The Leftovers

Forrest and I have just finished the third and final series of The Leftovers. This has been our event viewing for 2021. After The Americans in 2019 and Justified in 2020, I had to search hard for something that might keep our excellent run going. Both those shows were utterly brilliant and compulsive long-term viewing, over 78 episodes each. The Leftovers has been a somewhat lesser commitment.

I'm very fussy. Life is too short to waste on dross or a story that fizzles out or loses its way. The Leftovers is jointly created by Damon Lindelof of Lost fame, a show that started brilliantly but completely lost its way. This has much of the same weirdness as Lost but I was encouraged by reviews to believe that it was a deeper, more interesting story and one which had a satisfying finale. That proved to be correct. It was a devastatingly good final episode.

It also has the best soundtrack of any series, ever, in my humble opinion, composed by Max Richter. I decided that I had to own the music. Every time I hear the theme, in any of its various forms, I get the chills.

Have a listen to my favourite version here. Be prepared to be swept away.