Rebound (Les Revenants): Season 2 (Blu-ray) – Series Review
Follow Genre: Supernatural, Drama
Distributor: Just Entertainment
Episodes: 8
Duration: 60 min (per episode)

Rebound (Les Revenants): Season 2 (Blu-ray) – Series Review

Site Score
7.0
Good: fascinating supernatural concept, great sphere, fitting audio design
Bad: poor performance with non-emotional facial expressions
User Score
0
(0 votes)
Click to vote
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Rebound: Les Revenants, also known as The Returned, is a French supernatural drama television series based on the French film Les Revenants (better known as They Came Back or in the UK as The Returned). A small French town situated in the mountains has had to say goodbye to their loved ones in terrible events, the first one being the burst of the newly build dam. Now people who had met their demise in the past 35 years are reappearing and the townspeople are facing mystery after mystery.

les revenants

Near the end of the first season a shootout took place between the gendarmes and the Revenants. By the time morning comes, the Revenants have disappeared along with every gendarmes. Confused by recent events, the townspeople locked in the shelter finally step out, only to discover that their town has flooded overnight.

The second season takes place six months after the dreadful night and the flooding. With no gendarmes to control the townspeople, the army has decided to take the town under their control while engineers try their utmost best to fix the dam. The military refuses to believe any of the supernatural events that had happened to the town thus they seek for possible explanations that are nowhere near paranormal. In the meantime a new expert has come in to inspect the flooding of the town. Unbeknownst to the military the newcomer has connections to the town and is seeking for a person close to him.

rebound les revenants scr01

A plethora of people have left town for numerous reasons but Léna (Jenna Thiam) and her father Jérôme (Frédéric Pierrot) continue to search for their long-lost sister and daughter Camille (Yara Pilartz) and her mother Claire (Anne Consigny). Although Claire is not a Revenant, she still plays an important role in the commune the Revenants has set up to be safe from harm. The emphasis of her role becomes more clear when we see the leader of the Revenants Lucy (Ana Girardot) drop off yet another Revenant, namely Audrey Sabatini (Armande Boulanger). Audrey is struggling with the fact that her parents are not searching for her and finds solace in Esteban (Thomas Doret), another victim of the bus crash. Camille later helps Audrey and Esteban realize that they are in fact dead with the help of Virgil (Ernst Umhauer).

Julie (Céline Sallette) is yet another living human who plays an important role in the Revenant community as she has been taking care of the young boy Victor (Swann Nambotin). Both are startled with the return of Victor’s mother, who reveals Victor’s name is actually Louis, and then later Victor’s brother. Julie no longer feels necessary and leaves the town to look for clues of Victor/Louis’ special ability. Later in the season, Julie is visiting Victor’s father for answers but finds him comatose. With the help of nurse Ophélie (Pauline Parigot), Julie stays at the hospital waiting for a miracle. At this point the show reveals a possible attraction between the same sexes. However this connection is very short lived and feels insignificant until the very end where it is explored some more. The homosexual nature of the relationship is carefully handled and executed is an extremely safe way.

rebound les revenants scr03

Each episode features flashbacks, digging deeper into the past of a specific person, much in the style we are used to from Orange Is The New Black. Whilst the latter show excels in this manner of storytelling, we feel that Les Revenants is lacking a deeper connection to all characters simply because there are far too many. Aside from this minor detail, each character that was featured had an important role to the main storyline and thus we are given the details of the deaths of Victor and his family as well as Lucy, Virgil, Madame Costa (Laetitia de Fombelle) and even Etienne. The latter one was not only the original architect of the first dam that bursted 35 years ago but is also revealed to be the father of Berg (Laurent Lucas), the expert that has been brought in.

Rebound (Les Revenants) shares similarities with The 4400 while showcasing a unique and mysterious post-apocalyptic sphere in the likes of The Leftovers. Whilst the concept of long-lost loved ones reappearing in mysterious ways is a path that has been walked by plenty of shows and films, the series is able to maintain a narrative that is alluring and thought-provoking with a few twists to seal the deal.

rebound les revenants scr02

Whilst the narrative is quite fascinating, the execution is poorly done due to the shabby performance from the majority of the actors. French series and films are well-known for their non-emotional facial expressions but the characters feel underdevelopment in terms of raw emotions while the storyline is not light by any means. Again, there are far too many characters in the show so perhaps the lack of screenplay time might have something to do with the underdevelopment of characteristics although two actors stood out: Guillaume Gouix who plays the serial killer Serge and Pauline Parigot whom portrays the nurse Ophélie.

The DVD-boxset of Rebound (Les Revenants) Season 2 is seriously lacking when it comes to extra footage as there is none.

Conclusion

The second season of Rebound (Les Revenants) features an intriguing storyline and a thought-provoking season finale with a much used concept without being dull. Whilst the narrative is fascinating, the meager performance of the actors reduces the level of being exceptional to tedious and long-winded resulting in a mixed feeling about the execution in its whole. Those seeking solid storytelling with realistic approach of the supernatural should stay clear whilst those who do not mind underdeveloped characters and confusing flashbacks will enjoy this paranormal series.

VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
VN:F [1.9.22_1171]
Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)
Drydwen


Hi! I'm Jess and I’m a writer, dreamer and gamer at heart since the early ages. I primarily game on PC but occasionally also on PS4 and Xbox One. I have a tiny obsession for World of Warcraft and caterpillars but you may also claim I have a devoted passion for the gaming industry in general. If you want to hit me up, find me on twitter!

No Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.