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[Erigu]

She killed herself because she hated herself. Fucking with Kevin was just the excuse she used to maintain the facade.

I'm sure it's going to be a shock, but... I don't buy it.
It seems to me that interpretation comes solely from last week's parlor trick and doesn't fit with how the character had been portrayed up to that point (minus the pre-departure episode from last season, of course).

 

[Fenderputty]

I had suspected Meg had something to do with the girls at the beginning of the episode when she meets John's daughter and was given carrots. I wasn't sure, so the ending still shocked me quite a bit though.

My favorite part of the episode was Matt's "living reminder" apology.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

I had suspected Meg had something to do with the girls at the beginning of the episode when she meets John's daughter and was given carrots. I wasn't sure, so the ending still shocked me quite a bit though.

My favorite part of the episode was Matt's "living reminder" apology.

I watched that part again tonight and man, there was some BITE behind Matt's words there. So good.

 

[Klocker]

I watched that part again tonight and man, there was some BITE behind Matt's words there. So good.

Matt is my favorite character based on the person he is portraying and the acting execution. The combination of eagerness to please and his determination in being righteous, disciplined and aware.

 

[Erigu]

Whatever happened to his crusade, by the way? The one that was even more important than his church?

 

[KingKong]

Matt is my favorite character based on the person he is portraying and the acting execution. The combination of eagerness to please and his determination in being righteous, disciplined and aware.

Eccleston is really really good. I love the way he eagerly says "yes" when she asks him if he wants her to tell him the answer

 

[Klocker]

Eccleston is really really good. I love the way he eagerly says "yes" when she asks him if he wants her to tell him the answer

Yep, exactly.
For a second I thought she would play him and he just flipped it.

 

[SMattera]

I didn't know they'd be in that trailer and whatnot, but the scene with the carrots gave it away for me.

I was never really sure where the girls had went, but I thought that maybe they had run away/faked their disappearance. Didn't see the GR tie coming, though.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Anyone else find this amusing? I know i do!

Hahahaha!

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Liv Tyler is a proper baddie. That look she gives when she walks away from the school bus - chilling.

There just seems to be so many unanswered questions going into next weeks finale that I just cant see how we can even get answers to half of them, not them I'm complaining mind you.

The Leftovers has never been about getting simple answers to hard questions, its just about hard questions and what happens to people who try and answer them.

No idea where the final episode is going to go and when I think of my favourite shows: The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos etc, you kind of knew where the plot lines were going and what was going to happen next. With this show though, I have no fucking idea and I absolutely love it for it.

 

[Frog-fu]

Episode was so good.

 

[TheFrza]

More Carrie Coon please. That is all

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

Whatever happened to his crusade, by the way? The one that was even more important than his church?

The last thing I remember him doing with that was telling Nora about her husband's affair, so maybe a lot of it was about her, which is good and right because everything should be about Carrie Coon. <3

I don't actually think that, just that she was the last to get the treatment before he lost the church (though maybe she was the last person he felt he should get to in Mapleton? Been a while since I saw season 1). I don't remember the timing but I think after the GR bought up the church after all the shit he went through to get the money to keep it he dropped his crusade.

 

[Geist-]

I had suspected Meg had something to do with the girls at the beginning of the episode when she meets John's daughter and was given carrots. I wasn't sure, so the ending still shocked me quite a bit though.

My favorite part of the episode was Matt's "living reminder" apology.

The whole Meg thing was getting a little weird for me, but that conversation with Matt totally changed it for me. I had such a low opinion of Lindelof before this show, but this show is so damn good. I can't tell if it's because of the other talented writers that this show is so good, or I was totally wrong about Lindelof in the first place.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

The whole Meg thing was getting a little weird for me, but that conversation with Matt totally changed it for me. I had such a low opinion of Lindelof before this show, but this show is so damn good. I can't tell if it's because of the other talented writers that this show is so good, or I was totally wrong about Lindelof in the first place.

I think he's found the right outlet for his storytelling style. He's not forced to tread water to keep ABC's biggest show afloat long after he planned like Lost, and he's not stuck cramming ideas he doesn't have time to explore into a 2hr script like Prometheus.

 

[SickBoy]

I never watched Lost, and really don't know much about Lindelof (other than people hated the end of Lost).

Based on this thread alone, my lack of background with him seems like a real plus.

 

[Saty]

Worst episode in the season and terrible in itself.

