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So after last week surprised us with a crazy ending (both Patti stabbing herself with a shard of glass in an attempt to implicate Kevin and Jill turning up at the Guilty Remnant), I would expect nothing less of The Leftovers than to avoid the cliffhanger and throw us back into the past. It's really more of a move from Damon Lindelof's Lost, but certainly welcome here as it serves to build tension before the season finale which airs in two weeks. Anyway, on to the good stuff..

Laurie has been a bit of a mystery to us since she was introduced as Kevin Garvey's wife and one of the Guilty Remnant. Bits and pieces of information have been floating around though which you might have picked up. It is revealed in "The Garveys at Their Best" that Laurie was a psychologist before the Sudden Departure (I'm just assuming that's capitalized in this world) and, in fact, one of her patients was Patti who went on to become the head of the Mapleton chapter of the Guilty Remnant. Hearkening back (or forward, rather) to "Gladys", we gain a greater understanding of what was in the brown paper bag that Patti left on the doorstep of her [presumably] ex-husband's house. Shit. In addition, we see all of the build-up that caused Laurie to join the Guilty Remnant and leave her life in the first place. Not only was her and Kevin's relationship tumultuous to say the least, but she was pregnant with a baby that no one else knew about and who disappeared in the Sudden Departure along with the others. Not that the Sudden Departure wasn't bad enough already, but the thought of women at various stages of pregnancy suddenly losing their unborn children is a startling one. 

Elsewhere in Mapleton, we see a surprisingly lighthearted Jill (with braces, no less) who is as far as she could possibly be from the older, more jaded version of the same girl that we know now. We also learn that Tommy apparently gets loaded and heads over to his biological father's house quite often. Kevin spends the episode chasing an "unstable" deer throughout the city and trying to capture it alive, though it ends up dead at the very end of the show (and that series of events also leads Kevin to infidelity). The way that Kevin Garvey's past was portrayed in The Leftovers previously had led me to believe that he (and his family) were happy.. but it appears as though Kevin has never quite been happy, never found his true calling or reason for being. Foreshadowing all of the crazy events with Dean and Kevin Garvey Sr., at one point Kevin is on a run and sees a car with four women in it drive up to him. "Are you ready?" they ask him. When Kevin looks confused they seem to laugh and drive off only to have a sewer grate nearby blow off the street and into the air with a visible eruption of flames. This seems like the moment that the top comes off the bottle, so to speak, for Kevin. Whether the women in that car have anything to do with the more recent developments in the show or are even real at all remains to be seen.

Does the deer in this episode symbolize Kevin's sanity or how he thinks of himself? Is Laurie's baby really gone, and if so were Patti's words in the therapy session, "there's something wrong inside you" somehow related or just referring to the unsettling feelings that many characters seemed to have? When and why does Kevin Garvey Sr. go all nutty bar? Why would Laurie follow someone like Patti whom she knows is not completely well or mentally stable? Lots of questions posed here like usual.. thanks The Leftovers, I'll be not so patiently waiting until the season finale in two weeks!

In typical The Leftovers fashion, any answers that we may think we're getting closer to actually just lead to more questions. Now I've been a fan of Damon Lindelof's work since his Lost days so this is mostly expected, but it does seem as though we're getting a constant stream of open-ended story arcs. The Guilty Remnant, Holy Wayne, Kevin Garvey Sr.'s (and now Dean's) mysterious voices, a specific issue of National Geographic, etc all twist and turn in an endless spin cycle of exposition. "We'll get to all of these things in time," The Leftovers seems to say, "but loose ends don't need to be tied up in the middle of a season."

Kevin Garvey is now becoming explicitly aware of his 'blackouts' and this awareness may drive him further into either aggressive, self-defeating behavior or perhaps (and I'm hoping) into accepting the unknown - specifically what his father, Kevin Garvey Sr. has been pushing him towards. Or maybe those are both actually the same path and there is no way out for the Chief. In "Cairo", Kevin falls asleep in his bed only to wake up at an old cabin - apparently some place that Kevin used to frequent when he was younger - with Dean. He discovers Patti tied up inside and we learn shortly afterwards that (according to Dean) Kevin had gone out, gotten drunk, kidnapped Patti and brought her here. 

