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The Leftovers Review: “Two Boats And A Helicopter” (Season 1, Episode 3)

In its third week, The Leftovers takes the bold step of focusing in on one character: Reverend Matt Jamison (Christopher Eccleston), a figure we haven't yet gotten a chance to know or really care about. Up until this point, his appearances on the show have involved him yelling at people during the Heroes Day Parade, yelling at people outside a coffee-shop, and giving mysterious town sad-sack Nora Durst a hug. This week, he deals with his post-Rapture difficulties, including declining attendance, death threats and his own screwed-up belief system. Strap in, Left-lovers (too soon?), it's another punishing hour in Mapleton.

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Driving away, Matt sees more pigeons on a red stop sign that he has to slam on his brakes not to go through. It’s flashing. Matt then arrives at the casino and plunks down the roll of cash. He asks for chips, convinced he’ll be able to make the money at the casino. “Would you like to bet?” A croupier at a roulette table asks him. “Yes, on red.” He clearly doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. He insists on playing on one table in particular. Much to everyone’s surprise, the ball lands on red. $40,000. He nods for the croupier to do it again. Somehow, it lands on red. $80,000. Matt cracks a smile. “Once more, please,” he says. Everyone is suspicious, unsure of how Matt is doing this. The ball circles around and around then stops. We don’t see where it lands. The croupier looks up at Matt, who’s stone-faced… then breaks into a wide grin.

Back at the counter, the woman counts out his winnings. “$160,000, congratulations, sir,” she says. He leaves and gets into his car. This entire time, I’m screaming at him, “GO GO GO!” He seemingly has no idea how dangerous it is to be carrying that much cash around. Breathing in, he sits in his car. A man knocks on the window – a drunk guy from the casino. Stupidly, he rolls down the window.

The man asks him for $200 for gas to go to Niagara Falls. Matt doesn’t see the harm and slips it through the window. “You know what, man? Why don’t you hold onto that, and I’ll take the envelope?” Before Matt can react, he’s been dragged out of the car and is getting beaten to the ground. The man grabs his envelope and makes a break for it. Livid, Matt finds the strength to stand, tackles the man and begins smashing his head into the ground. From the car waiting just a few feet away, the would-be mugger’s girlfriend screams in horror. As he stalks back to his car and returns the envelope to the passenger seat, Matt lets out an agonized scream.

Throughout the rest of the night, he pulls down street signs with Judge Roy Harden (the one he unmasked) on them. The next morning, he’s driving along and sees a teenager lean out the side of a speeding car to strike a Guilty Remnant member with a rock. As he calls 911, he hears a revving sound. The car’s backing up down the street just as fast. He’s nailed in the head with another rock and everything goes black. When he wakes up, he’s in the road outside a church. When he walks in, the camera begins to blur. It appears that he’s dreaming, something confirmed when he sees himself on a table, looking dumbstruck, with a woman and a man by his side. As Matt watches, a doctor comes in and tells the other Matt, “I’m sorry, but it’s spreading.” Cancer? Like the boy in his speech? Or corruption, seeing as he possibly killed his assailant the night before?

Matt hears a school bell, then sees an image of a burning house, outside of which he’s standing with a young girl (Nora, no doubt, and this is a flashback to what happened to them). “Are they burning in there?” She asks. “Yes, Nora, they are,” he says. “Why isn’t anybody doing anything?” She asks. True. The firefighters are just lounging. Matt hears a car’s brakes screeching then is transported to a scene of a car that’s been T-boned. We realize that, way back in the premiere, when that woman was screaming in the parking lot, Matt was in the car that got hit by a runaway truck. He sees the chaos and then looks over to see that Mary, who was driving, is bloody and unconscious on the steering wheel. He drags her out and walks around looking for help. Then, the scene changes again, to him having sex with Mary, who asks, “Why do you persist?” Then, her face changes to reveal Laurie. Like something out of a horror movie, she flies off him, and he looks to see that his hands are on fire (similar to Kevin’s vision last week). He burns and is consumed by the fire – perhaps he killed his assailant in that parking lot, and as a result he’s now as hell-bound as the rest of them?

Finally, he wakes up in the hospital. But where are his winnings? A nurse tells him it’s 4:30 – time’s almost up for him to save his church. He frantically tells her to call the bank and say that Matt Jamison is coming over with the money. He runs through the streets towards his car and reclaims the money. He’s almost too late to get to the bank – the door is locked. He bangs on the door and his friend from the bank eventually sees him, telling the guard to let him in. Matt eagerly presents the money, only to be told that it’s too late. “No, that can’t be,” Matt says. “You said until end of day.” That’s when the penny drops: “That was three days ago,” the man tells him. He’s baffled and agonized. (What about his infirmed wife, left in the possession of a no-fucks-given babysitter?) “They took possession yesterday,” the man tells him. “They?” Damn you, GR! Damn you! Matt walks to his church to see that the GR have taken over and are painting it all-white. They remove the Bibles, placing them in a trash bag, and start taking down his church flag. As he watches, Patti looks up and stares at him. The credits roll.