I was
extremely excited about ABC’s new drama,
Resurrection, which debuted on March 7th, 2014. Although I’m always a bit overly hopeful
about any show by the makers of Lost
(always holding out for hope that that type of magic can find itself once again
onto network television), the premise of the show spoke to me. It was about loved ones returning to the dead
– focusing primarily (or at least first) on the return of an eight-year-old boy
who returns to his parents 32 years after his death.
Lately
all around me has been dark narratives about horrible things that happen to
children. My book club has picked an
array of texts about children who die in terrible circumstances or become
murders themselves (e.g. Sarah’s Key,
Sharp Objects, Defending Jacob, We Need to Talk about Kevin, Life After Life,
Still Missing) and television itself hasn’t shied away from offering up
dead kids on the small screen (Walking
Dead anyone?). Since becoming a
mother, such narratives disturb me in ways that they didn’t before and I
struggle with them. So, I was eager to
delve into a story that reverses this premise (while still dealing intimately
with issues of grief and the impact of losing a child). Also, the idea of “rebirth” (or sorts) seemed
to be a nice balance to the plethora of dark post-apocalyptic narratives filled
with zombies and the like (which provide a pretty scary idea of rebirth).
My
enthusiasm as the pilot approached was also fueled by a good marketing
campaign. (I think ABC is often one of
the best at marketing its shows – unfortunately they also among the first to
give up on their new shows shortly after).
The show was advertised for months and with increasing frequency around
the Super Bowl. Using Skylar Grey’s “I’m
Coming Home” as the background music for the trailer, I found myself walking
around the house humming (and singing) the chorus over and over as the debut
day approached. The promotional
commercials smartly featured clips from the first three “resurrections”: an 8-year-old boy being reunited with his
parents after 32 years, a 30-something man being reunited with his now
20-something daughter after many years, and a young engaged couple being
reunited after a decade apart.
Although
I can see some of the issues with the show, I still like it. To be fair, I am at the distinct advantage of
having not seen the television show it is being compared to: the critically acclaimed French series, The Returned (both are loosely based off
of the book, The Returned, by Jason
Mott). Apparently if you’re comparing
the two, Resurrected is destined to
fall short. But, since I’m not, I think
it has potential.
The
show is focused on a small town in Missouri, Arcadia, where deceased residents
start to return from the dead. The
biblical allusions are abundant: they
each return to the town after having been awakened from the dead three days
earlier and all of their deaths (to date) have been linked in some way to
water: one character drowned in the
local river, another crashed her car near that same river, and another’s ashes
were sprinkled in it. (And the
character’s names themselves, quite obviously, are pulled from the bible). The question of whether such an occurrence
would be considered a miracle or the work of a devil is explored with explicit
religious implications as much of the town debates concerning whether these
individuals should be accepted back into their community occur in the local church. And at the center of these debates is Pastor
Tom Hale who is linked to two of the returned persons: 8-year-old Jacob Langston was his childhood
best friend and Rachel Braidwood was his high school sweetheart and fiancé who
committed suicide years before. The
show complicates the labeling of these resurrections as either completely good
or evil through the returned characters themselves: a child who did not get to live his life
returns (which some see as fair) but a woman who threw hers away does also
(which others judge); people return who seem to be of good heart, but yet
another (Caleb Richards) returns and commits theft and murder.
For
me, the premise itself works: having
characters return to the dead to disrupt the lives of the friends and family
and the community they left behind is powerful. Although not always as emotionally realistic
as I’d like it to be, I’ve enjoyed watching Jacob’s parents each accept his
return in different ways and at vastly different rates. The fact that these characters return years
and decades later also gives the series a chance to play with the cultural
shock that comes with societal and technological progress. (Although the most poignant moments are those
where such can be erased and the universality of life is stressed, for example
when grown-up Pastor Tom sits on the floor playing video games with Jacob as
they would have over thirty years ago as peers).
The
question, of course, is how long can the premise continue? The show is not
(thankfully) trying to pull off an episodic structure where every episode a new
character returns (although ominously it has been announced that “more are
coming, more than you can imagine”).
Thankfully though the show has plot potential beyond the resurrection
theme. The paranormal aspects of the show are
intriguing (the characters have interesting visions/dreams, are interconnected
to one another, and we have to deal with things that seem unfathomable – like
Rachel returning from the dead to find out she is pregnant from before her
death). But the other melodramatic plot
parts are also interesting. Like any
drama set in a small town we soon learn that the town is full of secrets: love affairs, haunted past failures,
etc.
It
would be a shame if Resurrection
became another one-season-wonder (like
Flashforward which was actually infinitely better than this show I think), but with ABC this is certainly a possibility. However, I’m going to hold on to the hope
that this show will live on for one more year because I could use a little
“life” to balance out the vast array of “death” that the rest of television is
offering up these days.
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