Les Revenants / The Returned

[Mr Cochese]

I only started watching a couple of months ago. That must have been an interminable wait for people who watched it when it was first on in the UK.

[Mentazm]

I just watched the last 3 episodes of S1 back to back. It's very morish, even if they are slightly dragging things out with some episodes, like 7.

What I didn't get was why didn't they want Sergei? Is he actually alive?

Now going to start S2, come tomorrow it will be 6 episodes deep already. Will watch those over this week.

[Miner Willy]

So excited for the return (sorry) of this. I absolutely loved the first season, and though at the time I felt they probably should have closed it off as a single series story, now it's nearly here I can't wait.

[Mentazm]

I am totally up to date on this now, watched episode 4 of S2 yesterday. I think it's great, extremely creepy and atmospheric, but can't see how much longer they can drag things out with no explanation.

What happened to the ...

Necrosis skin? It was creeping in at the end of S1 and it seems to have vanished in S2. Camille certainly doesn't have it anymore. Unless the scratches on Toni's neck as the same issue?

[Mentazm]

Did anyone else finish this? I liked it, but it very much should have been a single series.

[sandman]

I'm really struggling with season 2. Just not as interesting as season 1 and its so utterly depressing for everyone involved. The episodes seem to last an age as well.

[superfunk]

Anyone got any ideas about what the fuck that was all about? Thanks.

[Sponge]

Gave up a few episodes into this season. It got too frustrating the way no one ever asked any questions about anything, or even managed basic communication about things. Almost worse than Lost in that respect, but not quite.

[ngchol]

It's been canned according to Les Inrocks. They quite literally lost the plot.

[V3zna]

They tried to tie everything up. Ultimately all questions got an answer. It didn't feel like there was ever going to be a third season. Obviously whether or not it was a satisfying conclusion is up for debate but it kept me watching for sure.

[John0]

Anyone got any ideas about what the fuck that was all about? Thanks.

Here's my interpretation based on thoughts I had and a brief discussion with someone at work.

I think the main theme is grief. The dead seemed to injure the living when close to them, or spending a lot of time with them, and living seemed to be able to do this to the dead. This was a bit inconsistent (e.g. why did Camille's mother - who was very attached and affected by her return - ever get a scar/cyst/thing like Lena did?) but I think it was all about clinging onto the deceased, and how harmful the mourning process can be - both to the mourners themselves, and, in some ways, to the memory of the dead.

The Adele / Simon / Chloë story-line - neither Simon or Adele appeared to be happy in life. They couldn't handle being responsible for themselves, let alone their children. I think Adele dies at the end outside the cave, and they're able to finally achieve happiness together without the burden of being alive. I thought it was a nice touch that Chloë was so protective / caring over Nathan. Sometimes children closely mimic the behaviour of parents, but also sometimes it goes the opposite way and we seek to give to the world what we so badly needed but never had.

I think Victor, Lucy and Nathan are all "the same". As in, they're all neither dead or alive, possibly even all products of the dead and the living, like we know Nathan is. I think these three were the only ones to not "disappear" at the end. They don't seem to be truly dead, or follow the same rules as the dead at least. Victor obviously has this power to bring people back from the dead. He strongly desires to change things, change the future, affect the world. And he can but he doesn't really know how to control this power yet. My guess is that Lucy is like an older, wiser version of him. Or perhaps some form of watcher/angel (did Victor get the identity of the angel wrong and it wasn't Julie, but Lucy?) sent to try and control the mess that Victor created? In any case all three seem to be linked in some sort of supernatural sense way (Lucy coming looking for Victor, Victor hearing Nathan in the final - or nearly final - scene). Perhaps they're all angels - perhaps all angels are born by a marriage of living and dead .

Stuff I'm not really sure about:

- No idea what all the weird plague stuff (heads in bins, locusts etc) was in the first series, but maybe it ties in with the grief stuff somehow?

- Wtf was with Audrey eating her Mum.

- Why wasn't Serge with all the other dead at the end - did they reject him, in a way? Did he feel like he didn't deserve the same fate as them?

- Why were the dead so non-physically aggressive to the living?

- Why were all the dead sort of suspended in this purgatory? And why was Lucy leading them through the forest? And why was her kidnapping Nathan so important?

(EDIT) - Oh yeah why the hell didn't Julie die from that fall at the end?!

That's actually a lot of question marks for what was meant to be an interpretation . There are probably loads of blogs about all this. I could be way off. I dunno. That's what I thought anyway.

I did quite like the whole thing, the atmosphere (and music of course!) was really good and there was some great performances (Camille and Lena's Mum I thought was especially good - and Dad, actually) - that kid is super creepy. Was a touch too confusing/confused to be fully enjoyable though.

[Chadruharazzeb]

So is it worth watching or not?

[Mentazm]

I am firmly in the yes camp. The first series was better, and could probably be watched by itself. I still liked the second series but I thought they tried to throw too many things into the mix whilst forgetting some of the strands from the first series. Overall though the atmosphere and music were great as mentioned, and there was some great acting.

[hmm]

It's atmospheric but all a bit of a mess really; I wouldn't exactly put it at the top of a list of series to catch up on. It takes an extremely long time to say what(ever the fuck) it's trying to say.

 

On the plus side, Camille's dad has a great beard.