The Missing - General Discussion

[LoveLeigh]

paramitch, I totally agree with you on every point you made. I too hated the end and I was angry and depressed. "Tony" did not deserve such a horrible conclusion. Seeing him in that police car was crushingly hard to watch. 

 

To see him descend into dark madness as he continues his desperate search was unbearably sad to watch. I know that parents of missing children sometimes do not get closure (i.e. Etan Patz), but here it was in the writers' hands to construct an ending not so devastating. 

 

I am hoping the writers left this open ended so that within the next season that can revisit this story even though the series may be predominately about another case. They should do it not just to satisfy the audience who hated the end, but do it so their own credibility as writers receives a better critical response. 

 

(I just want to add here that I also hated the season finales to The Affair and Homeland, but the series' finale to The Missing I hated on so many levels my head was spinning)

[XtremeOne1]

I just finished watching the series yesterday and I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this in another thread but does anyone see the striking resemblance between the woman playing the female detective and Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black? It kept thinking it is Tatiana. I was almost uncanny and it is not like Tatiana isn't talented enough to pull off a French accent.

 

 

 

Haha yes!!!! I thought it tons of times. More so when she had long hair but I'm like "Oh my God, this is a secret Orphan Black spin-off and there is a  (second) french clone."  

 

I thought the writing was always strong on the show but the finale was a bit leapy...And a little cruel. "Ollie is dead, Ollie is alive, Ollie is dead, Ollie is...alive?" it was a bit cruel to the audience. I found the drawing especially ridiculous. He wakes up from being hit by a car(which left no blood at the scene?), crawls out of the trunk, stops to do a drawing(and find something to draw with), goes upstairs and tries to open a window(instead of a door)...And again that played into the cruelty of fooling the audience in hoping Ollie was alive.

 

I just want answers and again, I really think if they want series 2 to succeed they need to deliver on that FOR this season before moving onto a new case. It's why I hope we stick with the Romani Gang and in some twist it's connected to Oliver. Even if it's that he's dead.

 

I'm still not sure how I feel about the last episode. I would have been ok if they ended right after Georges shot himself, but the stuff in Russia bugged me because it was left unresolved.  The kid sure had big enough ears to be Ollie, but we'll never know.

 

 

 

The kid also looked exactly like the "older Ollie" composition from the Missing Newspaper.

Edited December 23, 2014 by XtremeOne1

[panthergirl13]

I found the drawing especially ridiculous. He wakes up from being hit by a car(which left no blood at the scene?), crawls out of the trunk, stops to do a drawing(and find something to draw with), goes upstairs and tries to open a window(instead of a door)...And again that played into the cruelty of fooling the audience in hoping Ollie was alive.

I didn't hate it, and I thought the reveal of Tony in Russia was really heartbreaking (I thought he had just lost his mind and the kid was NOT Ollie.) But I definitely had issues with the timing/activities in the house. That seemed a bit "making it up as we go along". 

[paramitch]

The chain of events from car to house bugged me the most, not least because the resolution was so simple:  Why didn't the criminals just grab Ollie, blindfold him, and let him go? 

 

The fact is, ironically things would have been better for all involved if Ollie had simply gotten out of the house like he tried to do. He hadn't seen anyone at that point. He had no idea what had happened to him at all. He would not have remembered the collision or recognized the driver.

[BigBlueMastiff]

 

I really want to believe that Ollie is alive and that somehow his father is rewarded for looking.

Me too. I really enjoyed this series, the ups and downs, the frustrating characters, the characters I rooted for, especially Tony. Hate the smug, smarmy, self-righteous reporter. I cannot comprehend the torture of losing a child, and thinking they are missing, and never giving up the search. Tony, killed me, but it did seem like the search for Ollie is/was the only thing keeping him going. He has nothing else.

[mam58]

 

I think Tony just lost his shit. Period. Being consumed by his son's disappearance was his life for 8 long years. The guilt of it was his life for 8 long years.  These things were a coping mechanism he seems to have developed as a way of dealing with the trauma of Ollie's disappearance. Even if the body had been discovered he would have found something else to obsess about, like who the actual killer was. He probably would have become obsessed with the Romanian crew.

This. Tony got closure, he just wouldn't accept it. Ollie is dead. When the police were dragging him away they listed all the other Russian cities where Tony also found boys he was convinced were Ollie. If Tony could no longer find something about the case to obsess over, he would probably kill himself like Bourg did when he no longer had anything to give him hope.

[alias1]

I agree with so many of the comments made so far.  The show was riveting but that ending was disturbing.  I really don't see how Oliver could be alive.  There was just too much blood for Karl Sieg to clean up and we saw how ruthless the Rumanian was.  I know they wanted it to remain a mystery when Georges looked into the truck for a body, but I think his reaction would have been different if Oliver were still alive.

