Being invited to a reclusive billionaire’s home is rarely a good thing. Sure, the host is a billionaire, so the place is going to be luxurious. But there’s always a downside once you get there, whether it’s boredom or bullying ... or being hunted for sport. That’s not enough to deter six strangers invited to the remote estate of Val Beaulac. Maybe it should have been; once they board the helicopter taking them there, their lives will never be the same. And not just because some of those lives will soon be cut very short.
A luxury trip away takes a very unexpected turn. Credit: Yan Turcotte / Sphere Media
Right from the start, things don’t seem quite right on this trip. The only security they have to go through is having their names checked off a list – no ID required. One guest has decided to bring his “assistant” and refuses to fly without her (they can even share a room, he helpfully suggests), so now there’s seven guests on the helicopter. Then once they’re in the air, they fly in the opposite direction to the estate, supposedly because of “the wind”. A sudden emergency landing in the middle of seemingly endless woodland only makes matters worse. But help will be on the way soon, right?
When one of them finds a cottage close by, they decide to wait for rescue there. If nothing else, it’ll protect them from the mosquitos. Though the cottage turns out to be a very impressive holiday house all by itself. The front door isn’t even locked, and it’s stocked with plenty of food. Which is handy, as it turns out they might be stuck there a while.
A house to shelter in seems a wonderful piece of luck ... Credit: Yan Turcotte / Shere Media
No Return crashes together two popular television genres. The first is obviously the classic puzzle box mystery series – think shows like Lost. Everything here is just that little bit off balance. Not enough for the characters to run for the hills, but more than enough to set everyone on edge.
And rightly so: we’re not even halfway into the first episode when we (but not the stranded characters) discover that the whole trip is a sham. Val Beaulac has no idea they’re meant to be coming; they weren’t invited, and the whole place is being renovated so there’s nobody there to meet them anyway. Which probably explains why the helicopter pilot doesn’t seem all that interested in fixing the radio and calling for help. They’ve been stranded there for a reason. But why?
The seven people (eight if you count the helicopter pilot) are a mixed bunch. There’s a policeman, an art-dealer, a retired teacher, a marketing director, an engineer, a criminal lawyer and a businesswoman. It doesn’t take long for fault lines to develop within the group. The criminal lawyer was called away from a big client; the policeman has a grudge against him because he helped a criminal get off on what should have been an open and shut case. The couple having an affair are in trouble because a helicopter crash ruins their cover story; other potential relationships are off to a mixed start.
And then in the morning one of them is found dead.
Juliette Michaud (Anick Lemay) investigates the disappearances, while those stranded try to make sense of what has happened. Credit: Eve Blavoie / Sphere Media
Once the Agatha Christie-style murder mystery kicks in (that would be the second genre), we need a detective: that’s Juliette Michaud (Anick Lemay). She’s not out at the murder house with everyone else; which may be why why she and her husband Thomas (Jean-Nicolas Verreault) are the only characters who return in No Return’s second season (also available on SBS On Demand). The second season brings its own twist on the formula, as Thomas becomes obsessed with a group of friends living on a nearby farm, increasingly convinced he’s spying on something sinister even as his wife worries about his mental health.
First though, Michaud has her own mystery to solve. While our stranded survivors are coming to terms with the idea that there might be a killer in their midst – along with the reveal of their own dubious pasts, which suggests they may have all been brought there for a reason – she’s back in civilisation trying to figure out where they vanished to.
She’s trying to solve the mystery of what’s really going on; those stuck in the house are trying to figure out which one of them might be the next to die.
Seasons 1 and 2 of No Return are streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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No Return
