The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)

The Leftovers — Season 3
Ep. 1	"The Book of Kevin"	Ep. 2	"Don't Be Ridiculous"	Ep. 3	"Crazy Whitefella Thinking"
Ep. 4	"G'Day Melbourne"	Ep. 5	"It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World"	Ep. 6	"Certified"
Ep. 7	“The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)”	Ep. 8	"The Book of Nora"
⇐  Season 2

The Most Powerful Man in the World
(and His Identical Twin Brother)

Season

Episode

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3

7

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Air date

May 28, 2017

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Running time

61 minutes

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Written by

Nick Cuse Damon Lindelof

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Directed by

Craig Zobel

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Viewers

804,000

"The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother)" is the seventh episode of Season 3, and overall the 27th produced hour of The Leftovers. It originally aired on May 28, 2017.

Summary

On a mission of mercy, Kevin assumes an alternate identity.

Plot

In a flashback, Kevin and Nora are sharing a bath, playfully sharing their wishes for what is to be done with their remains after they die. Upon returning to present, Kevin Sr. awakes from Laurie's drug-induced unconsciousness and discovers that it's already the seventh anniversary of the Sudden Departure. Grace, John and Michael awaken and join him and quickly find Kevin attempting to drown himself in the pond outside the Playford's farm. The group pulls Kevin out of the water to make sure he remembers to fulfill all of their requests while in the realm of the undead:

• John wants him to tell Evie that she was loved
• Grace wants him to find her children and ask what happened to their shoes
• Kevin Sr. wants him to fulfill his primary task - finding Christopher Sunday and learn from him an indigenous song that will save the world from an apocalyptic flood

Kevin affirms that he remembers all his commitments, and is lowered back into the pond to drown.

At the moment of death, Kevin awakens on a beach where he is met by a Russian operative who addresses him as "Kevin Harvey," his assassin alias. The Russian prepares to execute Kevin, but is shot dead by a masked paratrooper who reveals himself as Dean. Dean informs him that his mission is to assassinate the President of the United States, who is planning an unauthorized nuclear strike within the next two hours. Kevin asks to meet Evie, Grace's children, and Christopher Sunday in exchange for completing his mission. Dean gives Kevin an earpiece that puts him contact with David Burton, who has Kevin repeat what Burton whispered in his ear on the bridge in “International Assassin”: that Kevin is the "most powerful man in the world."

On Burton's instructions, Kevin observes his reflection in the shard of a mirror that Dean broke, despite Dean's warnings not to look at reflective surfaces. He suddenly finds himself dressed in a fully white suit, giving a speech to a crowd of Guilty Remnant members gathered outside the Melbourne capitol. Kevin realizes that he has switched places with his identical twin brother - the President. As part of the speech, Kevin calls on Liam Playford - one of Grace's children who is seated in the front row alongside his siblings - to read an essay about why he longer needs his parents. Kevin attempts to ask Liam questions on his mother's behalf, but Liam does not answer meaningfully.

The event is interrupted by Evie, who is now protesting against the G.R. Kevin is ushered to his presidential limousine by his security detail, which includes Makarra police chief Kevin Yarborough (whom Grace had earlier drowned, mistaking him for Kevin Garvey) as his personal bodyguard. On the way, Kevin's chief of staff informs him over the phone that Ukrainian separatists are preparing to release a nuclear warhead, and that the United States has two hours in which to launch a preemptive attack. Kevin declines his Secretary of Defense's request to raise their alert state to DEFCON 2 and demands to speak with Evie in the limo. He gives Evie John's message, but Evie rebuffs him, revealing that in this reality, the rest of her family perished in a state-ordered drone strike.

Kevin suddenly vomits a large volume of water and experiences a series of distorted memories, before reawakening at the Playford ranch, where a violent rainstorm is flooding the property. John, Michael and Kevin Sr. pull Kevin out of the pond and take him inside the house. Kevin has his father drown him in the Playford's bathtub so he can complete his mission.

Kevin reemerges outside his presidential bunker in Melbourne. He is subjected to both a facial and penile recognition scan to enter, as well as three security questions - the last of which asks him to name his Secretary of Defense. In a panic, Kevin names Patti Levin, and goes on to meet her in the bunker's Situation Room. Patti admonishes Kevin to launch a defensive strike against the Ukrainians, but Kevin is adamant on meeting with Sunday first. Patti calls in the Vice President - Meg Abbott - who is also reticent to launch the attack. Patti informs Kevin that in order to initiate the launch, they must enact the Fisher Protocol, an "ethical deterrent" in which the nuclear launch key was surgically implanted in the heart of a volunteer (that the President must personally kill to extract the key).

