Just started it and mystery beeeeeee !!!!! Predicted this last episode

This whole show I only thought about the ones left behind and their pain. I never flipped the switch and thought about the departed thinking about their departed. Humbles me a bit. Nora's restraint from her children is truly a sacrifice. It's a classic literature sacrifice. I never saw it coming.

So guesses.

Was it really a departure, or more of an asundering?

A single Earth that at a snapshot point in time was duplicated and there was a 2 vs 9% split of where people ended up?

What if she was lying to Kevin (like he did to her) to get a "reset" since he felt like she could never get past losing her kids?

it is irrelevant if she is lying or not. The point is that she reached a point herself when she can move on and be with Kevin.

Yeah it was nice knowing that she didn't. That was a real bummer thinking she would've done that to her kids.

When there was a knock at Nora's door, was anyone else expecting to see the international assasin version of Kevin standing outside?

Bazooka Joe said:

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When there was a knock at Nora's door, was anyone else expecting to see the international assasin version of Kevin standing outside?

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Not only that but also the International Assassin theme music. "Brrrrrrrrruuuummmmmmm...."

So, what was the purpose of Kevin's experiences in the other world?

That did not suck, but Kevin's journeys in the other world seemed like unneeded baggage that didn't add a whole lot to the show other than giving people something to talk about at work on Monday.

You could edit all if that out and just have him have a series of self inflicted brushes with death ( like nora shooting herself or Kevin suffocating himself) and the show would be as good, if not better.

Duncan Idaho said:

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That did not suck, but Kevin's journeys in the other world seemed like unneeded baggage that didn't add a whole lot to the show other than giving people something to talk about at work on Mondsy.

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The only reason I can justify Kevin's journey and return from the other world was so he could be shot dead (holy cow moment!)...and then return unharmed. Seems like a cheap justification for this "gotcha" moment. Totally unneeded in the grand scheme and cheapened the show in my opinion.

Damn i'll miss this show. So many times I would just stare at the screen these 3 seasons and think "I have no idea what is going on and I LOVE IT."

The finale was great to me. As good as we could have hoped for. I didn't think we would know what happened to Nora but her story was touching and emotional.

Ok so did i misinterpret what he was saying that he has a condition that wasn't diagnosed or found until after he had a heart attack? Was that condition something mental that caused him to have the death dreams or whatever?

SeattleAgJr said:

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it is irrelevant if she is lying or not. The point is that she reached a point herself when she can move on and be with Kevin.

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Yup.

The whole point of the show was examining how people deal with loss and grief...and the stories we tell ourselves to move past it.

I really enjoyed the series. Once you accept the premise that it is essentially an arthouse type post-modernism / impressionism metaphor heavy commentary on grief, loss, hope, purpose, you can just sit back and quite focusing on "figuring it out" like we have been conditioned to in most other TV series.

I enjoyed the freedom in that...as not all scenes had to "make sense."

TexasAggie008 said:

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They've been departed all of this time

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So ... technically my smarta*s theory was kind of right ? They are "departures" to the other world soo

Season 4 is the other world

BallerStaf2003 said:

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So, what was the purpose of Kevin's experiences in the other world?

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Well, if he didn't go through all that stuff (real or not to us) then he would have in no way believed Nora's tale of dimensional travel. In Kevin's head as Nora is telling him this s***, "wow, traveled to another dimension? I kinda did that. Seems possible."

Vito said:

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I just assumed Laurie committed suicide while scuba diving, so was trying to understand the phone call with Nora. Great job writers, I bit hook, line and sinker! Really nice finish!

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Oh that's right! Completely forgot she did that.

Great ending to the show. For me I definitely rank it season 2, 3, then 1 but I thought the ending of 3 really picked up the season. I had been a little disappointed with some previous episodes. Was pleasantly surprised with the explanation we got and enjoyed watching the characters grow during the series with the random "I don't understand what's going on but I'm really intrigued" feelings throughout.

Wow!

Finishing this thing has made me go back and start it over again.

Kevin's purgatory episodes were by far the best of the series so I don't see how anyone could think those cheapen the series. The show is obviously not without supernatural stuff, and the purgatory (and his father communicating while high) were aspects of that. Kevin being able to go there didn't have to mean that he was Jesus but it also shows there are things that aren't just physical in the leftovers world.

The finale was great, but I definitely think Nora was lying. The conversation with the nun sealed that for me as well of the imagery of her becoming the scapegoat on the hill and watching the goat walk away after she told Kevin.

At first I didn't understand why anyone would think Nora was lying. But after thinking about it I think it was meant to be an 'Inception' type of ending where you could believe whatever you want to. I personally think there's too many hints to say she didn't go through.

