By Cindy Davis | The Leftovers | October 26, 2015 |
By Cindy Davis | The Leftovers | October 26, 2015 |
***Spoiler Warning: Spoilers for The Leftovers through season 2, episode 4 follow. If you’re not caught up, back on out.***
About a quarter of the way into last night’s “Orange Sticker”, Justin Theroux’s Kevin Garvey was back at the lakebed looking for his phone — that he lost during last week’s episode while sleepwalking (attempting suicide) — when his pal, DeadPatti (Ann Dowd) showed up to mess with Kevin again.
“I know exactly where your phone is. I can tell you what happened to those girls, too. All you have to do is ask.”
DeadPatti gets many of the series’ best lines, including this diss of Nancy Drew’s precursors:
“Smart, retrace your steps. You’re a regular fucking Hardy Boy. Dipshits, those two. Hey, why didn’t you tell Nora about the whole cinderblock-tied-around-your-ankle thing? You afraid she’ll jump to conclusions? I know what conclusion I jumped to.”
DeadPatti then plays the hot/cold game with Kevin, helping to lead him to his buried-in-the-sand phone. It would seem Kevin actually did sink to the bottom of the lake, and his life was saved (or if everyone is already dead, not?) by whatever happened that drained all the water. Kevin finds his phone, looks at DeadPatti in disbelief, and she smiles at him and says,
You know the rules and so do I. I just want to tell you how I’m feeling. Got to make you understand.”
I don’t know about you, but my brain kinda did a Linda Blair thing — and then nearly danced with glee — when I realized DeadPatti had just Rickrolled Garvey. It might have been my favorite moment in the series (so far), so thank you Damon Lindelof & Tom Spezialy. But, they weren’t done yet.
Kevin got up and started walking away, and DeadPatti yelled after him, “Don’t get in that car, Kevin.” Cue John Murphy pulling up in his truck, and offering Kevin a ride. Next thing you know, John’s drinking a beer, pulling up to a motel and carrying a bat to talk to Isaac, who promptly shoots the attacking father. A shooting wasn’t even the worst part about Kevin going with John; the worst part was the (ahem) shitty tale DeadPatti told Kevin while he was looking for Isaac and John, but that’s a whole other story.
Much later, near the end of “Orange Sticker,” DeadPatti again appears to Kevin right after he steps on and breaks a vial of Miracle (“There are no miracles in Miracle”) water. After Patti tells Garvey what he has with Nora isn’t love — “it’s damage control” — and confronting Kevin with the reality of his suicide attempt,
“Let’s face it Kevin. There are people who try to commit suicide for attention. And then, there are people who really wanna fucking die, like me and you. I watched you do it, and you did not hesitate, my friend…and if not for an act of divine intervention, you’d be gone.”
Patti breaks out the Astley again, as she walks away.
“Never gonna give you up. Never gonna let you down. Never gonna run around and desert you.”
Then the guy in the makeshift tower asks Kevin who his friend is.
I (just wanna tell you how I’m feeling) love this show.
Obligatory.