Just like the last couple of episodes, Virgil opened on a flashback to 35 years ago where we found found out that bomber-jacket boy aka Virgil was a bit of a teenage misfit. So much so that Milan decided that he should be killed to free him of his sins. Along with Victor and Lucy, Milan is now responsible for the deaths of three important characters, so I don't know about you, but I definitely have Milan pegged as the villain of this season.
Also is anyone else wondering why all of the flashbacks are from 35 years ago? These flashbacks are all from before the original flood too. Most of the first and second wave of returnees e.g Victor, Virgil and Morganne all died around the time of the dam bursting as well. What is the connection between the returnees and the flooding of the original town? What's the significance of them all dying at similar times? Let me know your theories below.
In the present-day, Virgil continues to become closer with Camille. He offers to take Claire and the recovering Lena back to where the living are but tells Camille that she can't go with them. According to him, they have rejected her. She only belongs with her own kind. We find out that Virgil has the ability to sense people's secrets. We already know that the dead have special powers, such as how Lucy can sense Milan's return. Virgil and Camille kiss before Virgil leaves to wherever he keeps running off to.
Meanwhile, whilst Claire is searching nearby houses for medicine, she runs into this old man who, in the last episode saved her from the Horde. However, he also seems quite threatening, not least because of the Returnees he has hidden away in his house. At the moment, we don't know much or anything about him, but I'd be interested in any thoughts you guys have.
Last week, I said that sides are beginning to be chosen and Simon is struggling to stay neutral. In this episode, I think he has finally chosen to side with Adele and Chloe. In Virgil, we initially see him choosing Lucy and the Horde by taking baby Nathan and giving them to a pair of Returnee parents-later revealed to be Simon's parents. Lucy explains that Simon's parents think that baby Nathan is baby Simon. As a brief aside, what's the deal with Lucy? We see that she's become the unofficial leader of the Horde, but we don't know why. What hold does she have over them? She's definitely the one calling the shots though. We also find out that Simon's parents committed suicide, as did Simon. As Gwilym Mumford of the Guardian points out, Simon's backstory and particularly his death has never been something that's properly explored.
But what we do find out is that Simon's parents killed themselves as part of a suicide pact called the Circle. He then takes Nathan (and a scared Audrey who wants to return to her parents) back to the alive side of town. He takes Nathan to Adele and Chloe and tells them to leave town. However, will they be able to leave town? Last season saw Laure, Julie and Victor, as well as Serge and Toni attempting to escape their town, which didn't end particularly well for either group.
Speaking of Julie, she didn't actually drown herself, as I initially thought, but instead swam back to the original town. Having been rejected by Victor, she goes to his old house to find out more about him. Instead, from a strange old woman, she learns all about Milan's backstory. After the flood, he became a vigilante of sorts, taking the law very much into his own hands. He ordered for Victor's death as he blamed him for the dam bursting. He killed Lucy and Virgil to save them from their sins. Although something's still bugging me about Victor's death. If like I said, Milan ordered specifically for Victor's death, then why was it staged as a burglary? If we go back to Victor, we see that Victor's death was more of an after-thought, rather than anything pre-meditative. He was killed so that he wouldn't say anything not as a punishment for making the dam burst. Pierre tries to vouch for him before his partner impulsively shoots him.
Although Victor doesn't feature as heavily in this episode, his presence is still felt. Berg and Jerome team up to explore Victor's old house, where they find a whole wall of his drawings behind a wardrobe. As we've seen before, Victor's drawings have often acted like premonitions, and there were many of these types of drawings here. There were references to Lucy's and Camille's death, as well as the dam bursting. What's the significance of the drawings? Let me know what you think.
Another character who doesn't feature too heavily is Milan. After Serge "killed" him last episode, he locks him up and then repeatedly kills him. In one of the flashbacks, we find out that Serge is locking Milan up in the same place where he imprisoned Virgil. Serge finds Virgil and frees him, before Milan tracks him down and kills him. To punish Serge, Milan then shows him Virgil's dead body. Anyone else thinking this is what partly contributed to his later murderous tendencies?
Anyway, whilst Serge is busy rescuing Toni from Pierre's dungeon in the Helping Hand, Lucy, who has sensed where Milan is being kept, takes him out to the middle of the lake and pushes him in tied to a heavy anchor. It should also be noted that it's not Lucy who does this, but Morganne, who looks to be quickly replacing Simon as her right-hand man. This was gratifying to watch considering Milan's brutality, but I certainly don't think this is the last we'll see of him. I would also like to take a brief moment to commend the gorgeous lighting and cinematography of this sequence.
Lastly, the exploration of the sinkhole continues slowly and without much consequence. The army deliberate over what the mysterious creature that they saw on the cameras was. Whilst a team is exploring the sinkhole, they find skeletons of many animals. I have to say that this isn't a storyline I'm liking as much, as it's straying a bit too close to supernatural or zombie horror. What makes the Returned so refreshing is that it isn't your typical zombie or malevolent ghost/demon story. The Returned are ordinary people who want nothing more than to return to their old lives. The fact that this mysterious creature which is being treated with hostility and suspicion serves to undermine this.
Theory time:
1. What's the significance of Victor's drawings?
2. Why do most of the Returnees seem to be from the period of when the original dam burst?
3. What is that mysterious creature?
4. What is the Circle?
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