The Leftovers refuses to lighten the mood, even during the Christmas season. Tonight, the Garvey family begins to realize the pieces of home they miss the most.

“B.J. and the A.C.” season 1, episode 4 of The Leftovers begins to answer some questions about Tommy and his mission for Wayne. What the show fails to do is leave viewers feeling any shred of Christmas spirit.

Holy Mission: Tommy remains on the move, gripping the yellow phone with a smiley face sticker that begins to mock him. Christine and Tommy become involved in an altercation while resting at a shelter. A man, with no pants, begins to proclaim that Christine is a vision from his dream, a dream of bodies clad in white. Tommy is infuriated with Christine for talking to the man and after beating him, takes her to an ER for examination. Tommy’s mission becomes clear; he is not only protecting Holy Wayne’s favorite girl, he is protecting Wayne’s unborn child.

Protecting Christine is not made any easier as the young girl allows her free spirit to get the best of her. All signs point to Tommy as an abusive partner and security chases him out of the hospital. Sitting on a bench, gripping the phone, Tommy is approached by two members of the Texas branch of the Guilty Remnant. They hand him some promotional material that claims, “Everything That Matters About You is Inside” only to reveal a blank pamphlet. On the verge of a breakdown, Tommy’s phone rings and a Departure support line is at the other end. At his weakest moment, Holy Wayne intervenes.

On a bus to anywhere, Christine makes fast friends yet again, this time with a soldier. The bus is suddenly stopped by a tractor trailer accident that scatters a shipment of bodies wrapped in white across the road. They were on their way from an organization called, “Loved Ones” which reconstructs the bodies of the Departed so that families may hold proper funerals. Where there’s a market… The bodies in white serve a greater symbolic meaning to Christine.

The (nearly) Viking Funeral of Baby Jesus: Holidays in Mapleton, NY carry on in a similar fashion to everywhere else. The town center is decorated and the manger filled with a baby doll to stand in for Jesus. Teenagers stealing the baby may have gone unacknowledged in year past, but in light of the recent unexplainable mass disappearance, it raises higher concern. Meanwhile, Kevin “I’m too hot to be taken seriously as a dad” Garvey, decorates the house and prepares to take on the Guilty Remnant at the town dance. Assuring they will be in attendance, by requesting that they do no show up, Garvey plans to place all trespassers under arrest.

Aside from his ongoing mission to dismantle the Guilty Remnant, Kevin is tasked with the mission to gain the support of his town by replacing the stolen baby. Local authorities, and the mayor, all agree that making a big deal out of it is ridiculous and purchasing a new baby will be easier than finding the lost one. Kevin knows Jill took the baby and refuses to purchase another. Jill may not be the person she portrays, but even Aimee is turned off by her sudden twist for destruction. Taking the babydoll out for a night of debauchery, Jill sends it off into the river doused in lighter fluid, but fails to carry out pulling the trigger on the flaming Nerf bullet.

Words Cannot Describe: Laurie and Meg pay Kevin a visit at home, following his already odd day pulling over the Frost twins. Inside Meg begins reading a letter written by Laurie to explain the reasoning behind her decision to file for divorce. She paints Kevin as best husband and surrogate father to Tommy, and biological father to Jill, there could ever be, but Kevin refuses to hear it from Meg and demands that Laurie say it to him herself or walk. Jill arrives home at the tail end of the fight and hands Laurie a Christmas present she placed under the tree earlier. Laurie opens it once she leaves and sees it is a lighter with the words, “Don’t Forget Me” engraved on it. Meg watches as Laurie drops down a storm drain.

Waking up in Tommy’s room, Kevin takes down a photo of Tommy and him from an old cork board to reveal another photo showing Tommy’s biological father underneath. Heading out to the town dance, Kevin finds the Frost twins fleeing his porch after returning the baby Jill almost set fire to at a gathering of her friends the night before. As he presents the baby to the crowd at the dance, he is met with a lackluster appreciation for his efforts. However, down the hall, Kevin’s run in with Nora sparks a bit more intrigue as he reveals he cheated on Laurie with no good reason behind the act.

The Slight of Hand: While Kevin has his hands busy arresting the Guilty Remnant on the school site, Patti’s sly smile reveals her end of the plan is working out contrary to their detainment. All across town the members of the GR break into people’s homes and remove all family photos from their frames, magnets, and boards, leaving an eerie emptiness meeting the home owners eyes.

Instead of taking the getaway van back to the home, Laurie heads to the storm drain to fish out the lighter from Jill.

Stray Thoughts:

•In the continuing series of odd events happening to Kevin, his car loses all functionality including breaks and power as he is driving down the street. What is it with this guy?

•If there is ANY levity to be seen on the show, it comes with the Carver twins and their Prius.

Watch The Leftovers season 1, episode 5, “Gladys,” Sunday, July 27 at 10:00 p.m. ET on HBO