Anne Consigny
Frédéric Pierrot
Clotilde Hesme
Céline Sallette
Samir Guesmi
Grégory Gadebois
Guillaume Gouix
Yara Pilartz
Ana Girardot

Created by:
Fabrice Gobert

2012-
Drama, Fantasy, Foreign, Thriller
Sundance
TV-MA

(This review was started after watching the pilot and updated after finishing the first season.)

“The Returned” or “Les Revenants,” which literally refers to visible ghosts or animated corpses that return from the grave to terrorize the living, is a French TV series that started in 2012 and airs on Sundance in this country. It’s an adaptation of the 2004 film, “They Came Back” (“Les Revenants”). ABC’s and Plan B Entertainment’s “Resurrection” is similar in theme but unrelated. (There’s an American adaptation being developed by A&E, though.) ABC’s show is based on the book, “The Returned,” by Jason Mott. The TV show “The Returned” has nothing to do with Mott’s book.

Whew! With that out of the way, here’s my review … of “The Returned” the TV show, that is …

“The Returned” is shot in the style of a horror-thriller series or film. However, it has more drama than thrills (at least, it does early on); that works, though. The pilot is very intriguing. I was sucked in. The reactions of the living and the undead are pitch-perfect. Nothing’s overdone or unbelievable. They handle such an outlandish concept with depth and believability: You don’t really question the concept at any time.

(Warning: Spoilers to come.)

One of my favorite moments in the pilot is when a butterfly, framed in an elderly man’s house, comes back to life. It’s a moment with just enough magic, and it presages the events to come. By the way, that elderly man goes on to commit suicide by jumping into a reservoir after he sets his house on fire with his undead wife (who’s much younger than him now) tied-up inside. She’s not found inside the house when the police arrive, however. Also, this elderly man’s nurse is the woman who takes in a mysterious young boy named Victor. If you watch the show, you’ll understand the importance of that.

In another story line, the parents of Camille, another of the returned undead, have different reactions to her death and subsequent return. The father visits a prostitute regularly and projects a sour attitude not only in a parental support group meeting but also in general. (In the fourth episode, we find out that men have sex with this prostitute in order to connect with their dead loved ones. Now that’s a twist!) His now estranged wife has prayed for the return of their daughter under the guidance of a man who has some sort of experience with this phenomenon and who helps the homeless. After Camille returns, they tell her that he’s a “doctor” so that he may examine her without alarming her. The father has a hard time figuring out what to do about all of this and blames his estranged wife and the “doctor” for not planning this out better. After all, the wife and the “doctor” constantly prayed for this to happen. Also, Camille has a twin sister, Lena, who has aged four years (the length of time since Camille’s death). When they meet, they each have a strong reaction to the other, and the aftermath of that reaction is played out throughout the rest of the season.

So, there are lots of threads that “The Returned” will explore. I haven’t noted all of them, though, because so many of them are revealed as the show moves along. There are just too many to note without giving the whole thing away. The pace is just right, not too fast and not too slow; and the setting (a town established at the foot of mountains) lends itself to perfectly appropriate and effective cinematography (cold, wet, and dark, yet crisp). The actors know what they’re doing, and reading subtitles doesn’t get in the way. This looks like it may be a great show to get lost in. …

By the end of the first season, “The Returned” proves itself to be very good. The development of its story lines is textured and well-done, so it’s certainly worth watching. And the use of horror techniques and atmosphere is expertly restrained … until the final episode, when they go all the way with it.

Each episode of the first season of “The Returned” (except for the last) provides the backstory of one of the characters. “Orange is the New Black” uses a similar format. And, like “Lost,” “The Returned” is a show that will reward a little bit of patience; it doesn’t require as much patience as “Lost” did, though, thankfully.

As the first season progresses, the story of “The Returned” turns to the End of Times. This is no surprise because a priest is one of the characters, and there’s literal writing on the wall in one of the episodes. Furthermore, characters must confront the past; “Victor” and the old man’s wife know something about what’s happening as does the “doctor” and the “prostitute” (they know that the End or something like it is coming); people can’t leave the town; rashes appear and disappear (in the case of the “prostitute”); and so on. Also, in the first season’s finale, a horde of the undead make themselves known. They’re not as normal as the first undead arrivals, though. Uh oh.

Verdict: Very Good

About: (Source: lesrevenants)

In an idyllic French mountain town, a seemingly random collection of people find themselves in a state of confusion as they attempt to return to their homes. What they do not yet know is that they have been dead for several years, and no one is expecting them back. As they struggle to reintegrate with their families and past lovers, buried secrets emerge and new mysteries develop as they grapple with a miraculous and sinister new reality. But it seems they are not the only ones to have returned from the dead. Their arrival coincides with a series of gruesome murders which bear a chilling resemblance to the work of a serial killer from the past.