Just a quick word of warning that this post contains spoilers for the latest episode of The Leftovers.
Episode 5 started off in true Leftovers fashion with a completely naked member of the Marine Nationale in a submarine somewhere in the South Pacific stealing his commanding officer’s nuclear launch key. He then proceeds at a full run in the nude down the hall to the room where the keys can be inserted. Once he reaches the room, he shows off some impressive balancing skills to turn both keys at the same time – one with his hand and one with his foot. He does this successfully and sets off a nuclear blast. We do not know where the blast occurred or if any lives were lost. I have a feeling this will come back into play in a future episode.
After the explosion, we cut to Matt as he bribes a charter pilot to take him to Australia along with John, Michael, and Lori. He is determined to get to Melbourne to locate Kevin, Jr. because he is absolutely sure that Kevin Jr. must be in Miracle on October the 14th. Along the way, they receive notice that no flights are allowed to land in Melbourne. They must divert to Tasmania where they try to charter an 11-hour boat ride to Melbourne, but it has been booked by a private party so they have to convince them to allow them to ride along. They are able to talk their way on board by Matt telling a dirty joke (at the organizers request). Along the way Matt is repeating a sermon to Michael as a distraction to the hedonism on the boat. During this Michael tells him that he thinks Lori is a disciple to Kevin Jr.
Matt sees a man get thrown overboard by a mute man who hands out cards stating, “YES I AM GOD”. Matt jumps in to save him, but cannot locate anyone and there is no passenger manifest due to the private party rental so no one believes him. He goes to confront the organizer of the party about the missing and utters a forbidden name, Frasier, in frustration. The group then tries to punish him by performing some kind of sex act on him but he escapes to confront the man who thinks he is God. After being punched by him, he knocks the man out and ties him to a wheelchair. The man appears to convince Matt that he is in fact God, and that he was responsible for the sudden departures. He says he did it for no other reason than he could. (He also says that Jesus had a twin brother who was the one who walked out of his tomb after Jesus’ death). The man tells Matt that he hasn’t been serving God, only himself, and that is why he is killing Matt with a disease. Matt unties the man and the man snaps his fingers and says Matt’s disease is cured.
The captain informs Matt that a fishing boat found the body, and that he will be alerting the police. Matt then comes clean to the group about his fate. Matt knows he has been duped at this point. When the ship comes to port, the police show up to arrest the man. As they do, a lion is set loose and mauls the man who thinks he’s god. Apparently he wasn’t really god after all. Matt appears to feel vindicated, but also disappointed.
The next episode is sure to cover a lot of ground because there are a lot of unanswered questions. Where are the Kevins going? Will Grace kill Kevin Jr. to see if he can be resurrected? What will Nora do now that Kevin Jr. appears to be done with her? Will she track down the physicists again?
Photo Credit: Ben King/HBO.
