Even Tommy, so often distanced from the other characters, is left on a hopeful note. With Wayne finally dead, and Christine on the run, he’s been set free from the bad influences that had been shaping his fate. Finally, Tommy returns to Mapleton – just in time, it seems, to prevent Laurie from jumping into the Hudson River and taking her own life. Whether or not Laurie even deserves to live is a question for next season, seeing as she did mastermind a scheme that almost ended up killing her own daughter. For now, though, both are left to cling to one another, finding momentary happiness in a world filled with so much suffering.
Nora, too, is granted a moment of clarity by all the mayhem, deciding at last to move on with her life and get away from a house and a town that reminds her only of what once was. That she ends up with Christine’s baby, left on Kevin’s doorstep by Tommy, is a heartwarming moment for which we can definitely thank Perrotta.
In fact, the entire ending feels much more like something from Perrotta’s mind than Lindelof’s. The big mysteries are put aside, and the episode has a clear focus not on what’s coming next for these characters but on what they’ve accomplished already. When we leave Kevin, Jill and Nora, along with two symbols of hope and rebirth (the once-feral dog, returned to civilization, and the abandoned child finally in the arms of a loving mother), we’re watching members of a newfound family finally recognizing the potential for happiness around them. The slight smile playing around Jill’s lips says it all. Even in a world ravaged by misery and uncertainty, love and hope will find a way. And now that the Guilty Remnant have so eagerly exposed everyone’s most intimate wounds, perhaps they can finally start to heal.
What’s left for season 2? On the way back from Cairo, Kevin has one of his most frightening dreams to date – of being locked up with his father, who is still determined to drive him crazy with reruns of Perfect Strangers and excerpts from an old National Geographic. The meaning of that dream, and Patti’s inclusion in it telling Kevin that they’re to be traveling companions, is still on the table. There are still forces at play in The Leftovers that remain in the shadows.
Despite that, though, “The Prodigal Son Returns” feels a lot like a series finale, not just a season ender (a clear consequence of HBO waiting a while to pick it up for a second season), so it should be very interesting to watch where Lindelof and Perrotta take the Garveys and company next. I don’t have much confidence in the show’s ability to reveal answers to any of its big questions, but its understanding of grief and depression, two weighty topics far too sensitive for most shows to dare explore, made it something I felt compelled to watch week after week. So, even though I may not entirely understand what Lindelof and Perrotta are preaching with the more supernatural elements of The Leftovers, their sermon has always been a captivating one. And I’ll be waiting eagerly to puzzle over more of it with the rest of you next summer.
*Thank you for your patience with this review. No advance screeners were granted for this finale.