Kevin realizes that the volunteer is his assassin twin, and after taking the U.S. to DEFCON 1, uses Patti's glasses to switch bodies. Kevin the assassin arrives at the bunker and undergoes the same scans to enter; he is confronted by armed agents who are quickly assassinated by Meg, who claims to be in love with Burton. Kevin kills her, discards his earpiece, and enters the bunker's communications room to speak with Sunday, who in this world is the Australian Prime Minister. Rather than provide Kevin with the song, Sunday questions Kevin's belief in the prophecy altogether; Kevin admits that he does not genuinely believe he can stop the flood. He fights off a second wave of security and switches back into the President's body.

Patti continues to push Kevin to launch the attack, but he admits that he relishes his repeated visitations to the realm of the undead. Kevin the assassin enters the Situation Room; neither twin is willing to go through with the Fisher Protocol, prompting Patti to retrieve a copy of Kevin's romance novel (authored by both twins, but each with subtle thematic changes) and have the President read it. The novel appears to be a sordid reflection on the state of Kevin and Nora's relationship, in which Kevin reflects on his own self-destructive impulses. Once the President finishes reading out a passage, the assassin begs to have the launch key extracted from his heart, so that Kevin can never return to the realm of the undead again. The President agrees and uses the key to launch the nuclear strike, and he and Patti go outdoors to watch the missiles as they rain down upon them and obliterate the "hotel world" once and for all.

Kevin reawakens in the remains of the Playfords' church and notices that the rainstorm has ended without having caused a flood. Kevin climbs atop the ranch's roof to sit with his father, who asks him, "Now what?"

Analysis

Recurring Themes

Animals

• Grace’s dog Caleb is seen.

Memories

• Upon hearing David Burton’s voice, Kevin has flashes of Burton from “I Live Here Now” and “International Assassin.”
• As Kevin is climbing out the window of the limo/returning to reality the first time, he has quick flashes of:
  • The plastic bag over his head (from “The Book of Kevin”)
  • The Guilty Remnant’s Heroes’ Day protest (from the Pilot)
  • The stag bursting through the door (from “The Garveys at Their Best”)
  • Shooting at dogs (from the Pilot)
  • Kissing the woman he is unfaithful with, then finding her departed (from “The Garveys at Their Best”)
  • Removing the plastic bag from Patti’s head (from “Cairo”)
  • Having sex with Nora for the first time (from “Solace for Tired Feet”)
  • Finding all his white shirts in the woods, and holding Patti’s corpse (from “Cairo”)
  • Rescuing Jill from the burning G.R. building (from “The Prodigal Son Returns”)
  • Waking up at the bottom of the dried-up spring (from “A Matter of Geography”)
  • Wrestling with John in Isaac’s motel room (from “Orange Sticker”)
  • Being slapped by Patti in the woods, and lying dead on Virgil’s floor (from “A Most Powerful Adversary”)
  • Falling into the well and drowning Patti (from “International Assassin”)
  • Being shot by John, screaming upon finding himself back in the “hotel,” and returning to find Miracle in chaos (from “I Live Here Now”)
  • Trying to stop the protest at the group baptism, being fired on by Dean, Dean being shot, and attacking Matt in the church (all from “The Book of Kevin”)
  • Fighting with the man in the Melbourne alley, having sex with Nora in the airport bathroom, and burning Matt's Book (from “G’Day Melbourne”)
• Kevin has a flash of Nora in the bathtub (from this episode’s opening flashback) when Michael asks him why he is doing this.
• Kevin again has a flash of drowning Patti (from “International Assassin”) when Patti says Kevin summoned her out of retirement.
• When Kevin reads the “romance novel,” he has flashes of:
  • Waking up on the day of the Sudden Departure (from “The Garveys at Their Best”)
  • Suffocating himself (from “The Book of Kevin”)
  • Watching Nora walk away from the Pillar (from “Don’t Be Ridiculous”)
  • Kissing Nora in the hotel room (from “G’Day Melbourne”)
  • Walking out on Nora (from “G’Day Melbourne”)
• After Kevin Harvey says they “fucked up” with Nora, Kevin has a flash of Nora smiling from the final scene of “I Live Here Now.”

The Bible

• In the “other world,” Kevin kills himself and simultaneously lets himself be killed in self-sacrifice. He then wakes up in the morning, rolled up in a white cloth while standing in a church, and his father admits he thought Kevin was dead. All of this seems to recall the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, whom Kevin often symbolizes.

