The Leftovers - Series Premiere - Recap: Remains of the Day

Since this was written as an advance review, it's generally on the spoiler-free side of things, just so you can all experience this show for yourselves. And do, because it really is one of the best new shows of the year. Yet it's hard to talk about The Leftovers without making note of its stunning, immediately effective opening. A mother places her crying baby in his car seat, distracted by the minutiae of daily life. Throughout the scene, the baby is crying frantically, but as the mother prepares to start the car, the baby suddenly stops crying. As the mother looks back, she discovers her child is gone. Cue a panic that serves as a stand-in for how damn near everyone affected by this unusual calamity probably reacted. It's a powerful opening, and it's the best scene in what proves to be an absolutely stellar premiere, even with all its oppressive bleakness and desperate yearning for the lost. Based on the novel by Tom Perrotta, and developed for television by Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof, The Leftovers centers on the small town of Mapleton in the years after the "Sudden Departure," which claimed 140 million people worldwide (including celebrities like Shakira, Gary Busey, and the Pope, in a strange, sudden dark comedy gag). The series doesn't seek to answer the mystery of why this happened, even while much of the narrative focuses on how science and religion have failed to provide closure by offering a solution to the great mystery. But whether you're someone who needs every mystery to have a solution, or if you're someone who simply wants to be taken for a ride, The Leftovers just might prove to be the best new show of the entire season. And one of the most well-cast.

Credit: HBO

Justin Theroux does some exceptional work with what could very easily have been a stock character: Kevin Garvey is the chief of police who is trying to piece his life back together after his wife (Amy Brenneman) joins the Guilty Remnant cult -- a movement dedicated to reminding the leftovers of those who were lost by essentially vanishing from their lives as well. Kevin is brought directly into the fight, so to speak, during a riot between the cult, and the townspeople who've grown so weary of their brand of judgmental penitence. Both Theroux and Brenneman bring true pathos to their respective roles, and they're among the standouts in a cast that also includes Doctor Who and Thor: The Dark World star Christopher Eccleston.

Credit: HBO

As downtrodden former reverend Matt Jamison, Eccleston offers a wonderfully internalized contrast for his performance. This is a man who is both steely-eyed and determined, but also put-upon and world-weary. I've long been a fan of Eccleston's work dating back to 1998's Elizabeth, yet this could very easily be the performance that makes him a household name. He only appears briefly in the pilot, but his brief appearance promises a much bigger role later, as does the appearance of Ann Dowd as Guilty Remnant leader Patti Levin. So memorable in her short stint this year on True Detective, Dowd gets a much larger platform for her talents. What's so striking is that while the Guilty Remnant is so uniformly creepy, she and Brenneman are giving two vastly different performances. Where Brenneman seems morose and resigned, Dowd is much fierier and intense. Naturally, I could go on forever about this cast, but we'd be here all day. Suffice it to say that everyone is good, even Liv Tyler as a Mapleton woman targeted by one of the cults (because, yes, there's more than one).

Credit: HBO

As an examination of faith vs. science, The Leftovers argues that neither side can provide the answers or closure that people are looking for, and that's a poignant statement to make. It's also a strangely effective device to have a New York suburb like Mapleton serve as the hub for our view into a world where we commemorate the loss of our loved ones on a pointless holiday known as "Heroes’ Day." I say "pointless" because it's hard to argue that anyone really knows why they're having this parade, since it's not as if the departed are going to attend, and it offers little in the way of closure for those left behind. Not only do they not know what happened to their loved ones, they don't know why either. Why were babies, adults, Christians, atheists, Good Samaritans, drug dealers, and J-Lo all taken? It's so frustratingly random to the people left behind that it defies explanation. How do you find your place in that world? Some people are clearly worse off than others. The Guilty Remnant is a chain-smoking cult of white-wearing followers who've all taken a vow of silence, while Holy Wayne (Paterson Joseph) is a kook trying to cure the world with free hugs (no, I'm not kidding). It's a Twilight Zone episode, come to life, and it defies the conventional norms of TV drama, in that there is no real antagonistic force. There's only the mystery. And it's a mystery that's likely never going to be solved.

Credit: HBO

And you know what? I'm okay with that. Ultimately, The Leftovers is a show that is far less about the why or the how, and instead about the what. The "what," of course, being the "What do people do after their loved ones up and vanish? Can the world carry on?" It's a question that looks to only grow more intriguing as the weeks roll on. Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch The Leftovers. It's above and beyond anything I expected to get in terms of new programming this summer. If it continues to deliver anywhere near the level of the premiere, this could be one for the all-time lists.