Elsewhere in Caldwell, an almost mute boy named Victor (Dylan Kingswell) mysteriously appears on the doorstep of local doctor Julie Han (Sandrine Holt), who has a hidden past of her own. Four episodes in, Victor’s grim history begins to materialize, though his story is still the most inscrutable of the series.
The characters of The Returned also must deal with the possibility that a serial killer is among the returned, after a woman is savagely stabbed in circumstances that mirror a cold case from years ago. “It’s very important to make peace with our ghosts,” Pastor Leon Wright (Carl Lumbly) says at one point. “They mean us no harm.” The sorry truth, though, is that he has just as little understanding of what greater forces are at play in his town as anyone, nor understanding of whether those forces are good or evil.
The Returned is as much the story of the resurrected individuals as it is that of the living townspeople reeling from their returns. As was previously stated, the series’ characters live between undulating waves of grief, and the unexpected respite that is the returned’s homecoming comes with the stomach-twisting instinct that another wave is on the horizon. Victor’s silence is accompanied by sinister drawings of death and destruction. A horrific wound grows on Lena’s back until it’s life-threatening, mirroring an injury Camille sustained in the bus crash. And there’s an awful tension hanging in the air, a sort of ethereal haze that makes the whole town appear not just sleepy but sedated, as if drugged by some unseen enemy for purposes as of yet unknown.
Showrunner Carlton Cuse hasn’t wandered far, at least in the first four episodes, from the French series this one is based on. That’s a smart move – so much worked about that chilling production (especially compared to ABC’s risible ripoff Resurrection) that altering it would have done more harm than good. In this American take, Cuse has maintained the faintly tragic tone, ambiguity and mystery, as well as the big questions. What price must be paid for a miracle? And who should pay such a price – the living, breathing fruits of that miracle, or the people who prayed for it?
Answers won’t come quickly – those who detested Cuse’s Lost should stay clear. The series progresses slowly and deliberately, teasing out elements of the show’s mysterious characters even as it prioritizes crafting fine showcases for its performers. Ennega, Wright, Pellegrino and Lowe are at the show’s center, and each of them excels in communicating the mixture of bewilderment, trepidation and relief that their strange situation calls for. Winstead is also a standout, bringing nuanced feeling to her conflicted bride-to-be. There’s not a weak link in sight, though, including behind the camera. The mountain town setting radiates Twin Peaks-esque mystery, and it’s shot as equal parts ominous and impenetrable, with the same style and sophistication that made the original such a mesmerizing experience.
Fans of the original series should still tune in for A&E’s redo, if for no other reason than to plunge back into the series’ eerie, atmospheric and elegantly melancholic world. The Returned is an evocative mystery, a powerfully acted drama and a meditation on life and death that seems fully capable of exploring the many tough questions it raises. The network partnered it with Bates Motel this season, though the two series hardly seem compatible bedfellows. Whereas that increasingly wearing show is simply killing time before the conclusion viewers all know is coming, The Returned has an intriguing unpredictability to it, a sense that anything could happen in its newly blessed (or is it cursed?) little town.
It may be that unpredictability that really hooks viewers reeled in by The Returned‘s intriguing set-up and haunting images. Its characters are stepping out into a new reality that viewers, and perhaps some of the main players as well, can sense is simply the calm before a rapidly gathering storm. With its distinct tenor, pacing and characters, there may be no other show on the air quite like it. But in its own mournful and mysterious way, as the skies darken and hidden pasts come to light, The Returned is undeniably gripping, can’t-look-away television.
