If we had to find a term to explain why The Leftovers both a series that is not, and has probably never been on everyone’s lips, that would undoubtedly be misunderstanding. Because many of this series have not understood it. They didn’t understand what his real intentions were, his real goals. In many they misunderstood. The original fault, the reason why many have not been able to come to terms with The Leftovers, is certainly related to the presentation of the series. When we approach a new TV series to watch, the things we do are always the same: let’s read the plot to understand if it could be right for us and let’s also take a look at the cast and to the team of writers and producers, not forgetting the distribution network or platform. And when we approached The Leftovers, in fact, we imagined a far cry from what we would actually have faced.
“On October 14, 2011, 2% of the world’s population (140 million people) suddenly disappeared. Some are convinced that the Earth was affected by the “Rapture of the Church” others refuse to see it as a mystical event, and no one, in fact, really knows what happened. The series begins three years after the event, and follows the story of the community of Mapleton, where more than one hundred inhabitants have disappeared into thin air.” (Wikipedia)
The plot, broadly speaking, of The Leftovers which is easier to find online is this one above. I challenge anyone to have imagined, reading this plot, something other than: intriguing mystery series that will drive me crazy in an attempt to solve the main mystery to which others will surely be added, perhaps with crazy and continuous twists. An enhanced feeling from reading a particular name, that of Damon Lindelof, as creator of the series. Lindelof, so to speak, is the main writer of Lost. Imagine us the scribbles of Lostiathe constant cliffhangers, the breathtaking endgames it was just automatic, for everyone.
A deceptive sensation, because The Leftovers is little of this and above all it is much more.
The Leftovers is not the heir to Lost, it is entirely something else. Lost has always and in any case been characterized by the eyes of the protagonists that shine with hope despite all the difficulties they have to face, while in The Leftovers hope it mostly translates into an obsession with trying to get things back to the way they were. If what we saw in Lost was a form of active hopethe one staged by the characters of The Leftovers is instead a form of passive hopehow long equally stubborn. In Lost, the island is both condemnation and opportunity: all those who are there have sins to atone for, and they hope that if one day they can return to normal life they will have the opportunity to redeem themselves and change things. In The Leftovers instead there are no faults of the protagonists: the loss of loved ones, which suddenly vanish into thin air, is a shock to which everyone reacts differently but equally and understandably devastated. In The Leftovers passive hope and resignation coexistand we experience pain in its most ancestral form.
Se in Lost the exciting plot is therefore one of the strongest points, although not the only one, of the product, The Leftovers instead uses the intriguing plot as a pretext to tell something elseand the sci-fi element turns out to be mostly a creative gimmick, one instrument to tell about life after loss. A slow series, with long episodes, which we do not hesitate to define heavy in the positive sense of the term if there is one, because The Leftovers digs deep and with rude delicacy attempts to shed light on issues that we often tend not to want to address. A very different series from what we initially expected.
And this is where most of the spectators stop, here stop those who do not want to go further and bang their heads in front of the supposed betrayal of the promises inherent in the frantic reading of the plot. Many have not undertaken to understand it, demanding what was written in the initial synopsis: The Leftovers was supposed to be something exciting to watch, and that was it. And instead it is a series that must mainly be understood.
This, however, they did not strive for figure it out everyone. Too many didn’t want to understand it The Leftoversalthough it would perhaps be even more correct to say that they didn’t want to face itonce discovered what was underneath the patina of intriguing mystery with which she presented. It’s undoubtedly a huge shame, and it’s the main reason why this pearl never reached the popularity it deserved more than many cheap, empty and insignificant products that have hit the headlines in recent years.
