The Returned

Review of Series One:

THE RETURNED, a French TV series tackling a zombie epidemic, is one of the freshest and most inventive pieces of television I've watched in a while. Everything about it screams impressive: it boasts wonderful performances from a series of outstanding actors, huge attention to detail, and exceptional technical values from the direction to the camera-work, the set design, you name it. It's also very well written, with a cast of intriguing characters and just the right level of incident to keep you watching.

Another plus is the horror theme, which for once is handled with maturity and insight into human emotion. These aren't clichéd, flesh-eating zombies, rather missing loved ones, and watching them return to their family members - who have long since stopped the grieving process - is heartbreaking. The horror comes from a growing sense of mystery, of an increasing foreboding, enhanced by some excellent, long-held musical notes which send suspense levels through the roof. It truly doesn't get much better than this, and it puts Hollywood to shame.

If there's one problem with THE RETURNED, it's that it ends up incredibly frustrating, because it answers very few of the many, many questions it raises. By the end of the last episode of season one, we're no closer to the truth of the matter than we were at the beginning of the first episode, which is a real pity; the audience will only go along with you for so long, and there should have been some real, concrete answers to sweeten the mix. As it is, we're now forced to wait - for a very long time - for the second series, which should hopefully provide at least some explanation as to what it's all about.

Review of Series Two:

Most of us who were fans of the first series were eagerly awaiting this second series as it would hopefully tie up some of the mystery from the first. No such luck. Instead of finally telling us what's been going on, THE RETURNED continues to plough the same furrow, deliberately obscuring the viewer and raising more questions than it answers.

The use of flashbacks has gone into overload here. Every episode opens with a flashback and they recur throughout. They're pretty tiresome by now, especially when they add very little to the plot development. Plus, a bunch of new and rather extraneous characters are introduced and the series tells their stories instead of adding much in the way of new stuff to the existing characters.

The quality of the acting is still good, and the cinematography - all stillness and gloom - remains excellent. But the characters seem like they're stuck in a rut, and viewers are forced to wait until the final episode until something finally happens. I'm not sure what - the ambiguous nature of it means that the viewer must make his or her own mind up as to what transpired - but at least it provides a conclusion of sorts. Please, no third series though, as this was a huge step down from the excellent first.

For my money, this is beautifully produced, brilliantly cast and its pace is both challenging and exciting. Breaking Bad, Mad Men, (and even though I've never seen an episode, I presume Lost) have introduced us to the idea that TV series can take time to develop intricate and dense story arcs.

The Returned is clearly doing the same, but it is pushing us viewers even further by withholding almost everything. It's piling up the questions and then leaving us at a pretty excruciating tipping point. At the same time, it is redefining the idea of being 'episodic' by using each instalment to thicken the plot rather than resolve it.

It's hard to not have a reaction to this strategy. We all want answers, goddamit! Even more so than The Fall, The Returned drops us cold right as the accumulation of questions seems to have reached its peak.

I love that this approach has created so many theories and ideas about the 'answers' and what comes next. I think it's exciting to see that kind of engagement rather than the usual "Did you see the last episode? A bomb went off and everyone died".

It's really hard to recalibrate our expectations, but this new way of telling an extended story is clearly something we're going to have to adjust to! In only hope that ultimately, when The Returned does conclude it manages to find an end point that is less frustrating than the 'pause' points. I can forgive being strung along, but I'll be furious if I'm still left to turn to theories on IMDb when the final series ends.

Two episodes in to this French mystery/horror/drama, I'm totally hooked. Everything about it is little short of excellent - great scenery, performances, suspense-building, pacing, story-telling, soundtrack. Another reviewer bitched about C4's chopping it up with adverts, for whom I have news; only the BBC channels could've broadcast this in the UK without them! Perhaps you'd like every programme you might like to only appear on one of these? Please.. I won't elaborate on the plot, as it was summed up perfectly elsewhere, but episode 2 ended on a fantastic question-raiser. It may struggle to maintain the quality of the first few episodes, but I sincerely hope not, because I don't know what else I'd do with my Sunday evenings.

Slow in a good way, of course, because it's all about suspense. People start coming back from the dead - some are better remembered than others, some are more aware of what's going on, some just want to start again. This makes the narrative layered, the characters' stories only slowly become clear, the whole situation gradually starts to make sense. There's no hurry, plenty of atmosphere, and a lot is left to the imagination (or at least not explained properly, which I suppose amounts to the same). Family drama overlaps with the fantasy element, so one minute it's really sad and moving, the next weird or horrifying, and all wrapped up in a melancholy soundtrack and lovely mountain scenery. Unsettling, sometimes baffling, but strangely addictive viewing.

Great series. I'm watching the English-language version of it now with French subtitles and it's great. I can't remember when I watched something that passionately last, waiting for each Sunday installment on British TV. The beauty of it is, it's very realistic and human, spooky in a very believable way. How would you feel if your child or lover came back from the dead and you had to deal with all the problems of hiding them from all the friends and neighbors who were present at their funeral AND have to avoid the truth as the poor souls apparently don't realize they've been dead for years or decades!

I did knock off one point for the dialogue. I'm just not a big lover of "suspenseful" evasiveness when people just don't tell each other things because if they do, the mystery will end after just one episode! Sometimes I was on the verge of hurling something at the TV, so annoyed I was with the characters' constant ambiguities. I don't think I've heard one line of plain honest information in the whole film, it's all understatements, or alternatively something happens just when someone was about to say something important. To me, it's not suspense, it's sloppy manipulative dialogue. So one point off for that.

Otherwise, the actors are very good, the story is well-developed and the atmosphere is beautifully spooky. If realistic horror is your thing, this is definitely a film to watch.