The Leftovers returned Sunday after its premiere last week, revealing that Police Chief Kevin Garvey (Justin Theroux) is even more unstable and unreliable than he first appeared.

The Leftovers Recap

In the cold open, Tom Garvey (Chris Zylka), Kevin’s son, is away from the family at the compound of self-proclaimed messiah Wayne. The Feds are onto Wayne (Paterson Joseph) and his cult. They’ve learned that he claims to be able to hug the pain out of people, gaining his strength to do so by keeping company with teenage Asian girls and using college-aged men to run his errands. Since Wayne, whose compound is in Nevada, seems to be luring senators to pay him for hugs, the FBI determines he’s a threat to national security and sends a team to the compound.

Wayne's Commune Gets Raided

Raiding the cult’s HQ, the armed men barrel through rooms, tackling the girls Wayne has residing there. One agent corners Christine and demands to know where Wayne is. When she claims to not know where he is, the agent threatens to shoot her. Unwilling to take the chance of losing Wayne’s prized girl and his own crush, Tom shoots the agent dead and takes her to safety.

Eventually, Tom manages to break Christine out of the compound to a gas station, where Wayne meets them. He’s grateful that Tom has rescued Christine and offers him one of his salvation hugs, which Tom recoils from. Wayne then sends Tom and Christine off to hide away from him.

In Mapleton, New York, Kevin dreams that his daughter’s friend Aimee (Emily Meade) wakes him up and gets him to follow her outside and through the woods. There, he comes across the dog sniper who has a woman in his crosshairs. As he pulls the trigger on the unknown woman, Kevin looks down to his bare feet in the snow and sees that they're on fire. Waking up, he realizes his deck fence, not his feet, is aflame.

Kevin is in counseling, where his therapist wants to know about his status with his wife and about the "mystery man" who shoots the dogs. The therapist seems ready to believe he's seeing things.

Meg's Guilty Remnant Pledging

Meg (Liv Tyler) is at the commune, where he’s served pancakes with a smiley face. Later, Laurie (Amy Brenneman) watches as she takes an ax to a tree. During her pledging period, it’s clear that Meg is going to have a tough time adjusting to life as a Guilty Remnant. One thing that won’t be making it difficult is her fiancé, who doesn’t want her back. Newly single, Meg calls Kevin the “hot cop” when he comes by the commune for a routine check to make sure none of them are the reported missing.

Meanwhile, Jill (Margaret Qualley) and Aimee head to the local coffee shop, where the realize that Heroes Parade keynote speaker Nora Durst (Carrie Coon) – who lost her entire family in the rapture – has a gun in her purse. Weirder still, they watch on as Nora purposefully knocks her coffee off the table. The owner throws a mini fit until he realizes it’s the town celebrity and apologizes profusely for shouting at her. She apologizes, but fails to pay upon leaving.

Curiosity getting the better of them, Jill and Aimee trail Nora to a home, where she goes in to chat with the parents of a missing man, under the guise of conducting some research for their “departure benefit.” Nora appears to be gathering information in an attempt to deduce what happened to her loved ones, asking them all kinds of questions about their son with Down Syndrome, including about his sexual history.

Is Kevin Losing His Mind?

Kevin has sparked concern among his colleagues with his dog sniper story. His shrink didn’t believe him and neither does the mayor. Making matters worse is that the alleged sniper’s pickup truck is sitting in Kevin’s driveway with a dead dog in it. "They're not our dogs anymore," he tells Mayor Lucy Warburton (Amanda Warren), repeating the line the “mystery man” said to him in the premiere. However, the possibility that the “mystery man” actually is real increases as Kevin seems to have a few beers with him at his house. Adding to the chance the meeting was real is that Jill and Aimee walk into the house to find the six-pack.

At the office later, Lucy lets Kevin know, “I’m visiting tonight.” As it turns out, Lucy and Kevin’s father – the former Police Chief that retired after becoming mentally ill – are an item. Before Lucy’s visit with Kevin’s father, Kevin goes to see him. He tells him he’s worried that he too might be going crazy. In between hearing voices in the institution’s lounge, his father advises him to keep his troubles to himself.

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