The newest series to be added to ABC’s Sunday primetime schedule is Resurrection. It is based on the phenomenon of deceased individuals returning to life on Earth.
The pilot doesn’t exactly explain why people are coming back to life. That is something we must learn on our own, and in the end, we are just as confused as the townspeople of Arcadia, Missouri. But, the episodes do show the individuals coming back just as they left, without aging one bit. For instance, the first case we see is a little boy named Jacob, who passed away thirty two years prior. When he returns, his parents are thirty two years older, yet he is still the little boy he once was. Jacob is found in the middle of a Chinese village, which is just the start to the unexplainable discovery. Nobody knows how he ended up in China, but the main question is how Jacob is even alive.
J. Martin Bellamy is an immigration agent and is the one responsible for reuniting Jacob Langston with his family. He is working closely in the first episode with Maggie Langston, a doctor and cousin to Jacob Langston, to identify exactly what happened at the scene of the accident and who was present. Up this point, it was known that Jacob fell into a river while playing and Maggie’s mother, Barbara, fell in after when trying to rescue him. Though, now that Jacob has returned they discover it was the opposite, and Jacob was in fact trying to save his aunt.
Additionally, Jacob informs them of a third person at the scene – a family friend and Barbara’s lover. Barbara’s ex-husband, Sheriff Fred Langston, has to devastatingly find out about her affair 32 years after losing her. At the end of the first episode, we see another resurrection. Maggie’s good friend, Elaine Richards, and her brother are able to grasp their father, Caleb Richards, once again in an emotional homecoming, closing out the first episode.
The second episode opens with J. Martin Bellamy wanting to match the DNA sample from Jacob to the DNA in Jacob’s tomb. Since Jacob’s DNA already confirms he is a Langston, they have to rule out the idea that some other child may have died and been buried instead. Maggie is on board, but her Uncle thinks otherwise. Henry Langston is having trouble grasping the idea of his son being back in his life all of the sudden, and he’s not the only one. Fred doesn’t agree to them opening the tomb either, considering his wife is in there.
Meanwhile, Maggie’s aunt is faced with the town’s reaction to her son. Nobody wants to play with him, and the people are quite shaken up when they are around. The only person she can get to spend time with Jacob is his old friend from when they were young, Tom Hale. Tom is now the town’s pastor, and even he can’t believe what a miracle it is.
Elaine and Ray have opposing views on the man who they believe is their father and was also the second resurrected man to be discovered. Elaine is too ecstatic to get a second chance with her father that she doesn’t even care how he arrived, where as Ray does not view him as his dad at all. But, at the end of the episode we see that Ray’s suspicions are confirmed. There is a reason Caleb Richards is back and that is to seek revenge, though we do not know the who or why.
Ultimately, we are left with two other unanswered questions. The first: what exactly did Maggie and Bellamy find when they opened her mother’s tomb? The second: Has Maggie’s mother, too, been resurrected? We see Maggie visit the man who was said to be Barbara’s lover and at the river when she died. No, the man is not Maggie’s father, but he is hiding someone in his house and it very well could be Barbara.
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