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Josh Wigler and Antonio Mazzaro recap episode 3 of HBO’s The Leftovers: “Two Boats and a Helicopter.”

Josh thinks this is by far the best episode yet.  He is riveted by the story of Rev. Matt.  Antonio feels the same as well.  Episode 3 is actually focusing on just one character and this goes to show they have stories to tell.  Antonio is happy to know the show has got some supporting characters who get to pop up like this and it’s so compelling.  Josh is actually relieved that the episode didn’t focus on the Garvey’s so it’s a nice change of pace.  And that it’s nice there are other people worth focusing on.

They are also dubious of the magical character of Wayne.  At the end of the episode, they boost the Guilty Remnants up.  They are much more of the dangerous force, making them more interesting.  The way this episode ends with them in charge of Matt’s church is a force to be reckoned with.

In the beginning of the episode, Matt gives a sermon about a boy.  Antonio thinks the story is about Matt which is an interesting back story.  We have learned a lot of things about the family in this episode too.  You can also tell this is not the first time that Matt has gotten his butt kicked for his journalism style.  There seems to be a deep relationship between Rev. Matt and the Garvey family.

Josh likes the baptism scene because of the warmth being shown despite the darkness of the show.  And they finally got a funny line in this episode too, particularly the casino scene.  Antonio notices that the pigeons appearing is the second time they’ve seen a pigeon in this episode, which is pretty interesting.  Josh thinks they have to be tracking animals – dog, deer, and the birds.  The birds may be a sign of impending doom, Josh says.  But he wants to read some theories behind the appearance of the animals.

Josh thinks that the classic Matt misinterprets the signs and missing what’s really in front of him.  Antonio says he would’ve missed the sign too.  Josh and Antonio like Jim’s character and they’re pumped to see the Jimmy Lewis flashback episode.  Antonio is curious if losing someone would tick him off because so far, he seems to be doing well.

We find out that Nora and Matt are siblings. Josh thinks this is a good connection.  Josh says it’s good a couple stories here have been established.  Matt is connected to the Garvey’s.  Matt is connected to Nora.  Their parents died in a fire.  And Nora may be connected to the Garvey’s as well.  It resonates with Antonio that Nora would be the sister that Matt talked about in the story.  She refers to the “accident” and the “judge” and basically we don’t know what’s going on here yet.

Josh feels that Matt is going to fail horribly at being a good brother.  And this is the part of the episode that Josh doesn’t like when Matt is telling Nora that her husband is having an affair with the preschool teacher.  This is only Matt’s speculation and poor Doug couldn’t even defend himself because he’s gone.  Not cool at all.  Antonio says after seeing the rest of the scene when Matt comes home to his paralyzed wife, he wouldn’t be surprised if Matt snaps at some point.  Although he still thinks Matt is still being a jerk.

Laurie and Matt meeting at the back of Kevin Sr.’s house seems interesting,  Josh assumes the Guilty Remnants may not be aware of this.

Josh would love to see more scenes of the sudden departure.  They are getting different perspectives of the show which is cool.  Matt finds out that the church has been bought by the Guilty Remnants.  Josh didn’t see that coming.  It’s interesting that the group paid cash and it’s weird they have all that cash.  Antonio suspects there may still be a lot of things going on with the Guilty Remnants.