‘The Returned’ 1.07 Recap: “You Weren’t Even Nice”

This, finally, is the episode where ‘The Returned’ turns a corner. The secret of the revenants is starting to spread, and once it does, it can’t be contained.

(No, the term “revenants” hasn’t officially been used on the show yet, but it fits and it’s the title of the original French series this is based on, so I’m going with it.)

Rowan

Our opening flashback this week goes back one year, which would put it around the same time Lucy started conning Jack. As Rowan cleans her house, she sees a hallucination (we presume?) of Simon in a mirror. He accuses her, “You never should have been a mother.” Rowan drops her daughter Chloe off with Tommy for the day and says that she’s going to visit her sick sister, but Tommy soon discovers that the sister is neither sick nor expecting Rowan. He races home and finds Rowan unconscious on the bed. She’s left suicide notes for both him and Chloe.

In the present day, Rowan seems to be better adjusted since deciding to cut Simon out of her life. She plans her new wedding. Tommy says he’s happy and has forgiven her for cheating on him, but can’t bring himself to kiss her.

Simon stalks Chloe to a day camp at a park. He tells her that he has a secret message for her to deliver to her mom, but can’t tell anyone else. He’s going to come by the house to pick them up that night.

Rowan sees her shrink, but calls him useless and tells him that she’s angry about all the time she’s wasted with him. She quits therapy and gives up her pills.

As promised, Simon shows up that night. He finds cops waiting outside, but they’re called away shortly. Inside, Rowan is waiting for him, but Chloe isn’t home. Rowan tells him that she’s angry at him for killing himself and leaving her. Simon claims that he doesn’t remember.

Tommy is waiting as well. He steps out from another room with a gun. It’s an ambush. He tells Simon to back away. When Simon makes a move toward Rowan, Tommy shoots him in the chest. Simon crumples to the floor, apparently dead. (Can a person die twice?) Rowan looks relieved. This is what she wanted to happen.

Julie

Nikki returns to Julie’s apartment. Julie tells her that Victor is back and she won’t give him up again. Nikki accepts that and kisses her.

Later, they try to initiate sex. Julie is uncomfortable about her scars. Victor interrupts. Julie says that the kid doesn’t ever sleep. That’s just one more thing to add to the “creepy” list.

(Another is that Victor meets Chloe at the park. She tells him that, “My dad was dead, but he’s back.” He responds, “I’m dead too.” That little girl should run screaming far away from him.)

Adam and Lena

Lena wakes up in the middle of the night alone. She searches the house for Adam and winds up in a workshop, where she finds a bunch of girls’ necklaces displayed like trinkets. She recognizes one and runs outside just as Tony pulls up in his truck. Lena tells him that she found Lucy’s necklace, and that this must mean that Adam is the stabber. She begs for Tony’s help. Instead, in a fit of crazed panic, he drags her back into the house.

Adam returns to the house with a couple of coffees and finds Tony, who has tied Lena up in the workshop and doesn’t know what to do about her. Adam says that he’s different now, that he’s over his urges to kill. (Except, you know, for Lucy, but he says that he was “confused” when he came back and that was a one-time thing.) Adam is no longer mad at Tony for killing him. He wants to take care of Lena, not hurt her.

Adam unties Lena and asks her not to tell about him, then he lets her go. Lena bolts through the woods until she comes to a road and flags down a logging truck.

Helen

Helen visits the dam that burst two decades ago and flooded the town, killing her. An engineer named Glenn leads a tour group of new employees through. She overhears him explaining that her husband had cheaped-out on materials and labor while building the dam, which caused the disaster. She already suspected this, but now has it confirmed.

That evening, Helen finds Glenn at a bar and makes an effort to seduce him. She drinks him under the table (she’s not affected by alcohol – one of the perks of being dead) and dances with him. In the guise of idle conversation, she asks if the dam could burst again. When he says no, that it’s much safer now, she asks what if someone tried to intentionally destroy it.

Combined with her comments that it might have been better had the whole town washed away, Helen obviously has something bad planned.

Camille

After a night with Peter, Claire comes home very late. Camille is up, waiting for her. She tells her mother that Ben knows who she is and panicked.

Ben and his friends dig up Camille’s grave to see if her body’s inside. When they get to the casket, they find it filled only with water. The groundskeeper catches them and calls the cops. At the police station, Tommy questions them and threatens to throw them in jail. Ben finally speaks up and tells him about Camille.

Under normal circumstances, I’m sure that Tommy would have assumed that Ben is lying, or just a dumb kid. But knowing what he does about Simon, Tommy goes to the Winships’ house to check it out. He asks to speak to “Alice.” When Claire tells him that she’s out, he insists that she bring the girl to the police station, and bring her ID.

Claire calls Peter. In an attempt to get ahead of this situation before it spirals out of control, he devises a plan. Despite Jack’s objections, they invite the entire grief support group to the house and reveal Camille’s secret. The other parents are shocked. Some of them get angry, demanding to know why a bratty kid like Camille deserved to come back but not their perfect little angels. Under Peter’s direction, Camille delivers a very calculated crock of shit about how she remembers being in heaven, and that she could feel all of their children there. She consoles the parents that their children are all at peace and love them.

The ploy works. The parents buy it. Afterwards, Jack grudgingly concedes that Peter was right. Peter plans the next stage.

It seems inevitable now that news of the revenants will move quickly. When it does, that’s a genie that can’t be put back in the bottle. I don’t know what will happen then, but I look forward to finding out.

1 comment

  1. itjustWoRX

    Your posts on this show got me into it back after the pilot had aired. Normally I’m strictly a premium-cable watcher, but with nothing on after “Togetherness” ended and still no “Thrones” for another month…I got sucked into this one. I’m in it ’til the end. How many episodes are left? Three?

    I also started watching “The Last Man on Earth.” I think I would literally rather be the last person on earth than watch anymore of that show. Nothing has changed since the first couple episodes.

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