|
Yeah, Kevin Sr.'s whole story was legit in that I assume those things actually happened, but none of it actually meant anything and it was just him meandering around thinking he was doing important things when he was imo doing nothing but nonsense. He did speak to Kevin Jr. during a black out but he doesn't even remember that part. And he ended up with the woman from the end of the other episode but we don't know yet if she means anything to the bigger plot or is just a sad desperate woman. I actually did like this episode, I just feel right now like we didn't actually need it, any of it. I don't think any of the aboriginal songs he was copying actually were doing anything or anything like that and I feel like we were just watching a guy who actually might be sort of special trying to invent his own purpose but being totally wrong about it. And that doesn't make it bad, I liked the episode, I just don't know if it was the best place to spend the time. But maybe by the end of the season this episode will feel a lot more relevant.
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 04:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 02:06 |
|
|
I had a whole piece here about how this show didn't quite do a good job with the handling of race, but I decided to not keep it. I think it's probably not worth the bother -- just pretend you read this post and got annoyed at my moral outrage. I'm not indigenous myself, so I'm not really speaking from a terribly informed place. I will say this though -- What was Grace doing shopping for groceries at a Big W? What does she eat, batteries?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 05:45
|
|
|
I'm torn about this episode. Considering this took up one of the six remaining episodes, it felt kind of wasteful to spend the entire time on Kevin Sr. and not dip back to anyone in Miracle aside from a couple quick glances of Matt and Mary. I had honestly forgotten all about Sr's Australia talk from previous seasons until the recap at the beginning. But since it's the final season, I'm also going into overthinking overdrive mode trying to suss out all the possibilities; Chris told Sr his song brought the rain not stopped them, so by accidentally smushing the last aborigine that knew the song for that point on the song line, crisis averted? He might just be absolutely bonkers and doing his own thing, thinking he's helping. And, after his argument with Matt, when he reads the gospel and gets pissed off that he's never mentioned in it, at the very end, he tells Grace 'you had the wrong Kevin'. Clearly, I think the obvious answer is that he means his son, but before the Departure HE was Chief of Police. Like I said, I tend to really overthink things when shows get into final seasons. When Sr. saw everyone working on the boat in the yard and found the photo album in the freezer, I asked my BF 'you think this is some cult poo poo?' then when Grace's story came out, I was just incredibly 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 05:48
|
|
|
The Dave posted:It was a gorgeous episode. I was waiting for some grand payoff, or for there to be some implications for this later, but I'm becoming alright with it just being a reveal of Kevin Sr's journey. Well, it's kind of a full episode devoted to the recurring theme of the season, the one the first five minutes of the season sets up. People are casting about for signals and meaning and purpose only to find out that they're finding patterns in nothing and making connections between meaningless coincidences. I'm curious where this goes. If anyone makes it out of the season happy it will probably be someone who just goes with the flow, embraces the crazy, and doesn't think too hard about it. Maybe our boy Kevin himself.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 06:05
|
|
|
Gotta say, I'm pretty shocked that a lot of people here didn't love this episode. I felt this was this season's “Two Boats and a Helicopter” and “No Room at the Inn” and that's a very good thing. In fact, the only other main character you see in this episode just happens to be Matt. And I'm not sure why people think this episode was the show spinning its wheels. You found out some drat important poo poo like that Kevin Sr. actually did talk to Kevin Jr. (God?) in International Assasin during his drug trip and vice-versa. And maybe it wasn't the Kevin that Kevin Sr. thinks it was who stopped that rain back on the Niagara road trip of '81... We also found out that apparently, sometimes, physical objects disappear along with the Departed. At least, I think that's what Grace was saying about the checkout girl who disappeared along with the box of Wheat Thins or whatever. I mean, let me put it this way: We knew Kevin and Nora were going to Australia, we knew Kevin Sr. went to Australia a long time ago, and we knew that of course they were all probably going to meet up eventually. So did you really expect them to just show up along with Kevin Sr. without any backstory about just exactly what Kevin Sr has been up to all this time? Come on. You should all read Sepinwall's review: http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/the-leftovers-crazy-whitefella-thinking-recap-review/ Interesting tidbit from it: Sepinwall posted:On first viewing, I wondered if the young redheaded woman in the photo album Kevin Sr. finds at Grace’s house was somehow the Millerite woman from this season’s opening sequence, perhaps having lived an incredibly long life on this world she had expected to leave. It’s just a photo of the young Lindsay Duncan, but there is something of a connection between the two women: Grace’s last name, Playford, is the same as Thomas Playford, who was a leader of the Millerite movement in Australia (Adelaide, specifically) in the 19th century. Anyway, intro song was awesome (different intro song each episode apparently). Beautiful episode. Scott Glenn is still amazing and a national loving treasure. drunkill posted:Also, drat, David Gulpilil (Christopher Sunday) is looking old these day, unexpected surprise but good to see him in the show too, given the themes of this episode. He seemed really familiar, and I wondered if he was one of the indigenous people from The Right Stuff and guess what? He was. And of course Scott Glenn was also in it! (I don't think they shared any scenes.)
