Maybe being buried "alive" was part of the ritual, and he survived it, just like the bird.

It also made me think of this season's American Horror Story Hotel, another great show!

This.

Good thinking!

Virgil is the father of their next door neighbor, who just happens to be black. I'm not seeing any "white privilege" here.

I still think it's possible that Virgil gave Kevin some kind of hallucinogen, and he was merely tripping-out during the entire episode.

Another interesting fact is that Virgil was Dante's guide through Hell in Dante's Inferno. Keep that allusion in mind when smarting over the "Magical Negro" trope. The fact that he's black seems incidental to me in the largely post-racial Leftovers universe.