MovieChat Forums > Les revenants (2013) Discussion > questions about the final episode!(and s...

questions about the final episode!(and some for all episodes!)

posted 9 years ago by paparotrago
36 replies | jump to latest

Okay so where do i begin lol.

1) For starters, why did Lena had this terrible wound in the season 1? which was somehow similar with the one that the returned ones had. Although it was cured afterwards. was it because she was so connected with Camile? (being her twin and all).

2) What is the deal with Victor/Louis after all?? how can he cause all those people to return from the dead just by wishing that his father shouldn't die? and what is he? the devil? we never learn where he came from, why are his dreams/drawings come true or what's his purpose.

3) In the end, did Julie die? or Victor saved her from wishing for all the people to return back? (the dead ones)

4) Did Victor stayed on earth? Was what we saw with him on the beach and Julie with the nurse real?

5) What happened with Adele and Simon? Did Adele die after she entered the cave and she went to find Simon so they would get married like they would suppose to?

6) Had Simon committed suicide after all? it isn't clear in the episodes whether he really wanted to die or not.(when he was going to meet adele to marry her)

7) Why wasn't simon along with the others when they were going back from where they came from? (the returned ones).

8) why did they need the baby after all if Victor was the only way for them to find their path?

9) how can the baby of adele live with foster parents, if he is dead and he will start to rot without other dead people around him? how can he survive on earth?

uhm... i think i am done :P

[–] icydayz 9 years ago

also what happened to Laure(Julie's first gf)..they said all but one cop was killed.. and it wasn't Adele's fiance... so who was the cop who survived?

[–] paparotrago 9 years ago

I actually thought that when they said that all the cops were found except one who wasnt on the tree hanging, they said that before they found adele's fiance! So after some time they also found him and he was the one missing.

I also remember that when Julie was in the hospital she saw the police men who were missing in the poster, and the nurse told her that they found them and they were dead. right?

[–] user1901 9 years ago

Are you interested in behind the scenes gossip? (under spoiler tag, because maybe some people don't want to know why the actress wasn't present in s.2.)
The actress (Alix Poisson) was pregnant. And when Gobert found out about this, he already had plans for Julie and Laure in s.2. The shooting started in September 2014, she gave birth in November, I think.

Anyway, he had to react. First version (confirmed by Alix) was that she will be in the last three episodes. But at the beginning of 2015, Alix confirmed she won't be in the second season at all. Gobert couldn't wait that long, he had to react. Few weeks ago she talked about it and said she simply wasn't ready to come back on set.

And you know what? it actually makes sense. One body was missing. Gobert could very easily put Laure as that one missing person. But at some point he had to make the final move. Time was running out. They finished shooting in April 2015.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

I was wondering why they just killed her! But I figured that the writers thought her relationship with Julie was too broken to be fixed, and combined with her distrust of Victor, they just figured they'd replace her with someone who was willing to be there for Julie unconditionally, even when she was pushed away. But this makes a lot of sense now.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

1. Yes, I think it was their twin connection. The returned were rotting all over because their entire bodies were dead; Lena only had a rotting scar (dead tissue). Or so I thought. 

2. 

3 and 4. There are a lot of different theories flying around on that one. The general consensus (among the fans here) seems to be that she died and is possibly in an afterlife of Victor's creation, where she gets her own ice-cream bringing girlfriend.

5. It seems that way.

6. I think he did. He must have been rather depressed from his messed up past. It could also be a genetic thing, passed down from his parents. His actions were not logical but symptomatic of a person with a severely debilitating mental disorder.

7. Because he had already left that group for Adele. Just as Audrey had done so for her mum and dad, and Serge, to punish himself. I think they all make it to the afterlife simultaneously, though.

8. I think that was Lucy's mistake. She knew about a boy who would lead everyone but didn't realise until later that it would be Victor, not Nathan.

9. Not sure myself. Perhaps it was the presence of the returned in the world that was causing him to rot, and he's capable of surviving on his own in a world of humans without any ill-effects to his health, just like Victor.

I've got a remote and I'm not afraid to use it.

[–] paparotrago 9 years ago

Thank u so much for all the answers, i am so glad i have found this forum and i can talk to people about the questions i had regarding this series. I was so freaking confused! lol!

Now about the baby part... did you thought that as well that the baby that was left in the foster living parents might be victor as a baby? Although that would be way too confusing, but for a moment thats what i thought... that it might be victor as a baby and thats why he got so frightened for a moment just before we see that image of lucy leaving the baby to that house.

