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The Leftovers
S1.E3
All episodesAll
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  • User reviews
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IMDbPro

Two Boats and a Helicopter

  • Episode aired Jul 13, 2014
  • 51m
IMDb RATING
8.8/10
7.9K
YOUR RATING
Christopher Eccleston in The Leftovers (2014)
DramaFantasyMysteryThriller

Reverend Jamison is struggling with people referring to the departed as heroes. He is faced with death threats and a diminishing attendance at his sermons and then finds out he may lose his ... Read allReverend Jamison is struggling with people referring to the departed as heroes. He is faced with death threats and a diminishing attendance at his sermons and then finds out he may lose his church due to foreclosure.Reverend Jamison is struggling with people referring to the departed as heroes. He is faced with death threats and a diminishing attendance at his sermons and then finds out he may lose his church due to foreclosure.

  • Director
    • Keith Gordon
  • Writers
    • Tom Perrotta
    • Damon Lindelof
    • Jacqueline Hoyt
  • Stars
    • Justin Theroux
    • Amy Brenneman
    • Christopher Eccleston
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    8.8/10
    7.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Keith Gordon
    • Writers
      • Tom Perrotta
      • Damon Lindelof
      • Jacqueline Hoyt
    • Stars
      • Justin Theroux
      • Amy Brenneman
      • Christopher Eccleston
    • 10User reviews
    • 20Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos10

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    Top cast43

    Edit
    Justin Theroux
    Justin Theroux
    • Kevin Garvey
    Amy Brenneman
    Amy Brenneman
    • Laurie Garvey
    Christopher Eccleston
    Christopher Eccleston
    • Matt Jamison
    Liv Tyler
    Liv Tyler
    • Meg Abbott
    • (credit only)
    Chris Zylka
    Chris Zylka
    • Tom Garvey
    • (credit only)
    Margaret Qualley
    Margaret Qualley
    • Jill Garvey
    • (credit only)
    Carrie Coon
    Carrie Coon
    • Nora Durst
    Emily Meade
    Emily Meade
    • Aimee
    • (credit only)
    Amanda Warren
    Amanda Warren
    • Lucy Warburton
    • (credit only)
    Ann Dowd
    Ann Dowd
    • Patti Levin
    Michael Gaston
    Michael Gaston
    • Dean
    • (credit only)
    Max Carver
    Max Carver
    • Adam Frost
    • (credit only)
    Charlie Carver
    Charlie Carver
    • Scott Frost
    • (credit only)
    Annie Q. Riegel
    Annie Q. Riegel
    • Christine
    • (as Annie Q.)
    • (credit only)
    Wayne Duvall
    Wayne Duvall
    • Det. Louis Vitello
    Janel Moloney
    Janel Moloney
    • Mary Jamison
    Leslie Alexander
    Leslie Alexander
    • Casino Cashier
    Rémy Bennett
    Rémy Bennett
    • Tina
    • (as Remy Bennett)
    • Director
      • Keith Gordon
    • Writers
      • Tom Perrotta
      • Damon Lindelof
      • Jacqueline Hoyt
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews10

    8.87.9K
    1
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    10

    Featured reviews

    8chaosborders

    Great Tension

    I thought the end was dumb, but it had some of the greatest moments of genuine tension and uncertainty that I've seen in a show of late.
    10lassegalsgaard

    A Leap of Faith: The Leftovers Finds Its Soul in "Two Boats and a Helicopter"

    One of the great advantages of ensemble-driven storytelling is the capacity to grant individual characters episodes that allow them to stand out. Such an approach avoids the need to constantly foreground the collective and instead enriches the world-building by giving each character the opportunity to embody their own distinctive grief. In "The Leftovers," this device powerfully illustrates the many ways people are altered by the "Sudden Departure," shifting not only personal trajectories but also the broader dynamics of the community. Christopher Eccleston's Matt Jamison exemplifies this approach. A minister whose life has unraveled, Matt insists on interpreting the departed as sinners, a conviction that places him at odds with his neighbors and makes him the object of their hostility. His struggle is less about personal loss-though he tends to a comatose wife injured during the Departure and has a sister, Nora, who lost her entire family-than about his determination to preserve a sense of cosmic order in a world resistant to it. The resulting conflict not only tests his faith but also estranges him from those closest to him, exposing the precariousness of belief amid communal grief. Positioning such a thematically weighty chapter early in the series is a bold decision, but it proves transformative. The episode emerges as the show's strongest to this point, plumbing complex thematic terrain while presenting one of its most resonant characters. Eccleston delivers a performance of extraordinary pathos-infused with grief, conviction, and despair-that crystallizes the show's ambition to grapple with profound questions of faith, suffering, and meaning.

    If the first two episodes of "The Leftovers" traced the broad contours of a shattered world, "Two Boats and a Helicopter" demonstrates that the series' brilliance lies equally in its capacity for intimacy-paring the narrative down to a single soul and interrogating the true cost of survival. Structurally, it is a bold gamble: setting aside the ensemble to focus exclusively on Reverend Matt Jamison, a man whose faith endures even as his life disintegrates. This decision to foreground stand-alone character studies so early in the season is not only audacious television; it emerges as one of the series' defining artistic signatures.