 

And why did Tony end up in Russia.  I know they mentioned a "package" had been sent to the far east, but I don't think of Russia as the far east.  It seemed like we missed an episode (or too much went on the cutting room floor).  Even if they were trying to show that part was all in Tony's head, it still didn't make sense why the trail would have led to Russia.  And the stick figure on the frosty car window, Tony drew that himself, didn't he?   

 

I was very disappointed in the Ian Garrett and Vincent Bourg plots that went nowhere.  The Vincent story line was especially tragic, but we never really learned his connection to Ian.  I guess it didn't matter.

 

And I thought Emily's behavior throughout was basically just strange.  From wearing those skimpy, trapeze tops to running out of the hotel barefoot and barely dressed.  And nothing was more bizarre than her behavior at her wedding to the long suffering Mark.  I never thought I'd say this, but poor Mark. That speech she made didn't make sense.  I guess it was just so they could show the little vignettes of what happened to some of the other characters. Sitting with her ex-husband at her long overdue wedding didn't make sense to me either.  And Frances O'Connor gets a Golden Globe nomination but James Nesbitt does not.   I hope she doesn't win.  I'm sure I will watch another season even though this ending was a lot less than I wanted.

[Superpole2000]

This show could not be more miserable. The case is taking too long, which would not necessarily kill the show by itself, but if the journey is going to be this long it should at least be interesting. For every five minutes of interesting scenes there seem to be 25 minutes of dull or aggravating ones. In this particularl episode, the most aggravating of all scenes was Ian visiting Tony in jail. It served no real purpose other than to annoy the viewers. I don't know what the writers were going for, but all I feel is depressed while watching this.

[SunnyBeBe]

I'm trying to find a good complete summary of this series that includes the finale.  I have tried to find this and it's quite difficult.  Most are reviews or short summaries that don't give much away.  I want it all.  Any links would be appreciated.  

[SunnyBeBe]

Thanks. I did look at that. I'll look again.  It's so odd there are no complete summaries for this series.  I've never encountered one without them before.  

[Happytobehere]

B) The boy wasn't Ollie. Ollie was killed, it happened exactly the way Alain said, and Georges killed himself because he didn't want to go to jail. There was no body because like Julien said, there often aren't bodies in cases like that. But Tony was so overcome with grief that he told himself the boy in Russia was Ollie (and may have even convinced himself other kids were him before he got to that one) because he refused to admit Ollie was gone. In this case I think Tony was the one that drew the stick figure on the car window.

Either way, it's a depressing ending, with Ollie gone (whether he was dead or stuck in Russia), Tony alone, and Emily having moved on with her life, but I'm leaning towards the second one. I think it seems to fit better with the rest of the show and just makes more sense as an ending.

I think the answer is B as well. It was clear in the final conversation with Baptiste that Tony was looking for something, anything, to hold onto and justify his continuing his now empty existence, which was now totally consumed with the thought of bringing Ollie back. The notion that Ollie was never going to come back was more than Tony's mind could take. The sad thing is that he got so caught up in his grief and guilt that even at Emily's wedding he still couldn't see that she loved him and would have chosen him over Mark (who I never saw evidence of in love with, but love for because he was her pillar in her time of need) if he could have found a way to see a reason to move forward and continue living.

Tony's madness and imprisonment means he paid a higher price for his crimes (innocently taking his eyes off of his son, beating Vincent, killing Ian) than anyone else. The corrupt cop who was blackmailed by the reporter is dead; Vincent is dead, although I guess he paid a high price, especially if he never actually molested anyone; Ian is dead and his dirty secrets went with him; Alain and Georges are dead (and Georges suffered none for his involvement in both the death of Ollie and his covering up for Ian -- just how complicit was he in that mess?); and the vile reporter who could have ended this and broken this cycle of violence and pain years earlier if he weren't such a piece of ish gets to have his cushy job and not be held accountable for his role in this and his deranged motivations are allowed to be justified in his mind.

Having said all that. The Russian boy looked remarkably like what I would imagine Ollie would have looked like as a teenager, so maybe I'm just another one of those horrible cynics who poo-pooed Tony when he was in fact, right all along.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Happytobehere

[Superpole2000]

The writing just wasn't good enough for me. And the ending made me incredibly angry -- it felt like an insult. I'd spent eight hours watching a mystery only to have an incomplete explanation spoonfed in the final half-hour (and it wasn't even a believable story or chain of events).

The eight hours frustrated me because we spent a lot of time investigating a case and its background only to arrive at a conclusion that was always the most probable and obvious option. The twist that the kid had been hit by a car was not enough of a "WOW!" moment for me to justify the eight hours of exposition. Furthermore, that twist was revealed in the least dramatic way possible, and the evidence linking the investigators to the driver was really lame.

