A young girl returns home to her parents after being taken years before, but there is something not quite right about her. On her way home from school one day, Alice Webster (Abigail Hardingham) was taken. Now, eleven years later, a mysterious twenty-something woman shows up in a German hospital and she is presumed to be the Alice Webster that disappeared all those years before.
Her parents are thrilled to have her back, as are the authorities who believe she may have knowledge of where another girl, Sophie Giroud, is, who went missing around the same time. The man who investigated Sophie’s disappearance, Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) is still determined to find the other girl, and after talking to Alice, he senses something is wrong. Flicking backwards and forwards between three time periods, the story unfolds and all the questions that arose when Alice returned home gradually begin to be answered, one by one.
No less than two years after the first season of The Missing aired, Harry and Jack Williams returned with another story. I have to commend them on their work here – while I do think the eight episode run could have been condensed down to six, I have to say that was far superior to season one.
The only cast member to return from that first season was Tchéky Karyo, who played the brilliant detective, Julien Baptiste. He was, again, wonderful as his character pursued the truth behind the case that had thrown up so many problems for so long. There were so many challenges that bombarded Baptiste this time around, both personally and professionally, and I really liked the element of uncertainty that featured within Karyo’s performance this time around.
Keeley Hawes is probably one of the best British TV actresses right now. I’ve recently enjoyed her work in Line of Duty so had an idea of what to expect from her here. As Gemma, Alice Webster’s mother, she gave a very moving performance. Hawes’ character had her life collapse around her mostly after the return of her daughter, and by the end of the series, it continued to be pretty rough. I love the characters Hawes plays and really hope that she continues to gift us with performances such as those I have seen so far in the future.
I stated at the beginning that I enjoyed this season far more than I did the first. Like I said, there were times I thought the story could have been compacted down to just six episodes, but despite this, it did seem to move along a lot quicker than its predecessor. The other huge plus point was the terrifically sensible ending this plot had. ALL THE LOOSE ENDS WERE TIED UP! I HAVE CLOSURE! Do you have any idea what this means to me?
It means that I am actually looking forward to this series returning for season three at some point. The Williams brothers were spot on this time, and did a little bit to restore some of my faith in the BBC.
All in all, I would recommend season two of The Missing. It is a tense story with some brilliant performances. For anyone who has a penchant for dark, twisting dramas, I would say give this a spin, but be sure to start with season two. You won’t miss out on anything by not seeing the pilot as this is more of an anthology-style series, so if ever there was an excuse to not start at the beginning, this is it.
