The Missing - General Discussion

[Wilson Cat]

I'm really late to the party here.  Binge watched the entire series during the Comcast/Xfinity "Free Premiere Networks" week.  And frankly......the ONLY thing that kept me going was Julien.  Loved the character, loved the way the actor portrayed him.  (Sorry, too lazy to look up the actor's name...)  But I could hardly stomach Tony.  The way James Nesbitt played his character was so off-putting to me that I could hardly watch him by about the 5th episode, and by the finale I found him disgusting.  That angry glare.....not sure if it is just crap writing, but no character should be so one-dimensional.  I felt like I was watching some perverse cartoon of what a missing child mystery should be.  Compared with the French series "Engrenages" (Canal-Plus, Seasons 1 - 4 currently available on Netflix and I'm waiting for S5 to show up) I love that series.  Caroline Proust is amazing, as are Grégory Fitoussi, Thierry Godard, Philippe Duclos and Fred Bianconi.  Multi-dimensional, so side stories are gripping.  But in The Missing, the side stories had me pulling my hair out.  Boring.  Tedious.  Pointless.  What the hell were all those dead ends for?  I got so impatient with the sluggish story line and so put off by Nesbitt's version of Tony that I actually skipped Episode 7, and doubt I missed much.  Vincent Bourg's character was one of the few exceptions, for me. There was some poignancy in his desperation and his suicide was very believable and affecting.

 

Anyway.....doubt anyone will ever read this post since this show is very old news.

[ApathyMonger]

Started in the UK last night.

I'm interested, but there's a bit too much going on. Hopefully it'll become clearer as the season goes on. Another problem is that the whole "long-missing child returns after a decade" story has been done on TV twice this year alone, including once on the BBC already in Thirteen.

[ApathyMonger]

Episode Two:

Even more parallels to ABC's The Family, with one abducted child taking the place of the other one. At least this series isn't intended to be an ongoing.

Eight episodes does seem like it might be a bit too much though. They're either going to get overly convoluted, or stretch it out too long without explanations.

Edited October 19, 2016 by ApathyMonger
Clarify episodes seen

[Popples]

Has anyone heard the US air date? I've googled around for it and it just talks about the UK airings and then gets spoilery.

[ApathyMonger]

Wasn't sure on this season at first, but it's definitely picked up as its gone. Really liked last night's episode, and am looking forward to seeing where they go with the story now.

Interview with the writers (Spoilers for Ep 5): http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/the-missing/45176/the-missing-series-2-the-writers-on-episode-5-s-revelation

[halkatla]

This is so much better than thirteen (which was okay) and the family (not good...).

[molshoop]

I liked it even more than Season 1.  The acting is fantastic.

[Popples]

It FINALLY has a date for the Starz premiere, Sunday, February 12, 8 PM.

[WaltersHair]

The first episode is already up and it's amazing. The time jumps are jarring and I may have to watch it again to understand them. There are three timelines? Abduction time, 2014 and present (which I think has to be 2016 as this was released in Europe first). The switching is disorienting as we don't know the characters well yet. The Stone woman and the mother look very  much alike.

Tchéky Karyo also transforms significantly between the two years. I like him much better this time around. He seems more human than super detective.

I love the big bear guy. His voice is so soothing, he'd be the only one I'd trust to take me into a hostile area.

All the twists and turns from last season have me wondering if no one is who they appear to be.

Edited February 6, 2017 by WaltersHair

[Primetimer]

The gripping Season 2 premiere raised a few questions for Sarah D. Bunting -- and not just the ones it intended to.

View the full article

[ApathyMonger]

I watched this when it aired in the UK. It takes a few episodes to get used to the multiple time periods and sort out the characters, but from the third episode on it's very gripping.

Not as uniquely depressing as S1, but a very good thriller series.

[iggysaurus]

Does anyone know if Starz plans to release just one episode per week after the "real" premiere, or will they put them all up at once? I'm not familiar with how Starz normally does things.  I'm hoping for an all-at-once because I like to binge this kind of show!

