5 out of 5

Written by: Harry Williams and Jack Williams

covers season 1… because now seasonal anthologies are the way we do things, apparently

Stunning is not a word I’d toss around when used for describing TV shows. But were I to distill my impression of ‘The Missing’ down to a single descriptor, ‘stunning’ would undoubtedly be my choice.

BBC mystery minis tend to come in a couple of flavors: super compressed, three or four episode minis that cut to the core but either pursue odd tangents in a misguided attempt to work in a subplot or simply carve off too much clutter in pursuit of focus OR slightly bloated eight episode arcs that for some reason assume the extra runtime means we want to pursue red herrings in earnest for 6 episodes so that we feel properly surprised (or betrayed) by the conclusion.  Both flavors have their pluses and minuses, and both have examples which have taken good advantage of the format… or poor advantage of the format.  When this mini first started airing, a couple episodes in I was so deeply entrenched with how direct and moving it was, I was concerned the series was going to fall into the former compressed camp, and I would be sad to see it go so soon.  Finding out that it would be eight parts made me happy, but worried that the series would inevitably lose its way.  And some extra plot concerns do start to become roped in, 3, 4 episodes in… but these concerns are incredibly compelling and effectively tied to the plot; when things conclude, you are not left with the niggling notion that you’ve followed red herrings for 7 episodes.  The most telling sign, to me, of how well each thread is presented comes in the first season’s concluding moments, when we’re shown a coda for almost every character with whom we’ve interacted – every character seemed to matter when we revisited them; their stories and emotions absolutely relevant to our main one.  While there was one element which was fleshed out more than the others, and it seems to conclude well before the ending and yet we keep going with it – and yes, to explain more would essentially be a spoiler – reflecting upon the series’ themes, I do think it was important to carry it through to its end, and supported the feeling of care our creators had for their tale.  And unlike a show like ‘The Killing,’ which seemed to want to be outright cruel to its characters at times, while pretty much no one here gets a happy ending, ‘The Missing’ feels fair and balanced, and tries to understand these people as human beings, for whatever that’s worth.

The plot is about a missing kid.  You’ve seen that plot now a million times in a million different BBC minis, and may be rolling your eyes at one more.  Don’t.  As the story flashes back and forth to the time of 5-year old Oliver’s – son of James Nesbitt’s Tony and Frances O’Connor’s Emily – disappearance and then the present day, when a forever obsessed Tony discovers new evidence of Ollie’s potential whereabouts, ‘The Missing’ takes pains to balance the slow and terrible breakdown of the couple’s marriage post the event with the present day, where things begin to rebuild, albeit incredibly differently – Tony is haunted by his perceived mistakes; Emily is newly engaged – and yet both sides of the tragedy are underlined by this concept of a single-minded pursuit… a drive which ends up informing many of the plotlines.  The performances are stunning all around, especially our two principles and the main investigating officer Julien (Tchéky Karyo); Emily’s fiancee, Mark – the UK detective liaison on the case, played by Jason Flemyng – is somewhat of a side character but isn’t written or acted as such, and again gets a rightful ‘human’ treatment by the script and isn’t just filler for some extra relationship drama.

As we know, there are only a few story templates.  From a cynical point of view, The Missing perhaps doesn’t offer anything new.  Maybe you’ll ‘figure it out’ early; maybe you’ll pick out the general story beats.  But as we also know, the telling of the story is what makes it seem new.  And I’ve rarely seen this tale told so well, literally from start to finish.