The leftovers book ending

We never actually find out if the scientists' Departure-replicating experiment actually worked in "The Book of Nora." Either way, when Kevin shows up at her doorstep, her days of pining for a reunion with her children are well behind her. When he pretends they never dated and takes her out as if for the first time, they feel as effortlessly bound to each other as they did on the night of the school dance.

And when he confesses he's been searching the world for her all these years, she has to tell him something. It doesn't matter, of course, if what she tells him is the truth. The fact that he believes her story about the parallel world is enough to perfectly cap off their romance.

The series finale of leftovers cast William Somerset Morgan Freeman , Seven. Damon Lindelof has spent more than a year tamping down expectations for the final episodes of The Leftovers. Everything is answered. And then it ends. What happened to Laurie?

The simple beauty of this ending is what made it so universally beloved by everyone, from fans to critics to casual viewers.

But there are even deeper layers to "The Book of Nora." As a final thematic statement, it clarifies Nora's existential conflict and offers her the possibility of solace for the first time.

Nora finally admits to herself that she wants to see her family again and that a life investigating fake departures will simply harm other people's healing processes without advancing her own. Whether she learns that her family is better off without her or that they're definitively gone, she can never go back to a life built on denial.

So she absconds to a quiet rural life, where she can simply exist, without worrying about the "why"s.

This enables The Leftovers to put forth its ultimate conclusion about life, faith, and the universe, by way of Kevin's return. No matter what really happened to Nora, she couldn't get an answer for why the departure occurred, and when she gave up on finding that answer, she also gave up on having a purpose altogether.

Lost series finale If you click a link and buy a product or service from a merchant, we may be paid an affiliate commission. The difference between a show with a good reputation and a show with a bad reputation often lies in a satisfying ending. ABC's Lost was arguably the most popular, impactful, and culturally significant drama of the s, but to hear some people tell it nowadays, Lost's strange, befuddling finale might as well have scrubbed it from existence. Maybe it was because of that experience that the show's co-creator and showrunner, Damon Lindelof, went to such lengths to make sure we'd all love the ending of his next project. And, considering the project in question was ultimately crowned as the best TV show of the s, his effort seems to have paid off.

Kevin's peaceful assertion that he believes her story, just because he wants to, demonstrates that life's purpose is not given, but created. It opens Nora's eyes to the possibility of being with Kevin simply because she wants to. And if they can have faith in each other after everything that's happened, then it's also possible for us to have faith — be it spiritual, emotional, moral — in something we choose to, no matter how mysterious this world gets.