[mjc570]

I liked it a lot - after all, Roger Allam!  David Morrissey!  Keeley Hawes!  Tchéky Karyo!  I thought it set up a number of interesting mysteries - how does Reed tie in?  What's the deal with the woman in the supermarket parking lot?  Is Alice actually Alice? Where the baby? Where's Sophie?  Who's the bad guy?  Why is the brother - who seemed so sweet and good natured - now a skin head?

I have to admit that I hope (1) that Alice really is Alice, since I hate trying to determine imposters; and (2) Jean doesn't really have a brain tumor, which can often be gimmicky in producing an unreliable narrator.  While I don't expect to be spoon fed information, I really am pretty lazy when it comes to TV, and prefer things to be (somewhat) straightforward.  Please show, rely on the good writing and acting you've shown so far - we don't need gimmicks!

I assume the dad was burned in an explosion, which perhaps also involved Sgt. Stone, resulting in the loss of her baby.  I can't think of anything besides the affair that would require him to be apologizing to his family. 

I was totally surprised by Alice's death - although I wondered, since it was several years after her reappearance that mom/midget were going to visit, where she would have been living.  That was really well done. 

[Valny]

On ‎2‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 5:06 PM, Sarah D. Bunting said:

Note that Starz is dropping this 2/6, in advance of the 'real' premiere 2/12 at 8 ET. 

I tried to find it On Demand today, but only season one was up. Damn! Guess I wait until tomorrow.

It's been getting pretty good reviews.

[Valny]

I've seen nothing but good reviews.  (no spoilers)   I never finished season one(got about halfway)  but I really want to check out this new season.

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by Valny

[NeenerNeener]

I'm binge-watching this now instead of cleaning my house. Those are some impressive and scary dark circles under Alice's eyes.

[candall]

On ‎4‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 10:56 PM, Wilson Cat said:

Anyway.....doubt anyone will ever read this post since this show is very old news.

And hello from 2017!!!  (You 2014 posters wouldn't believe what's happened in this country in the meantime.)

 

It was interesting, reading this thread.  After the first hour and a half of Season One, I didn't feel like being this poor tortured man's companion down one dead-end trail after another and I called it quits.  Season Two, however, looks interesting, so I recorded and watched the Season One finale, just in case there were any carryover characters.  (Good news for all the Tchecky Karyo fans.)

Surprise, I was able to follow about 90% of the finale with perfect clarity.  It didn't make me want to go back and fill in the missing details, either.

I think we were meant to view the whole thing from the father's perspective and mirror his emotions right to the bitter end--the initial horror, the frustration, the hopes raised and dashed, and finally the conflict of always wondering whether that might have been Ollie, with no confirmation either way. 

Edited February 12, 2017 by candall

[Straycat80]

I didn't watch the first season so I don't know if any of the story or character come  from that. If so I'll be confused.  I liked this first episode and it was compelling enough for me to keep watching. 

[Mabinogia]

I didn't watch the first season either. I tuned in because this season seems very similar to Thirteen, about an abducted girl coming back years later. Thirteen went a bit off the rails towards the end, but it was a fascinating story. I'm curious how this telling goes. The cops seem a lot more competent already. lol

It is confusing jumping through time while trying to keep all the characters straight. Since I don't really know any of the actors, and a few of them are looking similar to me, it is taking me a bit to get what's going on. Like the fact that the father was screwing the formerly pregnant cop in the present timeline.

I do like that they are setting up quite a few mysteries. Who was the grocery woman, what happened to the baby, who is Alice, where is Sophie, why did the composite sketch look nothing like the guy Baptiste is going after?

I am hoping that Alice is really Alice, but Baptiste means she's not the same person mentally/spiritually that she was before she was taken.

So far I'm digging this. I only hope I'm able to follow along better once I'm more used to the characters/actors.

[TheVoicesToldMeTo]

I kept waiting for the DNA test too. I mean, they had to have taken a blood sample to at least check for STD's considering she's a sexual assault victim. Not as gripping as Season 1, probably because we're not invested in the disappearance of a child but more the return of an adult.

