Jump to content

Type keyword(s) to search

S02.E01: The Child


Recommended Posts

Very very very happy to see The Returned return (between this and Ash vs. Evil Dead, this Halloween has been my TV Christmas). This particular episode did seem a little like "let's catch up with everybody" while the previous season's episodes took their time with the characters they focused on, but, I really did want to catch up with everybody, so...?

I'm really hoping to see them nail down some of the specifics of the town's situation... though I have to admit I did not catch on to the fact that only the dead are stuck there - I thought the whole town was trapped at least during the events of the first season. But now that I reflect on it each attempt to escape that was shown involved a dead person (or, here, Adele's child).

Edited by bbolto
  • Love 1
Link to comment

Count me in as another who is so happy that "Les Revenants" has returned.  Loved seeing old friends that I've missed and meeting new friends such as Berg, the new dam expert who will hopefully help reveal what is going on.  Can't wait to see who in the town he is related to.

 

Some thoughts about the first episode:

My favorite line was when Berg asked the man driving the car "Were all the victims found"? and he responded, "No, we're still looking for bodies including those of the police officers."  Hopefully they never find them especially that disgusting boyfriend/husband of Adele, but I'm sure he'll return at some point to cause more trouble for Adele, Chloe and Simon.

 

Wow did Chloe really age from that little girl in season 1 to a young lady much more than Victor did.  He looked older but he still has that disgusting evil look especially when he was reunited with his mother at the end of the episode.  Poor Julie!

 

What's up with the barge that takes people to the lake?  Looks like Simon doesn't have to use it when he just walked into the water to get to the place where all the Returned live and be with Lucy which was a surprise for me.  Loved the halo effect used on Simon when Adele was giving birth; shades of the Christ Child perhaps?

 

One of the creepiest scenes was when Camille's friend on the bus was brought to her house and she witnessed THEM which were the Returned gathering together outside their house. 

 

Lena's father is a mess and not just mentally but that beard looks hideous.  Hopefully he'll get rid of it during the season perhaps when Camille and her mother are hopefully reunited with him and Lena.

 

Love that once again it's not just the people that have returned but animals which was not even included in that miserable U.S. remake.  Hopefully we'll learn more about the animals too in this season.

 

Hoping that one of the posters here who has seen it already will be able to tell us if they deleted any scenes.  Thank God there was no blurring in the dialogue and it seemed the translations were very accurate at least as far as my understanding of French goes.

 

Bring on episode 2 but until then I'll watch it again.  This is one show that I won't delete from my DVR queue.

Edited by dbklmt
Link to comment

YES! I am glad this show has retuned. Totally agree the US version was missing something and was disappointing.

 

I doubt even HBO could have done better. Imho,  this is a show best done by the French, it has a je ne sais quoi to it. A&E did a better job than Fox did w/Broadchurch. The I liked the casting mostly, but the show could not reproduce the eerie, otherworldliness, the pathos, the longing.

  • Love 2
Link to comment

What was the significance of Adele thinking she was only 6mos pregnant and not 8? (beyond her not having been to a doctor since she became pregnant. Which, wait, didn't she see a doctor after throwing herself down the stairs? Confused.) For a moment I thought it was supposed to imply that her police officer boyfriend was the father and NOT Simon, whereas she thought it was Simon's.

 

Wish I had had the time to go back and re-watch season 1 as I'm a little confused over the plot points in the French series vs. the inferior American one. (Which I agree was very well cast, but just not as good, and changed some plot points for reasons beyond my comprehension)

Link to comment
What was the significance of Adele thinking she was only 6mos pregnant and not 8? (beyond her not having been to a doctor since she became pregnant. Which, wait, didn't she see a doctor after throwing herself down the stairs? Confused.) For a moment I thought it was supposed to imply that her police officer boyfriend was the father and NOT Simon, whereas she thought it was Simon's.

From what I understood, Adele found out she was pregnant 6 months ago.  We saw her and Simon have sex which I guess implies that he's the father.  If we had seen her with Thomas, then they could have gone with a 'who's the father' storyline.  Also, since Lucy wants the baby too, I'm firmly in the camp that says Simon is the father.  Since the doctor asked her to confirm when her last period was the math makes her 6 months pregnant but the ultra sound being performed indicated that the baby was much bigger.  I took it as something else freaky with the baby.  I don't think Adele cares either way but it was something the doctor found strange.

 

I believe that Adele knows the baby is Simon's and hasn't done much to take care of herself.  She said she tried to get rid of it and I think her fall down the stairs was just the latest attempt followed by the ambulance trip to no where.

 

I love that the show is back.  I want to know who the new guy is.  Jerome's beard should have it's own agent.  I'm a tiny bit upset that we only got a little bit of Victor but I'm confused as well because I've seen the first 3 episodes and am forgetting what happens when.  I don't want to get ahead of myself and spoil anything.

