A man after his own heart.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Kevin returned to the Leftovers' version of the afterlife for a riveting, brain-spiraling, and heartrending penultimate series episode where, after dying a couple of times in order to check items off on a beyond-the-grave grocery list that included learning a song and passing along some messages, Kevin wound up having a catharsis, violently cutting a key out of his own heart.
The afterlife world, which we saw twice back in Season 2, is, naturally, very reminiscent of the flash-sideways reality back in that final season of Lost. The viewers see familiar faces, in this case dead ones, but in a word-jumble version of the show's established story. Everyone's present, even those we haven't seen in a while, but in different roles. The "rules" of this world are far from clear and it seems like each time Kevin leaves the place he has to do it in a different manner. The most significant side-effect of this mysterious doppelganger-filled astral plane however is that it always shows Kevin certain varied truths about the real world.
Here though, the tough love lesson was that he was an abandoner by nature. Not just with Nora, though that was what this clarity session was about, but with Laurie as well. He's a non-communicator who chooses flight over honesty. For fear, really, that things might actually work out if he ever deiced to talk things through. So the final moments of "The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)," which used a funny throwaway line from David "God" Burton a few chapters back about Jesus' resurrection being fake because of an identical twin, were all about Kevin going into business for himself, having subconsciously summoned Patti back from the brink in order to blow up his purgatory-esque universe.
This trek back into the void re-established Kevin as his Season 2 "International Assassin" character, as Lindelof and co-writer Nick Cuse (who both also wrote last season's bizarro quest to take out Patti in the hotel) dropped us back into that strange mirror world (where mirrors could now be used by Kevin to swap bodies) where the stakes were once again life or death. This time though, life or death for the entire eternity established by what we can only assume is something akin to Heaven's waiting room.
Kevin's assassin was pitted against his own twin brother - the U.S. president, and leading member of the Guilty Remnant, who, like last time around, had risen to great and dangerous political heights. Dean, Evie, and Meg were all there. On the Aussie front, David Burton was, once again, God - this time as a voice in the assassin's ear - while Down Under Kevin Garvey and Christopher Sunday also appeared. Patti played the role of a rather vile Secretary of Defense who was out to exact the GR's ultimate plan of annihilating the human race. Every move, twist, and turn was a surreal delight while other specific images and bits of dialogue doubled as fun Easter eggs.
Back in the real world, Kevin Sr's apocalyptic storm was a'knocking, making it difficult for Kevin to run through his space/time to-do list. It's interesting to note here how the show handles its miracles. The elder Kevin turned out to be wrong about the flood. The next morning, there he was up on the roof, like the sorrowful true believers from the season's prologue, devastated because he thought he'd killed his son for nothing. But while the storm prophesy was false, Kevin's miraculous ability to not die was intact. None of this prevented him from using his "powers" outside of Jarden. Though it did seem like the final moments in the Other place were meant to be his last, as he and Patti held hands Fight Club-style while the missiles rained down.
There were many memorable moments throughout this chapter, from small scenes like President Kevin standing in front of his own portrait (in the same way his portrait is standing) to comedy bits like both Kevins having to plop their penis down on a scanner (poking some fun at the rumors about Theroux's massive member) to -- of course -- both Kevins listening to the wrenching words from their "Unfinished Romance Novel." All of it leading to that evisceration scene set to "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys (a song that was also used for the Season 3 teaser). Like drowning Patti in that well, Kevin was once again called upon to do something violent and metaphorically horrifying in order to bring about a state of peace and acceptance. What a freakin' visual. Not just Kevin doing it to himself, but also the white suit getting covered with blood. The Leftovers is somehow always able to shred our souls with some of the strangest, most left-field symbolism. It's stunning, unparalleled work.
Leftovers leftovers:
- Hey there, Season 1 opening credits score! It's nice to see you return right before the end. Though this episode wasn't quite as heavy as you'd imagine given the episodes you accompanied back in the first season, it felt right given the idea that the world might have been ending while Kevin was dead and grinding.
- Back to the penis thing for a second. Again, it was a funny bit of joshing at Theroux's expense - the schlong scanner. Complete with an audible "thwap" whenever he'd lay it down.
- We still don't know the true nature of that afterlife world other than the fact that it helped bring Patti peace (so that she could pass on, assumedly), Kevin goes there when he's killed, and that Kevin can leave it and return to his dead body. Do the dead souls in there subconsciously know who they really are when they're playing someone else? Like, when Kevin tried to pass messages along to Evie or to Grace's children, did they actually hear it deep down? As in, they're unable to break character and can only respond in manners that fit the mold, but on a sinking spirit level they get it?
- Opening the episode with Kevin and Nora in the tub was a nice way of signifying A: the tub, and B: the fact that this episode, and this entire final season really, would be about Kevin and Nora and their ability to love one another in such a chaotic world. Their fun, casual chatter in the bath was a nice reminder of how they were at their best while also sort of showing how they felt the most comfortable when they were just sort of joking around and not being totally direct about their feelings.
- What does any of this have to do with the flash-forward we caught at the end of the season premiere? I DON'T KNOW. So far, as of this moment, no critic's received a screener for the finale, so we're all riding a high of excitement just like y'all.
The Verdict
The Leftovers, right before its finale, delivered another classic as Kevin returned to his old gig as an afterlife assassin, pitted against himself in a subconscious attempt to gain the clarity he was running from back in reality. It was trippy, bloody, funny, and soul-crushing all at the same time.
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