The always conflicted Kevin Garvey tries to do what he feels is the right thing and let Patti go, but everything (and everyone) works against him. Patti maintains that she will report everything that happened if she is set free (which would certainly ruin his professional career and strain all of his relationships), and Dean physically restrains Kevin and tells him to go back to sleep so that the real Kevin (the one that supposedly spearheaded all of this craziness in the first place) might reappear. There is a lot of information to digest within these scenes at the cabin. First, the painting of the deer in the cabin closely resembles one that is actually in the National Geographic issue so prominently featured in the last episode. Second, Dean seems aware of the fact that Kevin doesn't fully grasp the situations that he continually finds himself in (to what extent, I'm not quite sure), and we also see Dean talking to "voices" at one point, much like Kevin Garvey Sr. One new question that presents itself here then is are those voices the same or are Kevin's father and Dean working on opposite "sides"? The way the show presents this information lends credibility to a few theories that I've heard about Dean being guided by "evil" and Kevin Garvey Sr. by "good". Or is it the other way around? Third, Kevin finds himself in the woods full of damning evidence that he has been here many times before - his shirts are bloody and dirty, hanging from the trees surrounding a well-used campfire. We also see quite a few dirty, used work boots - does this mean that Kevin may be leading a group of people, perhaps the same group that stoned Gladys earlier this season? That guy needs some sleep, for sure.

Something that I touched on in a previous review was that Patti and Gladys shared an "I'm ready" moment at the beginning of the "Gladys" episode earlier this year before she was stoned to death. In "Cairo", Patti eventually tells Kevin that Gladys had agreed to being martyred (presumably in that scene) for the cause and that she knew that her time was up as well. It makes you wonder if Gladys is somehow connected to what seems to be happening to Kevin as well as Dean and Kevin Garvey Sr. Certainly she knows more than she lets on. Going back to the stoning, something that bothers me is that Patti is talking when she is near death - begging her assailants to stop - perhaps this is just a natural reaction to being inches away from a cruel and violent demise, but one would think she would remain stoic if she had readily agreed. More than likely, then, she didn't agree so readily or there was more at stake. After entering the cabin to find Patti gasping for air under a plastic bag (Dean's doing), Kevin makes a decision to sacrifice his career and possibly a lot more by cutting Patti's bonds to set her free. Patti will have none of this, as it seems she has already set much of this in motion (including a larger Guilty Remnant plot to dress up Loved Ones versions of the departed in their stolen clothing for some kind of shocking demonstration), and kills herself with a shard of glass from Dean and Kevin's earlier physical confrontation. 

Here are Patti's parting words from a William Yeats poem called He Bids His Beloved Be At Peace:

I HEAR the Shadowy Horses, their long manes a-shake,

Their hoofs heavy with tumult, their eyes glimmering white;

The North unfolds above them clinging, creeping night,

The East her hidden joy before the morning break,

The West weeps in pale dew and sighs passing away,

The South is pouring down roses of crimson fire:

O vanity of Sleep, Hope, Dream, endless Desire,

The Horses of Disaster plunge in the heavy clay:

Beloved, let your eyes half close, and your heart beat

Over my heart, and your hair fall over my breast,

Drowning love's lonely hour in deep twilight of rest,

And hiding their tossing manes and their tumultuous feet.

Yikes, Patti. Thanks for the parting poetry - this seems to be referring to the four horsemen of the apocalypse while also expressing a new awakening (via the sunrise). I suppose Patti is alluding to what is about to happen in Mapleton (and perhaps across all of the chapters of the Guilty Remnant). Whatever the Guilty Remnant actually does with the fabricated bodies of the departed, it will surely be the most impactful thing that they have accomplished and truly have a lasting effect. We are already seeing more and more distraught people joining up with the Guilty Remnant (including Jill, although I think her intentions may be different). They may need to buy some more real estate.