[LoveLeigh]

I agree with Superpole2000. A deathbed confession after 7 episodes is a real letdown. Instead of the diversion in all the episodes about the pedophile ring, we should have been led through good detective work which resulted in exposing the truth about Ollie's disappearance. 

 

This final episode was similar to that of True Detective... we are give outstanding acting within excellent episodes only to be disappointed in the final episode by a trite and not very surprising conclusion. 

[Trois]

Heartbreaking... but life is sometimes like that.

 

To me Ollie was killed and Tony could't accept that. He was clutching for straws, maybe because it was the only way he could go on. 

 

Personally, I can relate - or at least I feel like it - to Tony. If I had lost a child like that, it would be very difficult for me to accept that. 

To have made actually such a small mistake, but it had such harsh consequences. 

 

Of course I am not happy with the ending, it was merciless to Tony, but I can understand the writers. Tony's search was probably unjustified from the very beginning of the events, so he just continued that way. We might think he lost it in Russia/Romania or whereever, but he had lost it already because the only thing that kept him alive was the search for Ollie.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Trois

[HumblePi]

I think I must be the only one that thought this final episode was very clever indeed. One thing that is generally known is that the Romanians in this series are kidnappers and deal in child pornography and trafficking.

 

I do not think that Olly was killed, despite the show of blood in the basement. They never showed him in the van although the mayor or whatever he was looked in the van. I think Olly was alive but either gagged or drugged. I think he eventually ended up in Russia either as an adopted child, or something more sinister.

 

I had remembered that there was a photo of Olly in the police station on the wall and an artist's concept of what he would look like in 2014. I found that photo and it's next to a photo of the little boy in Russia.  Same boy?  You be the judge. Tony was not insane or grasping for straws.

 

I can't wait for the next season to begin, BUT....according to Wiki:

"A second series has been commissioned which will feature a new case."  A NEW CASE!  So, the Oliver Hughes mystery may never be resolved.

Edited December 31, 2014 by HumblePi

[LoveLeigh]

Well, HumblePi, the director of The Missing may have selected a young actor for that final scene prior to the filming of the series and then may have used the young actor's face for the artist's aged rendition of Ollie's face that we saw in the newspaper clipping of the disappearance. 

 

It may have been done to keep the images similar so that the mystery is kept alive and the audience is led to believe he may indeed be Ollie. 

[alias1]

Well, HumblePi, the director of The Missing may have selected a young actor for that final scene prior to the filming of the series and then may have used the young actor's face for the artist's aged rendition of Ollie's face that we saw in the newspaper clipping of the disappearance. 

 

It may have been done to keep the images similar so that the mystery is kept alive and the audience is led to believe he may indeed be Ollie. 

DakotaLavender, I agree with you.  I believe Oliver is dead, but I, too, think they did this similarity on purpose.  While I don't need everything wrapped up neatly, I didn't care for the ending they gave Tony. But since they did, I would have liked a little more explanation on how he thought the trail led to Russia.  Since they didn't explain it, I can only think he was not in his right mind,.

[LoveLeigh]

Thank-you, Sierra Mist for your reply. I agree with you... but I think I disliked the final episode much more than you did. I don't need everything tied up, but I just did not like how they ended this series. 

 

In real life, there are unsolved murders. The Black Dahlia, Jack the Ripper murders... Etan Patz and even JonBenet Ramsey, but this is fiction and I just do not like how the writers chose to end this story. 

 

I was invested in "Tony" and to see him in Russia and driven mad seemed manipulative to prove a point instead of just allowing him to be heartbroken with no closure in a more simple and believable way. 

[Darian]

As I recall, the marriage of John Walsh and his wife Reve ended due to his immersion into catching criminals and finding missing children (in the Adam Walsh case, unfortunately, there was no doubt as to Adam's fate). 

I don't think they split up. 

[Marianne]

I hated the ending, too, just because it seemed so contrived.  Why Russia?  Maybe there's an explanation that I missed, but I was left thinking that Tony was just wandering around Europe harassing light-haired boys of a certain age.

Other random things that bugged:

*  Laurence was completely useless as a police officer, so much so that early on I started to suspect that she was somehow involved with a ring of child traffickers and was covering up for DeLoix, who was obviously involved.  When she showed up in later years with a baby I wondered if she had somehow gotten the child through her shady connections. In this final episode, she talks on the phone to DeLoix right before going into the Hotel Eden where the significance of the sobriety coin was discovered and gives him an update on the case, but after listening to Alain's story in the hospital it never dawns on her that she just spilled the beans to one of the culprits.  Julien has to point this out to her.