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 07:07
|
|
|
Longbaugh01 posted:Gotta say, I'm pretty shocked that a lot of people here didn't love this episode. I felt this was this season's “Two Boats and a Helicopter” and “No Room at the Inn” and that's a very good thing. In fact, the only other main character you see in this episode just happens to be Matt. Those episodes weren't slow and boring for 45 minutes and featured a prominent character we cared about. The acting was good and I understand what they tried to do. Kevin Sr Is just not a compelling character.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 08:50
|
|
|
Longbaugh01 posted:We also found out that apparently, sometimes, physical objects disappear along with the Departed. At least, I think that's what Grace was saying about the checkout girl who disappeared along with the box of Wheat Thins or whatever. We already knew that, since in the episode set on the day of the departure the people took their clothes, jewelry, makeup, etc. with them when they disappeared. But nobody ever mentioned animals departing before, as far as I know. Longbaugh01 posted:Maybe the prologue was actually set in Australia? It was.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 09:26
|
|
|
The entire scene with Grace (?) and Kevin Sr made me think two very sad, desperate people were willing to grab any meaning from anything they could find to help fill their lives, especially the reverence that she treated the torn paper with at first. By the end she seems to have realized her mistake and is willing to accept reality, but then Kevin pulls her right back in to Crazytown!
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 09:45
|
|
|
Also, a short interview with Scott Glenn, (maybe?) spoilers ahead! HBO: You have a cameo in Season 2, Episode 8 “International Assassin.” Did you know at the time what part you would play in the larger story? Scott Glenn: No. Later, I thought back on my first conversation with Damon before I went to New York for the first season. I asked him to tell me about Kevin, Sr. He said there are three types of prophets: "false prophets, crazy prophets, and real prophets; you’re a real prophet." He said, “If there is one you want to think about, think about Moses. I think your character is going to go on some type of walkabout.” HBO: Can you give us a clue about what the rest of the series holds for Kevin Sr.? Scott Glenn: Life ain’t going to get easier.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 09:51
|
|
|
Lord Krangdar posted:We already knew that, since in the episode set on the day of the departure the people took their clothes, jewelry, makeup, etc. with them when they disappeared. But nobody ever mentioned animals departing before, as far as I know. Ok, my bad I didn't remember that, but it doesn't minimize the other big thing. Good to know regarding the animals though, thanks. Lord Krangdar posted:It was. You sound so confident. How do you know this for sure beyond Grace's last name thing? Niwrad posted:Those episodes weren't slow and boring for 45 minutes and featured a prominent character we cared about. Ok, well I don't feel this episode was slow or boring for any of the 55 minute running time and I'm sure there are many others who would agree with me. I've also always found Kevin Sr.'s character to be compelling. Again, I think it'd be weird for Kevin Jr. et al to arrive in Australia, eventually encounter Kevin Sr., and there be no backstory about what he was up to this entire time especially considering that (now confirmed as real) scene in International Assassin and all the scenes with Kevin Sr. and him going to Australia that were in the series prior to that. To me it's always seemed that Kevin Sr. was an important part of this story, and so this episode made complete sense to me and for them to do.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 11:08
|
|
|
Longbaugh01 posted:You sound so confident. How do you know this for sure beyond Grace's last name thing? Future Nora bikes to the monastery to drop off the pigeons and the lady had an Australian accent, iirc I want to know what's in those notes
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 11:18
|
|
|
I'm confused as to one thing; when Kevin Sr was talking about being in a hotel room (whoa) with a smoldering mattress (holy poo poo!) he said he saw a chicken on tv (what?). I was fully expecting him to say that he talked to his son, but I guess he doesn't remember his actual drug trip but instead just the aftermath, right? Maybe I have to watch it again. Anyway, at least the tv and mattress thing means that Kevin Jr DEFINITELY isn't crazy, if he was (either in death or a dream world) able to communicate with his dad. Aside from the actual departure, is this the first confirmed element of the supernatural/other worldly workings, for lack of a better term? Everything else has been able to be interpreted as possibly all in the characters' heads. Even tower man might have just witnesses him talking to himself.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 11:23