But... that would really be confusing to think how would this happen regarding the timeline of events and all...

but again how could victor appear to warn all these people just before everything happen? and why did he seem like he was the reason camille's school bus fell off the cliff? because he really seemed like he was doing it on purpose, and not trying to save them!

[–] mwmitch2 9 years ago

These are similar to my interpretations. Here are some additional thoughts.

5. Adele died in the woods when she collapsed. Simon was leading her to the afterlife by going through the cave. After there are out of the cave both are wearing different clothes (seem to be clothes they were to be married in). So they seem to be in the afterlife now. (Poor Chloe!)

9. Victor said the baby is like him, so apparently he can be away from the others.

A separate item - in Victor's possible afterlife with Julie he shudders with fear at the end, and I think there was a baby crying. I am curious if it is Nathan and that somehow Nathan may being starting to disrupt this.

[–] DreamersxDisease 9 years ago

A separate item - in Victor's possible afterlife with Julie he shudders with fear at the end, and I think there was a baby crying. I am curious if it is Nathan and that somehow Nathan may being starting to disrupt this.

I think it was definitely Nathan. It was showing not all is as it seems and Victor won't get the fairytale ending he wanted for he and Julie...that it's just going to happen again and Nathan's fate is always looming. That was my guess, but you knew on a show like this, that happy scene wasn't going to stay that way!

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago



[–] user1901 9 years ago

5) What happened with Adele and Simon? Did Adele die after she entered the cave and she went to find Simon so they would get married like they would suppose to?

Adele's case is pretty fascinating. Not gonna lie, it's confusing, but I freaking love that storyline.

She is definitely not a mother of the year (poor Chloe) LOL.
There could be several explanations:
- she died in that cave. But it wasn't brutal death. The creature (let's call him like that) doesn't want to harm her. He almost treats her royally. Do you know what I mean?
By the way, that scene was awesome! Almost (dark)fairytale-like. One second your are freaking out, the next, you hear this sweet music in the background and you see that the creature is calm and is looking at her without any violence.

- she didn't die. She is the special one. Ok, that maybe is a lazy explanation and she is prabably dead, but we are talking about Adele here, mother of Nathan. This simple fact makes her unique. Maybe she will be like Lucy and Victor. A type of a messenger, who can comfortably travel between two worlds.

[–] paparotrago 9 years ago

so true. i love simon-adele as a couple i really wanted them to end up together. well even in the form of spirits. so yeah i love that story line too!

I was started to think in the first season that adele might be dead too, you know?
cause if you remember the scene were victor plays with chloe in the tramboline and he shows her, her mother full of blood and her wrists slit? that was when adele tried to kill herself because she wanted to be with simon, but its also the moment where i thought that she could be also a revenant! (one of the blurry moments where we werent sure if julie is a revenant or not either... also how did she end up pregnant?!)...

But surely Adele was the special one. It was just confusing that she suddenly appeared wearing a white dress in a nymph like form and she had also lost simon in the cave... and he also wear his tuxedo as a groom.... so all that could add up that perhaps the creature didnt kill her but he helped her pass to the "other side" so she could finally be with simon forever? its vague but the change of wardrobe and the whole scene pretty much shows that she had actually died but the way was a bit bizzare! She might have served her purpose by giving birth to Nathan, so she didnt have anything left to do in this world other than to follow Simon on the other side, as she always wanted to?
(jeez, that really makes me feel emotional lol)

[–] shanayneigh 9 years ago

Why couldn't they sometimes drive out of the city?

What exactly was the military doing there, besides being useless?

Why was Camille's empty coffin filled with water?

Why does some (all?) of the revenants have poorly defined deus ex machina superpowers when it suits the plot without explanation?

Why did Serge turn from being a cold blooded serial killer to a caring savior on a dime?

Why did Victor kill Crazy Cat Lady?

The red haired guy Milan was killed and thrown in the water. He later woke up (or was revived) where his physical body was - under the water. Why didn't the other revenants wake up where their physical bodies were at? Camille should have woken up at the graveyard, not where the bus crashed if that was the case.

What was the deal with the cave people?

Why did one of the revenants turn into a flesh eating zombie all of a sudden?

After finishing season 2 this felt like the French version of Lost.

Working in the movie business since -92

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

They only couldn't leave the city when the party had one of the returned (or their growing foetus) amidst their number.

The military was involved in disaster relief operations and in attempting to stem and reverse the flood after identifying its causes. The fact that the town's entire police department just mysteriously disappeared might also have warranted the sending of military forces to the area.

There's other threads on the subject.

