What does The Leftovers Season 3 Episode 5 mean for The Gospel of Kevin According to Matthew?

Matt's faith in his interpretation of the events that unfolded in Kevin's life was put to the test when he went on a rescue mission to ensure Kevin would be in his rightful place when the world ends if it ends.

But Matt ran into someone we've already met, in a fashion, a meeting that appeared to flush his faith in Kevin's journey down the toilet.

The explosion from The Leftovers Season 3 Episode 4 was explained, as a man in a French submarine who must have been having an existential crisis about the end of the world being nigh decided to put an end to his part of it in the South Pacific.

While it seemed to be far enough out to sea not to do tremendous damage, to strand so much of the world's population from their loved ones during such a stressful time is damage enough. 

If a singular suicide terrorizes the family and friends of the individual, this one had a planetary effect. 

It did a good job of indicating the severity of impact the seven year anniversary is having on the world as a whole, though, and what to expect as the next four days roll around.

Matt: Laurie's not a part of this!
Michael: Matthew, John, Michael...they were all disciples. Maybe Laurie's one, too.

• Permalink: Matthew, John, Michael...they were all disciples. Maybe Laurie's one, too.

Matt rounded up the believers and the non-believer for his mission to Australia, and encountering David Burton was quite a surprise. The biblical references on the ferry to Melbourne were all over the place, but that one was truly unexpected.

Without the long, impromptu ferry ride with the Lion worshipers, Laurie wouldn't have had the time to share with Matt much about Kevin's breakdown.

If Matt had not been ill, nobody would have wondered if he were dying, explaining the Burton story to him. He would have never had the opportunity to put the two men together, throwing a wrench into his work of the past three years.

Burton's story fits very well into the timeline of Kevin's adventure with him and Patti three years ago.

What's bizarre about the entire thing is that the more we hear about people like Burton, the more the show promotes an afterlife, but it also discounts what we've witnessed with Kevin overall.

Kevin is a very special guy, and the way he interprets his adventures in the afterlife are unique. Not everybody would be able to come back to life and carry on in the same way.

Someone with a grand existence before death might come back believing they experienced something completely different, and that could be what was up with David Burton. 

Then again, Kevin could have heard the stories of Burton and his apparent rebirth as God and inserted the man into his own hallucinations. Does Kevin have a condition that allows him to die and come back to life? Is his psychological condition physically manifesting itself?

At this point, there are many things running through my mind. They were running through Matt's, too. He wanted to believe.

Matt: No one seems to care that I just witnessed a murder. The man who perpetrated it just assaulted me.
John: He what?
Matt: He hit me with impunity, and he needs to be dealt with.
Laurie: Dealt with how?
Matt: We need to compel him to confess. Be not conceived, God shall not be mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth, that he should also reap.
John: Nah, we're not reaping anyone, man.

• Permalink: Nah, we're not reaping anyone, man.

Matt's first instinct was to make David Burton pay for what he did to that other man on the ferry. But then he just wanted answers.

Poising him in front of the lion's cage, an ax at the ready, Matt wasn't prepared for the man who called himself God to probe so deeply into his psyche. Have you ever noticed the easiest questions sometimes get to the most profound point?

Matt: The Sudden Departure was you.
David: Uh huh.
Matt: Why?
David: Because I could.
Matt: You're gonna have to do better than that.
David: Why?
Matt: Because there has to be a reason.
David: Why?
Matt: Everything in my life, I've done for a reason.
David: Why?
Matt: To help people, to guide them, to ease their suffering, even though I suffered myself. I sacrificed my happiness. I let my family abandon me.
David: Why?
Matt: FOR YOU!!!
David: Everything you've done, you've done because you thought I was watching because you thought I was judging. But I wasn't. I'm not. You've never done anything for me. You've done it for yourself.
Matt: Is that why you're killing me?

• Permalink: Is that why you're killing me?

It was true. Matt wanted to look good in the eyes of his Lord for when the Lord took him to heaven. He became obsessed after the Sudden Departure, believing he had not been good enough the first time around and to make the cut he had to up his game.

It's hard to believe a god would be so callous as to take only those who met certain criteria, and if you recall the beginning of The Leftovers Season 1, some of those taken during the Sudden Departure weren't exactly pious. 

It was the inability to connect the dots between the Sudden Departure and the Rapture and Christianity or any religion that set the world on edge. It was bad enough that people were gone, but there was no meaning behind it.

The search for meaning became overbearing. Matt devoted himself to finding it, believing Kevin might provide a link.

If Kevin is merely a madman suffering another break, then what?

Matt went through hell on the ferry. He saw something and wasn't believed. He was handled by a sexually aggravated crowd and readied for something in which he did not want to participate. His faith in God was tested.

Out of it, Matt emerged calmer and seemingly at peace. Maybe a little bit too calm. 

After David Burton snapped his fingers next to his head, Matt didn't believe Burton might be housing the spirit of God in his soul any longer. He watched casually as the woman who comforted him after the mob ordeal uncaged a lion who attacked and likely killed Burton.

Matt and his fellow disciples, evangelists or whatever else they may represent can carry on to Kevin. Perhaps Matt no longer feels the need to get back to Miracle.

With three episodes left, will that mean the end of the world or merely a weight lifted off of their backs and an understanding of what has occurred? Maybe a peace, finally, will wash over the world.

Are the biblical references, the lion, the evangelical similarities, merely a distraction or are they to keep us guessing about Kevin Garvey and his meaning? 

I have no idea, but I still enjoy questioning what it means to have faith. Not in anything in particular, but life and each other. I'll miss that when The Leftovers is over.

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.