The Leftovers: Solace for Tired Feet

"It's a girl!"

After the emotional high of "Guest", it was probably inevitable that we'd get more of a workhorse episode. It did include a few noteworthy plot developments…

First up: the birth of the "one". Apparently, that word does not mean what Christine and Tommy thought it meant. Hitting the rock bottom of their time on the lam, they are holed up in a filthy squat in Gary, Indiana (a.k.a. "Rock Bottom, USA"). Tommy sleuths his way to the discovery that neither he nor Christine nor Christine's fetus are as special as Wayne would have them believe. Tommy meets his counterpart, Bryan, and Liane, Bryan's equivalent of Christine.

Another "one of her" and another one of him.

Tom seems relieved that he's beginning to shake off the spell that Wayne had spun, and he and Bryan share some entertaining bonding. Still, it had to be hard to look in a mirror and see…Bryan. Tom has always exuded integrity, intelligence, and competence, so he likely assumed (as did the audience) that Wayne chose him as a guardian for Christine based on those qualities. When we meet the coke-snorting doofus Bryan, however, we see what the two men actually have in common: they were both overly trusting, useful patsies. Instead of a hero, Wayne made Tom into a sucker.

Also noteworthy: Kevin and Nora did it! With considerable enthusiasm! I remember a friend once saying that he and his partner were perfect for each other because their neuroses fit together like puzzle pieces. Both Nora and Kevin are still broken in a lot of ways, but they certainly complement each other.

Unfortunately, Kevin still has significant anger-management issues, and has been losing time. We learned that Aimee is living with the Garveys, and she is a lot more tuned in to Kevin than Jill is, noticing his memory lapses and new romance. I'm not sure if we'll learn more about what drove her to live with them, but she's likely to be dealing with her own trauma. (That makes it even more of a dick move when Kevin repays her concern by subtly threatening to kick her out.)

Hopefully Kevin's flushing of his psychiatric medications will help stabilize his mood and memory (although that seems like a better remedy on a TV show than in real life—please don't do that). While he has every reason to fear for his mental health and to doubt his institutionalized father's guidance, it's clear that he's on the threshold of doing just that. Kevin may have been able to lock his dad up again, but all signs are pointing to a reckoning with forces beyond himself and beyond Mapleton. It might not be the best move for him, but it will certainly be good for the audience. (I just hope he remembers to feed the dog.)

* The Leftovers is usually fairly on point with its episode titles, but "Solace for Tired Feet" had me scratching my head a bit. My take is that it's about characters who have reached the end of the line in one way or another: Tommy reaching the end of being under Wayne's thrall, Christine reaching the end of her pregnancy, Kevin and Nora reaching the end of their courtship, Kevin Sr. reaching the end of his escape attempt, Kevin reaching the end of his ability to drown his demons in medication or to ignore the message of the mysteriously unseen voices. May they all enjoy a brief respite and rest their tired feet before the lurch toward the end of the season.

"That was fucking fantastic."

Leftovers:

— We saw some parallels between Kevin and Tom, who are far apart geographically but not tempermentally: Both of them wounded their left hands, and both of them destroyed a cell phone. (Also? This show hates cell phones almost as much as it hates dogs.)

— Wayne is not looking well. Is he dying? Metamorphosing? Either way, I'm still hoping for an episode at a "Cult Leaders International" summit, where Wayne and Patti host panels such as "Recruitment Strategies", "Best Legal Entity for Your Cult", "How Much Mind Control is Too Much?", and "How to Get Your Acolytes to Do Their Dishes".

— The HBO recap stated: "Waking up, [Kevin] hears the word "Cairo" over his walkie". I couldn't hear that, but Cairo is one of the cover stories in the May 1972 issue of National Geographic, and the next episode is named "Cairo", so…are we going to Cairo? That would be cool. I'd take a trip to Cairo over another dream sequence any day.

— "He's the bridge." Bridge to what? Both Christine and Liane seemed to think they would bear a son, so it seems significant that Christine gave birth to a daughter. Could this be a problem for Wayne's master plan?

— Why did the facility not notify Kevin that his father was missing? A severe shortage of care workers became a catastrophe in the Covid years. One wonders what the situation might be in the post-departure world.

— In "Guest", there was a session on "Post-Departure Delusion Disorder", a.k.a. "The Prophet's Dilemma". Kevin Sr. would be an excellent case study.

— Speaking of Kevin Sr., notice how much more relaxed Jill is around her grandfather than her father. It would prompt a "Guest"-level emotional catharsis to see Jill and her father genuinely smile at each other.

"It won't be long now."

Quotes:

Aimee, to a twin: "Hey, when he suffocates, do you suffocate?"

Kevin, faux-texting Jill: "Hey, honey. About to go have sex with Nora for the first time. A little nervous. Wish me luck. And…a winky face."

Christine: "Nothing can hurt the baby. He's the one, the only one. He's the bridge."

Liane: "He said it would be my baby! He promised me. He's the one, he's the only one. He's the bridge!"

Tom: "And then what?"
Wayne: "Tom, don't ask me, 'then what?'"

Nora: "Well, I have to question their strategy. I mean, that's how they recruit people? 'Oh no, my family photos are gone, I better stop talking and start chain-smoking.'"

Billboard: "Lost Money since 10/14?" (In addition to the cult leaders and prophets in the post-rapture world, of course there would also be no shortage of good old-fashioned grifters.)

Tommy: "I just wanted to talk to him."
Bryan: "Why?"
Tommy: "Because I have one, too."
Bryan: "One of what?"
Tommy: "One of her."

Kevin Sr.: "The lucky ones, they're not needed. They get to stay sane. But we…we're in the fuckin' game now. You understand? That whistle blew three years ago, and you cannot ignore it anymore. Your services are being requested. Eyes open, wide awake. This is your invitation. This is your purpose. This is what you fucking accept."

Kevin: "I think I might be going crazy."
Nora: "Well, my friend, you've come to the right place."

Overall Rating:

"Solace for Tired Feet" was just okay. It hit a few too many repetitive notes (did we really need more scenes of Kevin being a crappy father, or of Jill and Laurie exchanging loaded glances?), but it did a nice job of setting up bigger developments that seem imminent. With just three episodes left in the season, I certainly hope they are.

Two out of four old issues of National Geographic,

Mothra

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