- Everything has to be a mystery syndrome strikes again. Oh gosh, what did her mother meant to say?! Meg gets her answer from Isaac (who proved to be legit with the walnuts mention). Meg gets her answer -- the viewers don't. Because they cut away. Because everything has to be a mystery. And then they use that answer which Meg didn't like as a reason to her 'grudge' with Miracle. Only if we knew the answer..

- Why is Tom complaining to Laurie? It was his idea 'to give something for the people to believe in'. He came up with the ruse.
- 'Why did you fuck me?' Surely you mean 'raped', Tom. The internet would in fire if it was a male character raping a female and then that woman would have addressed that situation as merely fucking.

- GR continues their criminal activity with no response from authorities. Hello cops, go arrest Meg for her school-bus assault please. I'm sure the driver can easily point them how this local GR group and their leader attacked him and locked the kids away. You know, that woman we always see in white and that we know is heading the GR branch in this place. NOTHING.

- And the show has the audacity to pretend like the GR doesn't condone violence or that they refrain from hurting kids because that will get the cops' attention - because apparently crimes against adults are fine and dandy!
- And again that unbridgeable jump of everyday people with no prior violent tendencies are all aboard hurting people, stoning people, killing people. Let's gloss that over all the way. That's the problem with the depiction of the GR. Most cults don't demand from its members to hurt and kill innocents. Here it's just a switch being hit: regular people turned to stone-cold killers. This is perfectly presented in Meg's plan.

- Meg wants to expand the GR into Jarden and for that to happen the town needs to suffer a loss, so she fakes a departure with the girls. Presto, people are flocking in into the Jarden-based GR. People who know what the GR is about and for some reason have no qualms to start hurting others on a dime.
Meg's motivation to damage the remaining place that feels safe is solid for the crazy that is the GR, but i feel that by having people think another Departure happened, that feeling of safety diminished.
It was a targeted Departure on the town that suffered no departures - that would have the residents freak out and actually provide a more sound reason to join the GR than we ever got for the original Departure. Which is again why i say that they completely squandered the story-line for Miracle. Focus on a town divided - people wanting it to be a Departure vs people who hope for it to be proved to be runaways, and people who view it as a clear sign and forming the GR.


Anyhow, this episode possibly works as the best one to display the series issues and faults and its wonky writing.

 

[Erigu]

Presto, people are flocking in into the Jarden-based GR. People who know what the GR is about and for some reason have no qualms to start hurting others on a dime.

And it's hard not to know about that unpleasant side of theirs considering how blatant they... wait, using the word "side" would imply that there are other sides to the group's actions. There aren't.
... "Just like any religion / cult", huh?

Meg's motivation to damage the remaining place that feels safe is solid for the crazy that is the GR

A bit weird that she'd have to split from the rest of the group to do something about Jarden though... Don't the others care about that place?

Anyhow, this episode possibly works as the best one to display the series issues and faults and its wonky writing.

B-but so many "answers"!

Speaking of "answers", I imagine I was also supposed to go "whoa" at the ringtone reveal, but how does it make sense?
The neighbors' daughter needed to keep a cellphone hidden in the house? Why? Was she watched by the feds? She's a young girl. There shouldn't be anything suspicious about her getting phone calls or texts. Even if she needed a second, super special untraceable cellphone or whatever, she could have just kept it on her. But nope.
And of course, the cricket ringtone. So loud the whole family gets to hear the "secret" cellphone. Brilliant idea.
Also, we were talking about how the Guilty Remnants don't have their own mythology, but crickets must be sacred to them (and that must be the official ringtone for the Guilty Remnants as a whole, since Meg uses it as well?), because otherwise I have no idea why she'd keep that ringtone when her father has clearly made it his mission to find the damn thing. Guess changing it to her regular ringtone would have made too much sense.
But yeah, great foreshadowing, guys.

 

[ThLunarian]

You can list alleged logical inconsistencies until you're blue in the face, but the real reason people are into this show is because it makes them feel things. It's very easy to care about these characters because they remind us of our own lives and of things we have gone through or been tempted by. The foreshadowing and the layered storytelling are bonuses.

 

[Erigu]

the real reason people are into this show is because it makes them feel things.

Well, I figured it wasn't particularly interested in making them think...

It's very easy to care about these characters because they remind us of our own lives and of things we have gone through or been tempted by.

Yes, that's how soap operas work. Yet some (even professional critics who should really know better) praise the show as being much more than that...