Is anyone else tired of that trope where the Dad/Husband/Boyfriend/Brother finds out his female loved one has been raped and runs out of the room to pound on a wall or kick a door and make it all about him? I mean, can you imagine if that happened in real life? Like somehow this is worse news for him, than the mother of Alice or even Alice herself.

[kmd11]

I thought the same thing about the DNA. Why didn't they just test her DNA. I didn't get that. 

[absolutelyido]

9 minutes ago, kmd11 said:

I thought the same thing about the DNA. Why didn't they just test her DNA. I didn't get that. 

I wondered about that too. The only explanation I could come up with is that the father wouldn't allow it, and it would cause the brother to be very upset. When the mother (I can't remember any of their names) was talking to Baptiste on the phone she was hiding it from both the father and son and said they would be angry if they knew she was even talking to him. I'd guess we will find out that the father and brother are adamant that the girl was Alice and refuse to hear otherwise.

I noticed that Alice's grave marker said her death was 12-22-14, and that there were Christmas trees in both Baptiste's house when the woman detective called him and in Alice's family's house when they brought her home, so I'd guess she doesn't live very long after they find her.

[atlantaloves]

just binged watched 6 episodes...this show is so great, even better than last year, much better, and that is saying a lot, so different, loved loved loved it, gonna finish it off tonight, love our fabulous sick French detective...do not miss this series folks, I am a murder junkie, and this is fabulous.  

[iggysaurus]

Are there going to be additional episode threads for Season 2? I've finished the whole thing and was hoping to see some discussion about individual eps...

[MissMel]

You really should try to finish season one.  I just watched it all.  I'm looking forward to season two but wow, I kind of don't want to see it either.  

[Jordan27]

Enjoyed it enough to continue watching.  The three time jumps was a little hard to follow.  It reminds of another American show from last year that seems to be the same plot.

It's funny to see the Governor, with an English accent, with Lydia from Breaking Bad.   The ironic thing is that I just got through watching the BB finale with a friend who had never seen it.

[Sunny416]

I just binge watched all the episodes and it just gets better and better.  I found that I really had to pay close attention with all the timeline flipping back and forth, but love that I had to concentrate every second.  Every question I had, anything that wasn't clear was answered at the conclusion; so if things seem confusing, hang in there - it all makes sense in the end.

[mjc570]

I thought that was a very interesting episode, although the reason given for not DNA testing was absolutely ridiculous (the parents identified her).  I'm not sure I really buy in completely to Julien's theory - after all, if the girls spent so much time together, perhaps Alice picked up Sophie's mannerisms.  Alice's response to Gemma (assuming her teacher identification was accurate) seemed to indicate that she really is Alice, while I guess Gemma's reaction is supposed to set up tension (is she or isn't she), which I think is unnecessary.  The issue (to me) isn't whether she's really Alice, but who took her and what happened throughout the years, as well as Daniel's role, his father's possible role, Sgt. Stone's dad's involvement, whatever happened to Alice's dad.  I thought at the end, it was indicating that Sgt. Stone's dad (sorry, don't remember his name or rank, but is played by Roger Allam) had something to do with it.  With all these issues (as well as the presumably false identification of the butcher, his wife's army background), I have to assume there are a number of red herrings.  And I haven't even mentioned Julien's brain tumor, or Mattahew's transformation from a sweet boy to a neo-nazi skinhead.

I think Alice looks way too young, given how much older she looked per-abduction, and I just don't understand her racoon eyes. 

Another question:  was the woman attacked by Matthew at the supermarket the butcher's wife?

[mjc570]

Well, this episode certainly cleared up a number of things - why Gemma kept looking through roller coaster pictures, the Matthew/skinhead/supermarket woman (who indeed was Nadia), how Sam got burned and Alice/Sophie died. 

I'm still not clear on the Daniel Reed/Henry Reed connection, but I hope Julien and the journalist resolve it soon.  The whole Middle East thing seems gimmicky and unnecessary.

