Why Harlan Coben's 'Missing You' fails: strong performances upended by a wafer-thin plot
If the Harlan Coben collection on Netflix has taught us anything, it is to expect a few curve balls in the plot.
The latest series, “Missing You”, has been trending on the platform.
As a crime buff, I couldn’t resist binge-watching the five-part whodunit. Unfortunately, I was disappointed in the same way that I was with the last series, “Fool Me Once”, which harked back to the “Double Jeopardy” thriller.
The climax often disappoints due to a build-up of excessive mystery. Allow me contextualise this statement.
“Missing You” centres on Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar), who is encouraged to start dating again after her journalist fiancé Josh Buchanan (Ashley Walters) ghosted her over a decade ago.
It was a double blow for her as her police officer father Clint (Lenny Henry) was murdered around the same time.
While wrestling with her emotions over being abandoned by the love of her life, Kat has been dogged in her efforts to find out who was behind the murder of her father.
Her tenacity in getting to the truth is heightened when she learns that Monte Leburne (Marc Warren), who was convicted of her father’s murder, is about to lose his battle with cancer in prison.
With the help of her private detective friend, Stacey Embalo (Jessica Plummer), she manages to get in to see him and learns that he is just a fall guy.
Meanwhile, after taking Stacey’s advice and getting onto a dating app, she stumbles across Josh’s profile albeit under a different name.
Things take an unexpected turn when she learns that Josh was a frequent visitor of Monte’s as well as the fact that Detective Chief Inspector Ellis Stagger (Richard Armitage) was complicit in the meetings.
In trying to get the answers, she kicks over a hornet's nest while ruffling feathers higher up the chain of command. And she retains a beady eye over her original suspect in her father’s murder - criminal kingpin, Calligan (James Nesbitt).
In the meantime, she is assigned to the missing person case of Rishi Magari (Rudi Dharmalingam), unbeknown to her that she has stumbled upon a deadly criminal enterprise until she crosses paths with Brendan (Oscar Kennedy), a tech-savvy 19-year-old who is worried about his missing mother.
Where things get interesting for Kat is when she learns that Brendan’s mom matched on a dating site with Josh and left for an exotic holiday to Costa Rica with him.
As Kat and her team look into the disappearances, which are linked to her past and her father, she stumbles across a few uncomfortable home truths, one of which is from her trusted transgender friend, Aqua (played by Mary Malone).
Despite being taken off the case, Kat continues to leave no stone unturned, placing her and those close to her in danger.
One of the misgivings I have with this Coben offering is the supporting story arc with the criminal syndicate kidnapping and killing lonely targets with deep pockets.
There’s this huge cat-and-mouse chase but, for the better part of it, it defies logic.
The viewer is frustratingly strung along in this whodunit with the only saving grace being the tour de force performances of Eleazar, Kennedy and Malone.
The bottom line, “Missing You” is entertaining but forgettable.
Rating: 2/5
Three other series you might want to watch:
“Fool Me Once”: Maya Stern is trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of her husband, Joe. However, when Maya installs a nanny cam to keep an eye on her young daughter, she is shocked to see her husband in her house.
“Stay Close”: The lives of a photojournalist, a soccer mom and a homicide detective are disturbed by a terrible event from the past.
“Safe”: Widowed surgeon Tom has struggled to raise his two daughters alone following his wife's death a year ago.
Things seem to be on the right track for the family, who live in a gated community because they have close friends nearby and Tom is in the early stages of a new relationship.
But the situation takes a turn for the worse when Jenny, Tom's oldest daughter, goes missing along with her boyfriend.