@Invidia said:

Since Nora got the OK from the place where she works, that means it won't be her money she pays them. Because her job will cover the cost of the $20,000 FEE.

But NORA is also still the one who would be subjected to the beams or to rays of the machine being directed at her.

And what it works and he does go somewhere else?

What if she ends up in the same place as KEVIN did where he also sees the DEAD PATTI, GLADYS, and WAYNE again?

Nora got the OK to go to St. Louis...not to Australia.

Nora works for a government agency...no agency would ever fork over so much as $1 for such an enterprise...never mind $20K.

If she told her agency about this guy (which is what she should do), they would not be giving her money; they would be joining with law enforcement to launch an investigation.

Not buying this SCAM for a second. Nora wants to blow them up and make them pay. She may give impression she's gonna do but I see her more out to bring down these clowns preying on idiots. The premise of this show is showing how all these different people are coping with such an event that not a single person on planet can explain. Some go off deep end, some opportunistic & some need to find ways to move on with life as if nothing happened less the yearly reminder.

Looking forward to seeing how it unfolds for all.

@Invidia said:

So her agency isn't an arm of law enforcement?

When she stands there with KEVIN instructing his officers what to do and to report and departures to her, that scene gives one the feeling she's in the role of cop.

And don't cops also put up CASH for kidnapping and drug deals, etc, but then stand there prepared to get it back again after the person is arrested?

So where does NORA get $20,000?

Didn't she also blow everything she had on that RUN DOWN home she bought for 3 MILLION next door to John and Erika?

And didn't she also have a conversation with her boss saying the situation DOWN UNDER was a BIG ONE?

And didn't we also hear her boss saying something like she went for it which also makes it sound like he's a part of this SCAM?

No. Her agency is not in law enforcement.

"The Department of Sudden Departure (DSD) is a U.S. Government organization that _pays out benefits _ to people who have lost loved ones in the Sudden Departure. "

Also, when did this "DOWN UNDER" conversation take place between Nora and her boss?

As for where would Nora get $20K...

1. It's been three years; who is to say she didn't earn it?

2. Who said what she paid for the house was ALL she had?

Again this is GARBAGE @Invidia

As you quoted and guy said, 'CATALOGUED" first 48 hours, I CALL BULL$HIT

In this epic, beyond historical event and mass chaos, there were people looking for Neutrons...BULL$HIT. This makes absolutely NO SENSE. And not realistic at all of how an event like this would go down. The panic and as we saw in S1, 911 lines down, no one could communicate, it was mass hysteria

SCAM. This guy and what you keep trying to feed into this story line makes no sense & is not logical at all. Stick with the storyline and stop feeding BS into what's happening. UGH You keep making up your own story line or injecting stuff that didn't happen or you wish did or how you want it to go. Let it play out and stick with facts of show.

@friscokid said:

Not buying this SCAM for a second. Nora wants to blow them up and make them pay. She may give impression she's gonna do but I see her more out to bring down these clowns preying on idiots. The premise of this show is showing how all these different people are coping with such an event that not a single person on planet can explain. Some go off deep end, some opportunistic & some need to find ways to move on with life as if nothing happened less the yearly reminder.

Looking forward to seeing how it unfolds for all.

Didn't think of this...but, yes, I can see it.

In the past she has always been unwavering when it comes to debunking claims regarding further Departures. So, now that you mentioned it, I can see her making it her mission to bring down anyone she thinks is using The Departures to run a scam.

It's simply that along with her broken arm...and her obsession about Lily...and seeing how much she misses her kids...and her going to Erika for comfort…and her questioning her own sanity...it just looks as if she is slipping off the deep end. I was thinking that her coming home and finding Kevin with that plastic bag over his head finally tipped the scales.

@Invidia said:

This was the TRANSCRIPT from the SHOW.

And they spend 6 MIN on this guy.

WHY?

And then after NORA finds KEVIN trying to kill himself she gets a PHONE CALL from someone saying to meet them DOWN UNDER and to bring $20,000.

And then she tells KEVIN she's going there on a WORK RELATED MATTER (which is a LIE)???

And then we SWITCH to the other CHIEF of POLICE who is also seen standing there with the ORANGE GLOW in the BACK GROUND.

WHY?

Is he one of the DOG MEN that DEAN told KEVIN about?

You can chose to IGNORE all of this if you like but that doesn't mean it won't end up being an IMPORTANT PART of the show at some point.

And the place where we hear NORA'S BOSS saying SHE WENT FOR IT must also be in the PREVIEWS for next week.

So the next thing to do is try to find a place where we can watch them again.

Because the DVR also didn't RECORD THEM.

