B.J. and the A.C.
The Leftovers | Season 1 | Episode 4

B.J. and the A.C.

TV-MA | 51 MIN

Written by Damon Lindelof & Elizabeth Peterson

Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and Carl Franklin

In a factory, Aforda baby dolls are manufactured for sale. A boy doll is purchased, swaddled and then placed in Mapleton's holiday manger. Over the course of the holiday season, the baby Jesus disappears.

Chief Kevin Garvey meets with Patti Levin at the station and asks a favor: Don't show up at the holiday dance. People need a break and time with their families, Kevin tells her. "There is no family," she scrawls on a pad, and then pointedly unpins a photo of Laurie Garvey from his wall of G.R. photos before walking out.

Deputy Dennis is all praise for Kevin's trap: Anticipating that the G.R. will crash the dance, the plan is to arrest them once they hit school property. Kevin is uninterested when Dennis tells him that the baby Jesus has gone missing from the Nativity. He tries to call his son, but finds out Tommy's number is no longer in service.

Tommy and Christine have breakfast at a hostel. He fiddles with the burner phone Wayne gave him-it's been six weeks between calls. A German man enters the room and attacks Christine, "You walk over the dead," he shouts. "I know what's inside you." Tommy fights the man off and leads an injured Christine away.

"You can't just get a new one. It's sacred." - Jill Garvey

Kevin tries to get into the holiday spirit but can only find his father's ornaments in storage. He has a testy conversation with Jill about Tommy -- she says she hasn't heard from him. Aimee changes the topic by bringing up the missing baby Jesus and Kevin becomes suspicious that the teens are responsible.

The police department reviews its plans for the holiday dance. Mayor Warburton approaches Kevin in the school's parking lot and gives him cash to replace the baby doll. "You need a win," she tells the dumbfounded chief. Kevin goes to the toy store to pick one up, but can't bring himself to make the purchase. As Kevin gives Dennis instructions to investigate the theft, his car dies on the drive back.

Christine writhes in pain in the hospital waiting room while Tom questions her about the attack. Upon hearing that she mentioned Wayne to the German, Tom tells Christine it was her own fault - she shouldn't be talking about him. Christine's obvious upset and Tom's sketchy explanation of the assault raise eyebrows at the hospital. Tom tries to persuade Christine to leave but she sulkily refuses to cooperate. Tom is forced to flee by himself.

Now driving the mystery man's pickup, Kevin pulls the Frost twins over and questions them about the missing baby Jesus. Kevin tells them if it's returned, no questions will be asked. Hanging out by the riverfront that night with the doll in their possession, the twins warn Jill her father is on to them. Undaunted, Jill decides to douse gasoline on the doll and set it afloat, but stops just short of shooting it with a flaming Nerf gun. The teens cheer as it travels downriver.

Tom keeps watch outside of the hospital and wills the phone to ring. It does, but it's a telemarketing call about Loved Ones.

"I think I'm supposed to stay broken." - Laurie Garvey

Kevin arrives home from work and finds Laurie and Meg on his doorstep. Meg, there to speak on Laurie's behalf, reads a note from Laurie. It praises Kevin's abilities as a husband and father - even to Tommy, who is not his. Kevin grows increasingly angry listening to Meg, even more so when he finds out Laurie is asking for a divorce. He demands that Laurie say the words herself, and as she stares back silently, the three realize that Jill has been watching. Jill pulls a small box from under the Christmas tree and gives it to her mother.

Walking back, Laurie unwraps the gift and finds an engraved lighter: "Don't forget me." Meg tells her she won't tell anyone if she keeps it, but Laurie chucks the lighter into a storm drain.

"I was abandoned by my father." - Tom Garvey

Tom, now barefoot and with a target drawn on his head, returns to the hospital. His bare feet attract the notice of a policeman, but no other suspicions are raised. Tom goes to Christine's room and finds her in a better mood. He draws a target on her head and repeats what he was told by a Barefoot Person: It will allow the Creator to find them. The two leave the hospital.

Kevin wakes up in Tommy's room and begins looking through his things. He uncovers an old photo of Laurie with Tom's biological father. He checks in on Jill and asks what she overheard, but won't explain what her mother's visit was about. Heading out, Kevin spots the doll on his doorstep and the Frost twins making a run for it. "Found him," he tells a surprised Jill.

The bus Tom and Christine are riding stops suddenly because of an overturned truck ahead. They make their way off with another Tom, a fellow passenger and soldier. The truck carried a cargo of Loved Ones - replacement corpses for the Departed - wrapped in white. "It's just like the dream," Christine realizes as she walks among the shrouded figures.

"I had a spare." - Reverend Jamison

Kevin gets a round of applause at the holiday dance, but the crowd is confused when he tells them he's safely recovered the baby Jesus. He encounters Nora Durst by her old locker and slowly realizes who she is. Because Nora announces that her husband cheated on her, Kevin admits that he cheated on his own wife. The two then formally introduce themselves to each other.

Keeping an eye on the Remnant from the parking lot, Dennis points out the group is technically out of bounds. Kevin decides they are trespassing all the same and rounds them up for arrest. Elsewhere, a larger group of Remnants creep into homes, and stealthily remove family photographs, leaving empty frames behind. Mission accomplished, Laurie tells Meg she plans to walk back but returns to the sewer drain where she dropped the lighter. She puts her arm in and struggles to reach it.

Kevin heads for the manger to replace the baby Jesus and finds Rev. Jamison already there with a different doll. The chief drives off, and chucks the original one onto the side of the road.

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