"No Room at the Inn" is the fifth episode of Season 2, and overall the fifteenth produced hour of The Leftovers. It originally aired on November 1, 2015.
Analysis[]
Recurring Themes[]
- Animals: Jerry is again seen with a goat. Several goats cause a car accident, killing the man who stole Matt and Mary’s wristbands and allowing Matt to retrieve them.
- Dreams: After Matt suffers a head injury, Mary speaks to him in what is likely a dream or hallucination.
- The Bible: The episode's title refers to one translation of Luke 2:7: Matt and Mary knock every door in the camp at night, but nobody answers. Matt voices his affinity for the Book of Job, a recurring theme on the show, and quotes Job 2:9 (the same passage depicted in the Dürer painting hanging in Matt’s bedroom in “Two Boats and a Helicopter”); as Job's one, Matt's wife speaks only once in this episode. Mary being miracoulus pregnant is an obvious reference to Virgin Mary being pregnant thanks to the Holy Spirit.
Cultural References[]
- Almer quotes William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus Act 2 Scene 1 when he says to Matt, “Now climbeth Tamora Olympus’s top, safe out of fortune’s shot.”
- As Matt and Mary enter the duct, Matt recites A Collect for Aid Against Perils, from the Book of Common Prayer.
- Matt recites W.B. Yeats’s 1899 poem “The Song of Wandering Aengus.” Patti previously quoted another Yeats poem in "Cairo."
Literary techniques[]
- Matt's phone ringtone is an Alleluia. The following scene, a miracle happens.
- For the second Matt-centric episode in a row, Matt stopping his car to help someone in need results in him receiving a head wound.
- The woman Matt asks money to asks him "What denomination?": she means to ask what denomination of Christianity Matt belongs to, but he thinks she was asking him in what denomination he wanted the money. In Two Boats and an Helicopter happened the opposite: the casino's woman asked Matt what denomination of money he wanted and he understood she was asking what denomination of Christianity he belonged to.
- A man hits Matt in order to enter Miracle. As soon as he enters Miracle, he is hit, passing away. His son, who didn't want to hit Matt, is then saved by Matt himself.
- Matt, often compared to Lost's "man of faith" John Locke, deals with a man named John about faith.
Trivia[]
- Matt says the Sacred Mission Church is on Scarborough Street.
- Just before Kevin and John arrive, a ranger is seen reading the Jarden Sentinel. The headline mentions “Biblical Rains in Sydney.”
- In the encampment is what appears to be a nurses’ station with the words “Before You Go” posted.
- A man, accompanied by a Loved One doll, is seen reading What’s Next from “Guest.”
- Sandy’s “For the Children” wall is sponsored by Brath General Contractors, Jollyville Volunteer Fire Department, Round Rock Fire Department, and Round Rock Hospital.
- The Garveys’ house number is seen to be 420.
- Several of the songs in this episode have previously been used on the series. The Bellamy Brothers' "Let Your Love Flow" appeared in "A Matter of Geography" when the Garveys arrive at Matt's shack (foreshadowing the fact that Matt plays it compulsively, as revealed in this episode). The same recording of Schubert's "Sanctus" that plays when Matt learns Mary is pregnant previously played in "Orange Sticker" when Matt tells Nora about Mary waking up. Virus Syndicate's "Genocide" (blasting from Almer's trailer in this episode) was previously playing on Kevin's headphones at the laundromat when trying to drown out Patti in "A Matter of Geography."
Book to Show[]
- Matt and Mary’s inability to have children differs from the book, wherein Matt and his wife (unnamed, like Job’s wife in the Bible) have “three sweet kids,” but his family abandons him after he undertakes his ongoing smear campaign against the Departed.
- Matt says he and Mary shop at the Safeway. The Mapleton Safeway store is referenced several times in the novel: Jill and Aimee smoke weed behind the Safeway, Kevin recognizes a G.R. member who used to be a cashier there, Laurie and Meg stalk a potential G.R. recruit there, and upon returning to town Tom notes that, among other landmarks, the Safeway has not changed. Oddly, the Safeway supermarket chain does not appear to presently have stores in either NY or Texas, making the references in both the book and the show inaccurate.[1][2]
Music[]
- "Let Your Love Flow" by the Bellamy Brothers (Matt plays the song repeatedly during the opening montage; also when Matt and Mary try to infiltrate Miracle and are flooded out)
- "Hallelujah Chorus (from The Messiah)" composed by George Frideric Handel, performed by Apollo Symphony Orchestra (Matt's ringtone)
- "Sanctus, D. 872" composed by Franz Schubert, performed by the Choir of Trinity College & Cambridge (Matt learns about Mary's pregnancy)
- "Ritmo con Ache" by Jose Mangual Jr. (Matt pushes Mary into the encampment)
- "A Blessing" by Max Richter (Matt asks John what happened to him; the car accident)
- "Genocide" by Virus Syndicate (featuring Cutline) (music in Almer's trailer)
- "Drifting Home to You" by Jody Brian Quartet (music as Matt approaches Sandy's trailer)
- "Laughing With" by Regina Spektor (closing montage)
- "Peace on Earth" by Coleman Family (end credits)