On the first day of the year, Netflix released the detective thriller «Missing You», based on the eponymous novel by American author Harlan Coben, published in 2014. Coben also served as the executive producer of the project. Whether this 5-episode miniseries is worth your time — read our review below.
Genre thriller, detective
Director Nimer Rashed
Cast Rosalinda Eleazar, Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage, Lenny Henry, Steve Pemberton, Mark Warren, Samantha Spiro, Lisa Faulkner, Mary Malone, Ashley Walters, Alice Offline, James Nesbitt, Felix Garcia Guyer, Matt Willis
Premiere Netflix
Release Year 2025
Website IMDb
One day, detective Kat Donovan signs up for a dating app and discovers her former fiancé Josh, who mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth 11 years ago. Simultaneously, she dives into a new investigation related to the disappearance of a man and, later, a woman. Gradually unraveling a web of numerous secrets and half-truths, the main character approaches uncovering the shocking truth concerning not only Josh’s mysterious disappearance but also the tragic death of her father, also a cop.
In 2018, streaming giant Netflix and detective thriller novelist Harlan Coben signed a five-year multimillion-dollar contract to adapt 14 of his books. This deal was extended for another four years in 2022, and «Missing You» became the eighth film adaptation within this extraordinarily productive assembly line collaboration.
Yes, this is one of those stories where everyone has something to hide — from the innocent transgender friend of the detective, Aqua, to her mother. It appears that everyone around Kat thinks she’s an idiot, constantly pulling the wool over her eyes, just like the show’s creators indulge in cheap manipulative twists, clearly underestimating their audience.
The problem is that all these half-truths, which are presented as plot revelations adding intrigue to the narrative, work with very variable success. When in the 102nd dialogue another character confesses a hidden secret, it’s more irritating than engaging.
Information is fed quite sparingly, like sly puppeteers dropping bread crumbs to pigeons on a park bench, artificially dragging out time and inappropriately distracting with numerous melodramatic flashbacks, extended dialogues (one of which occurs in an artsy, artistic setting à la «John Wick 4»), or the chatty old lady friends of the detective’s mother.
Meanwhile, the creators do not shy away from resorting to cheating tricks and primitively overusing them when it comes to thickening the plot at the end of episodes. Accompanied by appropriate music, these montages are pure cliffhangers, designed to make the viewer think it’s interesting and, as a result, artificially need to keep watching. Then the fact that the previous 40 minutes were not that captivating quickly gets forgotten.
Twists that are pulled out of thin air seem a bit more plausible when local screenwriter Victoria Asare-Archer, inspired by the literary source, tries to dot the i’s. Indeed, closer to the finale, the story finally becomes more interesting, and the mysterious behavior of the surrounding characters gets some logical explanation. But let’s not spoil it, yet let’s be honest, it’s based on quite dubious narrative manipulation, which might make the viewer think: «And all this fuss was for what? Meh».
Obviously, one might appreciate how eventually the puzzle pieces come together into a single whole. The father’s death, the disappearance of the beloved, and others — all of this is interconnected and at first glance looks not too shabby. It’s a pity that upon a more detailed and attached examination, the nice overall picture crumbles against the wall of silly twists and senseless manipulations.
Perhaps this is exactly the Netflix content that should be watched purely as background noise, without getting into details. Just the thing for a New Year’s Day show and watching in a «let it just babble on» mode.