This week’s episode of The Returned demonstrated the key difference between this version and it’s French counterpart. The best example of this is when Camille is asking about Lena’s scar on her back, which has now almost completely healed. In Les Revenants, the cause of Lena’s scar is merely implied. In The Returned, Lena explains in detail how she believes the cut began due to the guilt she felt over her sister’s death. This isn’t a bad thing, per se, but it does show how American TV treats its viewers as less intelligent than European TV does. That was my major aside for this post, so let’s get to the actual review.
Camille
In an interesting turn of events, Claire (the episode’s namesake) began sleeping with Peter a full year before Camille died. This revelation doesn’t do much to make Claire more relatable. In all honesty, it makes her fairly unlikable. Typically, this wouldn’t be a bad thing, as it should add more layers to the character, but since the show has to juggle so many characters, it comes across as a one-dimensional character flaw. Also, the show is running short on likable characters, so removing Claire from the list of potentials
Lena’s decision to not reveal Adam’s existence was perplexing as well. It’s sort of understandable, since she had a connection with him, but it’s also frustrating, since simple communication would solve a lot of problems. That can’t happen though, because conflict, plot, two more episodes in the season, etc.
One effective subplot was the parents of another child who died in the bus crash committing suicide. This, of course, was because Peter convinced Camille to tell all the parents that their children missed them in heaven. The Returned is at its best when it asks difficult questions (it doesn’t necessarily have to give answers). Camille was trying to do something good, but it had a terrible consequence. The sequence where Jack, Peter and Camille all place blame on one another is a great scene that asks some tough questions (What is the best way to help the grieving?) that it can’t really answer.
Adam & Victor/Henry/Zach
A major revelation was made about Henry tonight: he appeared to Camille’s teacher four years ago (though she called him Zach), the same way he appeared to Julie in the pilot episode. After he became too much for her to handle (emotionally), she abandoned him on the side of the road. Presumably, this is what led him to cause the bus crash from the opening moments of the series. Like I mentioned earlier, The Returned is answering a lot of questions explicitly, rather than just implying them. I can’t say I’m upset about this one though, as it’s actually quite intriguing. This series seems to be setting Victor up as even more of a menace than Les Revenants did.
Poor Tony, though. After all the guilt he felt for killing his brother, he wound up confessing for Tony’s crimes and turning himself into the police. Julie must come in to identify him, which of course means Victor tags along. It’s sad to see Tony killed off with two episodes still left in the season. It would have been nice to see him be absolved of some of his guilt, but alas, that was not the case, as he violently crushed his head on the interrogation room table and shot himself in the head with Tommy’s gun. It’s an unsatisfactory end for the character, but maybe he’ll return at some point in the future.
“Claire” was another decent episode of The Returned. It began to offer plenty of answers (thought not the ones most viewers were probably wanting), but is beginning to treat us dumber than we are. Also, relating to the characters is becoming more and more of an issue. That being said, the deviations from Les Revenants are welcome.
Random Notes
- I actually preferred Tony’s death in this version as opposed to the French version.
- That receptionist at the police station talked to Victor/Henry like he was a complete idiot. I almost wished he had just killed her.
- Simon is barely in the episode, but he pops up in the final shot, newly returned (again) after having been murdered by Tommy.
- No Helen this week! But that’s alright. Next week’s penultimate episode is named after her. Here’s the trailer!