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:Future Nora bikes to the monastery to drop off the pigeons and the lady had an Australian accent, iirc We were talking about the season's prologue with the Millerites. Rupert Buttermilk posted:I'm confused as to one thing; when Kevin Sr was talking about being in a hotel room (whoa) with a smoldering mattress (holy poo poo!) he said he saw a chicken on tv (what?). I was fully expecting him to say that he talked to his son, but I guess he doesn't remember his actual drug trip but instead just the aftermath, right? Maybe I have to watch it again. Yeah he specifically said he didn't remember any details about the two week drug trip and is somehow confident that he didn't get to talk to God during that time either. Rupert Buttermilk posted:Anyway, at least the tv and mattress thing means that Kevin Jr DEFINITELY isn't crazy, if he was (either in death or a dream world) able to communicate with his dad. Aside from the actual departure, is this the first confirmed element of the supernatural/other worldly workings, for lack of a better term? Everything else has been able to be interpreted as possibly all in the characters' heads. The details match up with International Assassin:  And yeah, this kind of is the first confirmation of something like that apart from the Departure itself as far as I can recall. That's why it's big, this episode wasn't just spinning its wheels, and it was potentially very necessary for whatever the endgame here is...Or it winds up just being an ambiguous detail that is never resolved and they/we "let the mystery be". (People will hate that of course and say the whole series is garbage because of it.  )
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 12:47
|
|
|
Open Source Idiom posted:I will say this though -- What was Grace doing shopping for groceries at a Big W? What does she eat, batteries? 1kg bags of lollies and chocolates. I also doubt there is a Big W out near Brokenhill (although the fake town with the postoffice places it somewhere in Victoria with the postcode, despite being filmed in NSW.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 14:32
|
|
|
Longbaugh01 posted:He seemed really familiar, and I wondered if he was one of the indigenous people from The Right Stuff and guess what? He was. And of course Scott Glenn was also in it! (I don't think they shared any scenes.) I randomly watched Crocodile Dundee on cable for the first time in about 20 years last week. He was the guy with the nice watch!
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 15:12
|
|
|
vvvvvv well color me wrong vvvvvvvvv
Funso Banjo fucked around with this message at 17:14 on May 2, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 15:41
|
|
|
If the prologue people are talking about is the stuff with the Millerites, it was absolutely set in Australia according to the director of the episode, Mimi Leder.quote:Like last season, the premiere opens with a scene from the distant past—though not as distant as cavemen times. Why did you want to start that way? The sequence just does not do a good job at all of communicating that it's actually in Australia, which is a shame since it is otherwise pretty decent. Raxivace fucked around with this message at 16:31 on May 2, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 16:28
|
|
|
Raxivace posted:The sequence just does not do a good job at all of communicating that it's actually in Australia, which is a shame since it is otherwise pretty decent. Up to this point I would say it doesn't need to. Maybe it will come up in a future episode.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 17:14
|
|
|
Ok, cool. So that means Grace and her husband and their church might be descendants of that original Millerite group, and then the epilogue from the premiere might make more sense too.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 17:39
|
|
|
I really liked this episode and I don't understand the sentiment that it's a "wasted" episode at all. Kevin, Sr.'s crazy adventure will probably be very relevant in the upcoming episodes. Grace's church wasn't the same one we saw future-Nora delivering messages to, right?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 17:44
|
|
|
Niwrad posted:The acting was good and I understand what they tried to do. Kevin Sr Is just not a compelling character. Have to disagree, might not have loved this episode like Nora's episodes but I dug Sr's journey. I kept wondering if he was onto something or just batshit and I'm willing to go along for the ride to find out. Also, cultural appropriation is a crime?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 18:19
|
|
|
tomapot posted:Also, cultural appropriation is a crime? I think they're pretty serious about certain things there because of their history.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 18:23
|
|
|
I think recording them was the crime
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 18:39
|
|
|
That and trespassing on sacred lands. Kevin Sr. putting all that paint on was, while not technically illegal as I understand it, deeply cultural insensitive. From the way American media treats it, not quite blackface levels, but certainly in that ballpark.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:13
|
|
|
Maybe Kev jr gets sacrificed, but something good coincides with it, so it's deemed as necessary and fulfilling. Meanwhile, Nora, not wanting to fill the 'Jesus's Wife' role, hides away. Maybe she knows he was sacrificed for bullshit reasons and is understandably bitter and angry. Perhaps the question she's asked is akin to "Have you accepted Jesus into your life?"
