3 out of 5

Directed by: Peter Stebbings

A compelling core concept and interesting characterizations are oddly undersold by some muddled reasoning and what felt like a stupidly obvious plot point.

The Disappearance slots in with the litany of missing kid dramas, of which there are no less than three running at any given time.  …Which is fine.  It’s a universal enough trigger for emotional stakes for most people, and automatically gives the featured murder / kidnapping / whatever that grievous “but they’re only a child!” Seriousness.  I’m cynical of this, perhaps obviously, not being a guy who cares about kids, but if you use the premise for a good character study or mystery, I’m in.

And The Disappearance does that, in part.  The get offf on a good foot by making the child interesting and intelligent: Anthony (Michael Riendeau) is a bright youngster, following the encouragement of his ex-judge grandfather to turn a history project into an opportunity to map the residents of his neighborhood and their habits.  The project is ambitious, but lands him in trouble for, essentially, spying, and also gives us a hint of what’s to come when we see him take some pictures of what looks like a squat inside an abandoned house.

This all acts as a preface to introduce us to Anthony’s family: Father Luke (Aden Young) and mother Helen (Camille Sullivan), aunt Catherine (Joanne Kelly), and the brusque aforementioned grandfather, Henry (Peter Coyote), who has moved in next door after the recent passing of his wife.  Henry’s dynamic in the family is contentious, as he can’t leave his taciturn nature behind in the courtroom or his past.  However, he adores his grandson, which we see when he puts together his yearly birthday gift for the boy: A treasure hunt around the town, focused on a lpgical piecing together of clues.  This might seem like forced foreshadowing, but its endearing, and the cast and script make it a believable affectation.  Unfortunately – or maybe fortunately, for our vile viewing pleasures –  Anthony never makes it to the goal of his most recent treasure hunt.  He has… disappeared.  …Ance

Flash forward some time, and this has taken its toll.  Mom and dad are essentially separated, with Luke pretty much an alcoholic.  Catherine, a nurse, has thrown herself into work, caring for a patient with the same kind of cancer he mother had.  And ex-judge Henry is just more cantankerous.  And then, but of course, some clues turn up suggesting Anthony is alive.  Here’s where you make your decisions as to whether or nor you’re along for the ride.

The core father / son dynamic that drives much of the drama is fantastic, Young and Coyote playing their flawed roles really well, jumping to conclusions with fervor and Coyote / Henry using his connections to bully his way through the police investigation via methods both propitious and maddening.  Similarly, the concepts that begin to be revealed through flashbacks are fascinating, and potentially emotionally rich.  On the other hand, the show makes the common mystery mistakes of clogging thing up with unnecessary extras: Extra details, extra red herrings, extra characters – and the whole thing is way too complicated to hold together, not to mention a Chekhov’s Gun that you can’t help but stare at the whole time.  And outside of these lead characters, Helen makes an insanely questionable decision that’s never dealt with, and Catherine mostly sidelined.  But the show is good at keeping things trucking forward; even the red herrings come with a sense of necessity in terms of getting us from point A to B.

Most of this description shouldn’t be news to mystery watchers.  The flubs are the unfortunate stock in trade of this stuff.  For the Disappearance, a wisely short season of six episodes and a good solid set of core characters and concepts definitely keeps it watchable, but it doesn’t pierce the veil to be in the higher echelon of mystery TV.