1.8 "The Horde"
As this final episode in season one opens we get the information that the original dam burst thirty-five years ago, and we see Victor, whose real name we find out now is Louis, walking among the dead in the tents that have been set up as temporary morgues. Vivianne Costa is here too, and she blames the engineers who worked at the dam for the disaster, claiming they told nobody about the weakness in the dam. She swears that one day the dead will have revenge. The timeline switches to one year ago, and we see a man, whom we have just seen be identified as one of the dead, scramble up the bank of the dam and begin a long walk towards the village. He calls to someone who looks to be Camille, or Lena, but she doesn't hear him and keeps walking.
We return to the present day, where Laure and Julie, stopped on the dam, find handprints on the rear window of the car. Louis --- whom we still know for now as Victor, so I'll refer to him as such --- tells the girls that people were here during the night, and they wanted to take him with them. They then notice Toni standing up on the wall of the dam, preparatory to emulating old Mr. Costa's death dive. They manage to coax him down, whereupon Laure pulls her gun on him: he is a wanted felon. Before things can go any further though a host of shuffling people approach, and all four of them pile into the car and scream away.
Adele finds Chloe's drawings, both of Simon and her --- she has made a new one of the vision she saw of her mother --- and the little girl has reasoned that Adele tried to kill herself in order to be reunited with Simon. Adele locks her in her room, fearful for her safety, while Camille's mother, though delighted her daughter has slept for the first time since her return (Simon told her she was asleep when he was staying with them, but we can assume that was a smokescreen to cover the fact that he had sent her to take his message to Adele) is concerned about the lesion on her face. Sandrine is in deep depression after her miscarriage, and blames it on Camille and Vivianne, calling them monsters.
Julie has realised that Toni is the one who saved her from Serge, but Victor blames him for killing his own brother. He's only a kid, can't understand, but he has powers and causes Toni to see a vision of his brother, and end up shooting himself. Lucy visits Simon in the police station, and when Jerome sees that Pierre is stockpiling weapons he realises that the proprietor of the Helping Hand is preparing for what he sees as the end of days, that he believes the arrival of the dead signifies the coming of Judgement Day. He begs Claire to leave with him but she will not. Thomas finds that Simon has broken out of his cell, or been released: the glass is broken and he is gone. He ends up back at Adele's, with Lucy, and they take Chloe, locking Adele in. Before he leaves Simon tells her she is again pregnant, but she stabs him. He goes mad, but Lucy takes him away.
Laure and Julie take Toni to the Helping Hand to try to save his life, but it is too late. Serge comes in as Julie is trying to save his brother, but she believes him to be a figment of her imagination. When she declares there is nothing more she can do for Toni Serge breaks down, and hugs her, but not surprisingly she pushes him away, knowing him to have been the man who tried to kill her seven years previously. Camille finds her lesions are getting worse, and like Simon's, they now peel off in clumps of skin. One of the officers spots a crowd of people moving towards the Helping Hand, and as Thomas has gone there in search of Simon, they decide to set up a perimeter and defend the place. Victor remembers his mother telling him about the fairy, who will look after him if anything happens to her. She shows him a book, on which is a drawing of the fairy. She bears an uncanny resemblance to Julie.
At the Helping Hand, the occupants wait in trepidation and fear for the approach of the horde, basically expecting an attack of some sort. There are many more than the hundred the police officer calculated; there must be thousands when they finally arrive. Lucy comes forward as their spokesperson, their leader, and demands that everyone there who is dead must be allowed to join them. If this is done, they will release Chloe. If not, they will take them by force. With screams of protest Camille is taken from her family, but her mother resolves to go with her into the unknown. Victor, too, is taken and Julie also refuses to leave his side, despite the entreaties of Laure. Lucy keeps her promise and Chloe is returned to her family. But there is yet one person who has not been surrendered: the horde want Adele.
Thomas cannot believe it, but it is not that Adele is dead: the horde want her as yet unborn baby, who must be, well, dead in the womb. Hard to figure that, but yeah, that's what they think. After forcing people to leave their families and loved ones, Thomas draws the line at his fiancee and seals up the Helping Hand, his men taking up positions as a firefight explodes. When the shutters are raised the next morning, the horde are gone but all the police officers --- including, it would appear, Thomas --- are gone.
And the village has completely flooded. Everything other than the Helping Hand, which stands high on a hill overlooking the lake, is underwater.
QUESTIONS?
What happened to the defenders? There are no bodies to be seen. Were they carried off by the dead? If they died, did they rise again and join the horde?
What significance has the sunken village to the plot?
Where did the horde go? Will they be back?
What will happen to Adele's dead baby? Is it dead? How will a dead baby be born? Will the horde come looking for it again?
And finally, the big one, which has as yet (like so many other questions) been unanswered: what was all this about? How did people come back from the dead, why, and what will happen now?
WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
The final chapter, so far, shows why so much has been made of the water level falling. Thirty-five years ago the dam burst and the town was flooded, and people died. The original village was drowned and presumably the new one was built on higher ground, with a better dam. But now the same thing is happening: well, the dam is not broken but the town has now completely flooded. How is that possible if the dam did not break (and so far we must assume it did not)? When Vivianne cursed the town and swore the dead would have revenge, was she then dead or was she dying? Is she somehow responsible for the return of the dead?
FINAL NOTES
I find it interesting that Thomas was prepared to allow everyone's loved ones to be sacrificed in order, essentially, to get his daughter back, but when it came to his making the ultimate sacrifice and giving up his fiancee he decided to fight the horde. It seems there is only so far he could be pushed.
I also wonder why Chloe was returned before they asked for Adele? If they wanted her, and surely must have known that Thomas would resist or refuse outright, why not hold her back until he had been forced to comply? Seems the horde gave away their ace before the game was over.
There's a telling look on Claire's face, as she opts to stay with her daughter, and looks accusingly at her husband when Jerome does not do the same. In the last possible chance he has to back her up, to stand with her and make up for all the hurt and pain the family have been through, when he has an opportunity to support his wife and try to keep their family together --- even should that mean dying together --- Jerome fails, and you can see the anguish in his face at his weakness, and the disappointment and scorn in that of his wife, who probably never expected him to stand up anyway.
Pierre, too, is aghast. He had expected the horde would accept his welcome, and that they'd all live together happily ever after. Now he sees his view of the world is not necessarily shared by others, as Lucy scornfully turns down his offer: "Thanks, but we don't need welcoming." His standing as a leader must also be badly hit, when people see how the horde react.
Interesting too to see Frederic make a half-step forward when Camille is forced to join the horde, but then his courage deserts him and he does nothing further. Still, at least he had more than Jerome.