Cultural References

• Kevin says his favorite movie is Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film The Godfather, Part II. He previously referenced the first Godfather film in “International Assassin” (perhaps alluding to the fact that this episode is a sequel to its events).
• The Fisher Protocol refers to a real-life proposal by the late academic and attorney Roger Fisher, in a 1981 edition of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Fisher’s point was that requiring the President to commit murder with his own hands would force them to acknowledge and consider the reality of taking innocent life, rather than allowing the release of nuclear weapons to remain an abstract outcome of reciting codes and giving commands.
• David Burton misquotes Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince. The actual quote is the opposite of what Burton claims:

  “Hence it is that all armed prophets have conquered, and the unarmed ones have been destroyed.”

  This may reflect a “looking glass”-esque reversed state quality to the “hotel world,” or it may indicate that Burton is trying as hard he can to mislead Kevin, even going so far as to couch his lies within the plausible deniability of having misspoke. If one believes that the entire “hotel world” is simply Kevin’s subconscious, it is also possible that Kevin himself simply misremembered the quote.
• Upon seeing the two Kevins, Patti sings the theme song from the 1963-66 ABC sitcom The Patty Duke Show, which featured Duke playing “identical cousins.” As an extra layer of referentiality, the end credits version of “The End of the World” is performed by Patty Duke.
• Patti references Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which defines the powers of the President.
• Patti claims that Kevin hid his book behind a portrait of Millard Fillmore, the thirteenth President of the U.S., who served from 1850 to 1853, which he selected from the National Gallery to hang inside the Oval Office.

Literary techniques

• We don't see Kevin and Nora talk very often as a couple. It happens in the first scene of this episode, but they talk about their death.
• We discover why Kevin has grown a beard. We then see him without it.
• Dean warns Kevin not to look into reflective surfaces. Reflective surfaces (and mirrors, above all) have always symbolized inner reality, facing yourself, etc. Notably, they are often believed to hide doppelgängers (e.g. Twin Peaks), and here are used in order to shift Kevin's (and thus, the viewer's) perspective between the two conflicted parts of his psyche and keep him from seeing both at the same time; Burton himself underlines this shortly thereafter. Kevin's confrontation with this psychological scission evidenced throughout the series is the driving conflict of this episode's plot, and is finally resolved by the end of it.
• While in International Assassin and I Live Here Now Kevin arrives in a hotel room's bath tub, here he arrives directly into the sea. No hotels will appear in this episode. Also, this time Kevin couldn't choose an outfit in the wardrobe.
• Dean kills the russian man in the same way Dean himself was killed, by a bullet in the head.
• Dean says to Kevin he is the only man that can stop the president. The president is also Kevin.
  • Also, Dean seems to underlines that Kevin is the only man alive that can stop the president. Again, Kevin (both versions of him) is in fact the only man alive in this world.
• While Burton was visible and helped Kevin in his previous trips to this world, this time Burton is only a voice. Notably, this happens after the event of It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World.
• In International Assassin, Burtons whispered Kevin "You're the most powerful man in the world". Here, Kevin is, in fact, the President of the United States, commonly thought of as the most powerful person on Earth.
• The speech on the teleprompter is strongly ironic and double-meaning for Kevin himself (and he notices that while he reads it): "This isn't my first time visiting the other side of the world" (Australia / the "hotel world"); "Every time I'm here, it gets harder and harder to leave" (Kevin continues to come back in this world); "We believe that marriage is the single most destructive idea ever conceived of by humankind" (his relationship with Laurie and Nora both ended in a disaster).
• One of Grace's son reads an essay named "Why I don't need a mommy and a daddy anymore". He is dead due to his dad's departure and his mom not searching for him.
• Evie, in the “other place,” believing that her whole family died in a drone strike while she survived, as opposed to the opposite outcome in reality, foreshadows a key plot point of the series finale.
• Logically, asking the president of the US the name of the Secretary of Defense as a security question has not sense, because anyone could easily know that. So, the question seems to underlines the fact that Kevin himself chooses Patti in this role. Patti herself will hint at this interpretation later, saying she came back from retirement only because "You were asked who did you want in this position, and you named me."
• The piece of shattered mirror Kevin picks up is reminiscent of the shard of glass Patti used to kill herself in "Cairo."
• Verdi's Va Pensiero, from Nabucco, is used like in International Assassin as a theme for assassin Kevin. The Overture, also from Nabucco, is used as a theme for president Kevin instead.
• Burton says Kevin "Put your faith in me". Burton used to call himself God.
• As soon as she sees assassin Kevin, Meg says "Jesus, you look just like him." This time, the reference is even more clever, as assassin Kevin is identical to president Kevin, but Kevin himself is also symbol for Jesus.
• Meg does not agree with the G.R.'s basics and mission, as she did in the real world.
• Burton says being called God was only a pick-up line, and Kevin removes his headphones. Jesus is mad discovering he was not talking to God.
• The only men that seems to remember the "reality" are Kevin Sr. (in International Assassin, but he was not dead) and Christopher Sunday, other than Kevin himself. Notably, they both talk to Kevin through a screen, and both of the conversations are interrupted by an alarm.
• Patti says to Kevin: "It sounds like something you need to work out with yourself". Then enters the assassin Kevin.
• Patti says there is no God. Two Kevins are in front of her.
• Kevin reads a book about himself, looking himself in a "mirror" in front of him (his "twin brother").
• Neither Kevin wants to acknowledge that he wrote the book. After reading it, they both agree that the book contains their true thoughts.
• Kevin killing his twin to save the better part of himself calls back to the question Dr. Eden asked Nora in “G’Day Melbourne” about killing one twin so the other can cure cancer.
• The key of the stories is an actual key, that Patti uses to launch an atomic bomb and destroy the "other world".
• Kevin kills Kevin in order to save Kevin:
  • A Kevin dressed all in white kills a Kevin dressed all in black
  • A bearded Kevin kills a clean-shaven Kevin (and it was Nora that wanted the beard)
  • The Kevin that wants to live a normal life kills the Kevin that discovered the "hotel world"
  • "Jesus" kills himself, and at the same time "Jesus" let himself to be killed, sacrificing himself in order to save a man (Kevin himself) and the whole humanity (both in the series and outside of it, since we see the world through Kevin's eyes)
• Beach Boys' song says: "God only knows what I'd be without you". God, I and you are all represented by Kevin himself in the scene.
• In Cairo, Patti's dead body was all covered by blood, except for the right arm that is totally clean. Here, Kevin's alive body is totaly clean, execpt for the right arm that is covered by blood.
• Sr. on the roof recalls the woman in the first episode of this season. Notably, the woman waited for the coming of Jesus and the Apocalypse: here, no Apocalypse happens, but Kevin comes ("I thought you were gone").

