The Missing - General Discussion

[Superpole2000]

On 2/8/2017 at 10:43 PM, mjc570 said:

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 think the entire three timeline presentation is a gimmick, and it bugs me. It's as if the story isn't interesting or mysterious enough on its own so they have to present it in three different timelines to artificially insert some intrigue/mystery.

I've never really liked knowing the ending and working backward in film or TV. When I pick up a book, I don't read the last few pages and then start from the beginning.

[scrb]

It may be but obviously Alice Webster coming back home is the hook to get viewers into the series, because it's unusual.

Chances are, children abducted for years don't come back and there's no happy reunion.

But in the second season of this show, they couldn't tell another story of a child gone missing and despite the efforts of a monomaniacal parent and detective, they never see him again.

So they have to come up with some conceivable story about a kid coming back.  If they went linearly, it would span several years, including some time period before Alice returns and then some years in the aftermath.  As you watch the whole season, you see why they had to extend years after the return.

[charmed1]

I really enjoy watching this show. It was difficult for me to follow at first, but now I've found my groove. By now, I would think someone would miss the young guy that Crazy Kidnapper guy killed. He's got to have some family. 

[meep.meep]

You'd think the body would start to smell or drip at least.  When they get out of the car in Switzerland, Crazy Kidnapper guy realizes he's forgotten something.  I predict it's the German policeman's phone which will be found in the house.  

It's strange that British kids can only be abducted from foreign countries - France and Germany.

[raven]

On 3/27/2017 at 8:23 AM, charmed1 said:

By now, I would think someone would miss the young guy that Crazy Kidnapper guy killed. He's got to have some family. 

Plus how long can someone cover for you at work?  I'm not sure how much time has gone by, maybe just a day or so.

I love work obsessive, intense investigator Julien but sick and hallucinating Julien makes me sad.  Even though she's so worried and frustrated, I liked his wife still standing up for him to Sam.

I want to feel sorry for Matthew, but "angry young man" gets old fast, and his friends' eagerness to beat the crap out of people...just ugh.  I was all for Gemma having him arrested, maybe that will help straighten him out.

I binged the last few eps over the last couple of days...thoughts related to the series as a whole so far.  I don't like the actress playing Alice/Sophie and the raccoon eyes get on my nerves. 

I felt sorry for Reed Sr, who appeared to be a decent man, racked with guilt after the 1991 events.   Even Stone at least attempted to go back in to the burning house; doesn't make what they did right, but makes them more human.   The actor playing the elder Stone is doing a great job with the sadness and confusion of dementia - compared to supportive dad when Eve goes into labor a few eps ago.   Which, kudos show, I was so invested I never guessed that Eve was acting as surrogate for her sister (and if it was stated, I missed it).  I just assumed she lost the baby.

Adam, that fucker, kept the Iraq lock all these years.   Was not expecting the Alice reveal at the end.   So did Sophie escape or was her return orchestrated by Adam?  I can't see why - to frame Nadia's husband?  I'm thinking he let Sophie out of the shed, put the body of the 3rd girl, who was already dead from captivity maybe, in there and then faked the DNA results, maybe switching out the living Alice's DNA in the lab.  I don't see how he could cover up lying about DNA for so long.

Cymbal monkeys are always creepy.

[raven]

OK so I was wrong and Stone ended up being a cowardly POS.  I assumed Eve had him arrested since she said he wasn't going back to the care home.  I wondered if he were faking some of his symptoms.  Even though I knew he ended up dead, I felt like screaming at Reed to just go along with whatever Adam says and call the police later!!!  Stop arguing!!! 

Whew....I knew someone was going to die in the woods, just glad it was Sam, he was my least liked character out of the group.  At least he was trying to find/save his daughter.

The Swiss cavalry got there awful fast, good going Eve.   

Alice was one tough girl, standing up for herself but knowing what to do to stay alive. 

Of course Julien is too strong willed for the anesthesia.  He was my favorite character in S1 and the same is true here.   As long as he's around I'll be watching.  It doesn't hurt that the supporting characters are all well acted.

[Mabinogia]

10 hours ago, raven said:

Whew....I knew someone was going to die in the woods, just glad it was Sam, he was my least liked character out of the group.  At least he was trying to find/save his daughter.

I know how you feel. I was actually relieved when Sam was killed. I was worried it would be someone I cared about. I worried it would be Alice or her mom. I hated Sam through pretty much the whole series so it was really hard to care that he was gone. I did feel for the Websters because, they finally get Alice back only to loose another family member, but I'd call it an upgrade, really.

My heart did break for Sophie's father. That man has been put through a rollercoaster. First his daughter is gone, then maybe she is but maybe she's not, then no, she's alive, or it might not be her, who knows, then she's alive and wants nothing to do with him...and then he sees his granddaughter. Oh, the pain and happiness in his eyes when he saw her. I really hope Sophie gets unbrainwashed and can accept her original life but if not, I hope that her father gets custody of that little girl because she deserves a real family.

[Mama No Life]

I'm even later to this party.  Watched the first four quickly and then it slowed down. Soon I realized I was forcing myself to watch them.  Just so exhausting even when nothing really happened.  I ended up just reading the recaps for episode 8 because I couldn't deal with anymore of Tony's angry spittle.  I get it, I do. I just don't want to watch it.  

