Summary: Nora and Matt say their goodbyes and Nora goes into the machine, but may have had second thoughts. It's unclear. Several years later, Kevin meets Nora in Australia and claims that he hardly knew her and asks her to a dance. Nora demands the truth and Kevin tells her that he has come to Australia ever since she was gone to look for her and he finally found her. Nora tells him that she went through the machine to the other world but changed her mind and came back upon seeing that her kids have moved on.
The Good: This was a spectacular finale. The storytelling in this season has been absolutely stellar, and the show has earned the right to end of on whatever note it pleases, so long as it has that same stellar storytelling. This finale may have been extremely unconventional, but it had tons of the aforementioned stellar storytelling, making for a tremendously satisfying finale, which ends the series on the perfect high note. The episode opened up on a high note too. We got to see what happened to Nora after we last saw her and Matt back in "Certified" and I thought it was well done. We got a little more intrigue with the machine and then we finally got to see it and how it worked, which was pretty nice. But better than that was the amazing final scene between Matt and Nora. I seriously thought it may have been the best thing in the episode because it was just so emotionally powerful and satisfying in every single way. Nothing can feel more real than Matt's final speech saying how he's afraid of his future and if he's going to die. It was the perfect swan song for his character and made the news of his death very poignant. Additionally, I loved the mad libs obituary for Nora, it was a wonderful lighthearted character moment to conclude the relationship between Matt and Nora. I was initially worried that the opening 10 minutes may overshadow the rest of the episode but thankfully that wasn't the case, and the rest of this episode was just as powerful and enjoyable. This entire episode centered around the Kevin and Nora getting back together, and the slow-paced storytelling made the entire plot feel so much for satisfying than it had any right to be. The Kevin/Nora story hasn't been bad throughout the show, but it certainly wasn't one of the series' highlights until now. Everything came together beautifully in this episode to make me buy into their relationship; the music, acting, symbolism, storytelling, dialogue and more delivered on the highest possible level. Each characters' stories were also tremendously powerful moments. Kevin explaining how he had to search all of Australia during his vacation year after year because he just couldn't believe Nora was gone was incredibly emotional. There were so many different feelings during the duration of that speech which made it something truly special. I went from feeling sad about what Kevin was doing, hopeful for his relationship and genuinely happy hearing his excitement at finally seeing Nora. This scene actually broke the trend that showing is better than telling, because seeing Kevin say his story here was absolutely incredible. Also, for once the lack of the brilliant music score actually aided the scene a ton and helped us really feel for Kevin. And of course Justin Theroux absolutely killed it in the scene and in the entire episode as a whole. He has played Kevin so well that it's clear that something is off when we see Kevin for the first time in this episode because the subtle touches of Kevin's character that we have grown accustomed to are different. On the other hand, Nora's story delivered just as poignant of a viewing experience. The best aspect is that we don't know if she's telling the truth and there are hints placed throughout the episode which suggest both possibilities. I will lean towards Nora lying, but the storytelling is strong enough for it to also work the other way too. But then again it doesn't matter if Nora was lying or telling the truth. What matters is that Kevin believes it and that she believes it. This show has never been about providing concrete answers, but always about what the characters believe in and I'm thrilled that this final episode continued the trend and brought it up to a new level. I'm so happy that Nora's story led to such a brilliant story being told. The ending scene was also spectacular and ended on a perfect visual with the birds returning. I wouldn't pick any other way to conclude this series. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Was Nora lying or not? I'm sure the goat and the necklaces made for some kind of symbolism but it went over my head. What did it mean? Best Moment: It's a toss up between Matt, Kevin and Nora's stories. In the end I will lean towards Nora's. Character of the Episode: Nora. Conclusion: What a spectacular finale. This finale totally captured the essence of the show and delivered something really special to send it off. As for the season overall, it was incredible. There were a few small problems, but overall the emotions and storytelling reached a new level this season. Every episode regularly delivered huge emotional impact and each episode felt memorable in its own way. This is absolutely one of the best seasons of television I have ever seen if not the best, capped off with what I think is the best series finale of all time. Score: 84
6 Comments
Ben
6/22/2018 01:51:25 pm
I really enjoyed your Leftovers reviews and agreed with pretty much all of your scores. I'd be interested in reading your scores/reviews over Person of Interest if that's a show you ever get round to watching. Lost and Leftovers are my two favourites shows too, followed by Person of Interest then Fargo and Hannibal. Comedy-wise, I'd be interested in reading reviews of Frasier (favourite sit-com, followed by Friends and King of Queens) if you ever watch that.
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Aaron D
6/24/2018 03:26:13 pm
Thanks for the input! I really love The Leftovers and I'm glad to see more love thrown around for one of the most under-rated shows of all time. As for your suggestions, I will definitely add Person of Interest on my schedule to watch. I haven't seen it before and I would love to start seeing it. I will likely start watching towards the end of the year as I still ahve to get a new computer, finish Westworld, The Terror and The Handmaid's Tale and catch up on Game of Thrones. After that, I will definitely check it out. As for Frasier, I will see if I can watch that once I'm done Friends, though that may take a little while, seeing that I don't often have the time to put up reviews for Friends and K still have 100+ episodes to go.
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Ben
8/3/2018 04:36:08 am
Thanks for the reply, Aaron. I'd also be curious to see your scores for the Lost episodes. I saw your scores for the first two seasons on Robin's site :)
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Aaron D
8/3/2018 10:29:42 am
A year ago or so I was doing a Lost rewatch while writing reviews, but I abandoned them due to personal reasons and the quality of the reviews which I thought were weaker than they should have been. All that is left is what I put on Robin's website. I plan to get back to Lost some day for sure and I know that I will cover the full show at some point down the line with full length reviews which should hopefully be much better than my earlier ones, especially since I have improved over the last year as a reviewer.
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Ben
9/1/2018 02:30:38 am
Season 1, 4 and 5 were certainly the most consistent. Still, a lot of my very favourite episodes and moments of the show were during Seasons 2 and 3, it's a just shame the other parts of those seasons were less consistent.
Joe Y
8/15/2020 12:02:06 am
For me I definitely prefer the Leftovers to Lost. I was skeptical about that first season— I found it pretty rough to get through. Extremely depressing and not that well-made either.
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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