 

[ThLunarian]

Well, I figured it wasn't particularly interested in making them think...


Yes, that's how soap operas work. Yet some (even professional critics who should really know better) praise the show as being much more than that...

I don't watch soap operas so I can't comment on that, but when you say that the show doesn't make you think, I disagree.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Ok, something I completely forgot about, but needed to screencap. This was the flash during the questioning of Meg by the GR leaders.

Image behind spoiler because...

Spoiler

 

[RatskyWatsky]

As soon as Meg met Evie in the first few minutes of the episode, I knew that she would be connected to her disappearance.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

Did the International Assassin buzz help?

RATINGS: HBO’S “THE LEFTOVERS” REACHES SEASON HIGH

Per Nielsen cable data, Sunday’s “The Leftovers” was the highest-rated and most-watched episode of the second season.

The episode, which was the season’s penultimate installment, drew a 0.40 adults 18-49 rating and 861,000 total viewers.

Series highs, the numbers comfortably best the 0.32 rating and 696,000 viewership mark drawn by the previous week’s episode.

Though the best of season two, the performance remains a far cry from what the show delivered throughout its first season. No season one episode drew fewer than 1.38 million total viewers.

But, as the link said, still not even touching the worst S1 ratings.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

I wonder what it'll be like without Walking Dead on the air.

 

[TheOddOne]

- Variety: Damon Lindelof on ‘Leftovers’ Season 2 Finale, That Wild Cavewoman Opener, Twitter.

One thing I’ve really enjoyed about this season is that each episode feels like a different episode of TV. It doesn’t seem like 10 episodes of the same thing.

I’ll tell you, I’m watching “Jessica Jones” right now and loving it. I feel like everybody’s at different places in that book, so to speak. But more importantly, what you just said is the biggest issue, which is the episodes are indistinct. I’ve been watching season one of “The Knick” too, and there’s that episode “Get the Rope” — that amazing episode with the race riots. When that episode ended I was like, “I need to stop and take a couple of days off before I watch the next one.” That was an episode. From start to finish, that was an episode of TV.

You know, we call these things episodes for a reason. And not just because of structure. When someone has a mental-illness incident, we call it “an episode.” That’s the word that we use for those. The idea is that you can give each episode its own internal flavor and character. The way that we’ve obviously chosen to do that is by individuating the characters.

This is something that Noah Hawley does incredibly well [on “Fargo”], and “Walking Dead” has done it [at times] — the single character’s [point of view episode]. “Game of Thrones” is probably my favorite show on the air right now, but just give me a damn Tyrion episode. Give me just one that’s wall-to-wall Tyrion. The emotional impact that I would get when that episode ended [would be different], as opposed to [cutting to] “Meanwhile, over in Meereen.” I think it’s amazing what they do, but when [George R. R. Martin] wrote those books, each chapter is just called “Tyrion” or “Arya,” etc.

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

- Variety: Damon Lindelof on ‘Leftovers’ Season 2 Finale, That Wild Cavewoman Opener, Twitter.

Damon gets it!

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Damon gets it!

He absolutely does. That was a great read and reaffirms the reason I'm loving this second series.

Cannot wait to the finale, think its going to be a doozy

 

[SMattera]

Damon gets it!

This is an interesting idea:

“Game of Thrones” is probably my favorite show on the air right now, but just give me a damn Tyrion episode. Give me just one that’s wall-to-wall Tyrion. The emotional impact that I would get when that episode ended [would be different], as opposed to [cutting to] “Meanwhile, over in Meereen.” I think it’s amazing what they do, but when [George R. R. Martin] wrote those books, each chapter is just called “Tyrion” or “Arya,” etc.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

This is an interesting idea:

Totally is (and I wish they'd try it), but there's no way they could cover the amount of storylines they need to in a given season. For example, I feel like Reek and Ramsay covered maybe what, 25 minutes of total screen time last season? While the Lannisters/King's Landing had hours.

 

[Cornballer]

- NPR's Fresh Air: From 'Lost' To 'Leftovers', Show Creators Embrace Ambiguity And The Unknown

Damon Lindelof, the creator of the TV series Lost, has always been drawn to supernatural storytelling. As he explains to Fresh Air's Terry Gross, he is particularly interested "real-world stories where the supernatural can and often does occur."

"The question that has fascinated me the most — and I'm sure I'm not alone in this — is what happens when you die?" Lindelof says. "I think that the storytelling that I'm interested in is really talking about death and loss and grief."

