The Returned

Series one, episode seven
As it nears its finale, ‘The Returned’ is graduating from the merely brilliant to the extraordinary. The tension and mystery have been in place since episode one, but each subsequent instalment has added a layer of emotional sophistication, climaxing in tonight’s truly moving community gathering to remember Joseph and Anna, driven over the brink by Camille’s well-meaning but ill-judged tales of the afterllife.

But, just as answers are promised, further questions are posed. As a result, it’s almost impossible not to pack a review with interrogatives: who are Lucy’s ominous new allies? Why are the walking dead adapting to their new circumstances so much better than the living? And why does no one seem able to leave? Next week’s conclusion seems unlikely to clear everything up, so it’s going to be a long 18 months until this magisterial show, er, returns.