The search to find more true crime content in a unique fashion reached a new peak in 2023 with the release of the four-episode limited series from Netflix, Missing: Dead or Alive.
The series drew some early open fire from viewers who were, and possibly still are, concerned about the fly-on-the-wall nature of the show, questioning its authenticity and inferring that some of the action may have been staged, rehearsed, or scripted.
There is no doubt that the cases themselves were real, but it seems the actual presentation of the show may have been regarded as contrived.
The show would also spend a lot of time with the team of investigators and the daily struggles they faced in view of the cases they have to solve.
Inner dialogues and soul-searching monologues were part of the show’s makeup, as we learn about the emotional turmoil that the main cast is going through, giving the show an almost melodramatic tone that some would find confusing in the true crime genre.
The cases themselves covered a missing sixty-one-year-old lady, a missing ten-year-old and her mother, a ten grand lottery winner who vanishes, and a wayward teen that fails to return to her foster home.
Has the series managed to intrigue enough people? Let’s answer the question, will there be a season two of Missing: Dead or Alive?
Will there be a season 2 of the Netflix series Missing: Dead or Alive– renewed or canceled status
Status: Not renewed yet
At the time of writing in May 2023, the show has not received a second run of episodes.
Although the relevant information that Netflix needs is still pending, it seems that there may not be further episodes.
The show currently has a rating of 5.4 on IMDb, and there are some mixed reviews on the site about the show. Some have in fact been downright scathing about the series, calling it staged and pathetic, while others say they don’t understand the negative reviews it has garnered.
The one thing that I will add to the mix though, is the dates of the missing person cases are all from a couple of years back. All four events occur in 2020 and 2021, and that kind of makes me think that this show may have been shelved for a while before it was released.
That can sometimes mean that either a lot of work was done on the show after it was finished to get it up to a broadcastable level, or Netflix were unsure about releasing it at all.
The true crime genre in its normal form usually does not require a lot of post-production as there are no special effects or reshoots done, but this show seems to have perhaps tried to be something more but instead blurred the viewing experience for fans.
What I will mention is I recommended this to a friend who was nearly at the end of the first episode before asking me if this was a parody like The Office or This Country.
I had to explain it was all true, and they were gobsmacked but continued to watch as they just could not get their head around the production, so perhaps this show may find an avid audience without the one it has tried to cultivate.
You can watch this series with a subscription to Netflix.
i love this show