Perhaps you’ve also started watching HBO’s The Leftovers. And perhaps, much like myself, you’ve just about reached the end of your rope watching HBO’s The Leftovers.
Oh, I know – it’s completely taboo to give up on a series especially in the first season. Often times I find my choice to abandon a television series is akin to switching lanes of traffic – things really get moving as soon as I leave in some kind of cosmic karma event.
Watching The Leftovers often makes for an unpleasant experience. It’s a grating hour-long slice of television that can’t seem to move on from how miserable its central characters have become. This structure often defies regular convention and hardly in a good way.
Perhaps the worst thing I can really say about the show is nobody in The Leftovers universe is even likeable – from the brooding perceived protagonist, his perpetually miserable teenage daughter and others – the producers of this show aren’t succeeding in making me care about anyone in particular.
A bit of a spoiler alert, the most recent episode of The Leftovers opens with one of the many confounding Guilty Remnant members being stoned to death. It’s a bit much to draw symbolism between something so brutal and watching this show, but I feel the clumsy symbolism employed by the show in previous installments warrants some kind of lazy metaphor on my part – The Leftovers repeatedly pummels its viewers with a barrage of dismal plot points. It’s a thoroughly negative experience.
Ultimately I think I will continue watching to see if the series can right itself – it’s easy to see glimpses of potential but thus far The Leftovers has mostly floundered. In my mind, however, I’m still waiting for truly exceptional summer television – a time of year when great shows typically go into full hibernation.