-The one lady scientist never believed that Nora would go through with it. She even said she'd back out in the end several times. Why keep bringing that up?
-When Nora's in the chamber and the water reaches her face she makes a sudden gasp. Is she taking a last gasp of air or is she panicking?
-Before going in, they give her directions on what would happen and everything she needed to do. She's already said her goodbye's to Matt. Now why would they have an intercom setup where she could hear them and they her?
-Nora "goes through" and eventually finds that she doesn't belong in that world. Why does she go through the trouble of tracking down the inventor of the machine to build it again just so she can become a hermit back in this world? Why not stay and do it there? Is she really the first one who thought of building the machine to come back?
-When she came back she thought about contacting Kevin but didn't think he'd believe her (even after he told her he died and came back to life). My guess is her story is such BS she doesn't truly believe it herself. So why would he?
-A lot of people wanted them to show her going through. This is why they didn't show anything.
-Why didn't she attend Matt's funeral? Because she wanted everyone to think she went through and never came back.
-And lastly, in a world where no one knows what happened and she's the only one to find out, she decides to tell no one? I don't think so.

MBAR said:

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Kevin's purgatory episodes were by far the best of the series so I don't see how anyone could think those cheapen the series. The show is obviously not without supernatural stuff, and the purgatory (and his father communicating while high) were aspects of that. Kevin being able to go there didn't have to mean that he was Jesus but it also shows there are things that aren't just physical in the leftovers world.

The finale was great, but I definitely think Nora was lying. The conversation with the nun sealed that for me as well of the imagery of her becoming the scapegoat on the hill and watching the goat walk away after she told Kevin.

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What about the conversation with the nun told you Nora made the story up? I'm also still trying to grasp the symbolism of the goat.

Those are some really great points. Also, Nora's big thing has always been discrediting false departure claims - stories people made up / told to give themselves/others closure, hope, etc. You could tell that Nora's crusade to stomp those stories out was very personal. In the end, though, she may (or may not) have finally told one herself for the same reasons all those other people did.

I love this show even more now, seeing just how purposely Lindelof & co crafted the finale to read either way.

I think Damon had some PTSD after the reaction to the Lost finale (Which I think was absolutely perfect) so he had to give a plausible explanation for the Departure to make a portion of the audience happy. I think the overall progression of Nora as a character is fantastic, though.

It's completely believable that she contacted the inventor to make a machine to go home. Just like Marty found Doc in BTTF2

Why the weird stories from Kevin to Nora when he first saw her?

Why did Nora go by Sarah ?

Quote:

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The goat at the wedding was a scapegoat. it carried off their sins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat

The nun told her "its just a nicer story" when they were discussing the birds and what people believed about their messages. The nun knows its bull**** that those messages are going all over the world, but they choose to think that anyway because it helps them be happy in that moment.

When Nora finds the goat, she takes on the beads that are holding it down, SHE becomes the scapegoat. She could have just tossed the beads aside but she puts them on as she's taking on the burden. She does the same for Kevin, in that she gives him the story to explain things and thats the moment you see the goat walk away and the birds (with messages of love) come back. I took that to mean that in her doing this, she was finally able to love. She knew the story was a lie, but she accepted it and just decided to go with the "nicer story" to finally let go of her sins/burden. Think back to the letter she was going to leave Kevin at the end of season 1 too. Norah's been "broken" for some time.

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Thanks for ruining the not-so-depressing ending.

Kevin said later in the episode that he didn't know what to say, so he just decided to start with a clean slate. And Nora was kind of in hiding, basically.

If nora made that story up then damn it was a good one. Guess she spent all that time in Australia thinking it up in case she ran into someone she knew. Mission Accomplished.

The Debt said:

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Quote:

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The goat at the wedding was a scapegoat. it carried off their sins.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scapegoat

The nun told her "its just a nicer story" when they were discussing the birds and what people believed about their messages. The nun knows its bull**** that those messages are going all over the world, but they choose to think that anyway because it helps them be happy in that moment.

When Nora finds the goat, she takes on the beads that are holding it down, SHE becomes the scapegoat. She could have just tossed the beads aside but she puts them on as she's taking on the burden. She does the same for Kevin, in that she gives him the story to explain things and thats the moment you see the goat walk away and the birds (with messages of love) come back. I took that to mean that in her doing this, she was finally able to love. She knew the story was a lie, but she accepted it and just decided to go with the "nicer story" to finally let go of her sins/burden. Think back to the letter she was going to leave Kevin at the end of season 1 too. Norah's been "broken" for some time.

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Thanks for ruining the not-so-depressing ending.

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haha, I think it was non depressing either way. She finally learned how to cope.