Death, loss and grief are all central themes in Lindelof's HBO series, The Leftovers. Now in its second season, the show is based on a novel by Tom Perrotta, which tells the story of those left behind after 140 million people mysteriously disappear from Earth in an event known as the "Great Departure."

Perrotta, who co-created the show and who joins Lindelof for the interview, describes the Departure as an "earth-shattering event," which leaves the characters scrambling for answers that they may never learn. Perrotta says that it's this search for understanding that powers the show.

"I think one of the things that The Leftovers has taught me is just how much people need stories, and one of the things they need the stories for is, I think, to alleviate this anxiety of the human condition, which is we just don't know," Perrotta says. "We're still telling each other stories to make it better."

Excerpts and full 36 min audio interview via the link.

 

[backflip10019]

The Guilty Remnant is the least interesting part of this show. I wish they would move past it already.

 

[Hyun Sai]

Damon gets it!

Especially on this part, so sad and so true :

I do think also the fact that I&#8217;m not on Twitter and Twitter knows that I&#8217;m not on it &#8212; people are just much nicer. They&#8217;re nastier to you when they know you&#8217;re listening. If I announced that I was going back on Twitter all the nastiness would return, independent of what I was doing. I really believe that. There&#8217;s no use saying horrible things about me if I&#8217;m not there to see them, or they&#8217;re not going to get to me. It&#8217;s like, what&#8217;s the purpose in it? So I think me not being on Twitter actually makes people behave in a much more civil way about my writing. That&#8217;s what I tell myself, whether it&#8217;s true or not.

Great interview otherwise, a lot of thinking went into this show.

 

[ezekial45]

The Guilty Remnant is the least interesting part of this show. I wish they would move past it already.

I'd normally agree, but the way they were presented in the last episode was very engaging. I love the fact that they were orchestrating the disappearance.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

I'd normally agree, but the way they were presented in the last episode was very engaging. I love the fact that they were orchestrating the disappearance.

Engaging and fucking scary. That dude guarding the gate was pretty unsettling, and the fact that they no longer smoke or dress in white (or at least this offshoot fringe of them) makes them much more dangerous IMO, since it seems they no longer care about announcing themselves, just fucking lives and worlds up.

 

[Kadayi]

I hope Kevin is the hero that somehow rises from the ashes and foils Meg's plans.

I dare say that's the case.

And then came back to troll/haunt him.

If you'd been paying attention you'd of realized that Patti clearly had no say in the matter. She was as a chained to Kevin as he was to her.

- Everything has to be a mystery syndrome strikes again. Oh gosh, what did her mother meant to say?! Meg gets her answer from Isaac (who proved to be legit with the walnuts mention). Meg gets her answer -- the viewers don't. Because they cut away. Because everything has to be a mystery. And then they use that answer which Meg didn't like as a reason to her 'grudge' with Miracle.

Firstly Issac already outlined that the unasked question wasn't anything important, versus something mundane. It's not necessary for us to know. Secondly Megs grudge comes from unhappiness in herself. When we're first introduced to her she's hitting the Bolivian Marching Powder just to be able to deal with lunch with her mother. This is not the behaviour of a happy individual.

 

[Karu]

GR is one of the most fascinating aspects of the series and essential at least to S1. Season 1 wouldn't have worked without them. If you're talking specifically about S2? Sure... I wasn't the biggest fan of the last episode, but the - weirdly - more extreme part forming inside their ranks lead by Meg is at least an interesting angle.

 

[Erigu]

If you'd been paying attention you'd of realized that Patti clearly had no say in the matter. She was as a chained to Kevin as he was to her.

I don't remember anything about her also being forced to do everything she could to drive him crazy and ruin his life, but maybe that's because I wasn't paying attention!

Issac already outlined that the unasked question wasn't anything important, versus something mundane. It's not necessary for us to know.

The guy proved he was the real deal, warned her, gave her her answer... And she's so pissed she spits on the town? Whuh? And that's why she's currently planning some kind of weird attack? How old is she?
It's a reaction and a grudge so silly, immature, over-the-top, misguided, that one would hope that answer wasn't something completely mundane (note that I'm not arguing that particular point: it's entirely possible it was), but actually something rather significant. Basically, anything to make her reaction just a bit easier to swallow.

When we're first introduced to her she's hitting the Bolivian Marching Powder just to be able to deal with lunch with her mother. This is not the behaviour of a happy individual.

