The Returned - Claire - Review

The Returned, “Claire,” was written by Raelle Tucker and directed by Stephen Williams. Like last week the title character isn’t actually one of the returned – though it could be argued that maybe Rowan (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) did die when she committed suicide – or at least flat lined like Lucy (Leah Gibson). The flashback centers on Claire (Tandi Wright), but the episode really focuses on the consequences of some of the returns and they start to intersect in ever more interesting ways. The bodies also start piling up. This episode is beautifully shot, making good use of the location scenery.

The flashback of five years ago shows that Peter (Jeremy Sisto) and Claire began their affair before the bus crash that killed Camille (India Ennenga). The contrast between Claire at the lake photographing Peter and Claire at home with Jack (Mark Pellegrino) and the girls is striking. The Claire who goes back to her family seems like the dead walking. Peter tells her it’s never too late to change directions in life, but Claire feels trapped – and suffocated – by her family. It makes Jack’s comment last week about her having no life outside mourning her dead daughter really resonate.

Lena (Sophie Lowe) returns home, and she and Camille make up. Her cut is almost completely healed. She tells Camille she thinks it was because of her blaming herself for Camille’s death – a form of punishment perhaps. It’s gone now because Lena has accepted that Camille is back. Lena interestingly echoes Peter’s words from the flashback: it’s never to late to be different. It’s interesting that the character who was a killer before he died seems to have this magical healing power.

Lena tells them an interesting version of what happened. She tells them everything that happened with Tony (Aaron Douglas) but makes no mention of Adam (Rhys Ward). Jack immediately loses it and goes after Tony, finding him at the cabin and beating him. Peter follows and not terribly quickly gets him off Tony by bashing him in the head with a branch. Peter once again plays the good guy to Jack’s bad guy, waiting at the station for him and keeping Claire up to date.

Camille picks some apples and wants to take them to the Koretskys. Nice threatening Garden of Eden image there, right? Apples are, of course, the symbol of knowledge as well as sin, immortality, temptation and the fall of man. When Claire and Camille get to the Koretsky’s house, they find that they’ve hanged themselves. Hideously, Claire can’t even call the police because she has Camille with her.

         Jack immediately blames Peter for getting Camille to lie to them and tell them that their child was waiting for them in heaven. Peter retorts that Camille needs to find meaning too. Interestingly, Claire breaks the two up but takes Jack’s side. On his way out, Peter tells Jack that he and Claire’s affair has been going on since before the accident. Meanwhile, Lena comforts Camille who tells her that she’s got a burning hunger and she never sleeps. She wonders if she’s turning into something bad.

We also see the aftermath of Tommy’s (Kevin Alejandro) shooting Simon (Mat Vairo). Rowen lies about what happened, stating that the intruder was merely pretending to be Simon and that Tommy had to shoot him because he was holding a knife to her throat. Later, when Tommy comes home with flowers, he sees the bloody carpet and the cleaning bucket out. He rushes upstairs thinking that Rowan has tried to kill herself again over Simon. It’s a nice parallel to the scene in the past when Tommy found Rowan on the bed – this time she’s just having a nap.

Tommy apologizes and is also clearly shaken by having had to kill someone – even if they were already mostly dead anyway. Rowan tells him he did the right thing because Simon would never have left them alone. She seems particularly hard hearted as she says that Simon chose to leave them years ago. Chloe (Dakota Guppy), however, is inconsolable to find out her angel has gone back to Heaven. Rowan tries to tell her that a father is someone who takes care of you – as Tommy has done for Chloe, but Chloe isn’t buying it. The episode ends with Simon returning once again – this time in the morgue, and this time looking pretty pissed – and with good reason.

Nikki (Agnes Bruckner) proves she’s a pretty good detective. She gets Victor’s (Dylan Kingwell) file from 1986 and takes it to Julie (Sandrine Holt). She tells her that his real name is Henry Garrity. Julie insists that Victor was sent to her and they are meant to look after each other. Nikki’s more chilling revelation, however, is that Julie isn’t the first woman to have found Victor. Four years ago, Laura Navarro (Alexis Kellum-Creer) found him and filled out a missing person’s file. Navarro was the teacher who was killed on the bus. Nikki tells Julie that Victor freaks her out and that it’s not right. She also tells Julie that she’s scared for her. I think she should be scared for herself.

The flashback to four years ago shows Navarro stopping at the side of the road out in the woods and dragging Victor – who she calls Zak – out of the car. She tells him he doesn’t belong here and that he needs to go back to wherever he came from. She leaves him standing in the middle of the road and it’s a beautiful shot as it pulls out. Three days later, we return to the bus crash, and it suddenly makes sense that Victor is standing in the middle of the road. Is he trying to kill himself with her or is he trying to punish her for abandoning him?

Meanwhile, it’s clear that Victor is trying to protect Julie. Julie tells him, “I know someone hurt you. Someone hurt me, so I understand.” Nikki calls Julie to come down to the station after Tony is brought in and confesses to protect Adam. None of the trophies collected belong to Julie, and she confirms that she didn’t lose any jewelry the night of the attack. She also maintains that she still doesn’t remember what her attacker looks like. When she has a panic attack, it’s Nikki who calms her.

Adam comes back to the cabin and realizes that Tony has been arrested for his crimes, and he goes to the police station. As he’s waiting to talk to someone, Victor, who’s been being watched by Loretta (Christine Willes), slips back to the interrogation room. As he looks in at Tony, the lights flicker and suddenly Ma (Nicole Cavendish) appears to Tony. She convinces him to try to kill himself, and it’s clear that Victor is behind this. The cops come rushing in to stop him, but Tony gets a gun from one of them and finishes the job. Julie rushes in to get Victor away, but he’s smiling in the most creepy way possible. Of course, he thinks that he’s protecting Julie, getting rid of the man who hurt her. What will he expect from her in return? Will he want her to go after Peter in the same way.

In a nice ironic twist, Julie has just come from the counter where Adam was standing and has no idea that he was actually the man who attacked her and the man that Victor just killed is actually the man who saved her. There’s a nice parallel shot to Victor standing in the road as we see Adam running alone down the road away from the police department. Clearly, Victor isn’t omniscient – he doesn’t seem to realize he’s got the wrong man. I wonder what he’ll do when he finds out. I’m also curious about whether Tony will return from the dead – or maybe that is something slated for another season?

What did you think of the episode? Certainly the bodies are piling up around the returned! Are they evil? It would seem Camille and Adam don’t want to be. But Victor really creeps me out too! 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.