Phillip is the only reason to watch the show.  And Andrea is a moron.

I think you do when you are purposely crashing your car to cover that's you've just been tortured.

I do think it's supposed to be ambiguous, but I guess one suggestion is that by giving him the book as a gesture of good will, Joe will be more open to talking (and giving up clues).

Possibly because every agent on this show is an idiot?

Guess you didn't read the book.  Many of the "Leftovers" are the Christians.  There is no explanation in the book for why certain people were Raptured and others were left behind.

You may not understand what a trend is. I'm pretty sure they didn't develop their signature sound in the last year to capitalize on the success of other similar bands.  More likely, the record companies, and subsequently the buying public, had more to do with their entering the mainstream.