'The Leftovers' Pilot Recap: After the Pope and Gary Busey Go 'Poof'

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Justin Theroux in the pilot episode of HBO's "The Leftovers."

Image: HBO

By Josh Dickey2014-06-30 08:04:32 UTC

The 140 million people who disappear without a trace in HBO’s Rapture-themed drama The Leftovers include a hilariously random assortment of celebrities: Pope Benedict XVI, Condoleezza Rice, J.Lo, Anthony Bourdain, Bonnie Raitt, “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie and Hollywood freakshow Gary Busey.

“The Pope. I get the Pope,” says a bartender at the local tavern in the fictional New York suburb of Mapleton. “But Gary f—king Busey? How does he make the cut?”

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Don’t try to reason why, responds police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux), knocking back beers as a cable news network scrolls through a who’s-who of famous missing persons.

It’s the three-year anniversary of Oct. 14, the date when an unexplained phenomenon known as "The Sudden Departure" caused 2 percent of the Earth’s population to evaporate into thin air. The Leftovers — co-created by Lost writer Damon Lindelof and “Little Children” novelist Tom Perrotta — deals with the lingering trauma and existential crises of those left behind, centering on Mapleton’s residents and the dysfunctional Garvey family in particular.

A scene from the pilot episode of HBO's "The Leftovers."

Kevin’s wife, Laurie (Amy Brenneman), has joined a creepy cult where members wear only white, smoke cigarettes nonstop and refuse to speak; they stalk various townfolk in an apparent recruitment operation but are otherwise nonviolent. When Laurie and company interrupt a memorial service for the vanished victims, brandishing a sign that shouts “STOP WASTING YOUR BREATH,” they don’t fight back against a brutal attack by the pissed-off crowd. (Kevin, estranged from Laurie, manages to break up the melee before anyone wound up dead.)

Meanwhile, Jill Garvey (Margaret Qualley) is a teenage trainwreck who channels her mommy issues by violently assaulting a classmate during a field hockey game. Her older brother Tom (Chris Zylka) left home to work as a driver for a mysterious — and seemingly unhinged — spiritual guru named Wayne (Paterson Joseph), who warns that “some bad s—t’s coming.”

Margaret Qualley as Jill Garvey in the pilot episode of HBO's "The Leftovers."

The pilot episode weaves in TV and radio coverage of The Sudden Departure, airing footage from a 10/14 Commission hearing wherein officials revealed they did not understand what caused the mass disappearance. Media pundits are shown debating religion versus science but they’re all squawk, no substance. This is the end of the world as we don’t know it.

Blending the supernatural with Americana-soaked existential dread, The Leftovers feels like a Stephen King “event” mini-series about The Rapture — or whatever that was! But Lindelof, the geek celebrity screenwriter with real talent for hooking an audience (even if he did ruin the ending of your favorite mind-bending island adventure), stamps the show with his trademark mixture of magic, mythology and levity. (That Busey line had to be his. And the faith-against-reason argument is pure Lost.)

Perrotta, adapting his acclaimed 2011 book of the same name, plays to his No. 1 storytelling strength: a keen eye for suburban angst and sharply written, deeply flawed characters. On the surface, Theroux’s Kevin is a straight arrow, play-it-safe kind of guy. He demands justice after a stray dog is shot dead in the street. He wants to cancel the Mapleton memorial over security concerns (aka, the worry that Laurie might get hurt mid-protest). But he’s no saint: Asked where he was during the maybe-Rapture, he tells a white lie; a flashback to an extramarital sexcapade negates his alibi.

The season-opener contains lots of graphic nudity, violence and animal cruelty — an R-rated departure for Lindelof, who kept things clean (for the most part) in his not-so-distant network past.

It would be nice to see a little more “Lost”-style heart to round out the darkness (cue a “YAY-UH” from Rust Cohle). Or not. The unsolved mystery, sans sentiment, should prove irresistible appointment television.

Long as Lindelof doesn't screw it up.

A few Leftovers leftovers:

• Peter Berg, who directed the pilot, created the TV version of Friday Night Lights — THE BEST — and provides a gift to fans of that beloved series with a cameo from actor Brad Leland, better known as Buddy Garrity.

• At first it seemed Laurie was at some sort of yoga retreat, what with the Zen vibe and all white and those mats on the floor. Then ... the smoking.

• Speaking of, what is with the cigarettes? Any ideas?

Seriously, if you have any ideas about the smoking, share in the comments.

Topics: damon lindelof, Entertainment, HBO, Recaps, The Leftovers, Television