Sara Tomko in The Leftovers

      

Sara Tomko

as

The Woman in Axis Mundi

     Just a heads up. The following description does contain SPOILERS. Late one night, a tribe of prehistoric people are sleeping in a cave. One of the women, who is pregnant, goes outside to relieve herself. While she is doing this, there is an earthquake and the cave entrance collapses. As the woman tries to free her tribe, her water breaks and she starts to give birth. Some time later the woman sees a column of smoke in the distance and begins to trek towards it. One day the woman is raiding a bird's nest and a snake attacks the baby. After the woman defends the baby by killing the snake, she realizes that she has been bitten. As the woman slowly dies form the snake bite, she continues to go towards the smoke. Eventually the woman dies on the banks of a river. Soon after another woman comes along and takes the baby. Presumably to safety. The scene changes to modern times, to show modern day teenagers now playing in that same river.

     This is the opening 10 minutes of the first episode of the second season of the television show The Leftovers. The episode is called Axis Mundi. Despite pretty much featuring only one person, the end credits list her as the woman, this is a fantastic piece of television. Even with no dialogue, after all she is alone and no one to talk to, Sara Tomko does a superb job conveying the woman's pain, joy, and loneliness. The cinematography also helps to show her loneliness. If you can't tell, she is in the bottom left of the above picture. I would love to see this as a whole movie by itself.

     As for how this sequence fits into the rest of The Leftovers. I have no idea. This was the first episode that I ever watched. Now I have to go watch the first season and work up to this episode.

     

     Tomko's look as the woman is different than how we usually see cavewomen depicted. First off she is very dirty and either has dark skin or a deep suntan. She also has a lot of scars. I can't tell if they are ceremonial or from animal attacks. The woman who shows up at the end also has a scar, her's is over her belly button.

     The woman's only piece of clothing is what looks like two pieces of animal skin tide together over her hips, one in front and one in back. She is topless and goes barefoot and has no weapons. In the beginning she wears a necklace, probably made of animal skin. Just before she dies it looks like a feather has been added to the necklace.

Television Show: The Leftovers

Episode Number: Season 2 Episode 1
Episode Name: Axis Mundi
Year: 2015

Name: credited as The Woman (never stated on screen)

Actress: Sara Tomko

Actress Race/Nationality: Cherokee/Blackfoot, Slovak, Polish - American

Age: Unknown

Episode Location: Prehistoric Texas

Languages she speaks: native language (never speaks on screen)

Hair Color: black

Hair Length: waist length

Nudity: Yes (topless the whole time)

Category: cavewoman

Screen Time: 7 minutes 40 seconds

Segment Length: 9 minutes 10 seconds

Media: television show
Country: USA
Available on: DVD

Screen caps are from the DVD.