The Missing

S1: "Oliver Hughes" (4/5): It is very nice in terms of its civility of simple cheap recombination and fabricated twists, and even more because of how consistent the approach "it can happen to you too" is. And given the pitfalls of the topic of losing a single child, it's surprisingly non-melodramatic and emotionally-draining. And despite all the cold atmosphere of utter chaos, depression and hopelessness, it's not emotionally cold or cynical. In addition, it is an unprecedentedly successful symbiosis of the Scandinavian approach to the genre, in which the barriers between personal drama and criminal sequences are completely blurred. The playwright can do with the fact that people are ... Just people, in other words, there is neither conspiracy nor unnatural big revelations. Nevertheless, I have one reservation; namely, narration through an intertwined "present/years ago" approach, which is generally beneficial and not only a cheap way to stretch the plot to more episodes, but still only about half of the season parts "years ago" often tread the water unnecessarily and it keeps moving forward only thanks to the line from the present. And by far the best is the ending itself, which gets stuck under the skin like almost anything else in this genre. S2: "Webster/Giroux" (3/5): Civility has given way to the will of recombination and offers redemption; that is something completely unknown. Anyway, it's not bad either. It still has a first-class cast, it's emotional not in a cheap way and the topics of losing a child are addressed skillfully (and above all differently). The length is the biggest drawback, as eight episodes are unjustified. And nothing proves it better than the Iraqi troubles covering four episodes, so that the result is something that can be done with a twenty-second phone call. (27/12/2014)

A continuation what I would slowly start calling "Britnoir". Like Broadchurch, The Missing takes over the concept of the Nordic television detective show The Killing, focusing on the complex psychological and social fungus of investigating a single crime, in this case a child abduction. The theme of disturbed families, perversions and deep traumas is elaborated very consistently here and, thanks to very civilly written and acted characters, has quite a strong emotional vibe. The detective level suffers from the "logic is subordinated to the point" syndrome, but fortunately in the end the magnetism of the main character prevails, which was performed, on the verge of what is bearable, by the devastated James Nesbitt. His father has so much pain written in his face that The Missing sometimes balances on the edge of convulsion, but he always has enough stability to hold on. And, also, because the great Tchéky Karyo is the embodiment of the wisdom of old age as Detective Jean-Baptiste - the police version of Gandalf the Gray, when Bofur and Balin are flickering. Alternating two timelines is a great idea, because it creates a dramatic tension (we know what happens / doesn’t happen, but we don't know why). It's a pity that the dramaturgical series feels unbalanced towards the end (a captivating part 6 and a static part 7). The Missing is simply another promising concept that offers more than just excitement. (28/12/2014)