American version of ‘The Returned’ holds up with French original
10 p.m.ET/PT Monday, March 9, A&E
Popular thinking has it that Europe makes great TV shows which the American TV industry remakes as lesser shows. There have been exceptions, of course – the US version of “House of Cards,” “Shameless” and the now canceled “The Bridge” come to mind.
But for the most part, we get pale imitations of great shows like “Prime Suspect,” “Cracker” and “Broadchurch.” They aren’t always bad shows, but they often feel unneeded.
“The Returned,” premiering at 10 p.m. Monday on A&E, doesn’t feel unnecessary because it demonstrates almost consistent respect for the original French series, titled “Les Revenants” and broadcast on Sundance TV, in French with subtitles, as “The Returned.”
Credit “Lost’s” Carlton Cuse and his co-executive producer Raelle Tucker for the care and attention to detail they’ve invested in the series about a small mountain town whose residents still feel the pain of a tragic school bus accident several years earlier.
Camille Winship (India Ennenga) was one of the children on the bus when it went over a cliff on a winding mountain road. One day in the present, she climbs up the ravine and walks the two miles to her home. Her mother Claire (Tandi Wright) hears a noise in the kitchen, assumes its her surviving daughter Lena (Sophie Lowe), and is shocked beyond belief to find her deceased daughter calmly going about making a sandwich for herself.
At first, Camille seems to be the only one, but soon, other deceased residents begin to return to town. There’s Simon (Matt Vairo), a young man struck by a car on his way to marry waitress Rowan Blackshaw (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Helen Goddard (Michelle Forbes) who died decades before, leaving her husband to grieve forever over the loss of the love of his life, and Victor (Dylan Kingwell), a young boy who suddenly shows up at the doorway of Dr. Julie Han (Sandrine Holt).
Most of the town is in the dark about the returnees. Han tells her neighbor the young boy is her nephew. The Winships keep Camille out of sight, even taking her to another town to go shopping for clothes. Eventually, they explain her as their niece, Alice.
Despite the fact that few people know about it yet, the phenomenon begins to unsettle the community. Claire and her husband Jack (Mark Pellegrino) have been separated for several years. Clearly the loss of their daughter drove a wedge into their marriage. Jack spends most of his time drinking and having sex with the bartender at the Dog Star saloon, Lucy McCabe (Leah Gibson). Claire has been seeing Peter (Jeremy Sisto) who runs a support center where he facilitates regular group sessions for the parents and relatives of the children killed in the bus accident.
Camille’s return prompts Claire and Jack to think that maybe they can put their marriage, and their family, back together again.
Rowan has struggled to get over the loss of Simon and is now engaged to local sheriff, Tommy Solano (Kevin Alejandro). She’s been haunted by Simon’s memory for years. Now he seems to have come back and, like the other returnees, not aged a day.
One reason for creating an American version of the original show is that it’s in English. As obvious as that reason is, it isn’t insignificant. Yes, the French version was great, but Cuse and Tucker obviously appreciate the quality of the original and celebrate it in English in their version.
The A&E “Returned” is not a frame for frame replica of the original show, but it’s close enough. The one difference some viewers may notice is that the pacing of the new “Returned” is a bit faster than in the original. The faster pace isn’t fatal, but it does make it harder to make the leap to suspending disbelief in the first episode. Viewers aren’t given quite as much time to absorb what’s happening and to begin to wonder why, what it means and how long the returned will stick around.
The other thing missing from the A&E “Returned” is the exquisite musical score by Mogwai, but only a purist would notice that difference.
The critical success of the original “Returned,” as well as other brainier zombie shows such as BBC America’s “In the Flesh,” has spawned other American knockoffs, such as ABC’s “Resurrection,” the kind of series that reminds us that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but only if it’s done as well as A&E’s “The Returned.”