History Series / TheLeftovers

* WhatDidIDoLastNight: An ongoing problem for Kevin. In "Solace for Tired Feet", Garvey waits in his living room by the radio listening for news of his father, who has escaped from the psych ward. He nods off, has a strange dream with Dean and a dog in a mailbox, then wakes up in bed to find he managed to catch and leash a wild dog in his back yard, apparently with the intent to domesticate it. He also got bit for his trouble, which Aimee helped him bandage. Though he tries to deny it, Aimee figures out pretty quickly that he doesn't remember any of it. What's more concerning is the fact that he was sober at the time, so he ends up blaming it on the pills he was taking. It happens again in "Cairo", with the implication that it's happened several times before, only this time he [[spoiler:kidnapped Patti and took her to another city]].

* AbsenteeActor: Endemic - season two's "Off Ramp" is the first one in which Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston and Carrie Coon don't take part (although Theroux still appears in footage from the season one finale).

*** It's suggested that [[spoiler: Tom inherited it from him before he passed on.]]

* [[spoiler: BackFromTheDead]]: [[spoiler: Kevin, who having been temporarily killed at the end of the previous episode and buried by Michael, comes back to life at the end of "International Assassin." Michael, who witnesses this, gives an entirely understandable "Holy shit!" in response.]]

* DeadlyEuphemism: In 'Gladys', while speaking with Chief Garvey on the phone, ATFEC Agent Calaney offers to make the Guilty Remnant 'disappear' from Mapleton, permanently. [[spoiler: Kevin refuses the offer, which he later regrets.]]

* FromNobodyToNightmare: The antagonists. Wayne was an {{ephebophile}} street preacher who somehow moved up to cult leader having meetings with U.S. senators. Patti was one of Laurie's patients who wound up as the leader of the local Guilty Remnant chapter.

** "Axis Mundi," the season two premiere, has Evie and her friend Taylor streaking in the forest outside Miracle.

** In the second season, the town of Miracle, Texas, had no Departures. Something divine, or just a statistical anomaly? For what it's worth, the town has wasted no time earning sweet tourism bucks off it, even being declared a national park.

* QuirkyTown: The town of Miracle, Texas, is the only place where there were no departures. As such, the people there tolerate a bunch of weird behavior (such as the guy who regularly slaughters goats in front of people) because they believe this weirdness protected them.

* TownWithADarkSecret: Miracle, Texas, is a town that had zero departures. It's since been declared a national park and is a tourist trap. Its permanent residents are kinda odd. Like John Murphy, who burns down the home of a man he thinks was a phony psychic, with a record for attempted murder in the past, saying he "just didn't try hard enough" to kill the victim. Or the guy who slaughters a goat in the diner. Or the homeless guy camped on the pillar outside city hall.

** FanDisservice: "No Room at the Inn" ends with Matt stripping naked before being put in the stocks. Let's just say it isn't only the [[Characters/DoctorWhoRevivalSeriesDoctorsNineAndTen Ninth Doctor's]] ''ears'' [[LampshadedDoubleEntendre that are big...]]

* PrecisionFStrike: Even by the show's [[SirSwearsALot standards]], Meg's outburst to Matt in "Cairo" is notable.

** Episode 2.06 ("Lens") begins with Nora angrily throwing a rock through the Murphys' window. At episode's end - after [[spoiler:Nora has confronted Erika with the new DSD questionnaire, and as Kevin admits to Nora that he's being haunted by the ghost of Patty Levin]], Erika returns the favor.

* AbsenteeActor: Season two's "Off Ramp" is the first one in which Justin Theroux, Christopher Eccleston and Carrie Coon don't take part (although Theroux still appears in footage from the season one finale).

* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Jill, Chief Garvey's daughter, has been acting out ever since her mother abandoned the family to join the Guilty Remnant cult.

* DrivenToSuicide: A horrifyingly ''literal'' example in "Off Ramp" [[spoiler: by Susan, a rescued former Guilty Remnant member, due to the trauma of her experience among them and knowing they'll go after her. She swerves her car into oncoming traffic, taking her family along with her.]]

-->'''Women:''' What's your favorite book? Of the Bible.
-->'''Matt:''' Job.
-->'''Woman:''' What's his wife's name?
-->'''Matt:''' She isn't named. And she speaks only once. "''Does thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die.''"

* DrivenToSuicide: Susan, a rescued former Guilty Remnant member, due to the trauma of her experience among them and knowing they'll go after her. She swerves her car into traffic, taking her family along with her.

* OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass: In ''No Room At The Inn'', when Matt beseeches a fellow devout Christian for money in the camp outside Jarden/Miracle, TX (to bribe a coyote to smuggle him back in), she quizzes him on his scripture:

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Instances of the Guilty Remnant being creepy and obnoxious are interspersed with them being harassed and attacked. When one of the members is [[spoiler:murdered]], the scene immediately follows a sequence of her and her partner being assholes, such as ignoring an old man who has fallen down right in front of them. The ATFEC even (it's implied routinely) wipes out chapters of their organization on-demand for towns that are tired of dealing with their crap. Taken UpToEleven in the first season finale. After the GR [[spoiler:set up a bunch of corpse dolls of everyone who was Departed]], the town just completely loses it, [[spoiler:wantonly beating them, murdering them, and burning down their homes]]. And again it's hard to feel sorry for them, because that was a truly dickish stunt. In the second season, [[spoiler:Kevin]] outright admits to kidnapping [[spoiler:Patti]] and burying her post-suicide, and the AFTEC's response boils down to "Good riddance." He gets to walk out without so much as filing a form.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Instances of the Guilty Remnant being creepy and obnoxious are interspersed with them being harassed and attacked. When one of the members is [[spoiler:murdered]], the scene immediately follows a sequence of her and her partner being assholes, such as ignoring an old man who has fallen down right in front of them. The ATFEC even (it's implied routinely) wipes out chapters of their organization on-demand for towns that are tired of dealing with their crap. Taken UpToEleven in the first season finale. After the GR [[spoiler:set up a bunch of corpse dolls of everyone who was Departed]], the town just completely loses it, [[spoiler:wantonly beating them, murdering them, and burning down their homes]]. And again it's hard to feel sorry for them, because that was a truly dickish stunt. In the second season, [[spoiler:Kevin]] outright admits to kidnapping [[spoiler:Patti]] and burying her post-suicide, and the FBI's response boils down to "Good riddance." He gets to walk out without so much as filing a form.

** Garvey's clinically-insane father hears voices that seem to be prophetic. It's not clear whether they have a supernatural origin or if he's just insane.

** One of the Series 1 gags was that the entire cast of Series/''PerfectStrangers'' vanished in the Departure. In the Season 2 opener, "Axis Mundi," it's revealed that [[spoiler: Mark Linn-Baker faked his disappearance, and has been found alive in South America.]]