And that somehow explains her actions? That simple?
Man, I don't know why other writers work so hard...

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

The guy proved he was the real deal, warned her, gave her her answer... And she's so pissed she spits on the town? Whuh? And that's why she's currently planning some kind of weird attack? How old is she?
It's a reaction and a grudge so silly, immature, over-the-top, misguided, that one would hope that answer wasn't something completely mundane (note that I'm not arguing that particular point: it's entirely possible it was), but actually something rather significant. Basically, anything to make her reaction just a bit easier to swallow.

Her having a bad time there is not the totality of the reasoning, I'm sure. The GR thrives on uncomfortable reminders that "the world ended", so violently striking at the one place that survived unscathed would fit that message very well.

 

[biosnake20]

Amy Brenneman(Laurie Garvey) Is Hot For Her TV Son - CONAN on TBS

 

[BrokenBox]

The guy proved he was the real deal, warned her, gave her her answer... And she's so pissed she spits on the town? Whuh? And that's why she's currently planning some kind of weird attack? How old is she?
It's a reaction and a grudge so silly, immature, over-the-top, misguided, that one would hope that answer wasn't something completely mundane (note that I'm not arguing that particular point: it's entirely possible it was), but actually something rather significant. Basically, anything to make her reaction just a bit easier to swallow.

My thought was he gave a mundane answer to her, which ended up ticking her off because she had been searching quite a bit and basically didn't get what she thought she would. This angered her, and she realizes Miracle is the perfect place for the GR to stage something. I feel like it's right up the GR's alley (and she'll take it to the extreme, based on who she is now in S2).

 

[Erigu]

Her having a bad time there is not the totality of the reasoning, I'm sure. The GR thrives on uncomfortable reminders that "the world ended", so violently striking at the one place that survived unscathed would fit that message very well.

Then again, remind me: why did Meg join the Guilty Remnants? Did she lose somebody during the departure?
I only (vaguely, admittedly) remember her getting super pissed at them (as you would), and then hiding among them after she left her fiancé... Was there something else? A reason she'd be really into that whole Guilty Remnants thing?

My thought was he gave a mundane answer to her, which ended up ticking her off because she had been searching quite a bit and basically didn't get what she thought she would.

Well, yeah, but again:
1) he had clearly warned her about that
2) he's just that one guy who lives there, and the experience led her to spit at the whole town?
3) because "Jarden is bullshit", never mind how the psychic proved he was the real deal?
... Whah?

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

What got her all bent out of shape was explained in the episode. Her mother died, the next day was the departure, suddenly nobody gave a shit about her loss and forgot about her and her mother.

That said, I've never been all that satisfied with the GR, but I can sort of see how people in misery could be drawn to it. People in pain want to know they're not alone, and when they're in the GR their grief is normal. Everyone outside of it the GR is only hiding their pain, and if they can convince everyone that they should still be gripped by loss then that would make their grief wholly legitimate. The smoking, the not talking, not sure about those, but the overall drive I can kind of understand. At least that's how I take it.

Another way to look at it is that some people are stuck, unable to move past the loss. They see others getting on with their lives and grow frustrated at their own inability to do so. As it was a world-wide event, they're able to coalesce and become an echo chamber where not moving on is normality, and everyone else must be shown that they're wrong to think it's okay to not feel hurt.

Edit: Also I just moved to Grand Rapids, MI (GR) so this thread gives me the strangest mental images sometimes. Being in Michigan is like being a living reminder to the rest of the USA that the world ends every winter.

 

[Erigu]

Her mother died, the next day was the departure, suddenly nobody gave a shit about her loss and forgot about her and her mother.

If she's annoyed at people caring so much about the departure, joining the Guilty Remnants seems a bit of an odd choice though...
(and surely, there are other people like her who've recently lost people to something that was not the departure? support groups even, perhaps?)

Or maybe she merely joined the Guilty Remnants for the lulz. "They annoy the shit out of everybody? Sounds great: I hate them all!" Would fit with the psychic thing ("he pissed me off, so fuck him and his entire town!"). Maybe she's just exceptionally childish and petty.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

If she's annoyed at people caring so much about the departure, joining the Guilty Remnants seems a bit of an odd choice though...
(and surely, there are other people like her who've recently lost people to something that was not the departure? support groups even, perhaps?)

