With those words, and one of his healing hugs, Wayne successfully lifts the cloud of grief from Nora’s mind. It’s one of the few riveting moments that The Leftovers has delivered so far, powered by Coon’s emotional performances and Paterson Joseph’s impressive monologuing – somehow, I’ve actually bought into the idea that Wayne could soak up peoples’ pain, like a sponge. The natural question is, what happens when he gets oversaturated? For now, at least, we’re left on a happy note. Nora returns to Mapleton with a brighter smile and begins to put her life back together, getting food for just herself at the supermarket, saving messages from her estranged brother and even accepting a date with Kevin.
In stepping outside of Mapleton and rousing Nora from her grief-fueled stupor, this episode succeeded in introducing something new but extremely crucial for The Leftovers. Though I sense Lindelof may be about to pull a bait-and-switch, “Guest” has (dare I say) hope in it. As it ends, Nora has found a brighter future for herself – one which also might improve Kevin’s spirits. Will this newfound optimism last? Probably not. I can picture Nora’s new lease on life being like a cutesy dog – and Lindelof is already aiming a sniper rifle at it, ready to hurt us all over again. But “Guest,” like almost every episode of The Leftovers so far, has small but important triumphs on its mind (also see: Kevin finding his bagels/shirts/Baby Jesus, or Meg returning to chop down a tree), and I’m happy to enjoy Nora’s until Lindelof rips it away.
“Guest” does do one other thing very effectively, and that’s fill in the greater universe of The Leftovers in a natural way. During her encounter with the salesman and his hard-partying friends, someone makes the point that insurance companies don’t want to pay policies on departed individuals (“because they’re not technically dead”) and that Nora’s employers design the questionnaire so as to discourage family members from even trying to collect. The new information about the DoSD delivered by the intruder is also very interesting. Will Lindelof give us some hints about the Sudden Departure, after all? I’m not sure about how much dramatic weight “it was a plasma ray” can actually hold, but it’s at least something.
Looking at the episode as a whole, “Guest” kept me interested in The Leftovers – which is more than I thought it would. Going into this week, as I said before, I was ready to kick this downer of a show to the curb. But there’s something about the small quantum of solace that Nora locates in this episode that makes me want to keep watching both her character and the show as a whole. Another punishing episode, and I’m out. Lindelof has a problem with hurting his viewers, providing small modicums of happiness then ruthlessly stamping them out. But “Guest” showed a slightly warmer side to The Leftovers – and for that, it has my stamp of approval.