*  It was absurd that Tony (and Emily) would agree to Alain's plea to not tell Sylvie about part in Ollie's death. She and everyone else in the world should find out fairly soon about the events leading to his death. 

*  Julien's "you have to learn to live with your doubts" was completely unsatisfying and didn't seem to me to be believable coming from an experienced hard-bitten police officer.  Even if DeLoix was dead, the police knew that the Romanian gang killed Ollie and disposed of his body. Why wouldn't every effort be made to track down these people and why wouldn't Julien understand that Tony and Emily would reasonably be passionately interested in seeing that the hired killers were found and punished and in possibly actually locating Ollie's body?  I know Interpol was mentioned, but it was as though Julien and the useless Laurence thought Tony and Emily could just walk away  once they knew the general manner of Ollie's death, even though clearly justice had not been done and there were still law enforcement steps to be taken.

[Darian]

Yeah, I looked it up. They're still married. I always hoped the tragedy wouldn't split them up. I was at the mall when Adam was taken and saw the Walshes around at at events in the following months. 

[alias1]

I hated the ending, too, just because it seemed so contrived.  Why Russia?  Maybe there's an explanation that I missed, but I was left thinking that Tony was just wandering around Europe harassing light-haired boys of a certain age.

Other random things that bugged:

*  Laurence was completely useless as a police officer, so much so that early on I started to suspect that she was somehow involved with a ring of child traffickers and was covering up for DeLoix, who was obviously involved.  When she showed up in later years with a baby I wondered if she had somehow gotten the child through her shady connections. In this final episode, she talks on the phone to DeLoix right before going into the Hotel Eden where the significance of the sobriety coin was discovered and gives him an update on the case, but after listening to Alain's story in the hospital it never dawns on her that she just spilled the beans to one of the culprits.  Julien has to point this out to her.

*  It was absurd that Tony (and Emily) would agree to Alain's plea to not tell Sylvie about part in Ollie's death. She and everyone else in the world should find out fairly soon about the events leading to his death. 

*  Julien's "you have to learn to live with your doubts" was completely unsatisfying and didn't seem to me to be believable coming from an experienced hard-bitten police officer.  Even if DeLoix was dead, the police knew that the Romanian gang killed Ollie and disposed of his body. Why wouldn't every effort be made to track down these people and why wouldn't Julien understand that Tony and Emily would reasonably be passionately interested in seeing that the hired killers were found and punished and in possibly actually locating Ollie's body?  I know Interpol was mentioned, but it was as though Julien and the useless Laurence thought Tony and Emily could just walk away  once they knew the general manner of Ollie's death, even though clearly justice had not been done and there were still law enforcement steps to be taken.

I had the same thoughts about Laurence.  Sometimes her actions were suspicious and at other times she just seemed clueless.  I guess we have to put it down to bad writing, just like the ending. 

 

Julien's response didn't bother me.  In fact it seemed appropriate to try to get Tony to move on.  This was 8 years after the killing.  I think it would have been virtually impossible to track down the Romanians after that length of time and I doubt they would have found a body.  I don't think Interpol would have been interested in pursuing it either.  Sad, but that part seemed realistic to me.

[Primetimer]

The Missing moves to 2009, but loses momentum.

Read the story

[scrb]

I can kind of see what they're going for, not so much the case itself but what the case does to the people involved.

But Tony crossed a line in this episode.

He's got this permanent scowl. How does Emily overlook that or his volatility to marry him in the first place? He doesn't hide his anger, just lets it burst out.

Emily's father is some piece of work, covering that up from his own daughter, so she would marry or stay married to such a dangerous guy?

Then again that street artist, who has a huge Paris apt. Looks at the perma-puss on Tony's face and beds him?

Even if he wasn't capable of murder or aggravated battery, women go for a guy who wears anger on his face all the time?

[scrb]

Even if there isn't trafficking, which means an international criminal conspiracy, probability of getting Oliver back alive would be low. As Julien said back in 2006, there best chance is finding Oliver in the first few days.

Actually, when Emily goes to visit Ian's wife, she says it's been 5 days so the 2006 story line is young and the possibility remains of finding the child.

Of course they don't find him and it may be that at most Tony, Emily and the police get some closure.

Or maybe they bust Tony. Kind of incredible that Tony is able to evade detection for Ian, who, being rich and having influence with politicians in France, would have his absence investigated fairly intensely.

[alias1]

I can kind of see what they're going for, not so much the case itself but what the case does to the people involved.

But Tony crossed a line in this episode.

He's got this permanent scowl. How does Emily overlook that or his volatility to marry him in the first place? He doesn't hide his anger, just lets it burst out.

Emily's father is some piece of work, covering that up from his own daughter, so she would marry or stay married to such a dangerous guy?