I'm pretty bad at picking up on "clues,", but I am assuming that the Brigadier was the abductor?  He does look a bit like Kristian.  Yeah, Alice/Sophie saying she's sorry hardly makes up for the complete destruction of his life (and poor Nadia's, ugh). 

I'm REALLY glad Starz made the whole season available, I think this is the type of show that benefits from binge watching, especially for memory-challenged folks like myself.

[Valny]

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 8:53 PM, absolutelyido said:

I noticed that Alice's grave marker said her death was 12-22-14, and that there were Christmas trees in both Baptiste's house when the woman detective called him and in Alice's family's house when they brought her home, so I'd guess she doesn't live very long after they find her.

Quote

I was totally surprised by Alice's death -

 

I too was pretty surprised when the brother said he was going to visit Alice and we see it is a grave. Intriguing.

Someone please refresh my memory......what year is it when she was found?  Just want to know how long between her found date and death.

Poor girl,I didn't think they were going to find out she gave birth too!!

Edited February 19, 2017 by Valny

[mjc570]

I have to admit that the whole multiple girl plot is confusing.    The returned girl was Sophy, so I presume Alice and Lena are dead?  That was Alice's body or skull, in the burned out shed?  That makes more sense than the army switching DNA results to me, but who knows.  I'm  sure I miss a lot . 

While for the most part I think the writing (and acting) have been first rate, I do have 2 quibbles:.  First, Nadia has been the victim of a brutal home invasion.  Would she really leave the door unlocked and sit with her back to it?  Julien just walked in.  Second, why hasn't anyone noticed jorn's absence?   I know Adam debt that text. But it seemed like Jory had friends who would be concerned.  

[izabella]

On 2/17/2017 at 10:14 PM, mjc570 said:

I thought at the end, it was indicating that Sgt. Stone's dad (sorry, don't remember his name or rank, but is played by Roger Allam) had something to do with it. 

I got that impression as well, but was confused by her telling him when he first sat next to her that yes, that was the guy who had abducted her.  Could he be an accomplice of some sort? 

I can't fathom what the soldier whose dad supposedly killed himself (Henry Reed) has to do with the butcher or the abductions, nor what his father has to do with any of it. 

The lack of DNA test is bothering me.  I guess tv shows have to take some liberties in order to maintain ambiguity and suspense, but I'll be pissed if they make "is she, or isn't she Alice?" the main question throughout the season when it could be answered so easily.

[mjc570]

Ugh, what a disappointment.  I liked the series, but there were so many things I really hated about this episode that it ruined it for me.

 Things I hated, a lot of which were plot-induced stupidity: 

(1)  Sophie and Alice looked NOTHING ALIKE.  Sure, the parents may have wanted to believe it was her, and I understand that she was kept under wraps, but that was ridiculous.  Also, speaking of appearances - I don't understand why Sophie was supposed to be so good-looking, as evidenced by that fortuitously verbose young waiter.  She really wasn't attractive, and I'm not just talking about her racoon eyes.  Alice on the other hand . . . .

(2) Eve is the worst cop ever.  It couldn't have been clearer that Henry Reed was murdered - even if someone (against all testimony that he was not suicidal) accepts the fact that he would shoot himself in the hallway (awkward, I would think), the lack of GSR (gun shot residue) on his hand would have been determinative.

(3) Speaking of stupid - clearly, Sam was too stupid to live.  For a military officer he certainly had no grasp of tactics or strategy.  Sure, great idea to just run up to a deranged soldier WHO MIGHT POSSIBLY BE ARMED.  I realize he was unhinged, but still.  I'm glad he didn't have a miraculous recovery.

(4) I didn't understand why Adam was keeping Alice alive.  It was established through the Iraq incident that he liked sex with young girls - but that doesn't seem to be what was involved here.  The show, I think, was trying to present his actions as wanting a "family" - but why didn't he have one?  I thought he was breeding Sophie and Alice to produce girls for him after he enjoyed raping them while they were young, but that didn't seem to be the case.  One pregnancy among two girls for years of rape  just isn't a lot.  So, the show's them is pedophile = monster, abductor/abuser = monster, so pedophile = abductor/abuser.  And why would Adam think she would like that monkey drummer? 

