In new TV series Revival, every person in small town in Wisconsin who died on a specific date in the 1990s is brought back to life.Crave/Supplied
Television isn’t exactly wanting for zombie series these days, so the addition of Revival, a Bell Media co-production that recently debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel, feels late to the game. Yet for a series that’s full of familiar characters and tropes, it also manages to bring a fresh perspective to the party.
Revival is based on the Image Comics series and filmed in New Brunswick, which stands in as a small town in Wisconsin. There, every person who died on a specific date in the 1990s is brought back to life. Instead of wanting to eat the flesh of survivors though, all they want is to return to a normal existence. It’s all very reminiscent of Les Revenants and the American follow-up The Returned with a hint of the 2014 ABC series Resurrection. Like I said, zombies are nothing new.
What is new and notable in this 10-episode offering is its star power in lead Melanie Scrofano. The actor brings a multifaceted take as police officer Dana Cypress, as well as a deep fan base thanks to her role in Wynonna Earp. There’s even a nod to that character in the pilot involving a certain leather jacket.
Melanie Scrofano, who previously starred in Wynonna Earp, plays police officer Dana Cypress in Revival. She is just about to leave town for a new job when the revival happens.Crave/Supplied
Dana is on the cusp of fleeing town for a new job, her grade-school son in tow, when the revival happens. Under quarantine, she’s forced to stay and investigate how and why these people returned. Simultaneously she’s dealing with her troubled, revived sister, Em (Romy Weltman), who is struggling to recall how she died, and her police chief father, Wayne (David James Elliott), who is buckling under the weight of big political decisions.
Then there’s CDC scientist Ibrahim Ramin (Andy McQueen), whose interest in Dana is more than professional. Capping off the side plots are a gang of drug-running brothers who are intent on getting revenge on the Cypress family. The result is a complicated web of twists and turns that stretches beyond the main mystery of the revival itself and allows the series to reasonably extend past a handful of episodes.
CDC scientist Ibrahim Ramin, played by Andy McQueen, is romantically interested in Dana.Crave/Supplied
On one hand, the series has everything you’d expect from a dark sci-fi drama about the undead and a female cop in a small town. Dana is a badass fighter, a smart officer and a no-nonsense leader who is full of sarcastic remarks. She’s also got a notable sweet tooth. Visually, there are plenty of creepy forest expeditions in the middle of the night and a good number of gruesome scenes, including one in which a lead singer of a band rips his own organs out on stage (revivers heal, after all) and another in which a character slices half a woman’s head off.
Disturbing images aside, the series also does what many great sci-fi series do and takes time to raise big ethical and moral questions. Revival contains several conversations about fear of the unknown, death, religion, concentration camps, tracking and the involvement of government in people’s lives. The stances characters take during such scenes vary and lead to interesting, albeit brief, discussions of situations that parallel real life.
Dana’s sister Em, played by Romy Weltman, struggles to recall how she died.Crave/Supplied
On the other hand, it’s the sister relationship that grounds Revival and makes it watchable, even as absurd characters surround the pair. As the sisters bond over their shared trauma and fight over their differing circumstances, you want to know more about their dynamics and their past. The writer’s room could have benefited from giving the same amount of care and attention to the supporting characters, who are often presented as surface-level tropes of goons and gangsters. It’s hard to take anyone seriously, especially next to characters such as Dana and Em.
Where the scribes did spend time was on the story arcs, and it pays off. Revival never wanes and keeps a steady pace throughout, with episodic cliffhangers and answers that only lead to more questions. You’re never quite sure who the bad guy is or what threat the characters are facing next.
Revival isn’t top-notch television, nor is it going to redefine the zombie genre. But over the first six episodes, made available to press, it is a somewhat faithful adaptation of a beloved series with a beloved lead. At the very least it’s a chance to see some stunning New Brunswick locations while escaping from the latest summer heatwave. Catch it Thursdays on Sci-Fi Channel or catch up now on Crave.
