The Leftovers opens on the day of an indiscriminate rapture – October 14 of an unknown year. In Mapleton, New York, a woman with a crying infant tries to get her laundry done at the local laundromat. After putting her clean clothes into the car, buckling the baby into his car seat and preparing to back out of her parking spot, the baby's crying suddenly stops. When she turns around, the baby has disappeared. A few spots away, a young boy’s dad disappeared, leaving his half-full shopping cart to wheel away without him. A car accident occurs across the street, the driver no longer at the wheel.

The Leftovers Recap

Three years after the event, which took 2% of the population (about 140 million people), Chief of Police Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) is taking a jog through town when he comes upon a dog. Just as he’s about to pet it, a man with a shotgun puts a bullet through the dog's head. Kevin ends up tracing the dog’s owner and telling her what happened, but she’s not grateful for the news. For unknown reasons, Kevin keeps the dead dog in the back of his car.

Meanwhile, Kevin’s son Tom (Chris Zylka), a college dropout, is driving a congressman out to a retreat in the middle of nowhere led by a savior figure named Wayne. The congressman forks over a hefty sum of cash for an audience with Wayne (Paterson Joseph). Tom’s role in Wayne’s mission is as uncertain as what Wayne’s mission actually is. He’s collected a group of young, attractive Asian women who pass their days lounging by a large pool. Tom’s growing closeness with one of the women – Christine – provokes Wayne’s ire. After clearing up the matter, Wayne ominously tells Tom, "The grace period is over, Tom. Time to go to work."

Tom’s sister Jill (Margaret Qualley) is struggling with anger issues as a senior in high school. She sardonically mimes hanging herself when her classroom, which has become more religious since the rapture, is consumed in a prayer for their souls, and she elbows a field hockey teammate square in the nose after some physical back and forth. Jill’s friend later suggests to Kevin that Jill be allowed to head to a party to unwind. He lets her take the car to what he thinks is merely a get together – but is really the picture of hedonistic debauchery with rampant drinking, drug use and random sex.

Laurie & The Guilty Remnants

Kevin’s wife, Tom and Jill’s mother Laurie (Amy Brenneman), is not dead, as one would assume. Since the rapture, she joined a group called the Guilty Remnants. The GRs have taken a vow of silence, wear only white, chain smoke cigarettes and live in a communal estate. They believe that God was showing them they were unworthy when they weren’t taken in the rapture. In order to spread their worldview, they hold silent protests, condemning those still living in the “old world.”

One of the things the GRs fight back against is Mapleton’s Heroes Parade, which was meant as a celebration of those taken in the rapture to help the living move on with their lives. As Chief of Police, Kevin tries to get the mayor to cancel the festivities, knowing full well that the GRs will come, which will in turn start a riot. Sure enough, after a few survivors speak about the loved ones they’ve lost, a group of GRs hold up cards that read, “Stop wasting your breath" and a violent riot ensues.

After The Heroes Parade

The night of the ill-fated parade and subsequent riot, at which his daughter confronted him about the dead dog in his trunk, Kevin heads to the bar. After a few beers, he goes to the GR commune to try to find and talk to his wife. There, he’s rebuffed by her, told he’s not welcome there by the cult ringleader and issued a beating by their muscle. As he peels away, Meg Abbott (Liv Tyler) pulls up in a taxi, seeking solace with the group, which had been following her for the last week.

Upon leaving the commune, Kevin comes across a buck in the center of the road. It’s the same buck he’s been seeing in his dreams and all over town. He accuses it of rampaging his kitchen that morning. Before he can get closer, a pack of wild dogs chase the deer, sinking their teeth into its flesh and pulling it apart. Pulling up behind Kevin is the man who shot the dog earlier in the week. “Am I awake?” Kevin asks the man. "You are now, aren't you," the man replies before telling Kevin to get his gun out and help him dispose of the beastly dogs.

The Leftovers airs Sundays on HBO at 10/9c.

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