Pilot (The Leftovers)
"Pilot" is the series premiere of the American drama television series The Leftovers. It originally aired on HBO in the United States on June 29, 2014. The series is based on Tom Perrota's novel of the same name.[1]
| "Pilot" | |
|---|---|
| The Leftovers episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Directed by | Peter Berg |
| Written by | Damon Lindelof Tom Perrota |
| Featured music | "Why Can't He Be You" by Patsy Cline A variation of "Vladimir's Blues" by Max Richter "Do or Die" by Flux Pavilion feat. Childish Gambino "My Lover's Prayer" by Otis Redding "FML" by Deadmau5 "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green "Retrograde" by James Blake "Sweet Love for Planet Earth" by Fuck Buttons "Andante / Reflection (End Title)" by Max Richter "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" by The Kingston Trio "Are You Satisfied" by Reignwolf |
| Cinematography by | Michael Slovis |
| Production code | 276070 |
| Original air date | June 29, 2014 |
| Running time | 72 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
Plot
October 14
A young mother (Natalie Gold) is at the laundromat with her baby, Sam, who won't stop crying. After putting Sam in the backseat, she ends a phone call and finds that Sam has disappeared. As she searches for him she sees a little boy calling out for his dad, who has also vanished. The parking lot and surrounding area erupt in mayhem, and several juxtaposed 911 calls are placed reporting the disappearance of numerous people.
Three years later
Police chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) witnesses Dean (Michael Gaston) shoot and kill a dog and flee in a truck during his morning run. After attempting to return the dog's remains to its owner, he rushes to a meeting with the Mayor, Lucy Warburton (Amanda Warren), to plan the Heroes Day parade for their town of Mapleton, New York. Though the Mayor is confident that it will be an uneventful gathering of grieving people, Kevin warns that the local Guilty Remnant chapter, who have grown to the point where they own several houses on a cul-de-sac in town, will protest the event, and leaves when his request to cancel the parade is denied. At a Guilty Remnant house, Laurie (Amy Brenneman) wakes amongst her fellow Remnants, and is angered when she is left out of the group's planned protest during the parade. As the Remnants do not speak, she writes her grievance to the group's leader, Patti (Ann Dowd), who allows her to join in.
At school, Kevin's daughter, Jill (Margaret Qualley) chooses not to participate in prayer. After breaking another girl's nose during field hockey practice, she is invited to a party by her friend, Aimee (Emily Meade). She gets permission from Kevin over dinner, and leaves for the party, but departs soon after a game in which Aimee and Jill's crush, Nick, have sex. While helping Adam (Max Carver) and Scott Frost (Charlie Carver) look for car keys, she finds the dead dog her father picked up inside the trunk of her car. With the help of the twins, she buries the dog. Elsewhere, Kevin's son Tom (Chris Zylka) drives a blindfolded Congressman Witten (Brad Leland) to a compound outside of town. Upon their arrival, the Congressman is taken to meet Holy Wayne (Paterson Joseph), and Tom chats with Christine (Annie Q.). Once the Congressman is ready to leave, Tom is asked to stay the night, as Wayne wants to speak with him. Wayne comes to Tom at night and tells him that Christine is important, and that he needs to protect her from bad things that are coming for them.
At dinner with her fiancé, Meg (Liv Tyler) continues to be harassed by Guilty Remnant members, including Laurie, for unknown reasons. When the couple head home, she finds the same Remnants standing outside her home, and slaps Laurie before heading inside in tears. The following day, Kevin arrives late to the parade and marches with the rest of the town. The Mayor unveils a statue in tribute to the victims of The Sudden Departure, and invites Nora Durst (Carrie Coon), a woman who lost her husband and two children, to speak. As she finishes, the Guilty Remnants arrive holding letter signs to spell "stop wasting your breath". The assembled townspeople take offense to their protest and attack them, and Kevin and his officers try to keep the peace. That night, after getting drunk, Kevin arrives at the Guilty Remnants cul-de-sac and demands to speak with Laurie, who is revealed to be his wife. He begs her to come home but she refuses to speak with him, and he is thrown off the property. Shortly afterward, Meg arrives in a taxi and asks Patti if she can stay with their group for a few days, and Patti has Laurie take her inside. Kevin stops driving when he sees a deer standing in the middle of the road. As he exits his car to approach the deer, it is chased down, killed, and eaten by a pack of dogs. Dean, arriving soon after, tells Kevin that "they are not our dogs anymore", and the pair shoot at the pack.
Production
"Pilot" was written by series creators Damon Lindelof & Tom Perrota and directed by Peter Berg, who appears in a cameo role as Pete.[2]
Reception
The pilot episode received 1.77 million viewers when it premiered, and achieved a 0.8 rating in the 18-49 demographic.[3] The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+.[4] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix said of the Garvey family: "What I've always found interesting about the story is that it focuses on the Garvey family, who lost absolutely no one close to them in the Departure, but who have all lost each other as a result" and stated "I don't know how many of you are going to have the patience for this going forward, but I'm all in."[5] For the 67th Writers Guild of America Awards, the pilot episode was nominated for Best Long Form Adapted.[6]
References
- Adalian, Josef (June 28, 2012). "Damon Lindelof Talks to Vulture About His New HBO Project: Tom Perotta's The Leftovers". Vulture. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
- Keene, Allison. "THE LEFTOVERS Series Premiere Recap: "Pilot"". collider.com. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
- Kondolojy, Amanda (July 1, 2014). "Sunday Cable Ratings: 'BET Awards' Leads Night + World Cup Soccer, 'True Blood', 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', 'The Last Ship' & More". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
- Saraiya, Sonia (June 29, 2014). "The Leftovers: "Pilot"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
- Sepinwall, Alan (June 29, 2014). "Series premiere review: 'The Leftovers' - 'Pilot': Paint the silence". HitFix. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
- Gelman, Vlada (December 4, 2014). "Good Wife, True Detective, Thrones, Louie Among 2015 WGA Nominees". TVLine. Retrieved December 5, 2014.