Beginning at the Langston house and Jacob and his grandma
– and Jacob realising how much older his parents are and what that might mean.
His grandma reassures him that you can’t predict death and, besides, the dead
have a habit of coming back round there. She also learns that the family’s
factory is closed and has been for a long time.
She talks to Henry about it – he let the factory go after
Jacob died, and she learns about her granddaughter, Dr. Maggie.
Agent Bellamy is still adjusting to being one of the Returned – being dead – but he tells Maggie he has been reassigned to the town to be in charge of the Returned, not mentioning that he’s actually been recruited as a spy (I suppose it amounts to the same thing). His new evil boss also calls to remind him of his role and that Sheriff Fred will totally co-operate.
Bellamy goes to see Fred (which is awkward) who reiterates
that the government woman (who remains nameless) called him with lots of menace
if he doesn’t co-operate. Bellamy gets an office. There’s lots of passive
aggressive sniping from Fred before they get notice that there’s someone living
in a shack in the woods. Fred and Bellamy head off with more passive aggressive
pouting from Fred.
They head to the shack, fearing Caleb has returned (again)
– so far they don’t find anyone but they plan to keep watch. Fred checks with
Elaine but she is sure that Caleb isn’t coming back; he certainly hasn’t been
in touch. There’s a lot of awkward between them since Fred got drunk and came
on to her last episode
When Bellamy checks on Jacob he runs into Jacob’s
grandmother, Margaret – and she feels like she knows him (Returned recognition
thing?). Jacob is creepily collecting dead birds when Bellamy tries to see if
Jacob has sensed Caleb around since he has in the past. He hasn’t – nor has he
sensed anyone else when Bellamy asks to try and figure out if there’s anyone
new around – there aren’t.
Jacob keeps checking his buried dead birds to see if they
Return and his conversations with his mother are pretty morbid as he worries
about his now elderly parents dying
To Pastor Tom’s house and Rachel wants to move out –
staying with Tom with all of his wife’s things around is just so very very
awkward, especially with her moving out and not talking to Tom. He’s all
focused on the baby
But when he goes to the church his wife Jeanine drops by asking to collect things from the house – and finds that Tom has resigned while he figures out what he thinks especially since he can’t bring himself to preach the more “traditional” message the church demands. Jeanine suggests setting up his own, small church – since Tom doesn’t like crowds anyway
Jeanine does go to their house to pick up some things and
she finds a sonogram of Rachel’s baby (Jeanine and Tom could never have kids).
She turns to her friend to dump but her friend is actually not that comforting
because it’s not like Tom is actually having an affair or anything. Instead she
talks a lot about god’s will which doesn’t sound all that helpful (it’s god’s
will for you to be infertile so you can help your husband bring up the child he
had with his suicidal ex? This woman has clearly missed her calling as a
counsellor.)
That night that “no affair” gets stretched a little when Tom
comforts Rachel after a nightmare and she cuddles awwwwfully closely in the
name of comfort. Tom extricates himself. Later in the night Jeanine joins Tom
in his bed (I’d like to think this is romantic conciliation but my cynical
brain things she’s just checking to make sure Rachel isn’t there).
The next morning she’s all bright and welcoming to Rachel
Bellamy continues to stake out the shack and they find
the man staying there – it’s not Caleb, it’s a stranger who is very sick.
Margaret goes to see her granddaughter Maggie who
confirms that she is completely cancer free. They have a nice reunion which
granny rather ruins it by mixing praise of her accomplishment with becoming a
doctor with a comment that it all means nothing unless Maggie also has a family.
They do note that the Returned always seem to come back
healthy – until Bellamy hurries over with his sick guy – Arthur Holmes, died 1935.
Margaret seems to recognise him before being taken away by Henry. She insists
on seeing the factory and is enraged to find it in ruins, she accuses Henry of
giving up. She considers the factory a vital part of the Langston name and
legacy. She realises she went a bit far – she was just trying to cling to
something she remembered before she died.
Bellamy questions Arthur – he died in a fire (which is
also the nightmare that Rachel had). Bellamy also wants to know if Arthur is
having flashbacks to his death – as he is continually about being shot. He’s
also not thrilled to be back without his family. Maggie is also confused that
Arthur, alone among the Returned, didn’t come back healed of what killed him;
she thinks she has to take him to a hospital. Bellamy doesn’t like that because
if he’s taken to a hospital Bellamy won’t be able to hide Arthur from his
bosses: Maggie wisely points out that he’s just delaying the inevitable.
Margaret visits Arthur, she recognises him as someone who
worked at the factory; when Bellamy goes to check on him, Arthur is gone. He
sees the CCTV camera and assumes the worst, he calls his mysterious boss and
demands an explanation but she is completely clueless and further annoyed
because Bellamy hasn’t passed the information on.
He checks with Maggie and they find that the samples of
Arthur’s blood have just disappeared, just like Caleb. Like Caleb, he just
vanished.
Lucille discovers Jacob’s creepy little dead bird
collection. Afterwards Margaret comforts Jacob and tells him that his parents
don’t understand what it’s like to be Returned while reassuring him of Lucille’s
love while Henry goes and comforts and reassures Lucille. Lucille is worried
about weird behaviour because she’s so afraid of people taking him away or
saying something is wrong with him.
Bellamy goes to see Jacob and Jacob confirms that his
returned senses know that Bellamy is returned – Bellamy asks Jacob to keep it
secret.
In the abandoned factory, Margaret digs up a body
I have this building feeling that something is coming on
this show, something big and ominous is looming. Between the body Margaret
found and the government agency this definitely seems to be the case
And I think the show needs it. In many ways the most
powerful elements of the show have been the personal ones – the Langston family
in particular – dealing with family members returning, the emotional turmoil of
that, the uncertainty of it, the fear to hope. It has been powerful and deep
and wonderfully well acted and portrayed. But it has a limited shelf life – and
after an entire first season of it, I don’t think it would be enough to
maintain a second season, even with the return of Margaret and increasing focus
on Tom, Jeanine and Rachel.
I feel that the season is now actually beginning after a little prologue and the meat will now be served up.
