The Returned (A&E)
Full disclosure: I do love a good adaptation. Any adaptation really. Books to movies, movies to TV shows, and especially- especially- foreign TV shows to American TV shows. For every good adaptation, there are a handful of meh ones, and that’s not to mention the utter disasters (I’m looking at you, American Skins and unaired American IT Crowd pilot). So imagine my surprise when The Returned started airing, and it was actually really good.
Based on a phenomenal French series called Les Revenants (which is also definitely worth watching if you can handle subtitles), The Returned tells the story of a small town in Washington where, without explanation, people who are long dead have started coming back to life. The eponymous “returned” come back without much fanfare and without knowing that they are dead, but their reappearances turn the lives of their loved ones upside down and set off a series of strangeness to follow.
There are many things the adaptation gets right. The casting truly does justice to the original French characters and is even eerily spot-on in some cases. The show stays true enough to the original without feeling like a stiff, shot-for-shot remake. The tone is there too, a slow burn of suspense that falls just shy of being able to call itself a thriller. Though some have referred to it as a zombie show, it honestly gives off more of a surreal dream vibe than an action-packed gore-fest. And while it could benefit from a little more of the subtlety that the original had, history shows that’s to be expected of something adapted for an American audience.
In the April episodes, the plot gradually started to break away from its French counterpart, and for me, that’s where things start to get exciting. I love watching skilled show creators and writers attempt to do justice to a concept while still taking a step away from it and making it their own. But even if you haven’t watched the original, this is where it gets good. The Returned is in a rare category of post-Lost shows that can still confound viewers in a way that just keeps them wanting more. There is still one episode left to the season, and I’ve heard that it goes in a completely different direction from the ending of the original. I’ll definitely be sitting on the edge of my seat. – Jenna Grunfeld, Contributor
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