    The title alone signals the trajectory. Drawn from the parable of a man awaiting God's rescue, "Two Boats and a Helicopter" positions Matt simultaneously as the man of faith and the fool-waiting for divine grace while ignoring the human hands extended to him in the present. The episode's biblical symbolism is layered and incisive: a holy man gambling in a casino, risking ruin to preserve his church; a desperate plea for salvation that remains unanswered. Damon Lindelof and writer Jacqueline Hoyt infuse the hour with irony, framing Matt's devotion as at once transcendent and tragic.

    What makes this hour unforgettable, however, is Christopher Eccleston. His performance is a study in contradictions: thunderous sermons delivered with near-manic fervor, private collapses in which his eyes reveal bottomless grief, and fleeting gestures of tenderness that remind us why others continue to follow him. Eccleston does not simply play Matt-he compels us to inhabit the man's contradictions, leaving the viewer both exhausted and exhilarated by his conviction. The episode's emotional force rests almost entirely on his shoulders, and he carries it with a rare mix of fire and fragility. His full range is on display, his manic intensity counterbalanced by moments of calm warmth, rendering him an endlessly compelling and complex character.

    Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of "Two Boats and a Helicopter" lies in its moral ambiguity. The writing resists reducing Matt to either martyr or fraud. We find ourselves rooting for him even as we recoil at his self-destructive choices; we pity him, yet simultaneously question the righteousness of his crusade. The episode withholds clarity, leaving only the unsettling recognition that meaning may no longer exist in this fractured world-that faith itself may be a mirage. It is television that destabilizes rather than reassures, and in that refusal, it crystallizes the very essence of "The Leftovers."

    "Two Boats and a Helicopter" is more than an extraordinary episode-it is a declaration of intent. By departing from conventional ensemble storytelling, embracing explicit biblical allegory, foregrounding a searing central performance, and situating viewers in the liminal space between faith and delusion, "The Leftovers" delivers an hour of television that is at once devastating and transcendent.
    nomis94

    Great Acting And Amazing Storytelling

    Wow, this episode is intense throughout - without any explosions or car chases or gun fights. Matt Jamison is a great character and his story is fascinating. He has to deal with his paralysed wife and you can really feel that he loves her more than anything.

    The acting is incredibly good and the writing, wow, I can't even describe it in words! Pure perfection.

    This episode proves that "The Leftovers" has some great characters in store. Matt Jamison is one of them and he will also play a key role in future episodes.

    My vote is 10. What an awesome episode!
    10lamoidfl-81570

    One of the finest hours of television ever.

    This episode, "Two boats and a helicopter," is one of the single best hours of television I have ever seen. I am the grandson of two ministers. One was Methodist. The other, Presbyterian. Both of their churches were in the northeast of the USA.

    Christopher Eccleston brilliantly, perfectly, captured the painful, ambiguous emotions that surely would fill the mind of an intelligent and sensitive pastor under the situation depicted. The story is masterfully written, directed, and edited. The acting by the rest of the cast is superb. Like the rest of the series, the episode is compellingly enigmatic and intellectually interesting. The result is very believable, at once beautiful and moving.
    10wheelzosteel420-119-195143

    Wow

    This was a ridiculously amazing hour of television. I don't really do reviews, in fact this is my first time posting a review on IMDb and I have been using it for years. This episode is just so good I had to post something about it. I watch most of the prestige dramas, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wire..etc. All great shows, but I have not been compelled to write a review up until this point. Thats how good this episode is. I think this series is about to receive a lot of attention. Christopher Eccleston gives a fantastic performance portraying a man fighting for everything he loves and believes in, its Emmy worthy. Give The Leftovers a chance, you will be rewarded with some of the most entertaining television Sunday night has to offer and thats really saying something.

    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery
    Cho Yeo-jeong in Parasite (2019)
    Thriller

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The title is a reference to a joke - The town is flooded and the preacher climbs to the roof of his church so as not to drown. A man in a rowboat tries to rescue him but the preacher refuses to get in, saying "the Lord will save me." A man in a motorboat tries to rescue him but the preacher refuses to get in, saying "the Lord will save me." Man in a helicopter tries to rescue him, but the preacher refuses to get in, saying "the Lord will save me." The preacher eventually drowns and when he meets God in heaven he asks "Oh Lord, why didn't you save me?" And the Lord replied "I sent two boats and a helicopter, what else would you have Me do?"
    • Goofs
      Matt is the priest at an Episcopal church. In the Episcopal church, the actual church building belongs to the Diocese, not to the congregation. Therefore Matt could not have borrowed money using the building as collateral, could not have been foreclosed on by the bank and the bank could not have sold the building to the GRs. The Diocese would have had to declare the church to be closed and then sold it.
    • Soundtracks
      Love Will Keep Us Together
      Written by Neil Sedaka (uncredited) and Howard Greenfield (uncredited)

      Performed by Captain & Tennille

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • July 13, 2014 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official Site
    • Language
      • English
    • Filming locations
      • Sleepy Hollow, New York, USA(FDR Bank)
    • Production companies
      • Film 44
      • Warner Bros. Television
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 51m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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