Few recent series have so captured the popular imagination as eerie French drama The Returned (Les Revenants) which ended its Channel 4 run yesterday. But with a second series and indeed an English language remake planned, many questions still remained unanswered as the first series ended.
Chiefly:
Why exactly did some people in the town start coming back to life? What’s the connection with the dam and the water supply?
Why didn’t everyone who had died come back? Why was Camille the only one to return from the crashed bus, for example?
The boy Victor seemed to cause the bus crash in the first episode. Why was this?
Why did Camille’s older sister Lena (not actually one of “the returned” herself) develop horrible symptoms on her back? And how come these seemed to go away?
How did religious loon Pierre come to be involved in the murder of the Victor’s family?
How many times can the dead be killed and come back?
Why exactly did Simon die on his wedding day? Was it suicide? Or something else?
Is Julie, who was attacked in the underpass seven years ago dead? (Probably not).
Did Victor kill Julie’s nosey neighbour?
Is Adele dead?
What was the story behind Monsieur Costa’s suicide in Episode One? Why didn’t he come back?
Why couldn’t Julie and Laure leave the town at the end of Episode Seven? Is everyone in the town dead? Are they in Purgatory?
What happened to The Returned at the end?
And…the town’s flooded. Merde!
Chris Hallam's World View 