‘Milan’ says the opening caption.
Are we about to take a trip beyond the cold, cumulus-grey town, and onto the warm sidewalks of Lombardy’s most famous city, the fashion-capital of Italy?
No chance. Milan is the name of a mysterious young chap who, 35 years ago helped Pierre break into Victor’s house and kill him, his mum, and (almost) his dad, thus setting up a convenient theme for this week’s episode: Mums and Dads. Mères et Pères. Mummies and Deadies.
It’s the thematic foundation for a strong episode. One which pulls at the guts and the heartstrings – not in your typical undead ‘torso buffet’ sort of way – but in that kind of gnawing worry you have about anyone in your family when things are askew.
It’s difficult watching new mum Adele refuse to see her newborn son, refuse to even acknowledge his existence by giving him a name. Is it Postpartum depression or a fear of the strange child she’s birthed, seen die, and then reborn? Or perhaps one is being used as a cipher for the other. It’s played so delicately and intuitively that there doesn’t have to be a definitive answer.
Likewise Julie fearing losing creepy bobblehead Victor/Louis to his weird Returned mum (she is weird: who eats plain pasta?) is a worry that could be stripped of its supernatural trappings and still be as relatable, interesting. The show doesn’t have to translate the domestic into supernatural metaphor to move you. It subtly takes the unpleasantness of the domestic for what it is, and uses horror as a garnish.
Staying parental, but moving further toward the spooky, Audrey Sabatini’s ma and pa return to the town to help in the search for their once-dead, now-not-dead-but-missing girl, not knowing that Audrey is with Camille on Undead Island (don’t worry, it’s actually an undead peninsula…’).
And what a mysterious suburban gulag of a place it is, parented by mysterious Returned who all appear to have dressed by consensus and have nothing better to do than take part in a sinister Neighbourhood Watch as Audrey, Camille and their new chum Esteban go wandering.
Chasing after her renegade, plate-breaking daughter, Claire is set upon by them, the terrifying inference being that they beat her near to death. So who is the Returned man who takes her back home? Her undead dad? It wouldn’t be surprising given the theme.
Speaking of dads, Camille’s older twin Lena is condemned to being a redhead ghost, wandering around the town looking for answers and being concerned about her dad Jérôme (my beard icon for Autumn/Winter 2015-16).
He may seem madder than a plate of frogs but actually might be the most sane person in the town; gathering information on a top notch conspiracy wall and giving us the first crumpled and Blu-Tacked clues as to what the hell might be going on. The Returned has been so opaque up to now that even his mad ‘It’s a circle!’ hypothesis feels like a nonchalant shrug towards truth and answers.
Still, he’s not the worst dad. Serge et Toni’s papa pops up out of nowhere to eat meat and ask questions later, in a left-field move that in any other show would feel bizarre, but in The Returned is just another Monday. Last series it was surprising how coolly characters reacted to the dead returning. Now we share their easy acceptance for the weird. General De Gaulle could come back right now and the best I could manage would be a slightly raised eyebrow.
But The Returned is not a show to let you get blasé. There are questions in the background. Which human ate the deer? What’s Pierre’s plan for Gallic Dara O’Briain clone Toni? Why is Milan’s return such a worry? And finally, something that properly gets both eyebrows raised and sinks my sentence about horror being used as garnish in the show, who tied those bodies to the trees, and OMFG why?!?
It’s a supremely creepy ending, perhaps the most arresting the show has ever achieved.
Is it the most affecting image of the hour though? No.
In keeping with the parental theme I’m going to give that to the sight of seeing little Victor’s aged dad in a hospital bed. Because the real horrors of The Returned are those that happen to us in real life.
Aired at 9pm on Friday 23 October 2015 on More4.
> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.
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