Trivia

• This episode marks the last appearances of series regulars Patti, Meg, John, Michael, Kevin Sr., and Dean.
• The flashback in the bathtub was Justin Theroux's final scene shot for The Leftovers.
• The Russian assassin says, “You killed my father, you killed my mother, you killed my brother and now I'm going to kill you, Kevin Harvey.”
• After entering his beach hut with Dean, Kevin puts on the sweatpants he was wearing in the Pilot in his first appearance in the series, when he first met Dean. The sweatpants also infamously became tabloid fodder due to paparazzi photos focusing on Justin Theroux’s bulge. The penis scanner in this episode likewise references the notoriety of Theroux's endowment, as a sequel to “International Assassin”’s more subtle “congratulations” joke. Theroux has said that Damon Lindelof delighted in throwing these references in as he knew the attention made Theroux uncomfortable.
• Kevin's presidential address is shot between the Royal Exhibition Building and the Melbourne Museum.
• Kevin’s presidential address begins, “G’day Melbourne,” referencing the titular talk show from the episode of the same name.
• Patti using Ukrainian separatists as the scapegoat to bring about the end of the world may reference the fact that in "International Assassin," she says her Jeopardy! rival Stuart incorrectly guessed "What is the Ukraine?"
• The staircase inside the bunker was shot at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Design Hub, although the actual bunker room was a set.
• The portrait of President Kevin hanging in the situation room shows him standing in front of a picture of G.R. members holding letters spelling "STOP WASTING YOUR BREATH," calling back to the Pilot.
• Patti slapping Kevin and then yelling at him when he refuses to go to DEFCON 1 is reminiscent of her doing the same in the woods, in "A Most Powerful Adversary."
• Meg tells Kevin Harvey that President Kevin is "merciless." The boat in Kevin's Untitled Romance Novel is the 'Merciful.'
• In the communications room, the duty officer’s name tag identifies him as “S. Lyons.” This may allude to the French sailor who launched the nuclear missile in “It’s a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World,” whose name tag read “P. Lyon.”
• Like Kevin Sr.’s appearance in “International Assassin” (where Kevin Sr. talks about specific circumstances Kevin Jr. would have no way of knowing about, such as Kevin Sr. taking a drug called God's Tongue), Christopher Sunday’s appearance seems to support the “hotel world” being real rather than a psychological construct, as it is unclear how Kevin would know what Chris looks like. Interestingly, both of these interactions occur through screens, rather than in person. Damon Lindelof has stated his belief that Kevin Sr. was communicating with Kevin Jr. through the dreamtime. It is certainly feasible that Christopher Sunday likewise continued to exist in the dreamtime after his death, which would be in accord with aboriginal tradition. Notably, he seems to be the only person besides Kevin and Patti who is aware of the "real" world.
• The alarm going off when the secret service bursts into the comm room sounds the same as the fire alarm in the hotel in “International Assassin.”
• Kevin Harvey being walked into the room by secret service in a black hood calls back to the man in a Mapleton police uniform being escorted out of Patti’s suite with an execution hood over his head in “International Assassin.”
• There seem to be two different versions of the romance novel, possibly reflecting the divide in Kevin’s emotions. In the excerpt Dean reads, the protagonist plans to use the ‘Merciful’ to find his love, whereas in the ending Kevin reads, the protagonist obtains the ‘Merciful’ to escape and be alone.
• Kevin Sr. and Jr. sitting on the roof after the apocalypse fails to materialize calls back to the Millerites in the opening sequence of the season.
• Damon Lindelof said that Grace Playford went to jail after the events of the show, but probably got "six months of jail time and ten years of community service because the judge in that jurisdiction hated Yarborough because he was an infamous asshole." Lindelof believes that Kevin Sr. either fled Australia before he could be arrested for assaulting Officer Gerard, or was merely deported.

