The Kept Or THE RETURNED

Article originally written for Seat42F.

A&E’s new series THE RETURNED is based on the French series Les Revenants, which re-aired on Sundance and Netflix with subtitles under the name The Returned. I haven’t seen the original yet, though I keep meaning to watch, so when viewing this pilot, I was instead comparing it to last year’s Resurrection on ABC, which in turn was based on an unrelated book called The Return. Is that confusing enough for you?

All of these stories may be similar, but if you haven’t seen any of them, the premise of THE RETURNED is this: A girl named Camille (India Ennenga, Treme) dies when her bus runs off a cliff. Four years later, she returns home to her parents, Claire (Tandi Wright, Nothing Trivial) and Jack (Mark Pellegrino, Lost, The Tomorrow People), and twin sister, Lena (Sophie Lowe, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland), unaged and with no memory of the past four years. She’s not a zombie or a ghost; the first things she does are to fix herself a sandwich and take a bath. But she has no memory of the crash nor explanation as to where she’s been, nor any sign on injury, healed or otherwise.

Then, other dead people start showing up around town, too, not her classmates from the bus, but others that have passed in various years past. A man finds his fiancé getting remarried after a long mourning period. A wife who appears to have died decades ago goes home to her now-elderly husband. And there’s a little kid that no one seems to know, but may just hold the key to the mystery.

I have seen reviews for THE RETURNED that say this new series is to Les Revenants as Gracepoint is to Broadchurch. If you don’t get that reference, Gracepoint is a decent FOX series that aired this fall that is extremely similar to a superior show called Broadchurch, which was made in England. Without that knowledge of the source material, I like THE RETURNED, but those who have viewed the original may think this is a pale imitation. I cannot comment on that.

I can say THE RETURNED is about ten notches better than Resurrection. The story is far more cohesive, and the characters are compelling. There is a definite, big unanswered question in the pilot that I doubt the show will solve soon, but while I want to find out the answer, I’m also happy to enjoy the ride getting there.

The cast is phenomenal. Besides those mentioned above, the ensemble includes Jeremy Sisto (Suburgatory), Michelle Forbes (The Killing), Aaron Douglas (Battlestar Galactica), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), Sandrine Holt (House of Cards), Kevin Alejandro (True Blood), Leah Gibson (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Agnes Bruckner (Private Practice), Dylan Kingwell (Big Eyes), Mat Vairo (Revolution), and Rhys Ward (Heartland). Not all of these people are well known, but most are, and have been in some of the best shows on television in the past decade. There aren’t any huge movie stars present to distract from the others, but these are some strong small screen performers.

The cast is super important to THE RETURNED because the program will hang on the characters. With the mystery of the show being so strange and obtuse, there aren’t likely to be any major clues anytime soon. Instead, the drama will live in the interaction of the players, and how the various people deal with coming home having lost years or welcoming back someone they believed gone forever. Not everyone handles it the same way, one person tragically unprepared, but this what viewers are going to want to see.

THE RETURNED is also a little creepy. The living dead do not appear to be monsters or killers, but who has brought them back and why? One of the main characters (not one of the returned) is exposed as having done something really horrible to another. Human nature can be dark, and pairing THE RETURNED with Bates Motel likely signals that this more negative side of personality will be explored, at least in conjunction with the positive.

I don’t know what THE RETURNED has in store, and I’m likely to still watch Les Revenants in the meantime, which could change my opinion. But for now, I’m very interested to see where the series is going.

THE RETURNED airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on A&E.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND's Happily Ever After

Article first published as TV Review: 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland' - Series Finale on Blogcritics.

It seems a little strange that the series finale of ABC’s Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is called “And They Lived…” Do the writers mean to imply that the characters merely survived the final showdown? Because that’s not the case. They triumph and basically get everything they want, just like any true fairy tale (though not necessarily any television show) should close. So why not finish “…Happily Ever After”?

“And They Lived…” is a good conclusion to the 13-episode miniseries. It has action and adventure, a couple of twists, the deaths of some minor players, and a wedding at the end. Those who have romantic partners find them again. The villain is defeated, the heroes go home, and it all wraps up pretty neatly. This from a series with a very rocky start.

Many would-be viewers gave up on Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, including fans of the mother ship Once Upon a Time early in its run. It’s a shame, given how the story continued to get better and better as the weeks went on, but it’s not a surprise. Mostly filmed on green screen, with very little reality to latch on to, the characters seem to have an alien frame of reference, and are slow to add depth to the players.

Part of this is because Once Upon a Time in Wonderland begins very mission-focused, rather than character-driven. We know Alice (Sophie Lowe) wants to rescue the love her life, genie Cyrus (Peter Gadiot), but rather than going through personal growth to get to Cyrus, she instead must overcome external challenges tossed in her way by a couple of bad guys.

A few episodes in, though, this begins to shift. True, Alice stays pretty single-minded, but The Red Queen’s (Emma Rigby) back story is one of broken hearts and missed opportunities (which is a little like the Evil Queen in OUAT, but it feels different enough to be OK). Her arc is all about getting back with The Knave (Michael Socha), which becomes more complicated when he takes Cyrus’ place in the bottle, thus shifting the thrust of the story entirely.