Then again that street artist, who has a huge Paris apt. Looks at the perma-puss on Tony's face and beds him?

Even if he wasn't capable of murder or aggravated battery, women go for a guy who wears anger on his face all the time?

I totally agree with you, and especially your comment about that Paris woman who hooked up with Tony for a one night stand.  What could she possibly have seen in him?  And I even agree about Emily.  Even before Oliver went missing, Tony didn't seem like the nicest person to be married to. He was never really likeable, but he has become unbearable throughout this series.

[alias1]

In full disclosure, I have already seen the end, but when I first saw this episode, I had almost the same thoughts about it as Sarah Bunting.  I love reading her recaps.  She has such great observations.  I agree this episode was just a lot of filler.  The other missing boy added nothing to the story and was a waste of screen time.  This series could have been at least one episode shorter.

[scrb]

I think the ending was fine and as the show runners said, it's about how the survivors react to the missing child, not the case itself.

 

Early on Julien says their chance at rescuing the child goes down after a few days.  So like similar cases, Ollie died not too long after he was lost but the cover up left Tony without closure and he had this obsessive personality.

 

His one advice to Julien at the end, to never give up on his child, seemed to work with Julien's daughter who seemed to be recovering.

 

Emily in the end realizes she can't move on with her life if she reconciles with Tony.  She said she was glad for a second to learn of Ollie's fate.  Tony couldn't rest though, even when Julien pointed out Oliver would be better off dying quickly than actually being abducted and smuggled out of the country.

 

At the wedding, he seemed to be more at peace but that was apparently a front and he was never going to give up his pursuit.

 

My guess is that they had to produce a certain number of episodes or hours so they had to weave in the subplots with Bourg and Garrett.  I think they could have shown more why different people helped Tony and Emily so much.  Or why Mark was drawn to Emily.  I'd like to understand why Sylvie helped so much, beyond having gone through some tragic moments in her own life.  I can see why Julien helped.  He was restless in retirement and dealt with turmoil in his own family.

 

They could have also shown why Tony was such an obsessive personality, why he'd shut off anyone else.  The anger is one thing but it would be difficult to channel it as he did.  He saw the scarf in the photo and kept after it.  But from some guy with a job demanding enough to be on call on holiday to someone who'd just give it up, turn his back on Emily, there could have been more exposition.  Not necessarily Lost-style flashbacks but something to explain his obsessive personality.

[needschocolate]

I think Ollie is dead and Tony has gone over the edge.  All through the final episode I was saying "he can't be dead, why did they show that opening in Russia if he is dead?" Plus, when they showed the boys staring at the man coming into the playground, the face of one boy was obscured by playground equipment.  And I thought Julian's phone call was to let Tony and Emily know that they found Ollie in Russia or that they have evidence that he was taken to Russia.  Until they got to the final scene.  Then it all made sense to me. Tony telling Julian not to give up on his child  - Tony can't "give up" on Ollie or the possibility he is alive, and, as long as Tony doesn't see Ollie's body, he will be convinced he is alive.  

 

I love a happy ending, but the ending they had makes more sense to me.  It would have been nice to see Tony's perseverance pay off, but that would have been horrible from a story perspective. If they had found Ollie alive, they would need many more episodes about them dealing with a child coming home after so long and having gone through what he would have gone through.  They couldn't just have everyone hug at the end and go back to their old lives.  I would have found that ending to be more unsatisfying.  

 

I was most annoyed with all the people that could have helped, but didn't.  Like the journalist not turning over the evidence he was given (wouldn't that have helped his career?).  Or the bad cop not telling anyone that he gave evidence to the journalist (sure, it may have increased his sentence, but it may have also been a good bargaining tool and he would have been able to get back at the journalist and get him into trouble).  But I don't see these actions as bad writing or bad storytelling - there are, unfortunately, awful people like this in the world - it is just frustrating that Tony and Emily had to run into so many of them.  

 

I also found it annoying that Georges had the body removed.  If they just left it in the street, everyone would think it was a hit and run.  I am assuming there was no damage to the drunk guy's car.  But then the series would have been only one episode.

 

But the most annoying thing to me --- I really hate that Tony has now lost the picture Ollie drew.

 

The chain of events from car to house bugged me the most, not least because the resolution was so simple:  Why didn't the criminals just grab Ollie, blindfold him, and let him go? 

 

The fact is, ironically things would have been better for all involved if Ollie had simply gotten out of the house like he tried to do. He hadn't seen anyone at that point. He had no idea what had happened to him at all. He would not have remembered the collision or recognized the driver.

 

The guy was expecting to find a dead body in the trunk.  Ollie being alive and wandering around surprised him.  I can see how he wouldn't immediately think "if I don't let him see me, I can blindfold him and drop him off in the woods and hope he doesn't remember anything."  He let the boy see him and so he now had to get rid of him.  

