TV Review: The Returned (2015)

The Returned (2015) executive produced by Carlton Cuse

This show starts out as an almost scene for scene remake of the sensational French television series from 2012. The story is switched from an isolated mountain town in France to an isolated mountain town in northwestern United States. The town is planning memorials for a dam break that killed a bunch of people 30 years ago and for a busload of children who crashed on a mountain road four years ago. One of the girls from the bus accident, Camille, walks out of the woods not a day older and with no memory of the accident. She goes back home to her sister and now-separated parents. A wife of one of the dam workers, Helen, returns to her husband after nearly 30 years of absence; he's too ill to understand or accept her. A fiance who died six years ago, Simon, revisits his former-wife-to-be who has a six-year old daughter and is about to marry a local cop, another awkward situation. A spooky young boy shows up with no apparent family; he's taken in by a young doctor who is moved by his seeming innocence and quiet. And a serial killer returns from seven years ago. Situations are virtually identical to the French version at the beginning; even many of the names are exactly the same with occasional substitutions of English for French version (e.g. Peter was originally Pierre, Jack was Jerome).

Unfortunately, the actors aren't quite as good as the French actors. And the music is not as evocative or distinctive as in the French version. And some story points are made with a lot less subtlety. If you've seen the original version, it's hard to watch through to the more original and more divergent material in the last third of the season.

Some of the character's story arcs are changed from the French series. And an out-of-town reporter shows up asking questions about the dead who have come back. Intriguing new questions and dramatic possibilities open up, similar to the way the television show Lost went along (Carlton Cuse was executive producer for Lost as well as this show). I had that nagging feeling that answers would always bring more questions, like it continued to do for Lost. That became a little disappointing in that show's final season. Sadly, this American version of the Returned has been canceled by its network, so I guess no answers will ever come.

My advice is to watch the original French series and skip this version.

TV Review: The Returned Season Two (2015)

The Returned Season Two (2015) created by Fabrice Gobert

See my review of part of season one here. I guess I never reviewed the second half! It's worth watching if you have the stomach for it (there's a lot of sex/nudity and some violence).

After a three-year hiatus, the second season of the French zombie series The Returned has finally come. The intriguing ending of the last season, where some of the unnamed French mountain town is flooded again, is the starting point for this series. The military has moved in to help evacuees and to figure out where the dam is leaking. Thirty-five years earlier, a previous dam burst and flooded the same part of town quite quickly, killing many people. Unfortunately for the local residents, those people have returned from the dead and are in a more zombie-like state than the zombies from last season (who were all pretty normal except for not remembering their deaths and not aging since their deaths). The new zombies don't speak--they just stand around and menace people who are trapped in a mysterious part of the town. They seem to be waiting for something.

Meanwhile, some survivors have been staying at The Helping Hand, a charitable organization run by Pierre, who is desperate enough to find out about the undead people that he is willing to do very questionable things. He's turning the charity into a cult with himself as leader. Other survivors have been staying in a higher part of town, trying to help and/or hide the undead people from the military, the police, and The Helping Hand. One woman, Adele, is pregnant and having nightmares about her unborn child. The dad is Simon, her ex-fiance from ten years ago. He's also one of the dead returned to life, making her a bit crazy about the child. Simon wants the baby; Pierre wants the baby; those dam undead also want to do something with the baby.

The show is intriguing and follows the Lost pattern of having episodes focus on one person in particular while both answering some questions and generating new questions. Happily, toward the end new questions stop coming, though enough was unanswered by the start of the final episode that I thought they would not be able to wrap up everything with this season. They did tie off most of the loose ends and provide an ending (which is good, because some of the child actors would be way too old in another three years!). I wasn't as satisfied as I'd like to be with the ending. The actors are all good and the show keeps a good, creepy atmosphere. The music works well to enhance the mood.

Parental warning: The first series was surprising to me in the amount of sexual content and nudity, of which there is almost none in this series. The show still has some violence and gore, though not the usual stuff in zombie shows (only once do viewers see one person eating another; there are some human and animal corpses that have been eaten but the depictions aren't too graphic). I'd recommend this for teens and up (though it would be tough to watch without seeing the first series, which I would recommend for adults only).

The series is currently (May 2016) available for streaming on Netflix. I'm sure it will come out on DVD sooner or later. I plan to watch the American version of the show, so maybe there will be a dual/duel review in the future.

Quick Review: Les Revenants (2012)

Looking at my recent posts, I haven't posted on zombies in a while, so here's something on a series I am currently watching (I just watched episode five of eight).

Les Revenants or The Returned (or They Came Back) is a French television series set in a remote mountain town. A handful of people who died years before suddenly come back into town as if nothing had ever happened. Camille is a fifteen year old girl whose mom and dad have broken up and the mom is living with someone new. Camille died when her school bus went off a cliff (which is not a spoiler since it is the very first thing viewers see). She walked out of the woods with no memories of the accident or where she'd been. Simon was on the verge of getting married just before he died and his fiancee has struggled to move on but finally has when he shows up again. A small, creepy boy who doesn't speak much seemingly has no family but a kind woman with a nosy neighbor takes him in. Lots of complications ensue for everyone, zombies (the girl refers to herself as a zombie in a joking way a couple of times, no one else does) and humans alike.

Oh yeah, and a serial killer from seven years ago is back in action. Yikes!

The show is very atmospheric. The music is especially good at giving the proper emotional punctuation to the story and the visuals. The plot moves on at a good pace, providing new mysteries and questions while answering others. It reminds me a lot of Lost, which I loved. The large cast is a little bit confusing but they all play their parts well. The characters are very interesting and I want to find out what's going on!

Parental Advisory: The serial killer is a little gruesome, he sort of eats his victims; one of the couples is lesbian but viewers only seem them kiss once and that's as much as we see; there's an under-age sex scene; a few adult sex scenes; some bear breasts; animals in peril. Also, a seemingly Catholic priest is in the town but his theology is pretty weak, which makes me wonder if either the writing is poor or he's supposed to represent some other Christian faith. I wouldn't recommend this show for younger than teenagers.

You can watch the first episode in French with English subtitles on YouTube here. If you are in Britain, you can watch episodes on 4OD from Channel 4.