The Leftovers Recap: "Guest" - Just Shoot Me

(Before we get into this, I just wanna state that Nora does it for me. I’m not gonna say she’s “hot,” per se, but I definitely want to have sex with her. Now lets begin)

Sunday night’s episode of The Leftovers I thought was absolutely perfect. From the title to the opening scene to the very last frame, I thought it was a tight, clean, neat episode exploring one of the most interesting characters on the show. From beginning to end it all came full circle as we watched a full transformation of the woman who lost everything.

For the second week in a row we start off with a bang. Quite literally in this case. “Guest” begins with a glimpse into Nora Durst’s every day life – where we see that her grieving process won’t allow her to move on from losing her husband and 2 kids. Her house is virtually untouched since she lost them 3 years ago. The puzzles the kids were half way done with, the empty paper towel roll still on the holder. All exactly the same. We see that she still goes shopping for an entire family worth of groceries – just throwing out the old stuff and replacing it with the new. (Sidenote: Great cereal choices. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms are #1 and #2 in the Cereal Game.) And now most recently, she shows up outside her the school where her husband’s mistress worked to stare at her from afar. All these things are Nora’s way of holding on to anything that reminds her of her departed family. Doesn’t matter how impractical (the groceries) or how hurtful (looking at the woman who her husband cheating on her with), she just wants to keep her husband and children somehow present in her life.

And then came the scene with the bulletproof vest, which I think set the tone for the entire episode. Nora hires a hooker to come and fucking shoot her in the chest, which, on the surface, is just an awesome scene. Like the Gladys stoning last week, its another scene from The Leftovers really pushing the envelope. Never seen anything like that. Just wild, weird, and kinky. And when you dig a little deeper you realize how it encapsulates everything about Nora. She’s miserable. Consumed by the loss of her family. Unable to move on from The Departure, yet lacks the constitution for suicide (What up, Rust Cohle.) The brief moment of “death” after she takes that bullet in the chest gives her short respite from her miserable existence as Nora Durst, the woman who lost her entire family in the Departure.

This limbo that she exists in – this living purgatory – is seen throughout the episode “Guest.” In fact I think thats the meaning behind the title in the first place. Nora is a “Guest” everywhere she goes now. She doesn’t fit in. She can’t be normal. Everyone treats her differently. She never feels at home or welcome anywhere anymore. She hates her life and the feeling of being unable to let go and move on, yet she feels guilty about trying to do so. Part of her seems to hate the sympathy and special treatment she gets as Nora Durst, yet when her identity is stolen she goes on a rampage to find out who took it. Shes broken and depressed as “The Woman Who Lost Her Entire Family,” yet at this point it defines who she is. She flat out says to the judge “I’d like to remain Nora Durst.” Her entire existence is basically a constant memorial to her family. She literally exudes that persona, so much so that everyone she interviews always answers “Yes” to question 121 (More on that in a bit.) She shows glimpses of letting go – asking Garvey to jet away to Miami and forget about his daughter, partying with Ken Doll and his cohorts. Popping pills (I’ll have what she’s having, please. Approved by the FDA next year too!) and dry humping dolls. That nigh at the conference, for the first time in probably 3 years, Nora Durst wasn’t “Nora Durst” when she was in that hotel room. She finally got to just be a normal person. No pity party, no sympathy, no walking on egg shells. But just 12 hours later she’s at the hotel bar erupting on the “What’s Next” author Patrick Peterson for being a fraud. He still has a living daughter. He’s moved on to the point that he could write a book about his family. He doesn’t have it as bad as Nora! Nobody does! She’s Nora Durst – only a 1 in 128,000 chance of losing everyone like she did! Its a back-and-forth ping pong vibe all episode that gives you a glimpse into Nora’s torturous life. That is, until she meets Wayne.

Wayne has only been on camera about 10 minutes the entire series. We know he’s dangerous. We know he’s creepy. But thats all we really know. When Nora is first entering the conference there’s a priest discussing the rise of prophetic delusion after traumatic unexplainable events. Which, make no mistake about it, was very deliberate in an episode where Wayne appears. The slideshow is showing historical prophets such as Jesus and Buddha, but then shows false prophets like David Koresh from the Waco, Texas cult. The speaker goes on to say that believing in conversations with God can be a powerful coping mechanism, or, if unchecked, can be very dangerous. Well which one is Wayne? Up until now he’s seemed like the bad guy, but after his performance with Nora he seemed to be genuinely helpful. He’s not actually giving out magical hugs and he’s still charging a thousand bucks just to be in the room with him, but the affect he has on people is genuine. Is Wayne more Jesus or is he more Waco, Texas? Is he providing a way for Legacies to cope? Or is he on the verge of something dangerous? The first few episodes would lead you to believe he’s crazy, but “Guest” was the first glimpse of him maybe being a legitimate presence to help people. Whichever ends up being the case, he has a profound effect on Nora. He tells her shes allowed to have hope. He explains she can move on without forgetting. He lets her let go. All important things that anybody who’s grieving needs to come to understand. Wayne just has the charisma and bedside manner to convince people. Is he a con man? Yes. But does he get results? Yup. You could probably make that same argument for every major religious figure the world has seen.

The episode ends just as it began, with Nora off at the grocery store. We see she buys groceries for only herself. She replaces the paper towel roll. She doesn’t show up at the pre-school playground. And she gets her first “no” on question 121 – do you think the departed are in a better place? Teasing that question all episode was genius. I was dying to know what the question was the entire time. I was trying to guess it, waiting on edge for it. Between the grocery store, the pre-school, and question 121, this episode was wrapped up so neatly with a bow. Start to finish, 54 minutes, all came full circle back to where it started and we had seen everything we needed to see with Nora. Fantastic episode chronicling the person most affected by The Departure and seeing her finally let go and move on. Complete with a teaser for her and Chief Garvey beginning some sort of relationship. Ironically he’s probably the only person who can identify with how hard her struggle is. He’s going through a divorce, his wife is in the GR, Tom is gone, his daughter metaphorically is. Garvey didn’t lose anyone – technically – yet is probably the most similar to Nora. Equal but opposite. Can’t wait to see it unfold.

PS – Cool little easter egg from last night – The music Nora blasts during the gunshot scene is “Angel of Death” by Slayer, and the hooker’s name is Angel. Rather appropriate considering the circumstances.

PPS – Big Cat wants to do a Kevlar Challenge with me where he wears a bullet proof vest and I shoot him in the chest. I legitimately don’t think I could pull the trigger. You gotta be a SURE SHOT to pull that off.