One of the most significant ways in which The Returned represents Thomas' character is through framing and his positioning within a scene. In regards to how he is framed, in the early episodes he is quite powerful. Due to his height, he is often standing over people and the camera has a tendency to glaze up at him. Even when he is sat within his office, he is positioned to often have the power within a scene. His subordinates often slightly peak into his room and don't take up much space. The other officers often have the frame to themselves, which shrinks our perception of the room's size. When Thomas begins to lose control of his personal life and relationship with Adele, our perceptions of this power dynamic shifts. Rather than being assured and eased in his chair, the performance changes in a way that makes him look desperate as he hopelessly spies on Adele. There doesn't seem to be any tangible change in how he is framed, it is just the actor's performance changing how we view the shots.
We first see Adele and Thomas together after Adele hears Simon at her door and has a breakdown. Thomas rushes in and the camera stays wide, showing off part of their spacious home and telling us that they are a couple but, more than that, a singular entity in many ways. Their reliance on one another is clearly demonstrated visually in this scene, as Thomas kneels down to be level with a sobbing Adele. Through mostly visual storytelling, Thomas is represented as an authoritarian figure who also has intimacy in his private life., thus creating a complex dichotomy.
His uniform becomes a recurring example of both a symbolic code and a referential code. The Police uniform he wears is symbolic of the structuralism he believes in and his primary persona of an authority figure. The community, particularly community leaders like Pierre or the priest, recognise what the uniform means and what it says about him. It represents him as part of something larger (in a similar way to how Simon and Lucy Clarsen are later represented as having a larger purpose but also how Julie and other victims of Serge are early on represented as being part of a wider conspiracy).
Thomas is also methodical and measured. When power shifts from the living to the undead and, subsequently, from himself to Simon, he exhibits behaviour that represents him as insecure and fragile. This is not how he wants to be perceived and weighs heavily on him, causing him to scramble even further. Throughout the duration of his open conflict with Simon, Thomas is represented as being the opposite of what he is supposed to represent. His life and mind become unorganised, weak, unambiguous and unstructured. There is also the fact that he is essentially all-seeing within the context of his home life; he has cameras everywhere. Yet, he still doesn't realise where Simon is until it's too late for him to intervene peacefully, which gives a dreadful sense of dramatic irony.
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