(5) weird pacing of the episode, that made it really boring in parts - for example, the Brigadier's dementia speech went on far too long, yeah we got it in the first couple of minutes that he was telling Eve he wasn't the perfect soldier/dad she thought.  I also thought the Henry part went on too long, as well. 

Things I liked:
(1)  Kristian turning away from Nadia at the prison.

(2) Julien being too strong for the anesthetic. 

Added:  Thomas Arnold, who played young Adrian Stone, was really believable as a young Roger Allam.  Great casting!

Edited February 20, 2017 by mjc570
forgot to mention

[meep.meep]

I thought she told him that the guy in the picture (the butcher) was the kidnapper, and that she would say that, in order to convince him that she wasn't going to implicate him instead.  Hence the story about the tortoise and what happens if you open your mouth at the wrong time.

I don't think we will figure out the butcher and the butcher's wife's role in all this for a while.  It was the butcher's wife who skinhead Matthew was yelling at outside the store.

What is Gemma looking for in the pictures from the carnival ride?  Alice or Sophie?

[candall]

I didn't even realize the bald brain-tumor person was the investigator from "2014" until I saw a promo later where he was doing a voiceover. o_O

So, with my credibility totally shot, I'll still say that I'm glad they brought back the chubby man to help cross the border.  His character was too good not to use more.

[scrb]

They certainly put out the hooks to lure the viewers in.

Father is boning the detective, Alice dies, Julien has brain tumor, Julien says it's not the same girl, there are signs she's given birth but she denies there was a baby.

[Popples]

I wish they had explained why Adam kidnapped Sophie in the first place. Having not served in the military, I must not have the "leave no man behind" mentality, because I would have left Adam there.

On 2/20/2017 at 0:05 AM, mjc570 said:

And why would Adam think she would like that monkey drummer? 

Alice and her brother used to fight over one. Sophie used that knowledge to gain his trust to lock her in the shed. I'm going to fanwank that Adam grilled Alice on information like that for Sophie to use to convince the family she was Alice. It must have just stuck in Adam's memory, and he used it a treat to hold over her: "Be good and you'll get it."

On 2/20/2017 at 0:05 AM, mjc570 said:

Added:  Thomas Arnold, who played young Adrian Stone, was really believable as a young Roger Allam.  Great casting!

Wasn't it just! I thought it was phenomenal. Thomas Arnold looked so familiar to me, and I looked him up and and realized in was in the episode "Nocturne" of Endeavour with Roger Allam. It makes their scene together more amusing to me, now.

[Mabinogia]

1 hour ago, Popples said:

Added:  Thomas Arnold, who played young Adrian Stone, was really believable as a young Roger Allam.  Great casting!

That was such brilliant casting that at first I thought it was the actors son.

I was impressed that the show killed the father preventing a complete happily ever after ending. and I LOVE that Christien (the man wrongfully accused) blew his wife off a the end. I know the evidence against him was a lot (of course it was, it was all fabricated) but I feel like she bought into him being guilty far too quickly for him to ever feel loved by her again. I really, really felt bad for him though. And though I don't think she deserved the beat down she got, I felt less bad for her once the truth came out.

This season was brilliant in my mind. So many puzzle pieces that fit well together at the end. Yes, there are a few things that left me puzzled, what really did happen to Lena? Overall it held up very well for me. Adam was a sick fuck who fell in love with little girls. If Sophie had stayed with him instead of being rescued, I'm pretty sure she would be dead as soon as Lucy was a suitable age.

As for why he kept Alice around, that I would have liked an answer to. Perhaps it was so Sophie had a friend. Maybe, once she learned to "behave" she was going to replace Sophie (if she was younger, IDK their ages), I'm really not sure.

[Popples]

1 hour ago, Mabinogia said:

As for why he kept Alice around, that I would have liked an answer to. Perhaps it was so Sophie had a friend. Maybe, once she learned to "behave" she was going to replace Sophie (if she was younger, IDK their ages), I'm really not sure.

