Sci Fi TV Review: Revival

Revival delivers an interesting twist on the zombie tale, and it has gotten off to a good start led by strong performances and a creepy tone.

What Is It?

In the quiet rural town of Wausau, Wisconsin, an eerie phenomenon that comes to be known as “Revival Day” occurs when the deceased inexplicably rise from their graves—only they aren’t mindless zombies. These “Revivers” return fully intact, complete with memories, personalities, and even regenerative healing powers. As the town descends into fear and lockdown, Officer Dana Cypress is drawn into a mysterious murder case where both the living and undead are suspects.

Airing: Syfy, Thursdays 10 PM EST

Starring: Melanie Scrofano, Romy Weltman, David James Elliott, Andy McQueen, Steven Ogg

Created By: Aaron B. Koontz, Luke Boyce

Johnny Jay’s Thoughts:

When this series was first announced, I decided that I was going to pass on it because the concept seemed far too familiar to the French TV series Les Revenants, which had already been done to death. That was based on the 2004 film of the same name, and it later got an English-language remake with the 2015 A&E series The Returned. I never saw the French series, but I watched some of the latter show, which did not hold my attention (and it was cancelled after one season). Then, right around the same time, ABC produced Resurrection, which had a similar concept and was based on the 2013 novel The Returned—which was not related to Les Revenants. It was all pretty confusing, and I didn’t much care for Resurrection (which was cancelled after two seasons), and I decided I was done with the concept.

But after Revival premiered, I started to hear some good word of mouth on the show, and apparently it took more of a zombie angle than the shows mentioned above. It is based on the comic book series of the same name by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, and the TV series stars Wynonna Earp‘s Melanie Scrofano (who you gotta love), so I decided to check it out since Syfy released the premiere episode for free (with ads) on YouTube. And I pretty quickly found myself hooked on the show.

I do like a good zombie show, and this one seems to be offering a decent twist on the genre. This isn’t your Walking Dead-sort-of show with a post-apocalypse dominated by mindless flesh-eaters. The people that revived seem very much like they were before they died—though maybe there is something about them that is a bit off (we are slowly finding out if that is true or not). Also, now that they are revived, they don’t die. I mean… at all! You can shoot them in the head, hack them up, set them on fire, but they are still going to come back. But they aren’t eating brains or anything (for the most part), and any homicidal tendencies are linked back to those who already had those inclinations before they died.

There are quite a number of storylines going on in the episodes, with the main focus on Scrofano’s Dana Cypress as she investigates the murder of one of the Revivers that led to them coming back (I won’t spoil which one, but you find out pretty quickly). Meanwhile, her father—who is the sheriff—is forcing the Revivers to register and is considering locking them up, while TWD veteran Steven Ogg is forming a cult that appears to be set on unleashing hell on the Revivers. Each of the episodes is pretty dense, but still quite engaging. And the show does manage to sustain a rather creepy tone.

I am four episodes in so far—I’m watching on Peacock, which is on a one-week delay—and I plan on sticking with this one through its first season. It doesn’t have the humor that Scrofano’s previous series Wynonna Earp had (though it gets in a good line here and there), and she also plays a very different, much more dour character. But this is a completely different series from that supernatural/western romp, and it is off to a good start. It has a minimum of copy-and-paste dialogue, and some decent characters with good performances, and so far it has delivered a good enough twist on the zombie genre. It’s not groundbreaking, but it is certainly worth a look, and I am hoping it sticks around for a while.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5 Stars

What’s Next?

The show has aired five of its ten first-season episodes so far, and while the ratings are not great, nothing has scored notable Nielsen numbers on Syfy since the first season of Resident Alien. My guess is that Revival is a relatively inexpensive show to produce, and it keeps Syfy active in the scripted-programming game, so they should have an incentive to let it stick around (though they have not done much to promote it). Plus, they know the repercussions of making Melanie Scrofano fans mad after canceling Wynonna Earp, so they may want to avoid that bad publicity. Personally, I think they should bring it back for a second season and pair it with the fourth season of SurrealEstate (which has not been confirmed yet) to give them a pretty decent two-hour block of supernatural dramas on the schedule. But at this point, it’s wait and see, and fans should probably make some noise on the social networks to bring this one more attention.

Where Can You Watch It?

New episodes air at 10 PM EST on Thursdays on Syfy, and they are available next day on the network’s app and website. Episodes are also streaming on Peacock on a one-week delay. The first two episodes were available on YouTube, but they have since been taken down.

Are you watching Revival, and would you recommend that others check it out? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments section below.

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