that is – but I can tell it exists. So I’ll just say this – Luke Cage is a well-done show that positively achieves what it wanted to achieve – which told a story without worrying what an audience would think of it. If they loved it great, if they didn’t, oh well. However, when you take that kind of risk – you create something that is possibly not entertaining – which is what I experienced when I watched it.
Look. I’m not a genius, but when I’m struggling to get through a season and groaning at the idea of watching another one…I’m pretty sure they did something wrong. That being said, I can’t ignore where it did go right – so that’s how I came up with my score.