I don't think you quite understand the meaning of deus ex machina.  The returned all have the same very specific powers, but vary in their ability to harness them. The exceptions to this are Victor, who might well be the Antichrist, for all we know, and perhaps Lucy.

There was a whole episode dedicated to it, wasn't there? Serge was on his path to redemption all through Season 1 and it culminated in his sacrificing himself in Season 2.

He may not have killed her. He may have foreseen that she would kill herself, and gone to her to try and stop it, but unconsciously caused her to hallucinate and kill herself through his presence alone. (He has said that he can't control it.)

The revenants always come back where their bodies have been placed, once they've already returned. eg Mrs Costa waking up in the hospital after being pronounced dead, Lucy starting to recover in the hospital from the wounds inflicted upon her by Serge, and Simon woke up in the morgue. The FIRST time everyone returned though, was probably from around the same place.

The cave people are probably those of the returned who completely degenerated, not having had anyone who mourned their loss and waited for them. Those of the horde who were not speaking and were resorting to the acts of eating out of toilets or going full zombie on people's butts would soon become like them.

Audrey? See above. But also, the lack of her proximity with any of the revenants, alongside the terrible way she was rejected by the humans, quickened her complete loss of humanity.

It really was nothing like the French version of Lost. Lost itself wasn't as bad of a show as people make it out to be. 

[–] rubirub 9 years ago

I think the finale showed this show was disappointing and vague giving answers for every mistery...

Instead of focusing season 2 in answering questions they added more and more characters and didn't know how to end it all. Waiting so long and watching the 2 seasons for this! WTF!!

Les Revenants was a special show in terms of creating an atmosphere of mistery and all that, but that was all. They didn't give answers to almost anything...

Characters went from bad to good people and bad again (Pierre), others changed their mind every episode (Adele), people got shot and we never knew anything else about them (Fréderic), revenants came and went and didn't care about them anymore (Audrey), etc.

What about the police (Laure and Thomas)? We never knew what has happened with them, what has killed them, or how... The storyline moved on to other things and whatever...

Most part of the characters didn't have a closure, children and babies ended up abandoned, etc. It was a total nonsense!

It was very very disappointing, poor scriptwriting. I'm sorry.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

Most of the answers were given, including the things you mentioned. Yes, some answers were more vague than others, but that only encourages us as viewers to watch the show again and again, to discuss it, and form our own opinions on it, rather than to have everything spoon-fed to us. It is a thinking person's story, this show. 

About the police ... we heard the gunshots in Season 1. We saw the head of the military inform Jerome that they had been shot by bullets coming from police guns ... the man thought someone had stolen those bullets and killed everyone. But it was painfully obvious that the presence of the hostile horde caused them to hallucinate and kill their colleagues with their own guns. Lucy said that they had tied them up to the trees to stop 'them' from feasting on the police's flesh. This was probably done by the more lucid of the revenants, with Lucy's directions, to stop the more zombie-like members of the horde from desecrating the dead.

I'm sorry.

It's okay; we forgive you.  Try re-watching the show, especially now that we have better subtitles. You'll automatically start to understand a lot more.

[–] dvalukis 9 years ago

Try re-watching the show, especially now that we have better subtitles.

Amen to that! Just started my first re-watch. My subs were SOOOOOO bad the 1st time through. Almost lost interest in the show. Felt like I couldn't even grasp the main context of the show. For example, "Lost" is a show about a plane wreck's survivors on a mysterious island. "Breaking Bad" is about a chem-teacher, cancer patient, meth cook... "Les Rev" season 2??? It's about... I have no effing clue.

Looking forward to the re-watch with solid subs.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

"Les Rev" season 2??? It's about... I have no effing clue.

I agree!  It's amazing how much clears up when the dialogue is even half-decent (and I think we still won't get extremely proper subs until the show is done airing in the US, or at least the UK).

[–] rubirub 9 years ago

I rewatched the whole season 1, but not in the mood to rewatch season 2. Too many hours to spend in other things.

I could watch the show with good subtitles, that wasn't the problem. The vague answers to every question is what killed me! :)

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

I'm sorry you feel that way. I really did feel that my enjoyment increased on my subsequent watch, and a lot of things became automatically clearer, but everyone is different and seeks different things from their entertainment. :-) (Maybe if you have a completely jobless weekend five years in the future, you might revisit it!)

[–] rubirub 9 years ago

Hahahaha! Maybe... five years in the future I'll do it. :)

Did they explain why the revenants really come back or why not? I still have so many questions unanswered...

