‘The Leftovers’ season 2, episode 5 reaction: Christopher Eccleston on Matt’s big move
At the moment, there is little doubt in our mind that “The Leftovers” is hitting it out of the park with its second season. It may even be producing some of the best work we’ve seen on TV all year. Sunday’s episode was a tremendous spotlight into the world of Matt Jamison, a man who remains eternally optimistic despite what seem to be a cavalcade of terrible things just repeatedly happening to him time and time again. He somehow remains undeterred, and continues to fight the good fight.
For him, that fight means mostly making sure that his wife Mary, who is also pregnant with his child, finds a way to wake up once more from her vegetative state. That is why he was okay with allowing her to re-enter Jarden while he remains on the outside, without a wristband but with a group of people at the tourist camp who he can call a family in some way.
In explaining his character’s move in a postmortem with The Hollywood Reporter, the brilliant Christopher Eccleston passed along the following:
“Matt is pivotal in that he is the one that led the exodus to Miracle. His sister and Kevin (Justin Theroux) follow on the promise that he can give them somewhere to live. Matt was full of hope and determined that God would reward him if he kept his faith. And, of course, what led him there was a friendship with somebody within the faith. And this man is a carer. He’s absolutely fixed on caring for his wife, and a conviction that eventually God will bring her back to him. That’s it — it’s that simple. I think what is also interesting is that later in the episode, Matt puts down his burden of care and does give Mary up for a time, which is a very complex thing for somebody to do. But I think he finds a lightness in that, and he finds a congregation. He’s always looking to a congregation, and he finds one in the encampment. He also finds his personality and his calling.”
Surely Matt will surface once again later on this season and continue to have an opportunity to tell his story; by that point, maybe he can use this congregation to his benefit in a way that he has been unable to so far.
If you want to get some additional news right away when it comes to “The Leftovers,” our simple advice for you is to head over to the link here for last night’s review! Also, you can sign up over at this link to get some additional TV news on everything we cover, sent right over to you via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: HBO.)