My thoughts are she went to the other side. Watching a 2nd time convinced me of this. In the beginning, the newspaper confession, her first take they didn't believe her, she said she doesn't lie. The second take she was emotional.

Flash to the end, she got emotional almost towards the middle/end of the story signaling truth based upon the beginning. I think she was telling the truth. It was probably 20 years since she saw Kevin last.

I almost believe what you've proposed. However, this one thing is bothering me.

As you have said, AND most everyone else, Nora says she doesn't LIE. Which I thought so too.

I ask any & all this, She called herself SARA, said she didn't know a man named KEVIN. Said both these LIES to the Nun. Who she later called out as a liar for saying she hadn't had sex with ladder climbing motorcycle dude.

The scene was pretty interesting in terms of the Nun flat out LIED and even swore to GOD. And then she says to Nora, I saw you dancing with that man Kevin who you claimed to not have known. Leading to the scene with the goat, taking the sins of all that the (scape) goat had taken and now she was the 'goat'. A very moving and critical transformation of Nora wouldn't you agree???

SO...Nora does LIE ;)

And I wonder if she broke through her do not lie stance and created that story of going to other side as a lie to see how Kevin would react. Since he had been lying about how he found her.

There's just a little bit of wonderment on my part as to whether she truly did go to other side or did she make it up to finally feel better about being able to lie and not feel guilty about it??????

Not sure about you or others, but Kevin sure was convincing about how he found Nora. Many have said they wondered if Kevins story was this some other alternative world or what? So his story was pretty damn good and believable, why couldn't Nora's be just as believable? Both being lies ;)

Just a thought on all that.

Will never truly know answer, which is perfect and glad it ended as it did. LOVED ENDING

Great response!! Here are my other thoughts to support my own theory that she was telling the truth.

Like I referenced the newspaper scene convinced me she was. But a big difference is between a lie that is deliberate versus a reasonable lie… Like the scene where they were telling the difference between what is and what is not a sin.

She was lying that her name is Sarah and not knowing Kevin for a purpose. She was in hiding, she had a reason to lie, and she didn't feel it was a deliberate lie. There was no reason for her to make up a lie that she went to the other side. There was no purpose in doing so. She doesn't lie for the sake of lying, she lies if there's a reason behind it… In my opinion. The nun was perfectly placed to have people question the lying aspect.

I felt the goat scene was her accepting all of her sins of the past that she's done to Kevin and others.. accepting the fact that she can move on without guilt. I don't think it had anything to do with the other side. I felt the doves coming back and the goat leaving signified a new beginning and a clean slate.

I loved the series too!! It was an amazing season!

Yeah, I believed her story. Remember, she was the bravest girl on Earth. She wouldn't have backed out at the last second.

...also, she was a straight-shooter. I watched it again last night. I just don't see the benefit in her lying. What would be the point? The only explanation would be she had a mental breakdown and created a weird, elaborate lie, with all sorts of details, just to appease herself. But she seemed stronger than that. In my opinion, she simply told the truth.

Also, Kevin's heart condition most likely slowed down his heart , making it possible for him to survive in those crazy, extreme conditions a tad longer than the average person. Whatever dreams he had were influenced by a lack of oxygen causing vivid hallucinations that didn't unfold in real time. He never "died" and came back to life. He was in an oxygen-deprived state. You occasionally read about someone surviving in conditions that seem too harsh for longer than expected. That little wrinkle was included on purpose to give us evidence he wasn't some magical Jesus-type.

It's really a bit mind bending, eh?. I gotta say I find it hard to believe she went, saw her children once, and didn't even talk to them.

We have to try to interpret this from the whole season. From the first episode there seemed to be a theme of "the better story", of what you want to believe. The people climibing to the roof of their houses. The tower man dying. People tell Nora to let people have their story. She won't. Laurie argues with Matt about the same. Reality/fantasy. She finally tells him they should do it his way, cause he has a "better story". Then the nun tells the same thing to Nora in the finale. All these surely has to mean something.

Kevin father goes up to the roof after he realizes that his whole story was insanity. Nora climbs to her roof (after her conversation with the nun?, before Kevin arrives again?). Is she convinced, and decides that she rather goes with the "better story" instead of the harsh reality?.

It also occurred to me that it refers to death, either metaphorically or not for Nora. The departed are dead. Nora sees that they are fine, and that she doesn't belong there. And she comes back to life (much like Kevin does). Or the departed are most likely dead. Episode 5 seemed to show every main character were going to kill themselves. Laurie. Kevin. Nora (by getting into the machine). Come the end though, they're all alive. Not sure we have the explanation for why Kevin is still alive lol, but Laurie surely changed her mind in the last moment and didn't go through with it, and the case could well be the same for Nora.

The theme of this season seems different from the previous seasons, and I think that got me somewhat confused.

@Invidia said:

But what she doesn't mention is she was STILL HERE, because the MACHINE was a SCAM.

The FACT that her body would have also been ENCASED inside of that frozen FLUID thing like the other body was we saw also PROVES this.

What you are saying isn't true. Everybody who went into the machine took a photo prior to leaving with a current newspaper. The people then disappeared and did not return. Their bodies were not simply encased in frozen fluid. What you saw was described as a "fossil"... really just an impression of the body. The actual body was gone. Gone-diddly-on. That's what fossils are, impressions or mineral deposits that take the place of the organic tissue.

Because if the MACHINE really did work, then she'd also have NO BODY to return back to anymore, because her body would also have become a FOSSIL like the other one that we saw ENCASED inside of the FROZEN FLUID.

Her body didn't "become" a fossil. It left behind a fossil... it was merely an impression of her body, just like footprints of dinosaurs aren't their actual feet, it was where they stepped.

