As we reach the halfway point in BBC One’s The Missing, the spotlight shifts away from the Hughes family. We take our foot off the gas and have a look at some of our supporting characters.
There have been more revelations from the video footage we saw at the end of last week’s instalment. In 2006 a cleaning van was spotted parked outside the house and the Police uncover some images of its mysterious driver. We’re also introduced to Rini who has history with Julien Baptiste and may be able to help track down the owner of the cleaning van. Finally, suspicions that Ziane is the one leaking information to asshat journalist Malik Suri come to light.
While Tony is finally connecting Ian Garrett and Vincent Bourg back in 2006, in present day we discover that Ian has been missing for the past eight years. Ian also shared the story of his missing daughter, but was it true? If his own child disappeared, could he really be involved in a child trafficking ring? These questions mount up as we move through the episode.
The supporting cast really come into their own in Episode 4. Arsher Ali is utterly contemptible in a role designed for us to despise, Jason Flemyng’s Mark is walking a muddy line between suspicious and sympathetic and Ken Stott is totally untrustworthy as the decidedly questionable Ian.
Meanwhile, new face Anamaria Marinca makes a big impact as Rini. The contrast between her 2006 self and the present day is massive and, in a show that talks about how time stops for the parents of abducted children, it’s interesting to see a character that has completely changed over the 8 years.
The events between Rini and Julien Baptiste did seem rather farfetched, however. It’s nice to give some context to his character (in this case a daughter with a history of substance abuse), but the idea that the man heading up a high profile child abduction case could take several days out to assist in the rehabilitation of a drug addict in a hotel seems highly unlikely, no matter how integral she was to the investigation. Admittedly this is a minor issue, but it doesn’t sit right in a show that for the most part seems scarily plausible.
The Missing has chosen to play the long game and, though the vast majority of the episode was as gripping as ever, on this occasion the slow tease of information did perhaps cause things to drag a little in the middle. A slight lapse in believability aside, The Missing is still having a fantastic run and we’re excited to see what happens next.
Aired at 9pm on Tuesday 18 November 2014 on BBC One.
> Order The Missing on DVD on Amazon.
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