The Leftovers - This Is The National Geographic Cover I've Been Trying To Ignore
Alright so this isn’t gonna be a recap like I’ve been doing the past few weeks. I haven’t had time to go back and rewatch it for a lot of the symbolism and write out one of those 1500 word monsters, and more importantly this episode threw me for a loop in a lot of ways. I’m really happy previous recaps that I’ve written have helped people make sense of the confusion, but this one might be a little different. A lot of this one confused me just as much as it probably did you. And its all because of Kevin Garvey Sr. and this fucking National Geographic cover.
Every episode before this, I thought was a very visceral, very real story. Obviously its got a very supernatural, unexplainable, sci-fi type of central conflict, but but almost every character – as wacky and extreme as they might be – can more or less be explained or discussed through rational thought. Bearing in mind how Lindelof and Perrotta have blatantly said this isn’t going to be a mystery about the Departed where we’ll one day find out where everyone went, each character and plot had a lot of very real issues to deal with. For example – Nora Durst is struggling with the loss of her entire family. The guilt she feels about trying to move on and the refusal to let go because of the finality of their deaths. Kevin Garvey Jr. is the police chief who’s personality is to try to fix everything in a world that simply cant be fixed. Laurie Garvey, as weird as she fucking is, is just an example of the bizarre ways people grieve. Holy Wayne and his magic hugs is just an example of a false prophet con man preying upon the vulnerable. Although he gets results we learned this past episode he has multiple Tom’s and Christine’s and is nothing more than a manipulative fraud during a time when society is susceptible and gullible. I wont continue one with Jill and Matt and the remaining characters, but you get my drift here? Despite being a story about a supernatural rapture situation, every thing is very human about each of the plotlines. Religious references galore and seemingly otherworldly dream sequences and coincidences but all real life shit.
Which is why Kevin Garvey Sr. is throwing me for a loop. I have no idea what to make of his character yet. I don’t think he’s crazy, yet that only really leaves the possibility that hes communicated with the dead or the Departed or some sort of spiritual beings. And that, to me, doesn’t seem to jive with the rest of the show. Everything else is how the mom or the priest or the police chief or the daughter etc etc deal with loss and the unexplainable tragedy. Kevin Garvey Sr.’s storyline seems to be going a completely different direction of “He knows what has actually happened.” Or at least he’s communicating with people who do, or somebody who has a higher understanding. It confuses the fuck out of me. I braced myself starting this show with the background of LOST, understanding that “answers” and conclusions tied up in a neat little bow were not anywhere on the horizon. But Kevin Garvey Sr.’s voices and his speech to his son to wake up and that he serves a purpose and he’s not gonna get off that easy all point in the direction that he’s some sort of medium. Some sort of conduit between the living that remain and those that are gone. I really don’t know what to make of that yet because I don’t want to get my hopes up that this is the case with the strong chance we never find out.
Which brings me to this goddam, motherfucking, stupid National Geographic cover that is teasing the shit out of me. Do you know how badly I want to know how this magazine relates to this story? As much as I want to know about the 4 toed statue and who was in the statue and what was the deal with Walt. This tease is such a Lindelof type of move its got my head ready to explode. And I really, really, really dont want to go down the rabbit hole because the chance that this isn’t going to end up meaning anything is probably like 95%. But I fucking did it anyway because I’m a sucker so here are some of the things going around the internet and reddit about this National Geographic from May 1972:
1) Cairo – Troubled Capital of the Arab World. Two things here – 1) supposedly the word Cairo can be heard over Kevin Garvey’s police scanner during his dream sequence, and the title of next weeks episode is ….”Cairo.” What does this mean? I have no fucking idea like I said this is probably bullshit
2) “Riddle of the Minoans” – The Minoans were a civilization that disappeared mysteriously. Seriously fuck this cover.
3) “The Spider that Lives Under Water” – its an article about some goddam spider that lives under the sea that “lives almost its entire life beneath the surface, building air-filled domiciles in which to dine, sleep, and even hatch its young.” Everyone says this is just how Wayne lives underground and hidden using his little Asian bitches and his suckers to reproduce. Come on now, give me a fucking break.
And then everyone just ignores the headline about Japan. I’m honestly trying not to do this. I don’t wanna start with the clues and the hidden meanings and the easter eggs. I love it, but I’m not ready to do that again. Not after Lost and True Detective. So I think that Kevin Garvey Sr and Kevin Garvey Jr are there to once again drop heavy, heavy religious references about father and son. I think this magazine is just going to be something tangible for Kevin Garvey Jr to latch on to in order to remind him that maybe his seemingly crazy father was right and that he has a higher purpose of some sort. And rather than it all pointing to where the Departed went maybe he’s referring more towards some sort of real life, physical, tangible conflict. I don’t know, maybe with AFTEC and the government handling the Legacies. Something real. Like I said, I really don’t know, because Kevin Garvey Sr. and the mysterious magazine are very vert different from the rest of this show. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. More the most part, I love the mystery and intrigue and the scavenger hunt type of shit. But I just don’t know what to make of it yet.
PS – Nora Durst is SEXY AS FUCK. Sneaky great rack and I was irrational pumped like a school boy to see her naked and see her get fucked. Also, this was probably the first happy moment of the entire series thus far. Kevin and Nora starting a relationship and moving on from their Departed/Non-Departed but fucked up families is the only hopeful thing this show has ever shown.
And theres another 1200 words because I can’t help myself and I’m a nerd with this show.