That's a really good question. He didn't even want them talking to each other (probably scared they might start plotting against him), so I don't know if companionship was his goal in kidnapping the other girls. Adam may have wanted to replace Sophie with Alice and the third girl (sorry, can't remember her name), but according to him they're not as complacent as Sophie, so it would seem they aren't "suitable".

[Mabinogia]

when Sophie was sick I could have seen Alice as backup in case Sophie died but once Sophie came back to him I would have figured Alice was a gonner. I honestly expected them to find her still chained up in the basement at his abandoned house. Then there would have been the idea, do Alice's parents give enough of a crap to help Julien safe Sophie. Maybe if Alice mentioned little Lucy they might but I think they were both too selfish to care about Sophie if they got their daughter back so I guess the show had to keep her with Adam until the climactic chase in the woods.

I will say, that whole showdown was well filmed. I loved how the snipers grabbed little Lucy as she was running. Made me jump.

[scrb]

The girls seem happy on that roller coaster?

Alice/Sophie is sorry for what she did to the butcher.  How did the receipt from the butcher shop end up in that bunker?

It was a frame job?

Alice/Sophie and the abductor have ruined so many lives ...

[Norma Desmond]

I thought it was amazing, much better than season 1. There were a few plot holes here and there but who cares, I love Julien Baptiste. Hope there is a seson 3.

[absolutelyido]

So, Sophie killed Alice! She couldn't have been working alone, I'd guess Eve's father was involved as well. The plot thickens.

At least now we know why they didn't do a DNA test on Alice, they did and it was Alice who died.

I have to say I'm glad the scenes in Iraq are done. I thought they were just distracting.

[scrb]

Yeah seems like a pretty large conspiracy, much larger than just a couple of girls being abducted.

[scrb]

The father in season 1 never got his son back and from my recollection, he was left brokenhearted.

Sam Webster just had a moment of recognition that Alice was alive, before he passed.

Even if he'd survived, this was in no way a happy ending.  Sophie is broken.  Alice might have a chance to regain some normalcy and maybe Lucy too, though she's seen horrible things.

The Henry Reed is dead, his son and the young German detective.  A marriage has been destroyed.

[BooBear]

I just knew that when the cute geeky Polizi guy gave the army lady the geeky song that he would end up dead.  All of that being said, isn't kidnapping girls and holding them in your basement so last year?  Not exactly shocking. 

[meep.meep]

Since I was convinced before seeing the show that they had just re-made Thirteen, and that's what happened in Thirteen, it wasn't really shocking.

I have never before watched a TV show praying that they wouldn't show what was going on, but I was definitely not wanting to see what he was doing with that drill.

[ccphilly]

The casting this season was phenomenal.  The young Captain Stone looked so much like the older actor I had to look to see if it wasn't some CGI-fu.  They really nailed him, little Lucy, and young/old Henry Reed.  

[BooBear]

On 3/13/2017 at 3:12 PM, meep.meep said:

Since I was convinced before seeing the show that they had just re-made Thirteen, and that's what happened in Thirteen, it wasn't really shocking.

I have never before watched a TV show praying that they wouldn't show what was going on, but I was definitely not wanting to see what he was doing with that drill.

It was also the plot of the movie "room" -- I think - haven't seen the movie yet. And a real life case of a dad keeping his daughter in the basement dungeon. 

I turned off when he started with the drill.

[riverheightsnancy]

I just finished binge watching seasons 1 & 2. Really loved both of them. In particular, Detective Lucien is my favorite. I hope for a season 3 with Lucien back and working another case. In respect to season 2-I think that Sophie and Alice had very similar noses, but their personalities were very different. You could see what the mom was talking when they were finallky reunited with the real Alice. She hugged and hugged hard. Very different than Sophie. Sophie's personality is what made her (ultimately) a willing victim. This story reminded me a lot of the real case in Cleveland were this guy (Castro) had three victims and used them as pawns against each. In particular, he favored one that had his child and hated one that he felt was "not as pretty". He hated the one girl so much that he caused her to miscarriage multiple times. Very horrific case.