The Leftovers, Pilot

Years ago I was given a copy of the book Left Behind, which from the broad strokes I imagined to be a really neat premise for a story: what would happen to society?  I learned quickly that my imagined version of the story was not in any way the one the authors wished to tell, as they moved down their checklist of evangelical christian prophecy without ever portraying one realistic human character.   The books are awful, awful stuff, and Fred Clark has spent years detailing the almost innumerable ways in which they fail.

I have not read The Leftovers and, coming into the first episode, I wish I had not read any reviews of it, either.  Either from its A-list TV pedigree (Lindelof and Berg, particularly) or by virtue of seeing enough following episodes to get into the series' groove, the incredibly positive reviews whitewashed the hell out of the pilot's rough spots, which were many.

The end episode-structure reveal recalls the post-Mad Men Prestige Television Pilot model, where everything you thought was wrong.  That the story is set in small town New York  didn't help the twist -- while fairly well disguised in the early going -- from feeling like extra, unnecessary audience manipulation.  There's more than enough world-building layout to do in a series like this; they could have played October 14th in linear time as a first act before skipping ahead three years and been the stronger for it.  For a simple reason: beyond the disastrous, leaden exposition meeting at the mayor's office* the pilot is quite strong.

The Leftovers  is practically a sound dramatic response to all of the story and character opportunities Left Behind ignored.  These are for the most part** recognizably human beings who inhabit a world that's survived an unexplained wound that remains fresh and open three years on.  None of the characters, even the interesting ones, are much beyond sketches after the first hour, but the tone of the episode and Berg's steady, intimate direction*** kept me invested.

It being HBO I was already going to give it at least two episodes; based on this it will get through the first four that made all the critics swoon so.

* For one, a linear structure would've pushed the Mayor's meeting, where the characters respond to long exposition with 'don't you think I already know that,' into the back half of the hour...

** I'm not sold on either of the two cults that are introduced here, but I can easily believe these cults could form in the world of the series.  More on those as they develop.

*** Theroux keeps giving me a Kyle Chandler vibe; but then tossing in Brad Leland was a take-me-out-of-the-story-just-enough moment that I was amused by the casting.