HBO launched the second season of its hit series “The Leftovers” Sunday with a bang. Or, more precisely, a rumble — a prehistoric earthquake in a place that will be called Miracle.

Season one was elegantly heartbreaking television. The sadness borne by the titular leftovers — those left behind after a Rapture-like event — was gut-wrenching; the madness expressed by others was shocking and cruel; the hope that could not flourish was devastating.

Season two is slightly more sinister because it briefly lets us think maybe there’s some salvation in the post-Departure world. After all, there’s a place where no one disappeared in the Sudden Departure! It’s sunny and people have barbecues! It’s even got a cute name: Miracle!

By the end of the riveting first episode, viewers are cured of any hope for a happy ending anytime soon.

While we eventually catch up with season one’s main character Kevin (Justin Theroux) and his family, most of episode one of season two introduces us to the residents of the postcard-perfect town of Jarden, Texas, a location where, seemingly impossibly, no one at all disappeared in the Sudden Departure. But then again, in a time when 2 percent of the world’s population can spontaneously vanish, “impossible” things become relative.

Jarden, newly christened Miracle and given national park status post-Departure, has become a new utopia. Buses arrive regularly, filled with Departure-jaded folks looking for their own miracles — for a little piece of whatever magic that apparently kept everyone in town safe from Departing. Miracleans take the opposite opinion of the Guilty Remnant of season one: they are “the spared”; the lucky survivors of the Departure.

As for miracles, they aren’t hard to find in Jarden. One man, Isaac, can divine the future by analyzing the handprints of his clients; a very vital little bird survives what is likely days underground, buried in a shoebox; and there’s something in the water drawn from a local spring that compels residents and visitors alike to study it, swim in it, sell it, and drink it on the sly. (Its consumption is banned, although we don’t really know why yet. I’ll say this: the one person we did see take a sip of the stuff ended up disappearing ... somewhere.)

But there’s something unstable about Miracle, and that’s apparently been the case for some time. Episode one opens in the long, long ago of Jarden. We witness a very, very pregnant young woman survive an earthquake and rockslide by sheer luck: she exits her cave, which is occupied by about six others, to answer the call of nature in the middle of the night. As she squats, the earth knocks her off her feet and rumbles for a moment before silence shakes her back to reality. She turns to see the entrance to her cave entirely blocked by and filled with rocks. Cue the labor pains!

Our cave lady delivers her baby that same night, all alone, and with grit beyond belief. (Perhaps she’s had the water.) We’re allowed a few more scenes with this woman, who does her best to look after her newborn as she heads toward a plume of smoke (and the people who made it) she spots in the distance, but the Texas landscape is rough on a lone woman with two mouths to feed, and she’s quickly done in by Mother Nature, which nearly snags her baby, too. Throughout our brief travels with this woman, she repeatedly notes an eagle up in the heavens — which also seems to note her. Her baby is rescued by another woman who appears to mean well. End of prehistory lesson.

The writers took their time in showing us this prologue of sorts, and payoff is hereby expected and eagerly anticipated.

But back in present-day Miracle, all is not miracles, swimming holes and barbecues. While season one provided many a head-scratcher moments, we at least knew, kind of, what made everybody so vulnerable and crazed. In season two, the overall menace seems multi-faceted and not as “simple” as just the Sudden Departure. In just one episode, we watch a series of weird, then encouraging, then downright awful things happen, some connected, some related to the Departure and some, seemingly fresh new oddities — which raises many questions. What’s with the cracked sections of pavement encased in clear boxes? How frequently do the earthquakes occur? Why is that strange man up in the platform in the center of town? What’s with Jerry and his poor goat in the diner? Just how nasty is John Murphy going to get? (In Miracle, the fire chief apparently burns down the residences of breakers of rules we viewers don’t quite know yet.) Where is Wayne and his flock? Is Evie Departed? What’s with her “epilepsy”? Why must Matt keep his reason for moving to town under wraps? It seems not everyone wants to share the magic of Miracle.

Bottom line, we’re not in Mapleton anymore and there’s something very, very wrong in Miracle. Whatever it is seems to be far worse than anything the Guilty Remnant could have gotten up to back in season one. And that’s a terrifying prospect viewers should look forward to watching unfold.

m.nadolny@theday.com

Twitter: @TheMDesk