As for Kevin, how can he do the noble thing now? Even with the best of intentions, he is obviously leading some kind of double life and exposing all of that (or even part of it) to everyone would only result in punishment for him. From the very beginning we see that Kevin is a good force in this town, and one of the only people who seem to have their head on straight (besides what happens when he falls asleep and/or blacks out, obviously), so is it better for him to plunge straight into chaos or give himself up to be locked away like his old man? The events of the next episode leading up to the season finale will no doubt be filled with fire and brimstone, and personally I dig it. Although obviously about the struggle between good and evil, The Leftovers exists in a time and place where morality itself is skewed, so who knows and who is to say which is which?

"Don't wake up. Don't anybody wake up. Go to sleep.. go back to fucking sleep!"

After the frantic pace of recent episodes "Gladys" and "Guest", you would think that The Leftovers would come up for some air. Quite the opposite. With only three episodes left in the first season, "Solace for Tired Feet" brings no solace at all to viewers and in fact continues to take us further under the current as the events in Mapleton start to intertwine and come to a head. This latest episode starts off with Jill and a group of her friends trying to see who can last the longest locked inside an old refrigerator in the woods. Some pretty terrific games that these kids are into, huh? Well, Jill breaks the record but the handle breaks off when her friends try to let her out and chaos ensues. Enter the character that perhaps we least expect to see at this moment, Kevin Garvey Sr., who has apparently broken out of the secure psychiatric facility that he was voluntarily remanded to soon after the Sudden Departure. 

In contrast to the previous two episodes, "Solace for Tired Feet" has an expanded focus but it does still tend to orbit around Kevin Garvey. Whether we're talking about his budding relationship with Nora Durst (one of the bright spots in the series so far), the strange chemistry with Jill's friend Aimee (Emily Meade), the jumbled and somewhat-tied-to-reality sequences with Dean (Michael Gaston) or the unsettling conversations with his father, Kevin is unwittingly the nucleus of all of this chaos. And that's not even mentioning his ties to the Guilty Remnant or the mess that his son Tom is wrapped up in.

Speaking of Tom Garvey, we learn (somewhat shockingly) that he is just one of many spokes in Holy Wayne's plans. Not only does he discover that there are other people like himself who are doing what Wayne has told them to, but apparently there are also other girls just like Christine (young, asian and pregnant?). I think that we as viewers of the show are supposed to be in the dark about Wayne and his motivations and abilities (supernatural or otherwise), but he has certainly been portrayed this far as an unsavory character which is very much at odds with the talent that he somehow possesses. Christine may have been having another vision when she was babbling phrases like 'there are spiders underwater", and I'm sure that we'll find some parallel to this later in the series, but the most important thing that we can garner from this episode is that Wayne has more than one baby and they are being referred to as 'The Bridge'. For whatever reason, Wayne seems to be in hiding and trying to make the money last until these babies have been born. This may be coming pretty soon, as at the end of the episode Christine is revealed to have given birth to her daughter.

Throughout the season so far, we have seen so many references to Kevin's possibly psychotic state (disappearing bagels, missing shirts, Dean, etc.) but at every turn he proves himself to be sane after all. In this episode, we see the real, tangible result of what Kevin perceives as a dream in the bite on his hand and the dog he has tied up outside. Aimee seems to have had a whole conversation with Kevin while he was blacked out, or having an episode - and in fact I'm not sure that Aimee is exactly what she appears to be. We haven't learned much about her and her back story but she seems to know some things about Kevin that he doesn't know about himself. Odd. Anyway, the whole episode culminates in a conversation that Kevin and his father have at a familiar diner.. for some reason an old issue of National Geographic seems to be some kind of token for Kevin to accept a new reality that may be happening to him and already happened to his father. Are things exactly as they seem, or could everything be completely different? Although Kevin does not want to, he ultimately does seem to accept that he has some new kind of purpose or connection waiting for him to explore when he grabs the magazine (not at the diner, but one that had been ordered by his daughter at their house on behalf of Kevin Garvey, Sr.).

