Leftovers Recap - Liv Tyler Is A Goddam Terrorist
The Leftovers is at its best when its real. When it focuses on human suffering and desperation and all the bad things that can come from that. Last week with Kevin in purgatory was cool; I liked it. I didnt need him crawling out of the dirt and resurrecting and I didnt need the complete departure from reality though. This week with Liv Tyler we get back to Leftovers basics. Fucked up people in a fucked up world trying to make sense of things. Whether that means joining a cult, running away, getting shot by prostitutes, or now basically becoming a fucking terrorist. Liv Tyler emerging as the cold blooded super villain was something that was sort of brewing when she raped Tom and almost set him on fire, but to see just how dark she had gone was awesome. As soon as she rolled that fake grenade on a school bus of children and smirked like the Grinch as those kids shrieked in horror, I knew we were dealing with an entirely new Meg who’s taken things to the next level. In a way she really did kind of represent how terrorism and fanaticism begin. Just like any other “religion” or group, the Guilty Remnant was formed to help understand things that cant be explained. To make sense and take comfort in a set of beliefs and a mantra thats more understandable. Wear white, smoke cigs, dont talk is a lot easier than answering where all your loved ones went. But just like any religion, there are extremists and fanatics. In this case the GR was already considered extreme and now maniac fucking Liv Tyler is taking it to the next level. Stoning people to death, raping people, acquiring C4, terrorizing children, and planning whatever she has in store for Jarden. Shes not interested in note pads and cigarettes anymore. Still rocks the white, not sure why, but the usual tenants of the Guilty Remnant aint hardcore enough for her anymore. Its honestly just like any other terrorist group who takes the normal beliefs (in this case, they were the already-not-s0-normal-beliefs) and skews them and perverts them to fit their already fucked up brain. Like a regime change. You thought the Guilty Remnant was bad? Well wait till you see the fucking lunatic who’s been waiting to take over.
Because thats all Liv Tyler really is. A fucked up lunatic. Like any other leader of terror. Something is wrong with her. Its not the Departure’s fault. Its not her mother’s death. Those things may have set her off but shes already a maniac. Like her mother said at lunch – there’s no stopping her when she gets a cause in her head. Shes obsessive. Blowing coke to get through lunch with her mother already showing her compulsive and addictive personality. As if her life is so difficult – her mom offering to pay for her wedding at their ritzy lunch debating who is gonna pay for her 500 dollar boots. Perfectly normal, loving husband ready to marry her. But Liv Tyler is just fucked in the head, plain and simple. Cant judge a book by its cover, and there were issues ready to rear their ugly heads as soon as given the opportunity. Maybe it was like Eddie Winslow said – the world not giving a fuck about her or her mother’s death. Couple that with the Departure and it was the perfect powder keg to set her off. There’s no way you can “fix” a person like that who’s just revving to go. Eddie Winslow flat out said learning your mother’s last words aint gonna fix whats broken inside. It seemed like those words were what Liv needed for closure but what could they really have been? They were at country club lunch discussing walnuts, weddings, and boots. Those words were probably meaningless, only further fueling the dark, desperate, warped mind of her daughter. Further unleashing this manipulative lunatic.
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No better example of her influence and manipulation than her and Tom Garvey shooting whiskey and dancing at the bar. Making out like a high school couple. Bro this is the chick that raped you and almost lit you on fire! She’s condemning people to be stoned! Thats your new girlfriend, dude!? But its a testament to A) how manipulative Liv Tyler can be. and B) how lost, confused, and desperate Tom Garvey is. I mean when you look at it, Tom has has it worse than any other person on this show. His life has been FUCKED UP. So if there’s anyone this susceptible and this desperate to make sense of everything, its him. To bring it back to my religion/terror analogy, there’s plenty of times where you say “How can people believe in this stuff? How could they follow and listen to such a monster?” But thats exactly the point. Some people, like Tom, are so hopeless and fucked up they will latch on to anything. Anyone who looks stable and powerful and in control. Thats Tom and Liv. Thats all of Liv’s followers. Why’d she fuck you? Because she knew you’d like that, bro. Power of the Pussy! You needed someone. Something. She gave it to you. Now you’re “pregnant.” Now you’re hers. Another follower converted. Terrorism.
And so now her and all her minions are looming outside of Miracle. Toying with Matt Jamison like a cat toys with a mouse. Sitting with all the other poor souls who arent allowed inside the gates. Ready to unleash her ultimate plot with her ace in the hole, Evie. I probably should have seen it coming with the initial exchange Live and Evie had in the beginning of the show. Evie saying “Nobody ever finds what they’re looking for here,” already displaying the hopelessness necessary to join Liv’s GR on steroids. But I didnt. I thought we were going to see the C4 they alluded to earlier in the show hidden in that barn. I thought we were truly going the terrorist route and she was just gonna blow shit up. Stupid me, though. This show goes deeper than that. Liv Tyler goes harder than that. Miracle is this supposedly perfect little world that everyone wants to get into. Where the world continued to spin and things stayed perfectly the same. And when she unveils Evie – the sweet missing golden child of Miracle – as a new member of her desolate, depressing cult, its gonna crush them. Flip them on their head. Basically a giant “fuck you” to Miracle. As we’ve heard from the beginning, there are no miracles in miracle. And Evie joining up with Liv is the beginning of the end for the perfect little bubble. I’d imagine that C4 comes into play somewhere along the lines, allowing all the outsiders in and essentially causing mass confusion and violence yet again on the anniversary of the Departure. Perhaps Liv hates the charmed life the residents of Miracle live because she hated her own cushy life before the Departure. Perhaps, like I said, she’s just fucked. Either way, the hell she’s about to unleash on our Axis Mundi of Miracle is going to be one hell of a season finale.
PS – There was a super quick cut at one point which I assumed to be inside Liv Tyler’s head that was the Jarden bridge:
In the preview we see John Murphy on the bridge fighting to get through people to Evie. Rest assured thats where the fireworks are going down. Evie and Liv are gonna crush the hearts of Miracle on that bridge.