What if one day the dead came back to life? Revival, as the name suggests, is a zombie series with a twist. Yes, a shocking number of people were exhumed, but they weren't out for blood. Their behavior was surprisingly normal, or at least that's the idea conveyed in the first episode of Revival, starring Melanie Scrofano as the protagonist, Dana Cypress. Dana's dream had always been to move away from rural Wisconsin, and she'd practically decided to move to Chicago. But that was before the dead in her hometown began to rise again. As a police officer, she was expected to dedicate all her hours to solving the mystery of this strange occurrence, and she was too intrigued to pass up the opportunity.
After 35 days of quarantine, Mayor Dillisch announced it was time for people to return to their normal lives. Following the "Revival Event," 47 cases of revivals were reported, and surprisingly, all were linked to a specific two-week period prior to the day of the revival (December 18). The cause was unknown, as was the effect of such a strange event. After a month of quarantine, Dana headed to a local bar and was hanging out with a stranger when she suddenly received a call from her father. He told her about a dead horse that a man named Lester had found and wanted Dana to investigate. Dana's father, Wayne, was also her boss, so although she didn't want to spend the night searching for the horse's owner, she had no choice.
Creators: Luke Boyce, Aaron B. Koontz
Stars: Flora McInroy, Melanie Scrofano, Steven Ogg
Dana arrived at the woods where the dead horse was found. Lester surmised that coyotes must have killed it, but Dana wasn't ready to jump to a conclusion yet. She became suspicious when she noticed tire tracks, and very close to the dead horse, she stumbled upon a coyote that had been caught in a makeshift trap. Dana was stunned to discover loose teeth lying in the snow next to the dead coyote. The next day at work, Dana met Dr. Ibrahim Ramin, the new CDC liaison, who turned out to be the stranger she met at the bar.
Wayne already sensed, from their awkwardness, that they already knew each other. But he decided to stay out of it because he already had too much on his plate. He wasn't happy with the mayor's decision, as the lifting of the quarantine had unleashed absolute chaos. Besides, he wasn't entirely sure if the Reanimators should even be mingling with ordinary people. The mayor thought Wayne was overreacting, but he only cared about protecting the people of his town, and he couldn't ignore the terror inspired in him by the idea of the dead coming back to life. Dana managed to sneak the reanimation log out of her father's office to find out the names of the people who had died between December 4 and 18, but they couldn't be located. One of the missing people was Myles Miller, a felon serving a life sentence.
Although Dana didn't want to cross paths with Ibrahim again, that wasn't an option. He and his team were working to determine if the Reanimators could pose a danger, and she needed his expertise to understand what she was up against, especially after her team brought the dead horse back to the lab for study. When they met again, Dana made it clear she wanted them to approach the situation professionally, and Ibrahim agreed.
She noticed a pile of teeth Ibrahim was studying that she had recovered from the horse's body, so she showed him the loose teeth she had found next to the coyote the night before. Ibrahim was shocked to discover they were identical, coming from the same subject. He decided to share a secret with Dana: Reanimator tissue could heal itself; any newly introduced element into its cellular structure could regenerate. This meant that if their teeth fell out, they could grow back on their own, and the identical teeth found at the crime scene indicated they belonged to the same subject.
Dana concluded that the tire marks weren't from Lester's truck (she deduced this from the model of his truck) and assumed it was impossible for the coyote found at the scene to chase a live horse and drag the body to the scene. According to her theory, someone left the horse in the woods knowing the animals would get to it, which would help that person hide what had really happened to it. According to Dana, it was a Reanimator who did it, and someone was helping him cover his tracks. And she thought her best bet was Myles Miller.
Dana firmly believed that, among the 45,000 people in quarantine, it was impossible for there to be only 47 Reanimators. She believed some had died in their sleep and woken up the next day unaware of what had happened. And there were definitely some violent ones. That morning, while driving through town, she saw a red pickup truck with a tarp and felt an overwhelming urge to check if it was the one Myles had described to her the night before. The truck's owners behaved suspiciously, and when Dana heard strange noises coming from the barn, she knew she had to find out what was going on. Inside the barn, she discovered an extremely agile and strong elderly woman. She also saw loose teeth lying on the floor. The old woman complained that her teeth kept growing back even after she pulled them out (possibly why Dana had found loose teeth at the crime scene). With swift movements, she killed the couple trying to protect her. It was obvious she wasn't the same person she'd been before, but the couple had hope, so they decided not to report her to the police.
While Dana was dealing with something she'd only imagined, her father began to notice how the Rebirth Event had affected people's mental health. Mrs. Shaw's husband passed away on December 3rd, and she waited for him to come back to life, even though she was told it wasn't going to happen. So she ended up digging up his grave and bringing his body home, waiting for his response. While Wayne was busy with Mrs. Shaw, he left her house and realized her grandson was missing. She'd taken him with her, thinking it would be a short trip. Cooper had last heard a loud noise and possibly seen something shocking before disappearing. This will undoubtedly be a crucial plot point in upcoming episodes of Rebirth.
While touring the city, Dana ran into her younger sister, Martha "Em." She was a college student dealing with mental health issues. Her mother's death may have left a lasting impression on her, but the series doesn't delve into the details in the first episode. Martha was in love with her teacher, but he avoided her. When she confronted him, he promised to see her after school, but that never happened. He abandoned her, and she struggled to cope. She called her father, who was quite concerned because he hadn't heard from her in the past three weeks. Martha told him she was fine, although her eyes betrayed otherwise. She was in pain and didn't know what to do. A man was seen watching Martha eerily; he was wearing a hat, though the man's identity and intentions remained a mystery in the first episode.
Martha ended up in her hometown, perhaps seeking solace. Dana was shocked to see her and offered to take her to her dorm. She thought it was irresponsible for Martha to simply disappear for days. Martha refused to explain why she had disappeared; she changed the subject and expressed interest in accompanying Dana to work. The sisters, who hadn't seen each other in a long time, reminisced about their memories together. Dana regretted not going to Myrtle Beach with Martha; it was something they had wanted to do together as sisters. Dana became pregnant at the time, and it didn't work out, but she promised that as soon as she finished the case she was working on, they would go to the beach together. Martha was visibly happy.
When Dana entered the barn, Martha followed her. During the finale of Revival Episode 1, the rogue Reviver attacked Martha when she intervened to save Dana. The Reviver used a scythe to cut open Martha's body, as she collapsed to the ground. Dana didn't hesitate to pull the Reviver's trigger, but the bullet wounds healed instantly. Suddenly, at the end of Episode 1, a sharp object cleaved the Reviver's head, causing her to collapse to the ground.
It turned out Martha had used the scythe she was holding to attack the Reanimator's head, but how was she still alive? The finale revealed that Martha was a Reanimator too. For the three weeks she'd been missing? Well, it turns out she'd been dead the whole time! Did she commit suicide after her teacher started distancing himself from her, or was she murdered? And if so, who killed her? Also, how many rogue Reanimators were there in the city? And what caused their condition? Well, we'll have to wait for the next episode to find out.
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