Which brings us to “And They Lived…” Jafar (Naveen Andrews) resurrects the dead Red Queen, then forces her to love him, as he has broken the rules of magic. This is not only the most interesting thing going on as Alice, Cyrus, his mother, Amara (Zuleikha Robinson), The White Rabbit (John Lithgow), and their friends try to save everyone, but also where the most tension lies. After all, even if Jafar is stopped, The Knave cannot have his happy ending without The Red Queen. Would she stay in the land of the living if Jafar’s powers, which resurrect her, are stripped away?

It’s great that Jafar’s own hubris is what brings him down. He thinks he has the situation under control, so gets rids of his henchwoman, the Jabberwocky (Peta Sergeant). But then, he’s being hit from too many sides, and his own spell over The Red Queen fails when true love’s kiss proves to be too powerful. He is soundly defeated by the very woman he forced into the mix.

My one real complaint about “And They Lived…” is the specific way in which Jafar loses. Couldn’t Jafar just give the water back to the well, freeing himself fro the genie curse? And are we supposed to believe that the water witch is more powerful than Jafar, even after he has broken all the rules of magic? I feel like this climax needed to be a little smarter than it is. Ditto how the water witch decided to let the Red Queen live, just because.

Still, between the terrific character moment in which Jafar kills his own father (Brian George), and an Alice / Cyrus wedding that residents from both worlds attend, courtesy of The White Rabbit’s portal skills, there is much to praise. There are dramatic moments, earned and well-wrought, as well as a general a feeling of satisfaction as the protagonists get their happy ending.

News of The Knave’s imminent transfer to Once Upon a Time next fall does raise some questions, though. Will he get to take The Red Queen with him back to Storybrooke? If not, how can the writers separate them without ruining their lovely story? Might others be included? Alice and Cyrus surely will not, but there are plenty of other good candidates, including The White Rabbit, who would be most useful.

I do hope Once Upon a Time in Wonderland‘s ratings failure doesn’t ruin any other OUAT spin-off opportunities. It may have taken a little bit of time to make it work, but in the end, it does. More stand-alone, short-form tales like this would be most welcome indeed. Oz, in particular, seems a ripe vein to mine.

"Down the Rabbit Hole" We Go

Article first published as ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND Review on Seat42F.

With the success of Once Upon a Time, ABC decided it was a time for a spin-off. Called ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND, said show premieres this week with the episode “Down the Rabbit Hole.” Picking up many years after the classic Alice in Wonderland story took place (and admittedly, the tale probably plays out quite differently for show purposes than the book remembers it), Alice (Sophie Lowe, Beautiful Kate) heads back to the magic realm after learning that the man she loves, Cyrus (Peter Gadiot, Hot Mess), whom she thought dead, might still be alive.

Fans of the mothership know that these writers like to mix fairy tales up, pulling one world into another. ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND is no different. While the main structure and cast do hark back to Alice’s familiar story, her love is the Genie of the Lamp, recognizable from Aladdin. Similarly, although The Red Queen (Emma Rigby, Hollyoaks) is a malevolent presence in this world, so, too, is Jafar (Naveen Andrews, Lost).

And, because this is ONCE UPON A TIME, who is good and who is bad is not so clear. One of Alice’s friends, well, someone she is friendly with, is helping The Red Queen. It may be under duress, but this character is still leading Alice into danger.

The beginning is quite interesting, with Alice being locked up in a mental institution under the “care” of Dr. Lydgate (Jonny Coyne, Alcatraz). This makes sense for a little girl that is missing for quite some time, then returns with tales of talking rabbits and Mad Hatters. What else would a parent such as her father (Fringe’s Shaun Smyth) do with such a child than seek psychiatric treatment for her? And from the dialogue in “Down the Rabbit Hole,” it’s clear that Alice didn’t make the journey only once, leaving her not only crazy in the eyes of the people around her, but also worldly-wise and prepared to handle herself in dangerous situations. She is not a meek, malleable patient.

Efforts are also made to tie ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND into the previous series. We see the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha, Being Human) in Storybrooke at the start of the episode, interacting with a great guest star hasn’t been seen in awhile! Plus, Granny’s diner figures in, so there are definitely connections.

Which doesn’t mean that one must know much about Once Upon a Time to jump into this, or that the plots are tied closely together. I believe the purpose of that Storybrooke sequence was to solidify that these shows are set in the same universe, though not necessarily that they have anything much to do with one another. Alice’s mission is her own, and she herself does not encounter any familiar faces in the premiere.

I do wonder if each episode of this new venture will be partially flashback, as Once Upon a Time is. There are scenes set in the past throughout “Down the Rabbit Hole,” but these seem for a specific purpose, setting up the story. It is unknown if there will be more in future hours.

The animation and special effects in ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND are excellent for a television budget, perhaps even a step up from Once Upon a Time. The White Rabbit (voiced by Dexter’s John Lithgow), for instance, is fully realized as an individual, with mannerisms and expressions that make him feel authentic. He may not be realistic looking, by the standards of a rabbit you might find in your garden, but he interacts well with the actors, and definitely fits into the setting and tone established for the program.

The story is also well constructed. A Wonderland favorite ends up being a deadly attacker. There are twists and betrayals in the first episode alone. Alice, in particular, is a carefully thought-out role, and while her journey may be easy enough to figure out, there will definitely be fun surprises along the way, such as a marshmallow marsh.

While initially skeptical that Once Upon a Time needed a spin-off, this is definitely a completely separate tale, and an enjoyable one at that. The two can co-exist without being dependent or taking away from one another. ONCE UPON A TIME IN WONDERLAND premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.