Link to comment

I agree that Adele thinks it's Simon's baby and has been trying to kill it (or maybe has and it "returned") and I agree that the other "returned" think it's his baby, but I wonder if there is any chance they are wrong given the timing. (If she was with Simon 6mos ago but the baby is the size of an 8 mos fetus, maybe he is not the dad after all). I might have missed where the doctor asked her when her last period was, I thought he just asked her how far along she was and she had assumed she was 6mos but maybe was mistaken. Either that or yes, it is a freaky ghost baby that is growing faster than normal (but not that much faster! only about 2 mos faster!)  I guess we will find out at some point. I just wasn't sure if it was supposed to be ambiguous or not...

  • Love 1
Link to comment

I'm happy the show is back (and really glad I watched the season one marathon).  This first episode was sort of a catch up to where the original characters are now.  I'm anxious to find out more about the new dam expert and his connection to the town. 

 

I was really surprised when Victor's mother showed up.  But he didn't look that happy to see her.  I think he prefers Julie at this point.

 

Jerome was one of my favorite characters.  I guess the beard is to show that he's let himself go from grief, but I hate it.

 

I found Pierre creepy before and I still think he's creepy.  

  • Love 1
Link to comment

I too watched the US version and though I was underwhelmed, I think the characters and basic story are similar enough between the two versions that I can have some hope of keeping up with S2 of the original. That said, there were a few elements that I wasn't clear on (but not in a bad way), and man, you could tell five minutes in that this is a far superior version. And I don't think that's all down to subtitles snobbery ;-) Anyway, I'll look forward to checking in here every week for the best critiques around.

Link to comment

I thought the whole town was trapped at least during the events of the first season. But now that I reflect on it each attempt to escape that was shown involved a dead person (or, here, Adele's child).

Good observation!  I hadn't considered that Victor was the reason Julie and Laure couldn't leave in S1.  

 

The thing that confused me was the horde of Returned showing up after Lucy took Audrey to be with Camille and her mother.  It seemed like Lucy was working with them in S1.  Maybe I misunderstood that scene?  

 

Looking forward to Sandrine's reaction to Audrey's return.  She was so nasty to Camille last season.  

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Good observation!  I hadn't considered that Victor was the reason Julie and Laure couldn't leave in S1.  

 

The thing that confused me was the horde of Returned showing up after Lucy took Audrey to be with Camille and her mother.  It seemed like Lucy was working with them in S1.  Maybe I misunderstood that scene?  

 

Looking forward to Sandrine's reaction to Audrey's return.  She was so nasty to Camille last season.

 

Since I have already seen it 

(and don't be afraid, I'm not going to spoil anything here, I'm just

teasing) Sandrine and Audrey will have one of the most intense and shoking

scenes of the whole series in the final episode.

 So keep watching, that's all I'm saying. :)

  • Love 1
Link to comment
I hadn't considered that Victor was the reason Julie and Laure couldn't leave in S1

 

.   Are we supposed to know what happened to Laure? Did they say?  Victor said "do you miss her?"  I thought she was still around in the finale of S1.

Link to comment

Are we supposed to know what happened to Laure? Did they say?  Victor said "do you miss her?"  I thought she was still around in the finale of S1.

I was confused by Victor saying that, so I went back and watched the ending again.  I had assumed Laure was inside the Helping Hand when they shuddered the windows but I didn't notice them specifically show her inside.  The officers outside are shown from a distance, although they all look like men to me.  Could be that Victor is referring to him and Julie not having contact with anyone but those inside the house they are being kept in.

Link to comment

This isn't just about this episode but a general comment on Victor this season -- the actor doesn't look a LOT different, but he does look older, and it kinda bothered me because if the character has sort of been frozen in time since he was killed 35 years ago as a little boy, why would he now be aging/growing up? I thought the defining feature of the 'returned' is that they don't age. Like how Camille and Lena were identical twins and then Lena grew up while Camille stayed frozen at the age she was in the bus crash. Just not sure how they can explain this away as the actor who plays Victor is obviously going to continue changing and looking older.  Then, I thought maybe they were explaining it away in one of the first few episodes this season when they said he's now able to sleep and Julie said something about it being a good sign that he's growing.  Maybe if the 'returned' are loved and treated as humans they do grow like normal people?? But it isn't clear to me how they are officially going to deal with the younger actors' changing physical appearances if the show goes on, for those who play dead/returned characters that is.

Link to comment
(edited)

Finally gotten around to watching Season 2 with the French nieces who come to stay for the summer.

As far as I can remember - there's nothing to say that the reanimated dead don't age; they just don't age whilst they're resting in peace.

The trouble with Victor is that he appears at times after he's dead but before the start of S1 (eg the bus crash than kills Camille and friends). My only thought there is that I'm just assuming he was present there, but he might have been an hallucination or projection into the brain of the driver; or I guess reanimated, crawled out of the lake, then killed by the bus and rests up for another 7 years... or something...

Edited by Which Tyler
Link to comment
×
×
  • Create New...