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:21
|
|
|
I really wish/am pretty surprised that HBO or some intrepid TV blogger didn't have a "Primer on Australia's Indigenous Culture Laws" ready to post at 10:01 PM Sunday night. The context was enough for the episode's story but now I want to know more.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:28
|
|
|
Lord Krangdar posted:But nobody ever mentioned animals departing before, as far as I know. That's because they probably didn't, which throws the credentials of Tony the Chicken into doubt. Until the end, this episode had a lot of humor.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:40
|
|
|
Rupert Buttermilk posted:Maybe Kev jr gets sacrificed, but something good coincides with it, so it's deemed as necessary and fulfilling. Meanwhile, Nora, not wanting to fill the 'Jesus's Wife' role, hides away. Maybe she knows he was sacrificed for bullshit reasons and is understandably bitter and angry.  I could see this..
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:39
|
|
|
Rupert Buttermilk posted:Maybe Kev jr gets sacrificed, but something good coincides with it, so it's deemed as necessary and fulfilling. Meanwhile, Nora, not wanting to fill the 'Jesus's Wife' role, hides away. Maybe she knows he was sacrificed for bullshit reasons and is understandably bitter and angry. This is so good I feel like I'm reading a spoiler
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:41
|
|
|
Longbaugh01 posted:We were talking about the season's prologue with the Millerites. Wasn't the place Nora was visiting to get the dovse the same place as the Millerites? 
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 19:57
|
|
|
5 RING SHRIMP posted:This is so good I feel like I'm reading a spoiler Thanks! I both hope I am and am not right. I'd like to see this play out, but I also would have hated to have just spoiled everything accidentally.  Edit: Joke theory: this entire show is a prequel to the Kevin James sitcom "Kevin Can Wait". Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 20:35 on May 2, 2017 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 20:32
|
|
|
Rupert Buttermilk posted:Perhaps the question she's asked is akin to "Have you accepted Jesus into your life?" Yeah, that's definitely how I interpreted the question. Especially with how fervently the horse lady's bought in to the single page of the Book of Kevin they were exposed to in the following episode.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 20:39
|
|
|
I can see the series ending with
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 20:56
|
|
|
Professor Shark posted:The entire scene with Grace (?) and Kevin Sr made me think two very sad, desperate people were willing to grab any meaning from anything they could find to help fill their lives, especially the reverence that she treated the torn paper with at first. By the end she seems to have realized her mistake and is willing to accept reality, but then Kevin pulls her right back in to Crazytown! I really like that aspect of this episode. You've got this moment where two utterly crushed people are connecting and fully understand each others pain. It's really heartwarming and quite beautiful. Then you remember that these are two people who will absolutely reinforce their respective crazy into something potentially really loving scary.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 21:51
|
|
|
lol I just saw the third episode -- a full episode of filler. whoa Lindelof is a true storytelling genius, this has truly opened my eyes. 5 more to go and I'll watch them I guess, but are people still defending this show as something more than superficial escapism?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:20
|
|
|
Every tv show is "superficial escapism" you big old retard!
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:21
|
|
|
Oh and with some christian bullshit thrown in too boot. I dont enough about the aboriginal situation in Australia right now, but something tells me this is loving offensive too. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:22
|
|
|
5 RING SHRIMP posted:Every tv show is "superficial escapism" you big old retard! beep boop what is the funktion of stories? what is the difference between a good story that changes you as a human being, or teaches you empathy? beep boop I don't know, all stories are just superficial escapism beep boop.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:24
|
|
|
I don't get it
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:27
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 14, 2024 02:06 |
|
|
Mods ban this outed troll!!!!!
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2017 22:27
|
|