 

Also, did he know how Ollie died, or did he just know there was supposed to be a dead body? He may have though that the boy being alive may be bad for Georges.  

 

But the reality is that the guy was the slime that grows on the scum of the Earth. 

 

I was very disappointed in the Ian Garrett and Vincent Bourg plots that went nowhere.  The Vincent story line was especially tragic, but we never really learned his connection to Ian.  I guess it didn't matter.

 

And I thought Emily's behavior throughout was basically just strange.  From wearing those skimpy, trapeze tops to running out of the hotel barefoot and barely dressed.  And nothing was more bizarre than her behavior at her wedding to the long suffering Mark.  I never thought I'd say this, but poor Mark. That speech she made didn't make sense.  I guess it was just so they could show the little vignettes of what happened to some of the other characters. Sitting with her ex-husband at her long overdue wedding didn't make sense to me either.  And Frances O'Connor gets a Golden Globe nomination but James Nesbitt does not.   I hope she doesn't win.  I'm sure I will watch another season even though this ending was a lot less than I wanted.

 

I think Ian made sense, from a story standpoint.  A good mystery has to have some leads/characters that turn out to be unrelated to the case, otherwise everything just becomes obvious.  Plus, having Tony kill Ian was a way to show how angry Tony could be (perhaps to raise the idea that Tony actually killed Ollie out of anger).  And it gave suspense as to whether Tony would get caught.   I am not sure why they had the Vincent character, other than more proof of Tony's intensity.  

 

They didn't say it, but I think the connection between Ian and Vincent was that Ian had molested Vincent when he was younger.  Vincent had commented that Ian threatened to hurt Vincent's mother if he said anything.  It is common for pedophiles to threaten to kill family members to keep their victims silent.

 

As for Emily, I think her bizarre dress and behavior were to show the effects of the loss of a child on her mentally.  Tony gets angry and intense, Emily goes a little crazy in a more typical sense - seeing visions, etc. Her speech at the end was the background for the updates, but, with her seeing Ollie at the wedding,  it was also a way to show that Emily hasn't fully healed or maybe that her visions of Ollie are what is keeping her functioning.  

 

Tony keeps going because he thinks Ollie may be alive, Emily keeps going because she always has Ollie with her, even if it is just in her mind.  

Edited January 8, 2015 by needschocolate

[Primetimer]

The end of The Missing, and what became of its broken-hearted.

Read the story

[alias1]

I watched most of the marathon today and then rewatched the last episode.  I feel like I missed something.  When did Alain drop his chip by the pool?  He hit Ollie on the road and then drove him to that empty house.  When was he near the pool? 

 

As someone mentioned previously, that high pitched sound they kept repeating was very annoying.  

 

Vincent Bourg's story was heartbreaking.  He was so happy when he thought he was going to be normal.  When they showed him swinging his legs, happily telling that nurse he could eat ice cream in the morning, it was an eerie foreshadowing of his suicide. 

 

It was a very good series, but having seen it all again, I'm still not happy with the ending for Tony.

[needschocolate]

I feel like I missed something.  When did Alain drop his chip by the pool?  He hit Ollie on the road and then drove him to that empty house.  When was he near the pool? 

 

After he hit Ollie and was still in the street, the coin fell into the gutter and rolled down the drain.  At first I thought "how could it end up at the pool?" and realized that it was probably found in the gutter drain near the pool.  I can see why someone might think it wasn't important evidence - some coin in a gutter drain probably wouldn't lead to the kidnapper - there are probably a few coins in a gutter drain, only they are regular coins, not sobriety coins.  

 

While it makes sense that all the street drainage would be connected, I do find it a bit unbelievable that the coin would drop on the street (on a small hill above the pool?), roll down to the pool area and just happen to stop in the drain in the street near the pool.  

[panthergirl13]

I watched most of the marathon today and then rewatched the last episode.  I feel like I missed something.  When did Alain drop his chip by the pool?  He hit Ollie on the road and then drove him to that empty house.  When was he near the pool? 

 

Good question. I hadn't thought about it before, but I also can't figure out how the chip would have gotten there. Also, like others, I was a little confused about the lack of blood at the accident site. I guess people can have internal injuries but that seemed odd.

 

I agree overall with SDB's recap/thoughts on the series. I thought it was much more true-to-life than the way most crime stories are wrapped up in TV land. 

 

I also thought Tony looked like George Clooney at the end (and that was a complete shock to me... I really didn't see that reveal coming at all)

[alias1]

Good question. I hadn't thought about it before, but I also can't figure out how the chip would have gotten there. Also, like others, I was a little confused about the lack of blood at the accident site. I guess people can have internal injuries but that seemed odd.

