This opinion piece from Collider argues that HBO's The Leftovers, adapted from Tom Perrotta's novel, improved once it stopped closely following its source material. The first season faithfully reproduced the book's bleak, cynical tone in depicting a world after the "Sudden Departure", in which a small portion of the global population mysteriously vanishes. Showrunner Damon Lindelof then chose to take the remaining two seasons in his own direction, shifting the story from unrelenting grief towards a more hopeful, existential exploration of how people move on from collective tragedy.

The series is set largely in the fictional town of Mapleton, New York, following police chief Kevin Garvey Jr. (Justin Theroux), whose wife Laurie (Amy Brenneman) joins a silent cult called the "Guilty Remnant", and Nora Durst (Carrie Coon), who lost her entire family. The writer praises Theroux and Coon's performances and highlights how later seasons broadened the cast and deepened characters such as Guilty Remnant leader Patti (Ann Dowd), while introducing the Murphy family in Season 2 to examine how Black families carry heavier burdens of grief. The article concludes that this departure from the book allowed the show to complete what it calls a "perfect story".