‘The Leftovers’ episode 9: Looking forward, and looking back, with Ann Dowd

Throughout most of “The Leftovers” season 1, we have looked at what is an extremely bleak picture for most of the characters. There is not a whole lot of hope in almost anything that they do, and sometimes, the best thing that they can hope for is just to stay alive.

However, the Guilty Remnant is governed by a very different sort of rules. They are a group ready and waiting to die, and even at times willing to even martyr themselves. The death of Gladys is one bit of evidence of that, as was Patti deciding to completely destroy her own existence at the end of this past episode “Cairo.”

So where do we see this organization go from here? While Ann Dowd (who played Patti for eight episodes) was of course coy on the future of her former organization in an interview with TV Guide, she did a very good job explaining what their philosophy is:

“Well, death is the triumph for Patti, for sure. The understanding with the Guilty Remnant is that life is over. So why are we here? Our job is to let go, strip ourselves of attachment, strip ourselves of the untruths that we live by day-to-day, take off the blinders, surrender to the truth that it is over, and prepare for whatever is next. The way through is death. I don’t think she gives lectures on that. I think that in her actions, we see. … When you don’t speak, the silence is the teacher.”

The thing is that we could see the future for the Guilty Remnant ultimately going one of two ways the rest of the season: Either the death of Patti unifies them further against the rest of the world, or actually makes them somewhat vulnerable to outside forces. We will find out soon enough.