I don't think I'll watch season 2.  

[Superpole2000]

After a bit of a break, I finally watched this third episode. I don't think I will continue with this show. It's pretty set on being miserable, from one depressing scene to another. The multiple time periods thing didn't have to become a gimmick, but it has. "Oh so that's how the father got his burns..." was my first reaction to the fire scene, but then I realized that it just wasn't THAT interesting how he got the burns. The crime/case itself should be the thing, and yet so far it's been stuck in the background while we try to spot physical differences on characters from one time period to the next. The Iraq scenes are really not working for me either.

That said, I am intrigued by the rollercoaster picture.

[ApathyMonger]

Rather than a third season, the writers are doing a Baptiste spin-off starring Tcheky Karyo:

http://deadline.com/2018/04/tcheky-karyos-julien-baptiste-secures-spin-off-of-bbc-one-crime-drama-the-missing-1202356504/

 

Quote

The spin-off follows Baptiste and his wife on a visit to Amsterdam, when the Chief of Police, who happens to be an ex-girlfriend, seeks out his help on a case that takes him from the beautiful streets, canals and houses of Amsterdam to the seamy underworld beneath.

[scrb]

Hmm, interesting strategy.

So instead of another heart-wrenching child-abduction story, it will be about the cases Baptiste investigates.

But he tends to bury himself in these cases, risking his health and his own sanity.

 

I guess along with Counterpart, Starz is now the network of European dramas -- well Starz hasn't committed to taking this Baptiste spinoff yet.

Edited April 1, 2018 by scrb

[ApathyMonger]

Teaser for Baptiste:

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by ApathyMonger

[scrb]

So "Baptiste" in the UK will be The Missing season 3.

And it's coming to Netflix June 17, not back to Starz.

[zoey1996]

I watched the first two episodes of “Baptiste” and was intrigued enough to find “The Missing.” It’s on Starz on demand, so I just watched the first episode.  It’s not something I can multi-task through.  It needs some concentration.  

I like the Baptiste character and his relationship with his wife, and I’m interested to see how it all plays out.

[novhappy]

On 2/12/2017 at 2:54 PM, candall said:

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

And hello from 2020!! ( you 2014 and 2017 poster wouldn’t believe what’s happening in this country now!)

watched season 1 was interesting. Talk about a guy who needs closure! 

Edited May 6, 2020 by novhappy

[zoey1996]

I finished Season 1 and then watched Season 2 over several weeks.

On 5/6/2020 at 5:35 AM, novhappy said:

watched season 1 was interesting. Talk about a guy who needs closure! 

Agree!  The denouement for Season 2 was much more satisfying than Season 1.  Each episode revealed a little bit, with Episodes 7 & 8 wrapping it all up.  I watched on Starz On Demand, and the bits with the makers of the episodes were interesting.  I also read recaps on RadioTimes, which helped clarify some details that I didn't quite get or understand after the first viewing.

Now I'm looking forward to watching Baptiste! 

[candall]

On 5/6/2020 at 4:35 AM, novhappy said:

And hello from 2020!! ( you 2014 and 2017 poster wouldn’t believe what’s happening in this country now!)

 

LOLOL.  I'm guessing posters from, say, "earlier 2020" would have a hard time believing the current situation.

[I Want My MBTV]

I'm afraid I finally got around to season 2 (by now I forgot most of what had happened, particularly how it was resolved in Season 1). Anyway, I did quite like this season though I agree when we finally met Alice I was like "she looks noting like the Sophie?!"  I guess when "Alice" returned home she had been gone 11 years?  I suppose that's a lot of time and young people would change a lot and then there's the whole believing what you want to believe but still.    I also don't understand what Adam's (I hope that was his name) plan was with keeping the girls as they got older since older was not exactly his thing. It was scary when Baptiste asked him about other girls.  Which, of course, yet I had never thought about anyone being before Sophie.  He sure managed to keep a lot of balls in the air without anyone ever being suspicious of him.

Wasn't too torn up when Sam was shot.  Glad that he got to see he was wrong and should have listened to his wife and Baptist this whole time.  Not of fan of violence or vigilante justice but didn't really mind Matt and his friends beating up Stone. It's just too bad with his dementia he probably didn't understand why he was getting beat up.  That facility had the worse security ever!  You'd think if you're housing a place with dementia patients you might lock the doors so they can't just wander off in the middle of the night but I guess they were more concerned about getting their smoke breaks. 

Also, the butchers wife can bite me. I can't believe she had the nerve to show up at the jail when her husband got released.  Not only was she super quick to just be like "yep, my husband who I spend every day with evidently has been kidnaping little girls this whole time, off with his head" but also, if not for her, Christian would have never been the one Adam picked to set up in the first place.   Of course Adam wouldn't have had her to blame for not sending anyone to rescue him from being tortured had he not been you know raping a 13 year old so....

Speaking of Adam, I understand Brigadier Stone (another waste of space) didn't want the tape of him coming out but what I don't understand is why did he never just kill Adam himself?  He had enough power and we know he can stage accidents, DNA, etc.  Adam was always going to have that tape to hold over him. How much more was Stone going to do for the guy?   So many people's lives were ruined because of Adam (and Stone) and of course Adam gets to live.  

I don't have Starz so I'll have to see if Baptiste ever streams......