‘The Leftovers’ season 2, episode 5 review: Matt says goodbye

“The Leftovers” season 2 has been nothing short of astounding so far. Each episode has attempted to say something profound about life in the face of the mystery of death, and every one of them has been in one way or another a home run.

Still, “No Room at the Inn” Sunday night proved itself to still be something different, a tour de force from the writers and from Christopher Eccleston as Matt Jamison. The man bared everything for this part: Physically, emotionally, and even at times spirit. He is basically Alexander with the no-good, very-bad day, and yet he makes it far more profound than the children’s story ever could.

Part of the brilliance of this hour came from its base construction. We told the story tonight of how Matt and Mary were ultimately robbed following an appointment, kept out of Jarden without a wristband, and then failed repeatedly to make it back in. He begged for money, beat a man, and even paid someone to try to whisk him back in using the sewer system. Nothing would work, and instead what we saw was the test of the human condition, of how willing others were to prey on a poor soul who was merely doing everything that he could to safe his wife, who woke up briefly within the town walls and he had the utmost faith she would again.

That’s what it is about with Matt: Faith. His faith that things would turn around for her caused him to make a huge sacrifice at the end of the hour: Using the bracelet of the robber (now dead) for Mary, and then allowing the robber’s son to keep his. He felt the best would come for her there, and he would take the place of one of the men suffering in the tourist camp outside the town walls. Maybe he feels the need to repent for all he tried to do to make it back in; or, maybe he just wants to be the martyr so no one else will.

Either way, Nora’s brother may be an outside force in Miracle National Park for the foreseeable future. After the brilliant work of this episode, let’s just not hope that this departure is a permanent one. Grade: A.

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