Laurie and Tom muscle into the hugging business
Who needs a hug?
Tom Garvey needs a huge hug.
Hes had a rough stretch, going all the way back to season 1.
Credit: Ryan Green/HBO
He found it briefly or thought he found it in Holy Wayne.
The GR may have been driven out of Mapleton, N.Y., but they are still doing their work.
But Tom hasnt drank the Kool-Aid (yet).
He recruits wavering GRs, and she counsels them to return to their families and previous lives.
If you let me, I will help you come back [to society], she promises Susan.
But the strain on Tom is showing.
Hes drinking heavily in his few idle hours and watching video of Holy Waynes hugging spiel.
Do you ever miss it…?
he asks his mother.
Laurie is putting her life back together the only way she knows how.
But she didnt walk away from the GR fire unscathed.
The episode opens with her washing her car and aWhiplash-like jazz-drum score.
Shes talking again, and counseling her small recovery group of former GRs.
But her motives arent entirely altruistic, even if her intentions are good.
Know thyself, Laurie.
They leave, but Susans eye lingers on the crumpled note, and she clearly is perturbed.
Stuff they care about, feels so stupid sometimes…, she says.
Her confession generates nods from the sharing circle.
The gravitational pull of the GR and their logic has a hold that is hard to shake.
Hes back in white, working a different GR location, but hes running on fumes.
As he says later after disaster strikes, They make sense.
Australia certainly is becoming popular onThe Leftovers.
Any chance we already know the resurrected man in Australia?
Could it be Holy Wayne?
Susan seems hesitant, and even the husband though thrilled by her return is slightly uncomfortable with the pace.
Or at least Jill.
When she learns that Tom is meeting Jill for brunch, she cant help herself.
She wants to be there, too.
Laurie and Toms recovery operation is flirting with disaster.
Laurie tries to reason with the landlord, but he denies having her computer.
She grabs her Buddha-stickered laptop from the landlords a-hole son and takes off.
Driving away, she sees two GRs standing in the street at an intersection.
Are they following her now or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
She slams the gas pedal and runs the GRs over.
They never even flinch.
Has she killed before?
Toms luck finally runs out.
He tried to recruit a frightened-looking GR, but she literally blows the whistle on him.
Hes quickly overpowered, handcuffed in the back of a truck, and driven to an undisclosed location.
Expecting the absolute worst, hes met by…Meg.
But her wicked ways of retribution are slightly unorthodox.
Its quick and crude and serves a purpose.
The deed done, Tom is dragged into the sun and doused with gasoline.
For a moment, Meg teases him with her Zippo lighter.
Laurie learns of the tragedy just as shes invited to meet an enthusiastic publisher.
It rattles her, but shes not about to let anything get in the way of her imminent triumph.
She even turns off her phone when it buzzes again during their meeting.
And like that, she pounces on the publisher, attacking him with malice.
Tom has to bail her out of jail.
They liked my book, she says before breaking down.
The book is dead, Susan is dead, the anti-GR cause is homeless and nearly kaput.
If you cant beat em, join em, so to speak.
Tom knows the messiah playbook.
Ive been afraid to use it, he tells the mesmerized group.
Ive been afraid of what it would become, but I cant let you hurt anymore.
I cant be afraid anymore.
So…who wants a hug?
Hes a fraud, right?
But he might have a purpose now.
Where to next, Laurie and Tom: Texas or Australia?
And if Megs plan involves a pregnancy, what is to become of Toms unborn child?