Great input...I'm still torn. Wow I loved this show. I was depressed last night and made comment, "MY LEFTOVERS" show isn't on tonight...LOL

@Invidia said:

---

Didn't see Nora go up to the roof. She just finds her BIRD HOUSES EMPTY and goes to the NUN to complain about that when she finds the other guy climbing DOWN the ladder from the window.

---

Didn’t she?, I think she went up her roof in some moment? I might be misremembering though.

Laurie didn't really do anything to indicate she plans on killing herself.

That impression was mostly formed by the RUDE REMARK that NORA made to her ... when she told her SCUBA DIVING would be a good way to kill herself.

So the opinion that LAURIE wanted to kill herself is completely based upon that MEAN comment that Nora makes to her when she also takes her lighter away from her and refused to give it back again.

But we also know Laurie didn't plan to kill herself because the last thing that she says to NORA right before she used the machine was:

SEE you the SAME TIME NEXT WEEK

And LAURIE is also SMILING after she talks to her 2 kids (which is still another reason why she wouldn't KILL HERSELF and put JILL through still more HELL again).

So, imo, the SCUBA DIVING was nothing more than a pleasure dive and way to enjoy herself by getting away from all of the other CRAZY stuff that was going on DOWN UNDER.

---

I think it was strongly implied in that episode that that was what she was thinking. Why else show Nora’s remark, and then her going under diving in the end (and having some hesitation), why does she lie to Jill when they talk on the phone. Why does she allow Kevin to go through with his father and the crazy woman’s plan. Why does she give him the lighter (it had huge emotional significance to her). And doesn’t the episode start with they showing us how she went into the GM after an aborted suicide attempt?.

Yes the THEME did seem to take another different direction this season.

And as you already pointed out, time after time we were also presented with ONE SCAM after another one, as if the writers definitely wanted to call our attention to them: People climbing on top of their ROOFS waiting for the WORLD to END SCAM Laurie and JOHN's PALM READING SCAM The TOWER GUY SCAM The DAVID BURTON as GOD SCAM MEG's EXPLOSIVES on the BRIDGE SCAM Her BLOWING up the SCHOOL BUS SCAM THE SCAM to cover up her death by saying it was caused by a GAS EXPLOSION MATT'S writing the BOOK of KEVIN SCAM The Learning native songs to stop the FLOOD SCAM THE NUN having SEX SCAM The use of the BIRDS to deliver notes SCAM The PAYING $20,000 to use the MACHINE SCAM CONCLUSION: THE MACHINE was probably also just another SCAM.

But like the case with WIFE of the TOWER GUY, NORA most likely also chose to tell a BETTER STORY about what had really happened to her.

Because if the MACHINE really did work, then she'd also have NO BODY to return back to anymore, because her body would also have become a FOSSIL like the other one that we saw ENCASED inside of the FROZEN FLUID.

But what we saw was the PRINT of a body, in the frozen fluid. I’ve only seen the episode once, but I’m quite sure there was a body shaped hole where the body would have been.

But yep, it seems to me like the whole machine thing must have been a scam. It makes sense with the rest of the season, and even of the series as a whole.

Her brother had to know this, but he HAD told her, that he’d say whatever she asked him to say about it all.

In a way I like better the interpretation that she changed her mind in the last moment though, and that what she was telling Kevin was a version of that. Her family was dead, probably better off somewhere else (heaven?), but she doesn’t belong there, she shouldn’t die just to be with them.

@friscokid said:

Great input...I'm still torn. Wow I loved this show. I was depressed last night and made comment, "MY LEFTOVERS" show isn't on tonight...LOL

It's not that great. It's simply over-analyzed conjecture. You are free to believe she was scammed but you are inventing details in a very opinionated fashion. This is a fictional show that created an explanation. Now you are creating your own fiction to argue with that fiction. It's a little weird!

Speculation but: the show could be interpreted as dealing with life (first two seasons?) and with death. Remember Kevin’s conversation with his pre-crazy father: “is THIS really it”? he was disappointed with his life, feeling unfulfilled. Same was the case with Nora. Both the first and second seasons’ finales seem to end with an affirmation of the prime importance of family and love (of those we love, in other words) in our lives. The third season, otoh, seems to be more about dealing with death. About Nora accepting that she needed to stay among the living and accept what had happened.

Not sure I’ve expressed this too clearly.

Opinions?

@Kewl_Kat said:

@friscokid said:

Great input...I'm still torn. Wow I loved this show. I was depressed last night and made comment, "MY LEFTOVERS" show isn't on tonight...LOL

It's not that great. It's simply over-analyzed conjecture. You are free to believe she was scammed but you are inventing details in a very opinionated fashion. This is a fictional show that created an explanation. Now you are creating your own fiction to argue with that fiction. It's a little weird!

Did it really create a clear explanation? I think accepting that explanation at face value kinda ignores what they showed throughout the whole season. Reality vs what people would rather believe.

This show created a mystery and took us on a fun ride. We were never sure what was going on and then the final episode was aired. It wrapped up with an explanation. Some people don't want the ride to end so they are doubting the explanation. There is no 100% correct answer because this story is pretend! So feel free to form whatever opinion makes you happiest. It just doesn't matter.

Did it really create a clear explanation? I think accepting that explanation at face value kinda ignores what they showed throughout the whole season. Reality vs what people would rather believe.

I never said it was "clear." Nobody knows exactly why the departure event occurred. However, if we are to believe the scientists and Nora, then we do know that the event was based in science, as it could be replicated. Just like in real life, we can explain how many things occur in nature but for the most part, we don't have a clue as to why they occur. The Universe is one big mystery.