The Returned - Rowan - Review

The Returned, “Rowan,” was written by Gianna Sobol and directed by Stephen Williams. Sobol got her start on True Blood and Banshee, so there’s a connection there to Raelle Tucker and a good background in horror. Williams’ many credits include Intelligence, Person of Interest, and Lost. The episode once again ups the creepy factor, especially in relation to Victor (Dylan Kingwell). The circle of people who know about the returned finally grows past their immediate families.

The episode begins a year ago with the title character – Rowan (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). She’s cleaning the house from top to bottom. She sees Simon (Mat Vairo) in the mirror, and it seems eerily like her more recent encounters. She then drops Chloe (Dakota Guppy) off with Tommy (Kevin Alejandro) because she’s supposed to be going to visit her sister. However, she returns to the house, writes notes for everyone and then attempts to commit suicide. Tommy gets home just in time to save her. At least that seems to be what happens...

In the present, however, we see that Rowan has finally really moved on from Simon. So much so, in fact, that she even tells her therapist, Dr Pratt (Alex Zahara), that she’s done with therapy. She’s angry that she’s wasted so much of her time on a man who left her. Simon, however, is clearly not done with her and goes to Chloe at summer camp. He tells her that she and her mother should be ready to leave with him that night. Chloe believes he’s an angel, and he doesn’t tell her differently. Rowan seems to think that he simply decided to go away.

When Simon shows up at the house, he insists that Rowan and Chloe come away with him. He asks her why she didn’t come to the train station, and she tells him it was because of him, because he killed himself on their wedding day. Simon tells her he doesn’t remember – and it seems none of them – except Helen (Michelle Forbes) and Victor – remember their actual death. Simon maintains that that’s not who he is now. Does that mean that death has changed him? Or is he not himself in some more fundamental way? Regardless, Tommy arrives and pulls his gun, repeatedly telling Simon to back away. Simon is unarmed and keeps telling Rowan that he loves her, right up until Tommy shoots him and apparently kills him. Rowan simply looks relieved. Now the question becomes will Simon stay dead?

The episode picks up from last week’s and we see both Claire (Tandi Wright) and Lena (Sophie Lowe) wake up after having slept with Peter (Jeremy Sisto) and Adam (Rhys Ward) respectively. Claire leaves Peter to go home to a distraught Camille (India Ennenga) who tells her that Ben (Keenan Tracey) was there and he knows who she is. In fact, Ben, Megan (Nesta Marlee Cooper), and one of their other friends go and dig up Camille’s grave. All they find is a coffin full of the black water we’ve seen come out of the pipes in the church washroom.

The three are caught by the Grounds Keeper (Bruce Blain) who turns them over to the cops and ultimately Tommy, who goes to Claire’s asking for Alice. Claire and Peter tell him that she’s not there, and he tells them to have her come to the station with her ID when she gets back. It’s seems clear that Tommy believes it’s Camille – so he must also believe this is Simon back from the dead too.

Peter decides its best to tell the other parents in the support group about Camille before they hear it somewhere else because it’s going to hit them hard emotionally. These are some really great scenes as the parents react with anger and grief over their own children. Peter leads the group, telling them that death is a part of life and death helps to give life meaning. The parents’ first response is to lash out. Jack (Mark Pellegrino) is understandably upset that he wasn’t consulted before Peter and Claire put their plan into action. Kris (Chelah Horsdal) wants to know why Camille? She wasn’t even nice. In fact, we learn she was a bit of a bully.

After the parents lash out, Camille retreats to her bedroom, telling Peter that they think she’s a monster. Peter tells her not to be selfish. He tells her she’s getting a second chance and she should use it to give the parents hope. It’s clear when Camille goes back to the parents that she’s simply feeding them what they want to hear. Jack doesn’t think it’s right, but Claire maintains it’s how they move forward. After the parents have been placated by Camille’s reassurances that their kids are alright and felt no pain, Jack concedes to Peter that he was right. In fact, this is pretty much the same comfort that Jack was getting from Lucy after all.

Lena, meanwhile, stumbles across Adam’s trophies – and more specifically, a necklace that belonged to Lucy that she recognized. She’s understandably terrified and tries to run away, only to run into Tony (Aaron Douglas) who is determined to do a better job of protecting he brother. Interestingly, Adam maintains that he’s fine now. He’s been transformed and thanks Tony for killing him so that he could be cured. Adam lets Lena go. She takes off and we see her picked up by a trucker at the end of the episode. Lowe and Ward are excellent.

As Adam seems to become less of a threat, Victor seems to become more of a threat. Nikki (Agnes Bruckner) comes by Julie’s (Sandrine Holt) to check on her. Julie tells Nikki that Victor is there and he’s staying. They kiss and make up – and then spend most of the episode making out. With Victor watching. Creepy! At one point they are making out in Julie’s bedroom, only to look up and see Victor standing in the doorway watching. They send him away, but Nikki asks doesn’t he ever sleep and Julie says no. When they are at the park with him, Victor talks to Chloe. She asks if Nikki and Julie are his moms and he says no. She says that her father is dead, but he’s an angel. Victor tells her that he’s dead. She asks if he’s an angel and he shakes his head in a super creepy way, making Chloe back away from him. Kingwell is terrific.

We can’t really know what Helen was like before, though we know she was civically minded as she protested against the dam, but it certainly seems like she’s up to no good. She goes to the dam and listens in to a tour. She cozies up to the tour guide, Glenn (Brian Huskey). They go to a bar and we see again that in addition to not sleeping and eating voraciously, the returned apparently can’t get drunk either. Helen gets Glenn to dance with her and while they’re dancing she tells him, “bad things happen for a reason.” She muses that maybe the town was supposed to wash away and they were all meant to die. She also asks a lot of suspicious questions about the dam. Is her plan to blow it up and take out the town for once and for all?

It seems clear that the returned have come back for a reason. Simon, Victor, and Camille seem to have helped others to move on with their lives. Have the returned really fundamentally changed from who they were before they died? Are they angels or demons? What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.