So what were some of Kevin and Nora’s most memorable romance beats in the series? My personal favorite, and it’s a dark one, is in episode 7 of season 3. Kevin and… other Kevin… (you’ll have to trust me if you haven’t seen it) are having a conversation. In this particular realm (there are a few) the survival of the world basically relies on which version of Kevin wins this battle of wills. The idea is that it’s two extreme versions of Kevin coming to a head, and for either one to find peace, the other can’t exist. And in case you were STILL wondering at this point what the entire journey was all about, during the negotiations, the most powerful part is when Kevin reads a scene from a book that the other Kevin wrote all about his love story with Nora. The fate of the world is at hand and it’s still always about her. (P.S. The prose from the book Kevin wrote is absolutely beautiful and the soundtrack is gorgeous! Please watch this series.)
But what makes this such a key moment in his love story is the way it ends. As his heart is literally being ripped from his chest, Kevin 1 looks at Kevin 2 and says: “We F***ed up with Nora.” Kevin 2 just nods his understanding and then it’s done. Cue ugly cry emojis. As dark moments go, it was rough. The moment when you really didn’t know if this love was going to survive, because one version of this man now ceases to exist. And in the version that we think is real, things aren’t looking too good either. Not to mention the world is still careening out of control, but who cares about the rest of it—how are Kevin and Nora going to find each other again now!?
On a happier note, (man, this show is a roller coaster) if there was ever an award for best grand gesture in a romance, navigating alternate universes for your love would have to take the cake. Spoilers here. If you haven’t finished this series, do not proceed. So there was a time jump, and it’s apparent that a whole lot of stuff has happened in between that we didn’t see (which is amazing because a LOT of stuff happened that we did) but what’s important is that this is the moment when in this realm, at this time, Kevin and Nora reunite, and judging by the character’s appearance, a long time has passed.
And Kevin has been looking for her The. Entire. Time.
He finally finds her in the Outback of Australia and it’s this beautiful, confusing as heck moment where we don’t know if it’s a reunion or yet another realm in which these two souls connect. I’m also a huge sucker for a slow dance which this scene utilizes, and as confusing as it was, it was straight up perfect imagery in my opinion. It’s like the entire series was this dance between Kevin and Nora. They took turns leading, sometimes the dance floor spanned the time-space continuum, and yet it was only ever about those whispered words to each other as they danced.
Later on in this reunion, Kevin tells Nora how he found her. Now wait for it, because here is where the mother of all grand gestures comes in. Every year Kevin gets two weeks vacation and what does he do? He uses it to search the entire world for Nora with only a gut feeling that she’s still alive. Oh my God, what? How long has he been doing this? He’s grey-haired now! Where has she been all this time? There’s so many questions but only one answer: it doesn’t matter, because no matter what happened across all the worlds in which he lived, he was always going to find her again. It’s heart-wrenching and beautiful, and by the way, again with the facial acting. Justin Theroux brings it. The choked out sobs. The painful, longing stares. I rewatched it for this article and it was a soul crushing as I remembered.
So they’re finally back in each other’s world, and Kevin may have floundered through his journey to get there, but Nora was always the master of her own destiny. Even at the end, when fate or dogged determination (or whatever it was— seriously, this show is confusing) intervened and brought her love back to her doorstep, it wasn’t enough for her to just accept it. She had to take a hard look at her life, every dark nook and cranny, her tragic past and her lonely and desolate present and decide where that love fit—IF that love fit—before she let it in. It wasn’t a given that Nora would be saved by Kevin’s arrival, even if he was the other half of her soul. And when you hear her story of where she’d been, that becomes even more apparent. She had already learned to live with half a soul and, damn it, she was going to be just fine. I don’t need you, but I choose you. And she did. This was a hard-earned HEA, and yes, I choose to interpret the end of this series as a HEA not just a HFN despite all the logistics, because Kevin and Nora had enough ‘for nows’ throughout the series.