 

I agree overall with SDB's recap/thoughts on the series. I thought it was much more true-to-life than the way most crime stories are wrapped up in TV land. 

 

I also thought Tony looked like George Clooney at the end (and that was a complete shock to me... I really didn't see that reveal coming at all)

I love Sarah Bunting's recaps.

 

In my opinion they did that shocking reveal of Tony at the end to produce exactly the effect you've described, but I found it kind of eye rolling.  They ended every episode with kind of a cliffhanger or an "oh my gosh!" reveal and I guess that was their idea of the ultimate cliffhanger.

After he hit Ollie and was still in the street, the coin fell into the gutter and rolled down the drain.  At first I thought "how could it end up at the pool?" and realized that it was probably found in the gutter drain near the pool.  I can see why someone might think it wasn't important evidence - some coin in a gutter drain probably wouldn't lead to the kidnapper - there are probably a few coins in a gutter drain, only they are regular coins, not sobriety coins.  

 

While it makes sense that all the street drainage would be connected, I do find it a bit unbelievable that the coin would drop on the street (on a small hill above the pool?), roll down to the pool area and just happen to stop in the drain in the street near the pool.  

Thank you for the explanation.  In an entire scenario of coincidences, that was quite the coincidence.

Edited January 11, 2015 by SierraMist

[scrb]

The coin probably meant nothing to the cop or the journalist, unless they had it analyzed for fingerprints or any other DNA like blood.

 

So why did the cop think it was significant?

[ichbin]

The coin probably meant nothing to the cop or the journalist, unless they had it analyzed for fingerprints or any other DNA like blood.

 

So why did the cop think it was significant?

Maybe he didn't think it was significant.  I'm thinking the cop picked it up just because it was something that shouldn't have been there but didnt necessarily have to think it was an actual lead.  Then he gave it to the reporter to get him off his back but  still thinking it was actually unimportant to the case.

Edited January 11, 2015 by ichbin

[scrb]

Then he told someone -- was it Julien? -- that he found something and gave it to the journalist, which is how they knew to go pressure the journalist to give up the coin.

 

Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone through the trouble to get the cop's son to visit him in prison.

[SonofaBiscuit]

I wish that they had completely eliminated the Russia stuff at the beginning and end of the episode.  Right as the episode ended, I was left wondering if Tony had gone off the deep end, or if he had really found Oliver who was somehow alive.  I thought that maybe the second season would show how Oliver was even still alive and how he ended up in Russia.  But then the ad for season 2 mentioned a brand new case, so I guess Tony just went a bit mad after learning the truth. I'm hoping that Julien can come out of retirement to be involved in the next case, I thought that he was wonderful. 

[alias1]

 I'm hoping that Julien can come out of retirement to be involved in the next case, I thought that he was wonderful. 

I so agree with this.  I loved Julien and wish he could be in every season of The Missing.  It doesn't look like that's going to happen, though.

[alias1]

Maybe he didn't think it was significant.  I'm thinking the cop picked it up just because it was something that shouldn't have been there but didnt necessarily have to think it was an actual lead.  Then he gave it to the reporter to get him off his back but  still thinking it was actually unimportant to the case.

This makes sense to me now.  Ziane gave the sobriety chip to Malik Suri thinking it would get him off his back.  Malik Suri thought Ziane was just stalling and that's why he gave the evidence about Ziane to Julien (as he had threatened to do if Ziane hadn't come up with anything substantial).  Wasn't it Karl Sieg who mentioned about a cop having some kind of evidence and then Julien remarking that Ziane had never turned in any evidence.  I'm a little fuzzy on that.  And what made Malik Suri send the chip off to some lab (that Mark conveniently tracked down) if he didn't think it was significant?

[seamusk]

Watching this now.  Wow it's great.  I don't agree that it's boring at all.  I'm completely enthralled throughout.  And I love that it's basically an 8 hour movie quality mystery.  

 

But yes, Tony.  Not very likable. Has MAJOR anger issues. Emily, however, is very likable.  I really get her and relate to her efforts to try to move forward, though obviously nothing like that has ever happened to me.

[Sarah D. Bunting]

Thanks, friend.

[Which Tyler]

I've never understood why people need to like a character in order to enjoy a story. These characters are realistic, and not everyone is likeable.

Definition of a main character is not "sympathetic" or "likeable" or any other such nonsense, just the character around whom most of the story focuses.

Equally this story did not need any more action to keep it interesting, the story itself is interesting, the drama is interesting, the "action" was just about the least interesting aspect of this.

[raven]

 

Vincent's storyline was very tragic; I honestly felt sorry for him, trying as he was to curb his problems and seeing no way out.

So did I.  He did not want to be the way he was and I wasn't surprised at his suicide.

