A Brilliant Conflict

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I loved the first few episodes, the opener in particular, it was fantastic, absorbing, interesting, and it had you asking a load of questions, such as, 'were the returned back to punish?' 'What would you do if you came face to face with somebody you'd grieved for? and 'Why was that kid so creepy?I must admit my interest did fall off a little towards the end, some things were dragged out a little too much, some of the characters became a little uninteresting. It shouldn't have been cancelled, up until about part six you're treated to some compelling viewing, there was definitely more material in this show, Jeremy Sisto's character Peter was very interesting.I'm sure fans feel short changed by its early finish, but honestly, half way through it ran out of steam after a hugely promising start. 6/10

Today there are more networks and streaming services offering original programming than ever before. It is an amazing time for TV lovers and it seems that anyone can get pretty much anything on the air. With all these new shows debuting all over the place, this does unfortunately leave the networks at somewhat of a disadvantage when it comes to original ideas. Out of desperation, many networks have turned to re-booting old shows, bringing back cancelled ideas that didin't work, and even Americanizing overseas television shows, The Returned is an example of the later. I understand why A&E chose to take a show from overseas, Americanize it, and market it as their next big hit, but why the Returned? This idea has been done to death, both in movies and on TV, and while the show is critically acclaimed, the ratings for the overseas version were terrible, the show was cancelled after it's second season. If no one is watching it over there, why did they think anyone would watch it over here? The returned takes place in a small Northwestern town, where one day, out of the blue, people who have been dead, some for decades, start showing up back at home with no memory of being gone at all. Each episode is broken up into sections that follow specific individuals and their interactions with their loved ones and society. There is also of course the police and investigative angle to the whole thing, and an unsolved crime thrown into the mix, in order to try and keep viewers coming back each week. Funny thing is, I wasn't all that crazy about this episode of the Twilight Zone. It was a little better when The X-Files did it. The 4400 added beings from the future and turned it into a series that quickly ran out of storyline and fizzled out, and now we have The Returned. This isn't an original idea, far from it, and the fact that it takes place in the same location as the 4400 is completely laughable. The cast has a few standouts that made the show a bit less tiresome, Mark Pellegrino is always fun to watch, as you never can figure out if he's a good guy or a bad one. We're also introduced to a new young actor in the form of Dylan Kingwell. He doesn't say much, but his character is honestly one of the most fascinating mysteries of the whole show. The bottom line is that this show is a complete rip off of other ideas and there is really very little here to keep the viewers interested. The boys story turned out to be really cool, The murder investigation was interesting but under utilized, and there were a few cast members I enjoyed. Otherwise the writing was terrible and parts of this show were just painfully slow. There are some terrific overseas shows that no one has even mentioned bringing over here, why they chose this one, I'll never know.

Stephen King says he doesn't plot. He just starts out with a situation in mind - one that can usually be described as a 'What If?' situation - and lets the story grow from there. It works for him. This show also had a 'what if' situation in mind: 'What if dead people started returning?' Well. Great. Now you've got a premise. Lets see what happens next, shall we? NOTHING! Nothing happens next! Well, of course some things happen, but it's more of a regular drama now - with love triangles and such - and it has hardy anything to with the premise anymore. I mean, sure, some of the people involved are now 'returned'. That fact registers, but it doesn't affect the drama. (The Australian show 'Glitch', which has the same premise, does this better.) Sure, we get SOME 'hints of development' here and there, creepy kid is indeed creepy and such, but there is no actual progress in the development of the basic premise. If that's point A, we don't get to point B. We find out nothing as to why, how, who, and/or what's next. We're basically stuck watching a regular soap opera.A badly written one at that. If you 'break up a fight' not by pushing or holding people away from each other, but by almost bashing someone's skull in with a heavy and blunt object, the guy whose skull you almost bashed in is obviously going to be a bit grumpy, isn't he? You're going to at least have some words about that. In this show too? Naah. Bash someone's skull in, guy says nothing about it. Doesn't even blame you. After all, you were breaking up a fight weren't you? Therefore you meant well by almost murdering me. Also, apparently you can shoot unarmed people for no reason and still be the good guy. Woman who loved your victim all her life to the point of obsession won't even blink, lie to the cops for you.Both of these scenes are bad enough on their own, what makes them worse is that they are completely out of character. Both of these guys are supposed to be the boring, sensible ones. Were we viewers wrong about them? Were they actually psychos and it's only now revealed? Nope. They go back to being boring and reasonable as if nothing happened. No reveal. Just bad writing. More I think about it, more terrible it was.

My partner & I loved this series. We eagerly waited for each weekly episode release on Netflix.We got several of our friends hooked on this show too. After seeing every episode an wanting more, we obtained the french older version once shown on channel 4 which although was OK we preferred this version an really wished they has carried on with more seasons of this show. As this version is very watchable an better than a lot of stuff on TV. The acting is superb, Drama is gripping People cast in the roles are well suited to their characters. Not too much violence or swearing just good acting with a good plot and good scenes an sets.