We've known for a while now that The Leftovers would be moving to Australia for its third and final season — so it was a bit surprising when The Leftovers Season 3 premiere made very little mention of the far flung continent, or of any characters' plans to travel there. Fortunately, the show didn't keep viewers waiting too long; by the end of the second episode, "Don't Be Ridiculous," not only had at least one character made plans for a trip Down Under, but we'd also visited the land of Oz for the first time… and what happened next was totally insane.
After learning that a group of scientists claim they've built a machine that can transport people to wherever the Departed went, Nora agreed to meet them in Australia to see the machine for herself. But it wasn't Nora who the show followed there; we'll still have to wait to see how she gets there, who she brings with her, and what happens to them Down Under. Instead, the show flashed over to Australia to introduce us to a brand new character: an Aussie chief of police named — wait for it — Kevin. Let me just say, I hope you didn't get too attached to poor Kevin, because he wasn't around for very long.
After hitting a kangaroo with his car and harassing a hapless subordinate, Kevin clocked out and went home for the night — probably looking forward to a nice, cold can of Foster's. Instead, he was greeted by a group of four strange women on horseback who demanded his name and proceeded to quote a passage from what sounded very much like The Book Of Kevin at him. "And he looked at them and raised his hand, but they did not wave in response. And so he clutched the stone to his chest and jumped into the water." (That's what happened during Kevin's first night in Miracle, when he saw Evie and her friends at the lake and then jumped in during one of his blackouts.)
The ladies, led by a woman named Grace, tranquilize Kevin, kidnap him, and take him to a farm, where they strap him to a board and proceed to drown him in a pond… clearly believing that he'll come back to life. Of course, viewers know this isn't Kevin Garvey, so it's not terribly shocking when he doesn't. RIP. Just then, a man on crutches comes out of the farmhouse behind them: Kevin Garvey, Sr. "What are you ladies up to?" he asks.
This sequence obviously raises a ton of questions. Who are these women? What do they want from the real Kevin? Why is it that they know so much about him — but not his last name, what he looks like, or the fact that he lives in the United States and not Australia? Is it purely a coincidence that they ended up on property belonging to the real Kevin's father? And how on earth do they have access to The Book Of Kevin, when there's supposedly only one copy and it's all the way over in Miracle, Texas?
And here I thought that The Leftovers' transition to Australia would actually start providing some answers to the show's long-running mysteries. Silly me. I should've known it would only make things more bizarre and mysterious.