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

This is a very late reply, but yeah, they did.  Victor accidentally brought them back in his attempt to save his dying/dead 'father'.

[–] moribund-382-872946 9 years ago

I only have just one question:
how is it possible that Lucy actually returned one year earlier before the events in season one, when the returned are the result of Victor wishing his stepfather to return.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

Yes, and she specifically said that she was looking for a little boy, so her appearance in the town was not accidental. It might not even be her 'return', if she was never an alive human being in the first place.

I remember this extract from a "news clipping" from the time of the original flood that was posted on the French website of the show a little while after the first season aired but was then removed. It talked about Milan's cult predicting a great flood washing away people's sins, and it also said that a little while before the flood, a huge fire had broken out in the forest and made the animals drown themselves ... which the townsfolk attributed to a warning made by the Devil after he'd taken up residence there. That does make you wonder about the 'larger scheme' behind it all, especially if you want to go down the Biblical end-of-days route (which I absolutely do NOT want to, being an agnostic non-Christian ).

[–] Yorgos_8 9 years ago

Very good discussion! A few more questions and ideas on various themes:

1. Nathan's fate
Nathan was left on whose house? Just a new couple that Lucy selected? And why Victor was shocked? Maybe he new the couple or this was just a cliffhanger in case they go for Season 3?

2. The "mistakes"
Lucy in the flashback at the beginning of the episode was expecting a kid. We only assume that Victor was the one. Why was she expecting him? A possible answer is to find him a new home but Victor just went himself in the new family. Could it be this the "mistake" that triggered all the events? Victor ignoring his guardian Angel? And then a second mistake by Victor bringing all these people back in life because of he didn't want his father to die? We could also argue that was a third mistake. Lucy believing that Nathan will save them but realising that Victor was the one to help them.

3. July's fate
Victor tried to change Julie's fate in the end. We left to believe that he did (Milan telling him that he could do it). It appears that she actually died but choosing her way and not getting shot. I agree with those saying that the scene with the beach is the ideal afterlife Victor made for her (and him?). I don't think we will get a definite answer at this point, it is left open for interpretation.

4. Simon and Adele
OK this is an odd case. She left her kids? WTF? I think in the tunnel Adele saw Simon as he really is. In the tunnels the dead have another zombie-like form. She accepted him and then married him (live or dead I don't think is important).

5. The returned taxonomy :)
We have those that live in the tunnels and those that live/turn into water. Can we say that the water ones are those that their living relatives still have a strong connection with them and they don't let them let go in their memories?

6. The opening scene
The bus and Victor. Victor has mentioned that he can't change the fate of the people he see in his drawing. What he was doing there? Checking that? Did the bus fell because of him at the end?

7. Lucy's role...
A sexy guardian angel that loves sex. Nice! Seriously now, she seems to have the most important role (is she a returned herself?) and help the returned get back (or find peace or what?). It is strange that one of the returned a small kid... Victor has more powers than her.

Thanks!

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

I've been mulling over a lot of the questions you asked yourself as well.  It's definitely a very murky show ... and a lot of the characters' actions would have people scratching their heads if the direction and atmosphere weren't so damn superb.

About Lucy just randomly leaving Nathan with a random couple ... I think she genuinely didn't give a crap about his fate by the end, once she realised that he wasn't really the special chosen one she was looking for. Lucy has always sort of been benevolently detached towards the fate of the living. She let the members of the police die but didn't let the more crazed zombies defile their bodies, for example. So with Nathan, she probably just picked a decent family with a nice enough house and evidence that they had experience raising kids. 

The idea of Adele seeing Simon as he really is is very intriguing. It could also be her having a vision of what he would eventually turn into, even with her and Chloe's love slowing his decay. I still like the idea of it just being a random sweet zombie. (Same as I like the idea of Julie actually being alive ... Victor managed to bring his newly-dead papa back as a 'living' person, not a member of the returned, and modern science has done that before with Julie when she was pronounced clinically dead for a while before being resuscitated, so it doesn't seem like too big a stretch to me that he could have saved her.)

Yes, Victor and Lucy definitely have a story that needs to be explored in the next season. They clearly do not belong amidst the ranks of the returned. I really like the idea of her being a morally ambiguous guardian angel, but getting the returned back to the 'other world' cannot have been her sole motto. It seems more like the detour she ended up having to take from her original mission involving Victor (whatever that was).

And about Victor and the bus, I do think he just keeps trying to prevent the things he sees from happening, but then inadvertently causes them to happen through his presence. Pure textbook self-fulfilling prophecy. And I guess the reason he keeps doing it is because he is, after all, a powerfully knowledgeable entity with a child's reasoning faculties. Not a good combination.