Yes I know that was line for line from show. It was a moving scene for Nora. To me, more of Nora's challenge of still reconciling her demons of why her kids & husband and not her. From the lens theory to this guy and countless others I'm sure in the 7 years that passed she's not let go like some but most on yearly anniversary keep wanting something to happen, AGAIN. Another departure.

The STRUGGLE with not knowing why them and not us and why 2% and not 98% or whatever #.

I felt like E2 was all about Nora. Looks like E3 is all about Kevin Sr. E4 sounds like a trip to Australia for main characters or at least Nora/Kevin.

So my thoughts are each episode so far or Nora and then Kevin Sr next week, are episodes delving into the psyche of a character. Why they struggle, why they search for answer and what's behind it all.

Just the way I'm viewing this. Trying not to get all crazy theory about it and staying more logical??????

You're funny. Wasn't the orange glow just his car lights? LMAO.

Nora is following up a lead for work. That is absolutely FACT. Her emotions about the whole thing are obviously conflicted but she hates fakers and think these folks are also fakers. Just because they ask for $ over the phone and she says "yes," you think that she actually intends to pay and that she believes them?? She is a DSD investigator. She is following the lead. She tells Kevin that it's about work because it is. Since she did not call work in the fraction of a second in between ending the phone call and answering Kevin, she is therefore somehow a true believer and is going to pony up 20k? Talk about stretching the editorial. We have been shown that Nora has a tiny bit of her that wants to believe in some solution but her every action is geared toward hammering down charlatans. She's going to Australia to bust these fools.

Aslo: Nora isn't going to get zapped by the machine. We've already been shown old-Nora in a flash-forward.

@Horus Mazinga said:

Nora is following up a lead for work. That is absolutely FACT. Her emotions about the whole thing are obviously conflicted but she hates fakers and think these folks are also fakers. Just because they ask for $ over the phone and she says "yes," you think that she actually intends to pay and that she believes them?? She is a DSD investigator. She is following the lead. She tells Kevin that it's about work because it is. Since she did not call work in the fraction of a second in between ending the phone call and answering Kevin, she is therefore somehow a true believer and is going to pony up 20k? Talk about stretching the editorial. We have been shown that Nora has a tiny bit of her that wants to believe in some solution but her every action is geared toward hammering down charlatans. She's going to Australia to bust these fools.

Aslo: Nora isn't going to get zapped by the machine. We've already been shown old-Nora in a flash-forward.

Based on what the writers have given us so far...

Reasonable/logical assessment...Yes. "Absolutely FACT"...?

@Invidia just because IDIOTS at NY times say it doesn't make it so. Complete garbage. Find another source. I found 2-3 completely refuting everything you have posed.

@Invidia said:

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

Also, when did this "DOWN UNDER" conversation take place between Nora and her boss?

Here's another NY TIMES article that also CONFIRMS in PARAGRAPH 2 what you've been told:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/arts/television/the-leftovers-dont-be-ridiculous-recap.html

Nora is suddenly having a hard time getting technology to recognize her. Touch screens go dead. GPS devices won’t let her select her preferred destination. Parking kiosks won’t accept her prepaid ticket. It’s as if she no longer exists — or as if the universe is subtly guiding her to take a little detour after her trip to St. Louis.

After Nora asks to go to St. Louis to investigate the possible “carrot-stick” fraud that Mark Linn-Baker could be running, her boss, George, hangs up the phone and says to another employee, “She’s goin’.” The conversation isn’t on speaker phone, so the other man should have no idea what “She’s goin’” means unless “the trip to St. Louis was part of some larger, secret scheme. Given the casual way Joel Murray delivers the line, it’s probably just an unfortunate continuity error. But … what if it’s not?

Still more EVIDENCE that others were also REMINDED of the HOTEL where KEVIN went to can be found here at the 4:35 min TIME MARK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEoaZE5u-fY

And he also mentions the guy mentioning his tailor made SUIT.

So what seems to be my "ILLOGICAL and way too far out IDEAS" for you, are also IDEAS that have been RUNNING through the MINDS of others as well.

And certain matters that you claim don't STICK to the SHOW have also been INTERPRETED by others as being MAJOR SIGNS or FLAG POSTS letting us know that we should PAY CLOSER ATTENTION to them because later on they're probably also going to turn out to be an IMPORTANT PART of the show.

And The VIDEO also suggest that the OLDER NORA/SARA we saw with the DOVES is also in the place where THE DEPARTED go to after they DISAPPEAR.

And that also MEANS the MACHINE EXISTS and that it was used to GET her there where she's at.