 

I was OK with the ending and was not expecting to see Tony in Russia.  I did marathon the show which seems to be the way for me to go lately with these types of things.  I do think Ollie is dead and Tony has gone completely obsessive/around the bend because of it.  There's a second or two of hope that he's found him, then the police come along and say how they've dragged him from the different towns, and you realize this is his life, the endless, fruitless searching. 

 

I did think it was ridiculous that Georges didn't realize Ollie was still alive - Alain less so, since he was a drunken idiot. Though it would have been more believable for us if we saw that he hit the fox as well or something, the thump was SO loud when he hit Oliver, I found it really hard to to go along with that little boy walking around after being hit like that. 

 

Ugh, Georges was despicable, holding onto the secret all those years.  He could have at least told them where the body was before shooting himself.  Maybe he didn't know since he didn't dispose of it but it was selfish and cowardly. 

 

I agree with the comment upthread that the show was about the journey, besides the family, the incident changed Mark's life, his son's life, Julien & his wife, their daughter, Malik might not be a father, Ziane in jail, Georges, Victor, Ian, all dead.  Someone in the show said the incident killed the town.  All could have been different if Alain didn't drink & drive, or after the accident continued on the call to emergency or if,if,if - there're alot of wrong turns to get this tragic ending.

 

 

I loved Julien and wish he could be in every season of The Missing.

I did as well.  I'll watch S2 and would love to see him again.

[scrb]

Is there suppose to be another season of this show?

 

Or was it not renewed?

 

Guess it's been over a year so ...

[editorgrrl]

Is there suppose to be another season of this show?

A second series has been commissioned, which will feature a new case. But there is no release date.

You can watch a trailer at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1144791/Teaser-trailer-Season-2-BBCs-The-Missing.html

After the final show of the first series ended, producers trailed a cryptic message suggesting a second storyline—with a short advert accompanied by a voiceover from detective Julien Baptiste, played by Tcheky Karyo.

He said: ‘To lose somebody can destroy a person. But to find them again, when so much has passed… Well, sometimes, that can be worse.’

The second series is expected to keep the show’s overall structure of a story set over two different time frames, but it will be a fresh case with different characters and a different location.

Edited November 30, 2015 by editorgrrl

[ApathyMonger]

I don't think S2 has even announced a cast or crew yet, so it's still probably a good while off.

[editorgrrl]

I think Tony went crazy long ago, and that Julien made a terrible mistake when he stole that shirt from Ian's cement.

[BetyBee]

I finished this series last night and I just don't know how I feel about the ending.  Neither parent will ever really have their life back.  And Mark will never have the real Emily, just a shadow of the original.  That might have been different if Alain had called emergency services rather than continuing for years with his cruel charade. His charade included feigning sobriety or his chips would have stopped at 12, then started again. And of course he feigned being a decent man for his wife Sylvie. It was especially cruel since he didn't kill poor Olly.  What a nightmare for those parents!  Anyway, as for the ending, as I said, I don't know what to think.  If Tony hadn't actually thought several previous boys were Olly, then I'd be inclined to think that that boy who looked exactly like the age enhanced picture, was  Olly.  But I do believe we are meant to think that Tony has lost his mind.  That the evil Romanian was told to get rid of the boy and is unlikely to handle it any other way, tells me that poor Ollie was killed at the house.  I was not happy with the ending, but as Julien said, the alternatives were also horrible.  

[glowlights]

I had been wanting to watch this for quite a while and finally binge-watched this last week. At the time I didn't really enjoy it but it has stayed with me, and I guess that's some kind of endorsement. :)

 

I came away with the impression that the boy was killed by the Romanian criminal (after all, he said the boy had seen his face so he had to take care of the problem - why would he let the boy live and risk identification when it was so easy and expedient to "fix" the problem?). And I was glad that in the end it wasn't some vast international sex trafficking conspiracy (led by scary dark-skinned foreigners) but was instead the result of a terrible accident caused by someone the family knew, and then covered up due to greed and personal interests. When a child goes missing it's so easy to look for Hollywood motives when the answer is usually far more prosaic (and close to home). That Tony can't let go of the hope his child is out there somewhere (and is destroying himself with the obsession) also rang true. There is a real life case which I won't mention by name (it tends to attract the internet crazies) in which the parents have refused to admit that there is no evidence of foul play and have spent years building a crazy conspiracy theory and chasing improbable leads, plowing through their savings in the process. They've pretty much accused everyone but the Pope of being in on it (and maybe they've added him to the list by now). Watching Tony in Russia reminded me of how this kind of loss can really drive a parent mad. There will always be boys with brown hair and soulful eyes, and everytime he sees one he'll think he's looking at his son. Because what if?

 

Does anyone know if there will be a Season 2?