[–] Errington_92 9 years ago

3) In the end, did Julie die? or Victor saved her from wishing for all the people to return back? (the dead ones)

My interpretation is that Victor stopped Julie's death through his powers in the same manner as he managed to bring back the returned.

4) Did Victor stayed on earth? Was what we saw with him on the beach and Julie with the nurse real?

I like to think that Victor stayed on earth with Julie, both making a new start. It is fair to say they both deserved happiness.

5) What happened with Adele and Simon? Did Adele die after she entered the cave and she went to find Simon so they would get married like they would suppose to?

This seems to be a plausible interpretation. Adele and Simon can now be truly happy as they are both together in death. Though it does raise the question what will happen to Chloe, their search for her and Nathan abruptly stopped.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

[–] FreeSpiritCutie 9 years ago

Don't forget that Nathan is a special child.
Victor says something to the effect of "He's like me [not that we know what this is], make sure you look after him" in the last episode of the 2nd series.

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

I don't think he said that (about Nathan being like him).  That would be a very major revelation and I can't be the only person who didn't notice and discuss this sooner! I do remember the 'look after him' bit though.

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

I don't think he said that (about Nathan being like him)

On the version with subtitles I have, Victor has Lucy lean down and the only words we can really hear are translated as ".....like me.....you must take care of him". Given what the show is like, we can't expect a five minute speech from Victor about What It All Means, hahahaha. 

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

Given what the show is like, we can't expect a five minute speech from Victor about What It All Means, hahahaha.

No, no, you are absolutely right. Wow, though! That's a pretty big spoiler. Thanks for posting it on here! 

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

Hahahaha, sorry but I've given up trying to figure out what people here have seen and not seen. It's especially bad on the Downton Abbey board because although I live in the US, I watched the episodes the day they were shown in the UK not in January on PBS thanks to.....places on the Internet that you can get stuff. 

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

I think I ended up coming across as sarcastic when I was expressing my appreciation there. We absolutely expect to be hit with spoilers on a thread that's actually about spoilers of the last episode! But all of us who seem to have seen the show with the first round of terrible subtitles seem to have missed the "like me" part, and that was a pretty big revelation so I'm glad you and freespiritcutie confirmed that it actually happened, is all I was saying!

It's especially bad on the Downton Abbey board because although I live in the US, I watched the episodes the day they were shown in the UK not in January on PBS thanks to.....places on the Internet that you can get stuff.

 Happens to me all the time with American shows, so I know what you're saying.

[–] callagal 9 years ago

I guess my subtitles were better than most, Victor told Lucy that she couldn't take Nathan with the Returned because he (Nathan) was like Victor.

I didn't see Lucy dumping Nathan on any old couple's doorstep, to me it looked like she walked very deliberately to that house. It even looked like one of the neighborhoods we've seen on the show. Actually I was sort of surprised that it wasn't Victor's parent's house.

So many things seem linked-
35 years apart-
2 floods
victor returns/ the dead returns/ Nathan is born. Victor and Nathan linked?
Lucy and Adele, dressed in similar white dresses. Lucy and Adele linked?

Did anyone figured out why some returned could speak and some couldn't? Did the speakers have family? Was there a difference between the Returned that had died, or been murdered, or the ones that committed suicide?

[–] dundundunn 9 years ago

Oh, that makes things much clearer, thank you. So now we have SOME information on Victor's past, at least. But I wonder now who his original parents might be?

About the connections you just mentioned, you might well be right.  This show deserves yet another re-watch (but I'll wait for the best subtitles before starting again, heh.)

I think the difference between the speaking, more 'human' returned and the ones who were more like zombies was indeed attributable to the explanation Virgil provided - that they didn't have anyone waiting for them or missing them as much. I guess they didn't need their family to be alive at the time as much though. Esteban was perfectly 'aware' when he first returned, despite his parents' death.

[–] lovedml 9 years ago

I just watched the finale on Sundance this past Saturday. The subtitles were that Victor said,"He's like me,he can't go with us" Since Lucy went off on her own I guess she didn't need Victor to help her cross over. And what exactly did he do to help them anyway?

[–] ACA13 9 years ago

I am french and just finished watching both seasons back to back...no need for subtitles and I don't remember hearing Victor saying that Nathan is like him. Is that in the final episode when after hearing the baby cry he whispers to Julie...if that is the case it was very faint and he said **** he can't come with us, you have to take care of him**** if that's not it....please let me know I will re-watch again that episode. Thanks.