The Leftovers Review: It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World (Season 3 Episode 5)

On, The Leftovers Season 3 Episode 5, “It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World,” the attention turns to Matt Jamison as he and a few others band together on a journey to Melbourne to find Kevin.

Matt is a polarizing character. His faith often causes him to act erratically and brashly, and this episode is no different.

Matt enlists John and Michael on a rescue mission to get Kevin back to Jarden and Laurie accompanies them, much to his dismay.

This conflict between Laurie and Matt is interesting because their approach to Kevin is so different.

On one hand, Laurie being the pragmatist that she is, recognizes Kevin’s symptoms as part of a psychotic break, something he needs professional psychiatric help for.

On the other hand, Matt is convinced that Kevin is a messiah, and his presence is needed during the reckoning of the seventh anniversary.

All prophets were considered mad before accepted as prophets, so this clash between Laurie and Matt is embedded in historical reactions to the inexplicable.

Once on their journey through a private airplane to Tasmania and then a ferry to Melbourne, Matt is confronted with some truths and doubts of his own.

We learn that the leukemia he had as a child has returned, and now he’s dying.

On the ferry ride, which is occupied by a sex cult that worships a lion, a man in a red hat who calls himself God after being resurrected from the dead becomes a thorn in Matt’s side.

He is unable to shake the man’s phoniness and starts to obsess over his presence. After seeing the man throw someone into the water, Matt is determined to bring him to justice.

Instead, Matt gets roped into the man pretending to be God, and starts to question him as if he is the Creator that has sentenced him to death,

In many respects, it’s a disturbing scene. Everyone has a crisis of faith at some point, and with Matt being sick after having held it all together for so long, is his moment of doubt.

The man in the red hat spews some talk about the randomness of life which is funny considering he gets eaten by a lion at the end of the episode. And Matt seems to have realized something, though I’m not sure what.

The struggle with a higher power and the things that happen to us that we don’t think we deserve is a very relatable one. It’s hard to find the reason behind everything, and sometimes it’s easier to believe that there is no reason behind anything at all.

But, to believe in the unseen is to accept that there are things that are beyond our human understanding. There are questions that we simply don’t have the answers to, because God knows what we don’t.

This episode is definitely out there, but manages to reel itself in once we see how fractured Matt’s unwavering faith has been, and how our relationship with God can be challenging.

I’m excited for next week’s episode as it looks like it’s a Laurie-centered episode.It seems like she will once again have to use her skills as a therapist to help Kevin and Nora find something resembling peace.

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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