Amazing isn't it how something that seems to indicate one thing for one person (NORA never found her children and the MACHINES a SCAM) can indicate the COMPLETE OPPOSITE for someone else (who thinks she's gone where the DEPARTED went)?

Previously she also told JILL while drinking the BOOZE John's father bought for her that the ARK was FULL and no one else would get to be on board it.

But looks like she may have been WRONG and 119 OTHERS have also JOINED up with the DEPARTED who are on it?

I go by what is SAID & SHOWN on the show.

Yes, we can speculate about what's what OR what we think will happen/what we think something means; but, until/unless we've seen and/or heard it on the show...speculations is all it is.

As for the "Times"; they are just giving THEIR interpretation of what they saw/heard. And, as for what it all means...sounds like they are speculating...JUST LIKE THE REST OF US!

Them saying it doesn't prove a thing.

As for your interpretation/speculation...it's as good as any; but it's not proof either.

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@Horus Mazinga said:

Nora is following up a lead for work. That is absolutely FACT. Her emotions about the whole thing are obviously conflicted but she hates fakers and think these folks are also fakers. Just because they ask for $ over the phone and she says "yes," you think that she actually intends to pay and that she believes them?? She is a DSD investigator. She is following the lead. She tells Kevin that it's about work because it is. Since she did not call work in the fraction of a second in between ending the phone call and answering Kevin, she is therefore somehow a true believer and is going to pony up 20k? Talk about stretching the editorial. We have been shown that Nora has a tiny bit of her that wants to believe in some solution but her every action is geared toward hammering down charlatans. She's going to Australia to bust these fools.

Aslo: Nora isn't going to get zapped by the machine. We've already been shown old-Nora in a flash-forward.

Based on what the writers have given us so far...

Reasonable/logical assessment...Yes. "Absolutely FACT"...?

Duly chastised.

@Invidia said:

Yes, we can speculate about what's what OR what we think will happen/what we think something means; but, until/unless we've seen and/or heard it on the show...speculations is all it is. As for the "Times"; they are just giving THEIR interpretation of what they saw/heard. And, as for what it all means...sounds like they are speculating...JUST LIKE THE REST OF US! Them saying it doesn't prove a thing. As for your interpretation/speculation...it's as good as any; but it's not proof either

Yes of course it's just SPECULATION. Never meant to imply it's PROOF of anything other than the FACT that there are others out there who also see things the SAME WAY and from the SAME OUT THERE points of view.

But isn't this also a show that's told to us in a WAY OUT THERE KIND of WAY???

INDEED

What's BUZZARD taste like ;)

@Horus Mazinga said:

@FormerlyKnownAs said:

@Horus Mazinga said:

Nora is following up a lead for work. That is absolutely FACT. Her emotions about the whole thing are obviously conflicted but she hates fakers and think these folks are also fakers. Just because they ask for $ over the phone and she says "yes," you think that she actually intends to pay and that she believes them?? She is a DSD investigator. She is following the lead. She tells Kevin that it's about work because it is. Since she did not call work in the fraction of a second in between ending the phone call and answering Kevin, she is therefore somehow a true believer and is going to pony up 20k? Talk about stretching the editorial. We have been shown that Nora has a tiny bit of her that wants to believe in some solution but her every action is geared toward hammering down charlatans. She's going to Australia to bust these fools.

Aslo: Nora isn't going to get zapped by the machine. We've already been shown old-Nora in a flash-forward.

Based on what the writers have given us so far...

Reasonable/logical assessment...Yes. "Absolutely FACT"...?

Duly chastised.

Looks like it is indeed Nora's work just like she said. Not her being hoodwinked by some lame scam.

@Invidia said:

After watching the scene again it's clear she LIED to KEVIN when she said going DOWN UNDER was WORK RELATED.

Going to ST. LOUIS was work related.

She got permission to go there.

But she didn't get it to go where she's heading now.

Do employers usually also let FAMILY MEMBERS tag along on JOB related trips?

No they don't.

If Kevin damaged the hotel room where NORA stays, for example, the company would also have to pay for it.

This time Nora's trip is NOT work related.

She's going for PERSONAL reasons.

Possible.

But in the previews for next ep, we find out that it is a sting operation. That's what she does for work. Flush out the cheats and scammers. Does she go there to do what she does for work but without the blessing of her employer? Maybe. To say that it not work related is not true, though. It absolutely is. It just may be that she is doing it without travel expenses authorized. Kevin tagging along does not automatically mean that he is being paid for too. And really, we don't know for sure what her employers have or have not signed off on other than St Louis. Remains to be seen. What's for certain is that she is not somehow tricked by the money scam.