‘The Leftovers’ episode 3 preview: ‘Two Boats and a Helicopter’

“The Leftovers” is, two episodes in, not even close to the show that we thought it would be. It has been more violent at times, more surprising at others, and it makes this bizarre post-rapture environment interesting without even bringing in religious discourse all of the time.

Do we understand the critics who say that the show is a little too “weird” for its own good? Sure, but our response to some of these people is whether or not they actually watched “Lost.” Damon Lindelof does weird better than almost anyone in the business; he does not always explain all of his quirks, but he wraps them in compelling characters and forces you to care about them. Even the episode titles are weird, given that “Two Boats and a Helicopter” is following up tonight’s “Penguin One, Us Zero.”

If you want some more insight now into what you can expect in this episode, we suggest taking a look at the synopsis below:

“In the face of dwindling church attendance and threats on his life, Reverend Matt Jamison (Christopher Eccleston) continues to preach his gospel: that many who disappeared in the Departure were sinners and not saints. Matt’s campaign is detoured when he learns he may lose the church to foreclosure, forcing him to launch a desperate, last-minute plan to come up with the cash to keep it.”

We love the idea of this episode. There is religious discourse aplenty here, but it is far from the only thing going on and it is far from the normal interpretation of the Bible. We’d also love to see how Jamison plans on convincing others that the babies taken away were sinners, and deserved to go without the cognitive skills necessary to differentiate between right and wrong.

What do you want to see next week on the show? Share your thoughts with a comment.