DVD Review: The Returned: Season One (2012)

STUDIO: Music Box | DIRECTOR: Fabrice Gobert, Frédéric Mermoud | CAST: Anne Consigny, Frédéric Pierrot, Clotilde Hesme, Céline Sallette, Samir Guesmi, Guillaume Gouix, Jean-François Sivadier, Jenna Thiam, Pierre Perrier
BLU-RAY & DVD RELEASE DATE: 2/11/2014 | PRICE: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $34.95
BONUSES: Interview with director/creator Fabrice Gobert, collector’s booklet
SPECS: NR | 480 min. | Supernatural drama | 16:9 widescreen | Dolby Digital 5.1/DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 | French with English subtitles

RATINGS (out of 5 dishes): Movie | Audio | Video | Overall

Ever since Twin Peaks revolutionized American episodic television in 1990, the industry has been obsessed with revisionist supernatural dramas. Of course, David Lynch’s (Blue Velvet, Dune)  tongue was firmly in cheek with his post­modern, ultra­-cool toying of clichés and stereotypes, while his descendants have pretty much played it straight. Still, one can trace a clear line between his cult classic and Fabrice Gobert & Frédéric Mermoud’s chilling The Returned, a 2012 French TV drama, adapted from the 2004 film Les Revenants (They Came Back).

The premise is quickly established: townsfolk who have died are returning as if nothing’s happened, completely unaware of their deaths­ basically the most conscious, attractive zombies you’ve ever encountered. The first episode sets up the parallel storylines we’ll be following: a middle school redhead (Yara Pilartz) lost in a school bus accident, a drummer (Pierre Perrier) who died on his wedding day, and this creepy little kid (Swann Nambotin) with some extra­special powers I’m still confused about. Oh, and an undead serial killer (Guillaume Gouix) , which is easily the dumbest storyline in the bunch.

Do it again: Clotilde Hesme and Pierre Perrier in The Returned.

But mostly, it works—the living have to cope with the emotional whiplash of seeing a painful chapter in their lives re­open; the undead are just confused and frustrated. Unlike some recent episodic dramas like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, The Returned isn’t really exploring any big issues or providing insights about our own daily experience. Sure, it pretends to, the way so many Stephen King-­like modern horror pieces do, usually through speeches made by the philosophical priest or the token New Agey spiritual dude who’s all­-too­-excited about the undead’s return, but these soliloquies are trite and dopey. What The Returned does well—really well—is unravel the mystery slowly, cleverly, planting clues for viewers to piece together each episode, never in a rush to spill the beans.

Beautifully shot by veteran cinematographer Patrick Blossier, the eight episodes move well, each one answering a couple of questions while posing several more. Though it’s clearly influenced by American television, The Returned remains distinctly French in certain ways: all the women are beautiful, all the men detached, and everyone smokes. And while it’s hard to really care about any individual character (in this sense, the show is basically a glorified soap opera) The Returned spins a great creepy yarn. The ping­-ponging between storylines works well, managing to keep an incessantly somber and tense mood from getting stale—a  pretty amazing feat considering there isn’t a single fun or funny moment in the entire eight hours. When it resorts to pointless violence and sex for the sake of keeping our attention, often at the expense of character plausibility, The Returned disappoints. But, thankfully, the incidents are few.

As with all these kinds of shows, the real test is yet to come­ will the mysteries be resolved in a satisfying way? Or are the producers lazily dropping red herrings wherever it’s convenient, a lá Lost? It’s too early to tell, but the season closes with a zinger, wisely keeping itself a few steps ahead of us. Lost was way too dumb to keep my interest beyond a single episode; The Returned has me cautiously anticipating Season Two (slated to premiere later this year. Genuine fans of the genre will be downright hooked, as The Returned easily cuts several notches above anything else in the supernatural horror/mystery genre. If the series can manage to avoid the all­-too­-common jumping of the shark and tie up its loose ends cleverly, this little show will earn itself a place on a pretty empty shelf.

The DVD set includes a nice collector’s booklet and an unsurprising Q&A with series creator Gobert.

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