The Leftovers series finale: Could the ending really be so simple?

Sometimes with television, we do see cases of shows blowing things out and becoming more and more crazy as they go along. However, on the flip side of that we rarely see examples of shows becoming more and more simple, and going from the broad and extreme to the muted and subdued. There is something greatly fascinating about this idea, and it’s something to look more towards courtesy of The Leftovers series finale on Sunday night.

It should be noted and reminded that we don’t know much of anything in terms of how the series finale will end. Nonetheless, there’s starting to be a good feeling in our heart as to how it should: With Kevin Garvey and Nora Durst coming back to each other, and realizing precisely what it is that they’ve been missing: That bravery to come together and combat the future as opposed to living in the past and balancing their own grief. This is what seems to be holding them back from their idea of happiness.

Much of this begins and ends with Kevin, a man who doesn’t trust himself to know that it’s okay to move forward. He was willing to allow himself to die and enter a stasis world just so that he could avoid the truth about Nora: She is really his salvation more than an afterlife, an ark, or anyone else. He put himself in a position to track down Christopher Sunday just to avoid it, and he didn’t even believe in a single thing Kevin Senior was saying about the flood.

You can argue that Nora’s actions, trying to “investigate” the scam in Australia, are reactionary to feeling as though she had nothing else. She tried something with Kevin, but he remained distant and detached. She is not faultless, but he did not make the journey any easier on her.

There is something rather great about the idea of The Leftovers as this great love story, one where the characters need to realize that clinging to what they have is far more important than desperately seeking what they don’t. This is what “blowing up the world” represented in so many ways on the penultimate episode last week: It’s so much easier to let fire and chaos rain down sometimes than to accept the truth for what it is.

How do you think The Leftovers series finale will end? Be sure to share some thoughts on the matter now in the comments!