Or maybe she merely joined the Guilty Remnants for the lulz. "They annoy the shit out of everybody? Sounds great: I hate them all!" Would fit with the psychic thing ("he pissed me off, so fuck him and his entire town!"). Maybe she's just exceptionally childish and petty.

People are strange, maybe she ties that pain to the overarching loss of the departure. Because it happened she was never able to move on from her mother's death, and so feels that others should be unable to move on as well.

Ultimately I think you're looking for clear, rational reasons for someone to join a nihilistic doomsday cult, which is not a winning proposition.

 

[SMattera]

What got her all bent out of shape was explained in the episode. Her mother died, the next day was the departure, suddenly nobody gave a shit about her loss and forgot about her and her mother.

That said, I've never been all that satisfied with the GR, but I can sort of see how people in misery could be drawn to it. People in pain want to know they're not alone, and when they're in the GR their grief is normal. Everyone outside of it the GR is only hiding their pain, and if they can convince everyone that they should still be gripped by loss then that would make their grief wholly legitimate. The smoking, the not talking, not sure about those, but the overall drive I can kind of understand. At least that's how I take it.

Another way to look at it is that some people are stuck, unable to move past the loss. They see others getting on with their lives and grow frustrated at their own inability to do so. As it was a world-wide event, they're able to coalesce and become an echo chamber where not moving on is normality, and everyone else must be shown that they're wrong to think it's okay to not feel hurt.

Edit: Also I just moved to Grand Rapids, MI (GR) so this thread gives me the strangest mental images sometimes. Being in Michigan is like being a living reminder to the rest of the USA that the world ends every winter.

It seemed to be implied in the eighth episode that the not talking thing grew out of Patti's Jeopardy experience. "Do you know what Stewart said to me, in the green room before the show?...Absolutely nothing....There's a power to that." Of course, that would mean that Patti founded GR -- I'm not sure she did?

And it's sort of commentary on religion in general. Belonging to any religion generally implies participation in some sort of lifelong ritual that fundamentally doesn't make any sense (not consuming caffeine, circumcision, not eating pork, not working on a particular day of the week, etc.)

Also: go to Founder's. Often.

 

[David Incorporated Esq.]

It seemed to be implied in the eighth episode that the not talking thing grew out of Patti's Jeopardy experience. "Do you know what Stewart said to me, in the green room before the show?...Absolutely nothing....There's a power to that." Of course, that would mean that Patti founded GR -- I'm not sure she did?

And it's sort of commentary on religion in general. Belonging to any religion generally implies participation in some sort of lifelong ritual that fundamentally doesn't make any sense (not consuming caffeine, circumcision, not eating pork, not working on a particular day of the week, etc.)

Also: go to Founder's. Often.

Ooo I didn't make the connection with the not speaking thing. That's a nice little piece of background, though yes since Patti didn't start the movement it's not critical. And yes we live in a world with Scientologists, I'm okay with the GR.

Been to Founder's a few times! Great place! Still trying to get out some more but I'm not going to be here long (just a few months) so I'm kinda just taking it easy.

 

[Erigu]

Ultimately I think you're looking for clear, rational reasons for someone to join a nihilistic doomsday cult, which is not a winning proposition.

I'm just looking for vaguely satisfying motivations in a drama.
Although it's written by Lindelof, so yeah: not a winning proposition. It seems we always come back to the "hey, people do weird stuff" universal excuse. In Prometheus threads, apologists were blaming hypoxia. When Lindelof summed up the plot of the bad guys of Star Trek Into Darkness, he added "yes, typing all that made me realize how silly it is. But WAR IS SILLY!!!!".

we live in a world with Scientologists, I'm okay with the GR.

I asked "what's the draw?" earlier, and in Scientology's case, they make it very clear: they claim they can improve you and your life.

 

[Erigu]

Whoops.

 

[SMattera]

I'm just looking for vaguely satisfying motivations in a drama.
Although it's written by Lindelof, so yeah: not a winning proposition. It seems we always come back to the "hey, people do weird stuff" universal excuse. In Prometheus threads, apologists were blaming hypoxia. When Lindelof summed up the plot of the bad guys of Star Trek Into Darkness, he added "yes, typing all that made me realize how silly it is. But WAR IS SILLY!!!!".


I asked "what's the draw?" earlier, and in Scientology's case, they make it very clear: they claim they can improve you and your life.

It doesn't seem like you'd be satisfied with anyone's answer.

People are depressed. The GR says "Hey, it's OK to be depressed -- in fact, it's right to be."