5 out of 5

Created by: Fabrice Gobert

The episodic ‘focus’ is a little misleading, and the first couple episodes absolutely take the time of a show with full faith that a following with hang on until the end, but (bastards) it’s a tactic that pays off thanks to the consistency of presentation (pacing, characterization) and general production quality of the show.  ‘The Returned’ is part of that glorious tradition of the after-effects of an exploited idea: as zombie craze has rippled and rumbled through every media outlet, even the slight variations on the way can only seem like color-swapped versions of one or two core ideas; thus, the reaction, after a while, are things like ‘In The Flesh’ and ‘The Returned,’ which truly find new ways of using the concept to explore a narrative – thus bringing the stories more back into the relevant Romero tradition instead of just focusing strictly on shoot ’em in the head and guts.  In the world of ‘The Returned,’ our zombies – or revenants – aren’t mindless, or solely flesh-eating, they are the people you remember, up until the points of their deaths.  However, there aren’t clear ‘rules’ as to the who and of these resurrections – some died a few years ago, some 30, with a mix of accidental and violent deaths – nor does the show, at this point, try too hard to focus on the ‘why,’ an avoidance ‘Walking Dead’ has successfully used at its best moments (by my opinion) as well.    The responses of the families and acquaintances of the revenants, as well as the revenants themselves, definitely fills the meat of each episode, as we see bits and pieces of each zombie’s past, perhaps leading up to their death, and giving the show a patient, first season ‘Lost’ sense of mystery and intrigue – not so much some ‘everything is connected’ nonsense as giving us a real sense of who these people were / are, making their ties into this small community feel natural instead of after-the-fact justifications (which would be later seasons of ‘Lost’).  The beginning of each episode gives us the name of one person, suggesting that their history will be our focus, but it seems more like a guiding structural decision – since the important stuff is happening in the present, that’s where we spend most of our time.  And as fitting with the contemplative Mogwai theme and general lazy vibe of the town, ‘Returned’ moves with a purposefully slow pace.  It’s a killer at first, while you’re waiting for the setup to fall into place, but once it does, it’s an incredibly rewarding decision, giving each episode full room to allow interactions and characters to evolve and grow.

Season 1 does end with about 9 billion unanswered questions.  The show found the masterful balance in season 1 of letting the audience have enough to think about – about how we’d feel in these situations, either faced with the return of a loved one or being the returned one ourselves – without leaning too much on having to solve the mysteries that are burbling up in its Twin Peaksy vibe.  Hopefully, there will be an equally effective path out of this maze of questions, building us to an appropriate point before, inevitably, doling out some answers that don’t come across as pat or over-explained.  Which is a tall order.  But, in keeping with the Peaks comparison, at the very least you will have this incredibly involving first season to watch and rewatch, regardless of whether or not a second season lives up to expectations that have been set.