The Returned, episode two, Channel 4, review Last week's intriguing opening episode of the spooky French import The Returned (Channel 4) asked many more questions than it answered as to why a selection of dead people were turning up, fully alive and kicking again (and very hungry), in a tiny Pyrenean village, ten years or more since they shuffled off their mortal coils. Flitting between time frames and storylines the drama delivered a satisfyingly strong sense of temporal and physical dislocation, of reality flexing and bending in weird and improbable - but never entirely unbelievable - ways. But there's only so much oddness one can swallow without explanations, and the challenge of last night's second episode (of eight) was always going to be to keep that sense of disbelief suspended, yet continue spinning out the story in such a way as to keep us hooked. It succeeded partially, at least, by switching attention away from the teenage central character Camille (Yara Pilartz), and onto Simon (Pierre Perrier), another returnee whose efforts to get in touch with an older woman, Adele (Clotilde Hesme), caused her enormous upset and raised, for the first time a palpable sense of threat. As it transpired, Adele was only older because, as we were shown in heart-plucking detail, unlike Simon she had aged 10 years since his sudden death had left her bereft on their wedding day. And his sudden reappearance wasn't just a shock - it was a problem, too as, after a decade of grieving and therapy, she had finally decided to head up the aisle again, this time with the local police inspector, Thomas (Samir Guesmi). Slowly, through Thomas's investigation into two assaults - one minor, another horrific - we gradually saw the stories of some of the dead and living beginning to come together. Which was a relief as the child-like simplicity of a script that fails to address even fairly obvious questions like how the remarkable resurrection of at least five dead locals could be kept entirely separate and undiscussed in a tiny, inward-looking mountain community, was starting to lose its charm. We all know the French can be a surly bunch but, really, if your daughter came back from the dead, no matter what your nationality, wouldn't you at least want to share that joy with the parents of the other kids who died with her? If only on the off-chance that their kids might have made it back from the dark side, too? Of course it doesn't pay to apply logic to ghost stories, but for a series that relies so heavily on emotion over reason, it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to want those emotions to be consistent with basic human nature. Now, that the balance has been restored a little, the bigger question of what the hell is going on, and how it might be resolved, comes back into clearer focus.