Music

• "The Leftovers (Main Title Theme)" by Max Richter (main title)
• Nabucco: Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves ("Va, Pensiero, Sull'ali Dorate)" composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry, the London Philharmonic Choir & the London Chorus (this recording was previously used throughout "International Assassin" as the theme for the "hotel world"; it is reprised in this episode, as a theme for transitions: when Kevin first returns to the "other place," bursting out of the ocean; when John and Michael pull him out of the lake in the downpour; and when President Kevin looks into Patti's glasses and becomes Assassin Kevin)
• "Homeward Bound" performed by Bill Camp (David Burton sings a snippet of the Simon & Garfunkel song, calling back to Kevin singing the song in "I Live Here Now")
• Nabucco: Overture, composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Orchester Der Deutschen Oper Berlin & Giuseppe Sinopoli (used as a theme for President Kevin: plays when he is first seen, and when he enters the situation room)
• Nabucco (Introduzione) "Va, la Palma del Martirio" composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Orchester Der Deutschen Oper Berlin & Giuseppe Sinopoli (President Kevin speaks on the phone while walking to his limo)
• "Love Will Keep Us Together," performed by Jasmin Savoy Brown (Evie sings the Captain & Tenille song at Kevin's G.R. rally; the original version was heard on the show in "Two Boats and a Helicopter" after Matt beats up Skinny and takes his money back in the casino parking lot)
• Sanctus, D. 872, composed by Franz Schubert, performed by the Choir of Trinity College & Cambridge (plays as Kevin Sr. drowns Kevin in the bathtub, after telling him he wishes he could do it himself. It had appeared previously as a recurring theme relating to faith in "Orange Sticker," "No Room at the Inn," "I Live Here Now," "The Book of Kevin," "Crazy Whitefella Thinking," and "G'Day Melbourne.")
• Nabucco (Introduzione) (from Act IV, Scene 1) composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Orchester Der Deutschen Oper Berlin & Giuseppe Sinopoli (Kevin heads to the comm room)
• "Cousins" (Theme from The Patty Duke Show) performed by Ann Down (Patti sings a version of the song when she unveils Kevin's double)
• "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys (plays as President Kevin makes the incision in Kevin Harvey's chest)
• "Departure (Lullaby)" by Max Richter (Kevin and Patti watch the end of the world)
• "The End of the World" by Patty Duke (end credits)

Book to Show

• Patti saying there is no God seems to contradict the Guilty Remnant philosophy from the book, which is heavily focused on reminding people that God is watching, and which borrows heavily from elements of Judeo-Christianity. Indeed, a memorial at the Mapleton G.R. complex to a member killed by police says, "We love you, Phil--See you in heaven."

Goofs

• In the communications room, the duty officer, Colonel S. Lyons (though not wearing a United States Air Force uniform, he is obviously a member of its analogue within the universe constructed by Kevin's subconscious), forgets to salute the Commander in Chief after being dismissed from the room, nor does he do so promptly as would be expected in such a situation.