If enough people chime in and tell me it's worth the watch, I *might* give in.

But he burned me on LOST and again on Star Trek Darkness whatever.

At that point I vowed to myself, "never again".
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I didn't even watch season one when it aired. I heard a lot of comments on the show and decided to give it a try - blind bought and watched the whole season in three settings. Now I'm totally hooked. It's not something you causally watch; you've got to really give it all your attention, but it's now probably one of my 2 or 3 favorite shows. I record Walking Dead and Homeland for latter viewing so I can watch The Leftovers live.
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I'm as anti-Lindleof as anyone in the wake of Lost, but this show started and follows faithfully a novel Damon had nothing to do with until this show. And, you have to take a leap of faith here, the subject matter is MUCH better suited to some of the things Lindleof tried to do in Lost while shedding all of the wasted mysticism of Lost.

This show is firmly rooted in reality, and all the things that would make you shake your head as implausible or a narrative dead end in Lost, maintains the mystery we live with.

I'm honestly curious how an atheist or agnostic views the narrative. It does a sublime job of presenting scenarios that would play with one's faith, while remaining plausible chance and serendipity firmly rooted in the real world.

Case in point, I'm sure those with even the most passing acquaintance with the show is aware that, at some point in the narrative, 2% of the world's population simply disappeared. But while the characters in the show are deeply affected by it, that show makes no effort to explain it, outside various crackpot hypotheses being investigated by various entities.

It's just SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED. It's a fact of life, the same as 9/11 or the sinking of the Titanic. The story is 'OK, this happened and it hurts like hell. So what do we do now?' It's not X-files, or Fringe, or Dr. Who. It's certainly not Lost. It's putting regular people in extraordinary circumstances, and letting them stew in the uncertainty and the striving for meaning in the face of a meaningless universe. Are you blame? Could you have done anything different? Does it matter? Will it happen again? How are people reacting to your plight. Again, what do we now?
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I heard from people that watched season one that it was a disaster. Is that your take? I've also heard that season two is significantly better.

Maybe one of these days I'll catch up. But I still haven't seen the final season of Justified, which I think will premiere on Amazon in January, along with too many other shows to count.

FYI, I had the final season recorded by the Direct TV DVR crapped out and had to be replaced. .
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It can be disorienting early on, because you're dropped into the narrative and aren't spoon fed anything. But by the back end of the season, the things you know from earlier start paying off in spades. Episode 3 has a great standalone episode in the vein of Lost's Walkabout. Episode 6 is about where things start to gel. And Episodes 7-10 land haymaker after haymaker. If you find yourself in the later parts of season 1, you will find yourself explaining to friends and family why you're crying out of nowhere remembering bits and scenes.

It does require a bit of patience, but like I said. Even as early as episode 3 you start to see the amazing potential of the narrative.

Perhaps the best way I can explain it, it doesn't so much feel like watching a TV show, so much as watching the news covering tragedy in a part of the world you're almost but not quite familiar with. It's a very empathetic show that sticks in your brain.

Also, the credit sequence for the first season does it no real favors. It's not bad, but the credits for the second season, by the time you get there is perhaps the best credits [in terms of being perfectly suited for the show] in the history of television [but no fair peeking ahead of time].
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I don't even know what to make of that episode. I'll have to watch it again at some point. What a trip.
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I thought I was watching something directed by David Lynch. For me that's a good thing! I absolutely love this show; it's brilliant. :-)

I've never seen lost so I can't compare it to Leftovers, but interesting gibberish is not a bad explanation. The depth of emotion I have seen from these actors over two years is what really draws me in. You really get caught up in why they are what they are.
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This has become my favorite show on tv right now. Please God don't let them cancel it. All the actors have been great but Liv Tyler has just crushed her part in the final two episodes. Loved it! :-)
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I hated it the first 15 minutes, but it grew on me.
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It was interesting. I can imagine there will be plenty of debate about how they decided to depict Kevin's "battle" and where they took a show that has been largely grounded in realism until now.
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Alright. Not going to read thread. Is this series must watch or not? I'm having a hard time getting a read on how people feel about it.
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Absolutely a must watch. It's like nothing else on TV. It doesn't hit every time (what does, though?), but there's a number of excellent episodes (especially in season 2).
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It's very interesting gibberish.
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So it's Lost 2.0...
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Notably, the ratings haven't been good at all and HBO hasn't renewed it yet despite S2's quality, so there may also be only two episodes left in this series.
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