Missing TV Show Review 2012 - Will Rebecca Winstone Find Her Son Before It's Too Late?

Missing TV Show Review 2012

I have to say that I wasn't looking forward to watching the new TV show called Missing, on ABC. I really thought it was going to be another version of Taken, where Liam Nieson played the loving father who goes in search of his kidnapped daughter. Yes if you have read anything about the Missing TV show then this premise should sound familiar. However, I quickly found myself interested in the storyline and found it far more intriguing and interesting than I had anticipated.

My initial low regard for the Missing TV series wasn't aided by the trailer either. Although, after watching the premiere episode of Missing I am glad they had such a plain and simple trailer. More often than not, a trailer can show you the whole first episode in less than 4 minutes. This can leave the viewer disappointed with the TV series even if it is amazing. After all, the goal is to watch something new and not a repeat. By having a simple trailer, the first episode in the Missing series was able to leave a lasting impression.

The most annoying thing about Missing is the name. There have been so many TV shows and films with the same name that it's easy to get confused which TV show we are actually discussing.

That aside, there are a number of reasons that I enjoyed watching Missing and why I think the Missing TV series could be a spy drama with a twist, therefore making it well worth watching.

Missing started off with an attractive young woman running through the Community Park. Rebecca Winstone speaks with her husband, Paul, and her eight year old son, Michael, on her cell phone. She is alone as her family is in France. She tells her husband that she is ready to have another child and can't wait for him to return home. Michael runs back into the hotel to get his signed football but the car Paul is in explodes.

Michael returns home with his mother's friends, Martin, and the Missing TV show skips forward ten years.

Michael is now eighteen and is racing his mum through the same park she was running through ten years before. This is the first time he has ever beaten her and decides this is the best moment to tell her that he got into a summer architecture program. The only catch is that it's in Italy.

Rebecca is reluctant to let Michael out of her sight but she agrees to let him go to Rome. Before he leaves she outlines the fastest route on the map to the American Embassy, so he knows where to go if he gets into trouble. Clearly this is not the first thing a normal parent would do in this situation and the viewer begins to wonder about Rebecca Winstone.

Michael shows his mum some code that means he loves her but only she will know what it means. It's so he won't get embarrassed if he texts it or says it on the phone to her, around his friends. He sends it to her before she has even left the airport.

Michael keeps in regular contact with his mum while in Rome. He sends her texts and pictures on his cell. He video conferences with her and leaves her voice mails. Michael is only ever a phone call away but then he doesn't contact his mother for a week.

Rebecca decides to fly to Rome to find Michael when she receives a call informing her that Michael moved out of his dorm two weeks ago and hasn't been seen since. He has also missed his last three classes and has been removed from his study program. This is outside the scope of Michael's normal behaviour. His mother is extremely worried and believes Michael has gone missing.

Using the pictures and messages Michael sent her, Rebecca is able to backtrack and locate the apartment in which Michael was staying. After discovering some of Michaels clothes, and cell phone, someone else enters the apartment. He has a gun and they have a scuffle. Rebecca tries to extract information from this mysterious man but is forced to kill him. She quickly leaves when she hears the police sirens approaching.

However, she did speak to this would be assassin in Italian. When Michael called her and spoke Italian she always pretended she didn't understand. This is again proven when she calls an Italian called Giancarlo and arranges to meet.

Giancarlo and Rebecca have history. They used to work together many years ago when Rebecca was still a CIA agent. The man Rebecca killed in the apartment was an ex-Italian intelligence officer. No-one had seen him in the last 4 years. Giancarlo helps Rebecca to find her son.

Rebecca continues to follow the clues and goes to a nightclub her son frequented. She meets a girl that was dating Michael. Francesca sends Rebecca on a wild goose chase and when Rebecca returns, Francesca is dead.

Rebecca accesses the security camera footage from a local store to find out what happened to her son. She sees him being abducted and stolen away in a black van. However, the kidnappers have never contacted her to pay a ransom, have never made any demands or any other actions that would normally be associated with kidnappers.

Rebecca traces the van to France and takes the train to cross the border. She is intercepted by CIA agents, as her actions have aroused suspicions. She is detained by Dax Miller in France but he agrees to let her go for three hours, in order to find her son.

She finds the van in the warehouse, which is being guarded by men with guns. Inside she finds Michael's "!I love you mum" code on the wall. She also discovers that there are drugs inside the statues being kept in the warehouse.

In a desk, in the warehouse, there are pictures of Michael. To begin with, you think the pictures are recent surveillance that was carried out on Michael but some of the pictures are from when he was in Paris, with his father as a child. Other pictures are from when he was racing his mum around the park.

Rebecca leaves Dax a note telling him Michael was in the warehouse and leaves to check a location in one of the pictures. While standing on the bridge she is shot. She falls off the bridge and loses consciousness.

I found that the Missing TV show is different from what I expected in a number of ways.

First of all, Rebecca really is a caring mother. She isn't cold and calculating like these CIA mums are normally portrayed. She loves her son and would do anything for him. She feels her job is to protect him.

Secondly, the plot isn't just your typical straight forward abduction story. There are many questions remaining to be answered such as why Michael has been kidnapped. Especially when you consider he doesn't know anything about his mother's CIA connections or history.

The kidnappers haven't asked for a ransom or anything. This is strange. Plus they clearly don't need the money if they have that amount of drugs available to them. So what is the motivation behind kidnapping Michael Winstone?

Also, the kidnappers appear to have anticipated Rebecca Winstone's response. They have already tried to kill her on a number of occasions and had Francesca set a trap for her.

On top of that, I also love the mystery surrounding some of the characters such as Giancarlo. He clearly had strong feelings for her in the past and she chose to stay with her husband and child.

The Missing characters are not one dimensional spies. They have lives and feelings. They have backstories which will take more than an episode to delve into.

I think the story will become more intriguing as the weeks go on. I even have a sneaking suspicision that this all has something to do with Paul Winstone. We didn't actually see him die. All we saw was the car blowing up. Could Paul Winstone still be alive?

There are a number of theories surrounding why Michael Winstone has been kidnapped. Some of those theories revolve around the supposed death of Paul Winstone. Other theories are that Michael was kidnapped to bring Rebecca out of the shadows and return to the CIA. Perhaps it's even something to do with a previous mission his parents undertook or could it have something to do with Martin? Martin is also ex-CIA.

Either way, it does seem strange that the kidnappers would have pictures of Michael from his childhood trip to France, with his father. We can only guess that these pictures were taken by Paul, or a close family friend, as Michael was looking directly into the camera. How would they have obtained these personal family snaps?

As you can see, there is more intrigue and mystery in the Missing TV show than would initially be expected.

Find out why Missing is on the Cancelled TV series 2012 list.