Most critics come down in favour of The Leftovers, with five of eight positive, and the praise gathers in the same place: the decision to ignore the mystery of the Sudden Departure and stay with the people left behind. The character work is singled out repeatedly, along with the series’ interest in faith, randomness and loss. The AV Club finds it frequently brilliant and driven by images rather than dialogue, and Den of Geek rates Justin Theroux’s performance highly even while disliking much else.
The reservations are about tone. Almost every review calls the series bleak, and the split is over whether that bleakness earns its keep. Vulture finds the early episodes short on the artistry needed to justify the effort, The Guardian counts too many characters and too few answers, and Variety thinks the themes and the particulars never quite join up. The spread is wide, from outright admiration to Den of Geek’s verdict that it is heavy, unpleasant and not for everyone.