The Leftovers Review: Don’t Be Ridiculous (Season 3 Episode 2)

No matter how hard Nora tries to move on from the devastation of losing her family, she is reminded time and time again that she can’t escape the sting of that loss.

This is evident in The Leftovers Season 3 Episode 2, “Don’t Be Ridiculous,” as Nora copes without Lily and starts to seek closure.

The Nora-centric episode follows her to a business/personal trip to St. Louis after she receives a creepy call from someone who offers her the opportunity to see her family again.

Nora is alarmed by the call, but is determined to expose this guy’s bullshit through her job at the DSD.

Exposing people’s bullshit has become a pattern in Nora’s character.

To me, Nora has always seemed like a person who thought she had a monopoly on pain and suffering. She suffered a major loss, probably worse than most, and because of it, she has often felt entitled to let people know that what they are facing isn’t nearly as important or real.

It’s why the nature of her job works so well for her.

People claim their loved ones have Departed post Sudden Departure, and her task is to prove that the missing person is either dead or faked their own death. It’s also why she and Erika were so contentious last season over Evie’s whereabouts.

In a very bizarre situation, Nora meets Mark Linn-Baker, star of Perfect Strangers.

He lost three of his co-workers to the Departure and wants to join them wherever they ended up going, claiming that this procedure involving radiation at departure hot spots is the way to do it.

Nora is rattled a little, especially after watching video testimonies of other people agreeing to the procedure, and is now maybe even thinking about it for herself. But she momentarily blocks it and goes to visit Lily.

We learn that Christine, Lily’s biological mother, claimed Lily at some point, and Nora gave her up without a fuss. After all, she knows what it feels like to want to be with her children again. But, the pain still cuts deep.

She later meets with Erika, who, all things considered, seems to be coping well. It’s good to know that unlike John, she has no doubts about Evie’s death. During their discussion, it’s nice to see Nora get real for once.

I feel like she and Kevin tip-toe around each other because they want things to be more normal than they actually are.

They are each other’s security blankets, and without each other, they just might completely fall apart, so they’re never totally honest. And once they are, it causes ruptures in their relationship.

But here, Nora shares with Erika how difficult it all is for her. She the names of her children tattooed on her arm before covering it up with a Wu-Tang Clan logo because she didn’t want to have to explain to people how she lost them to the Departure.

And then she broke her own arm to cover up the tattoo from Kevin.

If this show teaches us anything about coping, it’s that everyone does it in different ways, and some ways are more destructive than others.

While Nora wasn’t fortunate enough to have closure with her kids like Erika was with Evie, it’s clear that she’s looking for some kind of endgame to her pain.

And so, when she is reached with the opportunity to see her children again at the episode’s end, she agrees. $20,000 in cash and a plane ticket to Melbourne in tow.

Other final thoughts:

• Although I generally like these character contained episodes, it still doesn’t cease to frustrate me that the other great characters aren’t getting screen time. What a problem to have, right? When there is a focus on one person, I can’t help but think what the others are up to.
• Nora about Lily: “I wish you hadn’t left her for me.” Tommy: “I didn’t leave her for you Nora. I left her for my dad. I didn’t even know you existed.” Ouch. I loved this scene between them.
• So, Nora walks in on Kevin performing his coping mechanism, and tells him it’s OK. But, is it really, though?
• Kevin tells Nora, “I don’t want to kill myself.” It’s the same thing he told (dead) Patti last season. I liked that he repeated this line verbatim with the same desperation in his voice.

What did you think of this episode of The Leftovers? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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The Leftovers airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

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