After FOX’s “Gracepoint” smothered what worked so well about
“Broadchurch,” I was apprehensive that a similar “Americanization” would happen
to the brilliant French series “The Returned” when it premiered on A&E this
Monday, March 9th, 2015. I guess you could say I’m something of an
expert on the original show, having recapped every episode for Music Box Films,
who produced it. I adored “The Returned” and its daring blend of horror and
drama, always finding the right balance between the human and the supernatural
elements within its captivating story. When I heard some of the names behind
and in front of the camera for A&E’s remake, my optimism grew, but, then
again, remakes are a dicey proposition and “Gracepoint” had a similar pedigree
and went down in flames. So, no one is happier than I am that “The Returned”
works. It’s not quite as atmospheric or accomplished as the original, but it’s
way closer than I expected it to be, anchored by strong performances throughout
and an understanding of what worked about the original.
To that end, creator Carlton Cuse (“LOST”) doesn’t fix what
ain’t broke. The premiere of “The Returned” is remarkably loyal to the original
French series premiere, and it seems that Cuse and his team (which includes “A
Midnight Clear” director Keith Gordon on the premiere and “Splice” director
Vicenzo Natali on episode two) are going to remain remarkably loyal to their
source. The basic premise of “The Returned” is that a group of deceased
individuals suddenly are not so dead. A girl who died in a horrible,
town-changing bus crash crawls out of the ravine four years later and goes home
as if nothing happened. A young man who died on his wedding day cannot
understand why his fiancé doesn’t have the same life she did yesterday. And
there are others, however their stories are unveiled slowly enough that I won’t
spoil them here.
Don’t come to “The Returned” expecting “The Walking Dead.”
This is not that kind of zombie show, although the reveal of a serial killer
and something very wrong with the town’s water supply do add a sense of dread
to the proceedings that plays right into Cuse’s wheelhouse. Like “LOST,” it’s more
a show of confusion than horror, and the emotions that are unearthed when the
ground of reality shakes. How would you respond if a loved one you had finally
stopped mourning showed up like nothing was wrong? And Cuse and his team place
even more emphasis on the reverse angle than the original did: what if you came home from school to a
broken home and a twin sister who was four years older?
The ensemble assembled for “The Returned” is excellent, top
to bottom. Standouts include the increasingly-fantastic Mark Pellegrino as
Jack, father to Camille (India Ennenga), the dead girl who came home. Jack found
solace in the bottle, tearing his family apart. Pellegrino conveys so much
emotion with simple expressions and confident line readings, revealing that
Jack knows he’s made mistakes and things can’t just return to the way they
were even though that’s what he’s dreamed about for four years. Mary Elizabeth Winstead takes center stage in the second episode as
Rowan, the woman left at the altar who is convinced her returned fiancé is a
ghost. Winstead has long been an underrated actress and she’s strong here. The
whole cast works but Innenga, Pellegrino and Winstead serve as the emotional
foundation to the mystery and they deliver above expectations.
Ultimately, Cuse and Gordon avoid the common misstep of
American remakes of foreign fiction by letting the story and the characters
convey the themes instead of underlining and emphasizing them through common TV
tropes like over-use of score, quick cuts, and other blatantly manipulative
devices. The final sequence in the premiere doesn’t quite work like it did in
the original, and the small-town atmosphere of dread isn’t quite the same, but
these are minor complaints for a surprisingly effective drama. More than most,
I know exactly what’s going to happen, and I still plan to watch. That’s saying
something.
On the same night that A&E brings “The Returned” back
from the dead, the network premieres the third season of “Bates Motel,” a show
that I’ve liked but about which I’m starting to worry. For how many seasons can
there be “something wrong with Norman”? I will likely always tune in for the
excellent performances by Vera Farmiga, Freddy Highmore, and Olivia Cooke, but
an air of repetition pervades the season premiere (more of the drug-dealing underworld subplot?), at least until its
cliffhanger ending. Up to that point, it hits a lot of the same beats as previous
episodes. Norma (Farmiga) and Norman (Highmore) are still bizarrely close, even
sleeping together in the same bed. The writers of “Bates Motel” have been
smartly turning up the heat on this incestuous insanity, but this is the season
in which it really needs to boil. We can’t keep wondering when Norman will truly
snap, and watching Norma protect him from himself. And the final scene of the
premiere hints that we’re getting there as the writers at “Bates Motel” inch
closer to the Norman we know from “Psycho”.
