Spoilers

“Two Boats and A Helicopter”

This episode of The Leftovers was different than the first two and focused on a different character, to outstanding results.

Christopher Eccleston appeared as Reverend Matt Jamison, whose church was facing financial struggles. In fact, it was up for sale by the bank after foreclosure. The bank had allowed him to continue with his church but once there was a buyer, he would need to get out.

Of course, this episode’s conflict began when there was a buyer.

The bank allowed Matt a chance to beat the price, in cash, of the other buyer, but he had a deadline of the next day at the end of business hours.

We see the perspective of Matt through the episode as he desperately tried to find the $135,000 he was going to need. He wound up with $20,000 given to him by Kevin Garvey Sr, the former police chief that had been buried in the Garveys’ backyard.

He took that money and went to a casino, playing roulette three times, winning each. He made $160,000.

That was when the real troubles began. Another patron of the casino tried to rob him, but Matt fought back violently. Then, Matt stopped to help a member of the Guilty Remnant who had been hit in the face with a rock by a passing by vehicle. Before he could finish the call to 9-1-1, the vehicle returned and hit Matt in the face with a rock as well.

Matt had a series of prophetic dreams and memories of the past. When he awoke, he rushed back to his car and took the money to the bank. He came to find out that he had been in the hospital for three days and the church had been sold… to the Guilty Remnant.

This was an excellent episode with a stellar performance from Eccleston. The roulette wheel sequence was tense and filled with suspense. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen as the wheel went around. I picked out the guy who attacked Matt… saw that one coming, but Matt’s response was brutal and unexpected. His kindness nailed him though when he stopped to help those people. I knew something was going tohappen.

At the end, all I could think of was his housekeeper, who he hadn’t paid for three weeks, and who he asked to watch over his comatose wife on Monday when he went to the casino. He left her there for three days and we never found out what happened with her.

This was very different from the first two episodes and shows an effective style of storytelling.