Good luck to the citizens of Mapleton as things play out over the next couple of weeks. Things are about to get even crazier than they already are.. and that was already pretty nuts!

Every year when it gets close to draft time, websites are flooded with articles about who you should and shouldn't pick for your fantasy team. The thing is, unless you're in an auction league and have the ability to take a player at any time based on a value that you assign, you can really only target certain players that have a perceived value to you greater than where they are currently being taken in the draft (in other words, their ADP or Average Draft Position). It's my goal in the next few weeks to go through some fantasy relevant players at each position and provide a short argument for why they should be targeted above their current ADPs. Remember, if the team managers in your league have above-average football intelligence, you will likely have to select these players (and any others you have your eye on) several picks earlier than their ADPs. For the purposes of this article we'll be using the ADP statistics from recent mock drafts (10-team standard league) at Fantasy Football Calculator (a tool that we often use) and you can access that updated data here: http://fantasyfootballcalculator.com/adp.php?format=standard&year=2014&teams=10&view=graph&pos=all.

Kelvin Benjamin

(Current ADP - 12.08)

I know, I know. I'm supposed to follow my own advice and temper my expectations for rookies. Especially for rookies like Kelvin, who has had problems in the past specific to dropped passes and a limited route tree. What you can't deny, however, are the favorable comparisons to guys like Alshon Jeffery and Plaxico Burress. Benjamin's measurables are immense: 6'5", 240lbs, 35-inch arms and a 4.5ish 40. Yikes. I'm going to be looking closely at Benjamin's play in upcoming preseason games to gauge his comfort level with the routes he is being asked to run, but from training camp reports we are hearing nothing but great things. In fact, it appears as though he has not yet dropped a ball at all. Finally, Benjamin looks to have no real competition for the starting WR role in Carolina. That said, there is a little talent there in Jerricho Cotchery, Jason Avant and of course Greg Olsen (who will likely end up leading the team in receptions). In fact, I tend to think that the Panthers' receiving core is actually better than it was last year.. Steve Smith showed a large decline in healthy game-to-game production last year (not to mention that his 5'9" frame is a little small for today's NFL) and Brandon LaFell and Ted Ginn have never been standouts (and are easily replaced by Cotchery and Avant in the short term). Bottom Line: the rumors of Cam Newton's demise have been greatly exaggerated and adding a freakishly athletic receiver to the mix should only be a boon to his numbers. While I'm not predicting a top 20 season for Benjamin, I strongly believe that he will finish inside the top 40 wide receivers (if only because of his immediate use in red-zone situations) which would be the right value to select him in the 10th or 11th rounds.

Marvin Jones

(Current ADP - 13.06)

Marvin Jones stunned the fantasy world last season in his 2nd year when he scored 10 total TDs (including 4 vs. NYJ in Week 8). Even taking out that game (which could be considered a statistical outlier) he improved on his rookie year production by 500+ yards and 5 TDs. And all of this while sharing time on the field with Mohamed Sanu. Although Jones only just came off the PUP list (he had an ankle injury that was not considered serious), he looks to be locked in as the starting receiver for 2014 opposite A.J. Green. This absence from training camp could explain the current low draft position, but don't let it fool you - he will surely be on the rise over the next few weeks as news continues to trickle out from Cincinnati. Most likely, Jones should average between 4-6 receptions per game (I'm predicting around 70 total) which should increase his total receiving yards toward 1000. In other words, even if he doesn't match the 10 TD's from last year his stock should still hover around the same value (he finished 2013 as the #24 WR overall in standard scoring leagues). Even a slight regression in TD's from 2013 then would still put him at the bottom of the top 30 WR's. We're talking about guys here like Emmanuel Sanders, Golden Tate, Kendall Wright, etc. and all of those guys are being drafted right now between rounds 7 and 10. With an ADP of 13.06, Marvin Jones is a prospect that is still being undervalued in rounds 10-12. Wait as late as you can to pick him up.. but not too late! Bottom Line: playing behind A.J. Green will only continue to help Jones.. watch out for a rising ADP over the next few weeks and catch him while you can.

