The Returned (French supernatural drama on Channel 4)

I assumed that Serge was trying to kill Toni by swimming out into the middle of the lake knowing that only one of them could drown, but he didn't seem to want him dead in the last episode.

I watched again and it's not certain but it looks like he didn't dive under, but was pulled.

http://www.askafrenchman.net/what-is-gallic-shrug/

Bof.

Although I think far too much was left unanswered, I grudgingly respect that some questions sort of resolve themselves without the answers having to be spoonfed. The drowned animals, they were running from the horde I suppose. The rotting meat that Camille's mum found in the bin - Camille getting a bit desperate waiting for tea time?

Got to say I'm slightly disappointed with the ending - seemed like it was turning into a fairly standard zombie thing, with the survivors all holed up and being besieged by the horde. Can't wait for season 2 though

Yeah if there were hundreds of returned, presumably all with the same amnesia, why did only a small handful of them actually try to go back to the town and their former lives?

so many questions!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVbhOZjSuic

but yeah, roll on season 2

maybe the american series will answer some questions (despite being only tenuously connected, if at all)

Yeah if there were hundreds of returned, presumably all with the same amnesia, why did only a small handful of them actually try to go back to the town and their former lives?

I thought that most of the horde were killed when the first dam broke though. They couldn't go and get on with their former lives because the old village was underwater.

I tried to find a full synopsis of the film, apparently all the returned gathered together at night for some secret plot but I couldn't find out what exactly.

xp oh yeah. bummer.

Another couple of questions:

Why did Mr Costa try and kill Mrs Costa when she came back?
Why did Toni kill his mother?
Why do the dead want to have a big get-together anyway?

I liked the siege scene, at least the way it was done with having the shutters come down and remaining inside, only hearing the sounds of the attack outside. Though it would have been more effective if it had been more drawn out than just hearing the sound of a few shots fired then banging on the shutters. And knowing there's a second series on the way meant that I wasn't expecting answers and reasons for everything, in fact I'm happy to be left guessing. The mystery is the whole point of it.

I don't think Toni literally killed his mother. xp

Why did Mr Costa try and kill Mrs Costa when she came back?

'cause he was FREAKED THE FUCK OUT

of course the manner of mrs costa's death may have some bearing on this.

I can't remember if someone here mentioned this, and am too lazy to scroll back up and see, but re: Mrs Costa's death - she tells three different people three different things. We know the dead can die again (re-die?) So maybe it wasn't her first reappearance to Mr Costa. He could have bludgeoned her or thrown her off the dam, torching the house seems pretty final.

The connection between the dead and the water has so many interpretations, and the appearance and disappearance of the dead is obviously connected to the water levels dropping and the dam bursting again. Did the police return too, or did they take the corpses with them for snacks?

Wait - do we know the dead can re-die? Who re-died?

Simon for one

well he re-undied anyway

Yeah Simon was shot but he didn't stay dead. The only time we saw something come back to life and stay dead, iirc, was the wolf in the lads' taxidermy room.

I was prepared for a lack of closure, I enjoyed the grossly elongated sense of eeriness for itself, I think.

I think the horde missed some element of "so what?". They're coming to get us! They are going to tickle my car until I give them this child! They are going to stand outside out Helping Hand Centre until we offer up our (previously) dead! EEK!

Yeah Simon was shot but he didn't stay dead

What was Victor doing between appearing before the bus crashed and following Julie home? Four years is a long time for a young boy to be wandering around on his own.

I see - I thought you meant we saw the dead die again and stay dead - it seems the opposite is true, that once they come back they keep coming back. We agree, I think.

They keep coming back but at the same time they are slowly decomposing

Actually, the decomposition seems rapid. Simon had ten years to rot away. Victor had 34. Yet they all seem to have just started the week of these events.

Simon was only resurrected that week, wasn't he? Victor has been hanging around longer, but I wonder if he died and returned again. It's difficult to believe he'd just be allowed to wander alone for years. Though he does have those powers none of the others seem to have (Lucy's don't count because she had them when she was alive).

Tracklist from the soundtrack album:

1. Hungry Face
2. Jaguar
3. The Huts
4. Kill Jester
5. This Messiah Needs Watching
6. Whisky Time
7. Special N
8. Relative Hysteria
9. Fridge Magic
10. Portugal
11. Eagle Tax
12. Modern
13. What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?
14. Wizard Motor

Hmmm, cryptic

Lucy's don't count because she had them when she was alive

But was she alive when she originally showed up?

what happened to the big spotlight on the roof that was used ?

the horde sure did tidy everything up after themselves ...

i have the soundtrack lp and half of it doesn't feature in the tv series.

plus, didn't they write it well in advance? so they wouldn't've known plot details.

also, cue ledge and his limmy fact

(currently £8 from fopp btw)

Fridge Magic obv refers to Simon's escape from the mortuary chiller amirite?

I'm not paying £8 for a limmy fact.

I don't like the music as much as I thought I would.

limmy fact:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3J8FYKZ52w

(free of charge to ilxors)

Limmy Killjester, oh yeah, that warty bloke from Motorhead

Wizard Motor is great. It's probably my favourite Mogwai album since CODY but that's not an enormously high bar.

i find it suffers from being a soundtrack and therefore a bit light.

http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-returned/26626/does-this-hold-the-answers-to-the-returned%E2%80%99s-mysteries

i'm sorta afraid the horde will just now become a zombie version of THE OTHERS or something, and the both spooky and emotionally fucked elements of dead ppl resuming their former lives will all disintegrate and be left behind and the show will become something else, but idk, i'm probably just scarred still by LOST and projecting a lot of really stupid apprehensions onto this show.

No thats exactly what i fear as well and why I was disappointed in the finale. Also I repeat my earlier point wit all the young actors in season 1 I fear they will drastically change the perspective / fast forward / rewind so as to to shake up the whole cast

really didn't like the last episode. too many lingering shots of the actors faces looking emotional (pouting). it was like twilight or something.

Lucy's don't count because she had them when she was alive

But was she alive when she originally showed up?

Was Lucy definitely dead? Did she get killed by Serge?

And now I can finally talk!

Desperately unsure about where things were left off. Come to think of it, I was desperately unsure at the end of Twin Peaks... I would like to believe that the writers can bring it on home so-to-speak in season two.

I don't think the finale was at all like just another zombie thing. For one thing, they were barely there at all. The whole point of the horde was to divide the town and the scene where they separated was pretty emotionally intense.

Totally unbothered by the lack of resolution as well, I want this to continue for a good few seasons.

Presumably the second series will introduce horde members as characters, which will go further back into the history of the town.

god this show is fantastic! i more than trust the creators to carry on into s2

One important thing from that link that DavidM posted - Mr Costa was the mayor at the time of the original dam failure, so he would have borne responsibility for those deaths. I do think he is a central character in this whole thing, cos he was also the twins' teacher. Maybe Victor stepped in front of the school bus thinking that Costa was on it too? Or at least in order to hurt those that Costa cared for?