Ann Dowd and Justin Theroux in "The Leftovers." Van Redin/HBO
This week’s episode of The Leftovers was a powerful one, ending with two deaths that all left us in total shock. It begins with Kevin waking up handcuffed to the bed to find Norah and the baby gone, and Patti sitting in the chair talking to him, telling him this is going to be a really hard day for him. She continues to bother him and mess with him throughout the day as he has breakdown after breakdown, beyond frustrated that she won’t leave him alone. He goes so far as to beg Patti to let him know what she wants him to do so that he can finally leave her alone. She tells him he needs to go to Egypt to find this wishing cup/challice, and then…do something really gross with it that I don’t want to write out in this blog haha! Anyway, she is just messing with him and it’s clear that she isn’t just some ghost with unfinished business, it’s like she’s going to continue to torment him just for kicks.
This entire episode’s theme is about Kevin’s visions of Patti, and how he is slipping further and further into the darkness of losing his sanity, just as his father did. We find out in this episode that one night when Kevin was sleepwalking, he went to Virgil to tell him all about Patti. He doesn’t remember any of this, and definitely doesn’t remember Virgil telling him how he can get rid of her. When Virgil explains it to him again, we find out that the only way to get rid of Patti, whom he calls his “adversary” is to join her on her turf (in death). Therefore, Kevin will have to poison himself, fight her on the other side, and then be revived by Virgil and come back. Originally, he had taken this advice, grabbed the cinder block and rope that we saw in earlier episodes, and tried to drown himself, but it was the earthquake that spared him.
We then find out more about Virgil’s own demons. “I’m just someone who once had an adversary of his own that made me do terrible things.” We know now that he’s a pedophile and these terrible things involved abusing John, his son. We can also guess that John is the one that shot him three times and then went to jail for attempted murder.
Before we get to the final scene, there are several other important moments that we witness. One, is of Laurie coming to Miracle to talk to Kevin about where Tommy might be. She ends up leaving, but he later goes to find her at her hotel. He explains to her what’s been happening with his visions of Patti, and she goes into psychiatrist mode telling him that what he’s seeing isn’t real, that he needs help just like his dad did, and that these psychotic breaks can even sometimes be genetic.
Another important scene is when Kevin goes to the firehouse and has to get his palm print taken and put into the database to see if it’s the one that matches the print found on the car where the girls disappeared. It must take a while for that to go through, because we obviously know it was his print but no one stopped him and he was able to leave. Fast forward to a scene with him and his daughter talking on the porch. It’s clear that throughout this episode she knows her dad has messed up yet again in trying to bring their family together. He tells her he really did want this new family to work for them and he wasn’t just pretending, but that he doesn’t know what he’s going to do to fix things.
Finally, Norah calls and gets in touch with Kevin. She refuses to tell him where she is and to stop calling her. Is it just me, or is she pretty selfish for leaving him because he decided to be honest with her and tell her that he’s been hallucinating?! I think she just should have gotten him help…or do anything but abandon him. As Patti said before, he should have never told Norah about the visions because she would leave him. One of my favorite parts is when Norah tells him she left the handcuff key under a sign she put on the pillow, and sure enough it’s there, but his response is “oh, she (Patti) was blocking it….” (referring to his vision of her this morning sitting on the chair. Obviously, this upsets Norah because she knows what he’s referring to.
Now before we move onto the final scene that’s on everyones mind, I want to take note of something fascinating about Virgil. In "The Divine Comedy," the character of Virgil is Dante's spiritual guide in his journey through hell and purgatory, ultimately leading him to Paradise. There are multiple times we hear Virgil insist that Kevin needs him as a guide and that he can't be doing this alone. I couldn't help but notice that connection! *Mind blown*
Moving on, Kevin is ready to experience death so that he can fight his adversary, be cleansed, and “vanquish” her, so he drinks the poison…has a seizure, and looks to be dead. Instead of Virgil giving him the shot of adrenaline, he squirts it out, makes the sign of the cross, and shoots himself. Cue Michael walking in, barely bothered by what he sees in front of him, and he casually starts dragging out Kevin’s body. So does this mean he is somehow in on this and he knew that would happen?!
Now obviously Kevin isn’t dead. There’s no way he can be. Plus this wouldn’t be the first time he’s cheated death. There are some theories that suggest his resurrection will be similar to the story of the bird in the box, and he will come back to life so to speak after three days. What are your theories? Let me know in the comments below!