Mike Wallace

(Current ADP - 8.01)

Reports from training camp are saying that Dolphins' QB Ryan Tannehill and Mike Wallace are still struggling to find a good chemistry on deep routes. Well, just remember that this is still preseason and words fly around like footballs this time of year. Wallace performed better in the last six games of the 2013 season than earlier in the year which makes it a little easier to trust him as a solid fantasy commodity, and new OC Bill Lazor (formerly working as the QB coach under Chip Kelly on the Eagles) has vowed to use Wallace all over the field rather than simply as a deep threat. We know that Wallace is fast and can be productive, and on this team there should be a fair amount of playing catch-up as the Miami defense finished the season in the bottom half of the NFL. Wallace will fill the Desean Jackson role in Lazor's offense and whether or not he and Tannehill are hanging out on their days off, he will exceed his production from 2013. I Expect Wallace to at least more closely approach if not get back to the numbers he had as an instrumental part of the Steelers offense (1,000+ yards, 8+ TDs) which would put him squarely into the top 20 receivers when we look back on the 2014 season. Finally, the Dolphins actually have the most favorable schedule for WRs (calculated here: http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/strength_of_schedule.cfm?type=e&sortby=WR from 2013 season data). Bottom Line: Mike Wallace had a hiccup of a season due to a few reasons (change of teams, coaching staff, new quarterback, etc) but despite that he still finished as a top 30 receiver.. look for his return to form this year.

Kenny Stills

(Current ADP - 12.10)

Last season Kenny Stills was a one-trick pony, but oh what a nice trick it was. As a rookie, Stills led the league in yards per reception (20.0) and had only one drop while finding the end zone five times. With the departure of Lance Moore and Darren Sproles, there are a lot of targets (143) that need to be filled. There has been talk at camp about Nick Toon and Brandin Cooks, but they are really fighting for the third spot, with Stills solidly in the second spot as long as he's healthy. He will at least split those 143 targets, giving Stills a solid 70+ this year. Taking into consideration Stills' low drop rate, a 60 reception season should net him over 1100 yards. It will look a lot like DeSean Jackson's second and third seasons (2009 & 2010). Stills has the potential to be a solid WR3, especially with a QB like Drew Brees under center. Bottom Line: with an ADP of 12.10, Stills holds fantastic value even a round or two earlier.

Markus Wheaton

(Current ADP - not drafted in standard leagues)

Of course it's difficult to put faith in a guy that only recorded 64 yards in his rookie campaign. That's what these sort of articles are all about though, right? First, Markus Wheaton is a prototypical burner receiver with a 4.4 40 time and good hands - the reports out of training camp this year have been ridiculous, to put it lightly. "He can be that guy that teams look at in the first four games and are like, 'Who is that dude running past people?'" said Ike Taylor, who's been going against Wheaton at practices (from Rotoworld - http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/nfl/8406/markus-wheaton). Second, the Steelers lost Emmanuel Sanders to the Broncos in the off-season and did not look to replace him from outside sources (they drafted a developmental project WR in Martavis Bryant and picked up Lance Moore (possible split slot duty and Cotchery replacement) and Darrius Heyward-Bey who will provide some depth at the position). It was known last year that Wheaton would have had a bigger role if it wasn't for the two broken fingers that sidelined him for the majority of the 2013 season and it appears that the starting role opposite Antonio Brown is his to lose now. With the Steelers going no-huddle and after a very impressive offensive resurgence in the final weeks last year, it's pretty ridiculous that Wheaton is not even being taken off the board in standard redraft leagues. That said, the story here is that not many people who are casual fans of the game are familiar with the name. Bottom Line: Look for Wheaton's ADP to *exist* in a few weeks, but be sure to draft him in the late rounds for a value pick that could prove to be solid WR4 production.