"Ten Thirteen" is the ninth episode of Season 2, and overall the nineteenth produced hour of The Leftovers. It originally aired on November 29, 2015.
Analysis[]
Recurring Themes[]
- Memories: Matt triggers Meg’s flashes to her mother’s death (earlier in this episode) and to Meg attacking Matt (in “Cairo”).
Cultural References[]
- Meg’s mother references the Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman.
- When Meg meets Evie, an obelisk is seen bearing an excerpt from the 1882 pro-Confederacy poem “The Men Who Wore the Gray” by Father Abram Joseph Ryan.
Literary techniques[]
- After two Kevin-centric episodes in a row, in this episode Kevin is not even mentioned, leaving the end of the previous episode to be a cliffhanger until season finale.
- Meg's mom tells her daughter to write in the check 14th October instead of 13th, because 13 it's unlucky. She then dies by accident.
- Evie gives Meg carrots, because "you can't cry while eating carrots". She then eats them herself, meaning she would cry otherwise.
- Meg is dressed differently from the other GRs. Her clothes seems to be more fine.
- Tom says he does not fear (using his power). As Meg enters, he is visibly scared.
- Meg says "it's hard not knowing what will happen". She make fun both of Tom and us, because as Tom we don't know her plan nor how this season will end (especially after the previous episode).
- Meg's GRs stone an innocent guy. The innocent Gladys was stoned by the GRs too.
- A stoner (as he was a druged) is stoned.
- Matt recognize Meg immediatly, while Meg doesn't.
- As Matt understand Meg is lying to him, shadows are show on his face.
- Through the whole episode, we think Meg wants to blow up the bridge. As we see Evie, we think the bomb was just metaphorical.
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode not to feature Kevin Garvey at all. Previously, in “Off Ramp,” he appeared only in archive footage.
- Damon Lindelof has said the seeds of Meg’s character turn in season two came from him being on set when Liv Tyler was shooting the tree-chopping scene in “Penguin One, Us Zero,” and being inspired by her choice to play the scene as “angry and dangerous.” Tyler’s choice to play the scene in “The Prodigal Son Returns” after she has been beaten and tied to a post with a “dead-eyed stare” also made Lindelof realize that Meg was “a force to be reckoned with.” The writers were interested in telling a story about the radicalization of religion.[1]
- The singing tour group on the Miracle bus wear matching red T-shirts that say “Henderson Family Reunion. God’s Miracles.” This episode is cowritten by Monica Henderson Beletsky.
- The underground gas explosion blowing out manhole covers in Jarden on 10/14/2011 is curiously similar to events seen in “The Garveys at Their Best,” when work by Con Edison causes the same occurrence in Mapleton on the same day.
- Cecilia reads What’s Next, the book first seen in “Guest.”
- Meg brings the sweater that was tied around her mother’s neck when she died to Miracle. This is the same sweater Laurie forces Meg to give up in “Penguin One, Us Zero.”
- Meg tells Evie the same “knock-knock” joke Evie later tells John in “Axis Mundi.”
- Meg’s grenade stunt is reminiscent of the Manhattan G.R. handing out fake grenades in “Guest.”
- The G.R. “elders”’ house number is 2312.
- Although both Tom and Laurie claim that Tom is a fraud and that they made up his story about inheriting Wayne's powers, he curiously refuses to hug Jill in "A Matter of Geography," claiming that he is sick. This scene occurs prior to Laurie and Tom first deciding to steal Wayne's schtick.
- The G.R. New Rochelle house is labeled “Bldg. No. 8 209.”
- Meg’s ringtone is a cricket chirping, the same sound that drove John crazy in “Axis Mundi.” It has been theorized that the "cricket" was actually a hidden cell phone in the Murphy house, which Meg used to call Evie.
- The building where Meg’s followers hold the dirtbiker prisoner appears to have formerly been a skate rink.
- The stables where the girls are hiding bear the sign, “Nicholas Cole Stables, Cole Ranch,” reflecting the real world filming location.
Book to Show[]
- Although Patti tells Kevin in “Cairo” that the G.R. does not take its orders from anywhere, this episode reveals that there is some form of organization, seemingly with a committee / governing body of “elders” (per the credits) that oversees multiple houses’ operations (Meg, seemingly the head of her own house, notes that she is not authorized to plan her own action on Heroes’ Day). This is in contrast to the book, where the G.R. is “a loose national network, each affiliate following the same basic guidelines—white clothes and cigarettes and two-person surveillance teams—but governing itself without much in the way of organized oversight or outside interference.” It could be that the structure has evolved to become more centralized in the time since season one.
- The G.R. stance that children cannot live in their houses because the authorities would overreact may reference the book’s botched search warrant execution, where the police entered the Mapleton complex intending to search for two little girls whose “embittered, noncustodial” father claimed had been abducted and held against their will.
- Tom asking a person’s name before hugging her echoes Wayne’s ritual, as seen in “Guest,” and originated in the novel.
- Laurie saying they need a permanent space calls to mind Wayne’s early career, speaking in churches and colleges, and particularly VFW halls as Tom does in the episode, before raising enough money to rent “a mothballed Episcopal church in Rochester.”
- A Marlboro carton is seen in the New Rochelle G.R. house. In the book, the Mapleton chapter smokes “a generic brand with a harsh taste and suspiciously chemical odor, purchased in bulk by the regional office.”
- Among other familiar G.R. mantras on the white board in the New Rochelle house is a partially obscured phrase reading, “...belong to the old world,” which is reminiscent of their Christmas Day slideshow featuring the phrase, “Christmas belongs to the old world,” in the book. The white board also includes the phrase, “God is awesome,” calling to mind the G.R. business card in the book stating that they are living reminders of “God’s awesome power.”
- Meg’s father abandoning her at a young age is an invention of the show. In the book, she mentions her father’s boss departing, implying that her father was still part of her life into adulthood. Note: I wonder if this is a lie. How would her mother afford to shop at Bergdorff's and pay for Meg's wedding if she was a single mom and not an obvious professional (doctor, lawyer, executive?)
Music[]
- "White Lines (Don't Do It)" by Melle Mel & Grandmaster Flash (opening scene of Meg doing coke; Meg and Tom's car ride; end credits)
- "Wade in the Water" by Ella Jenkins (the two bus sequences)
- "Glory, Glory" by Capitalaires (Meg at Isaac's house)
- "Tom's Lullaby" by Max Richter (Tom sleeping in the park)
- "You Hold the Key" by Lloyd Conger (Tom and Meg doing shots at the honky tonk)
- "The Promise" by Sturgill Simpson (Tom and Meg dance)
- "Magic by Olivia Newton-John (Meg enters the encampment)
Goofs[]
- Meg’s mother looks entirely different from the photo on the flyer Matt hands out in “Cairo.”