The opening scene of any TV show is arguably the most important tool for grabbing a viewer’s attention. And in today’s world, where attention spans are shorter than ever, those first five minutes must do more than just entertain. Thebest opening scenesjolt you awake, tease a mystery, or even break your heart before the story really begins.
One ofthe most underappreciated TV showsaccomplished something rarer:The Leftoverstells you everything you need to know. In under three minutes, the show establishes its tone, its emotional stakes, and its entire reason for existing.
And when that baby vanishes into thin air, it becomes obvious:this is not a mystery box drama. It’s a story about grief.
The Leftovers' Opening Scene Sets The Perfect Tone For The HBO Series
Sound Design And Perspective Build A Unique Kind Of Dread
The Leftoversopens with a crying baby and a frantic mother at the laundromat. Still on the phone, she straps her wailing child into the car, turns the key—and then, silence. She looks back to find the baby gone.
Then, chaos: a child yells for his daddy, a shopping cart slams into a car, and another vehicle crashes nearby. The mother screams for her baby—Sam—helpless, stunned, asMax Richter’s haunting score, “The Departure,”swells in the background. And just like that, everything cuts to black.
These two and a half minutes are expertly crafted through a fusion of sound design, musical score, and perspective. In just ten seconds, the crying baby and overwhelmed mother immediately evoke anxiety in the viewer.Whether consciously or not, we empathize; we know the feeling of too many tasks and not enough time.
The camera reinforces that tension, cutting between the mother and her child, building a rhythm that puts us inside her frantic headspace. So when the crying suddenly stops,we feel it instantly: something isverywrong. The open window adds another layer of panic—was the baby kidnapped?
Just as that dread sets in, Max Richter’s score, andone of the best TV show soundtracks, begins to play, its simple piano keys growing louder with each escalating moment of chaos, deepening the emotion. These three elements—sound design, score, and camera perspective—work in tandem toleave the viewer in stunned disbelief at what has just unfolded.
The First 3 Minutes Reveal Everything You Need To Know About The Leftovers
It’s The Whole Show In Miniature
Rewatching that opening now, what hits hardest is how deliberately it’s constructed.The Leftoversuses sound, silence, and disorientation to convey more than emotion. The fear of loss, the randomness of grief, the overwhelming chaos of the unexplained; it’s all there from the beginning.
The Leftoversis co-created by Damon Lindelof, co-creator ofLostand creator of the HBO superhero drama,Watchmen.
That’s what separates it frommystery shows likeLost, which lead with questions.The Leftoversleads with feeling. Instead of offering theories or mysteries to unpack, or promising future cathartic payoffs,The Leftoversforces the viewer to sit with each character’s trauma, to accept an unexplainable tragedy.
1
2014
82%
85%
2
2015
94%
93%
3
2017
100%
N/A
The show tells you, immediately, that it’s not here to comfort you, nor isThe Leftovershere to explain the rules. It’s the opposite. It’shere to make you feel something honest. And most shows need time to earn that kind of emotional weight, butThe Leftoversearned it in three minutes.
