Baptiste Episode 1: The 8 Questions We Have After The Missing Spin-Off Debuts

We won't be letting anyone in to read our meters any time soon .
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The BBC may have waved goodbye to their hit series The Missing, but it’s not the end for its lead character Julien Baptiste, despite the fact he faced an uncertain future at the end of the most recent episode.

After overcoming his brain tumour, the veteran detective was back in action in his own spin-off series, imaginatively called Baptiste, on Sunday night. 

While we’ve been told the new show is not The Missing series three, the new case wasn’t too dissimilar from previous ones, as he began looking into the disappearance of a young sex worker in Amsterdam. 

However, as the events of the first episode revealed, there is a lot more to this case than just a hunt for a missing person. Here’s all the questions we’ve been left with...

Who was the old man killed at the start of the episode?

In a grisly on-screen murder that wouldn’t have been out of place on Luther, a poor old fella was brutally suffocated when a “gas safety engineer” called at his house in Kent.

The meter reader was later revealed to be one of the Romanian criminals, Constantin, who is tied up in the case Baptiste is investigating. But who was the old chap and why did they want him dead?

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Is Kim to be trusted?

After much chat of Dragomir Zelinku going completely off-grid in recent years, Baptiste worked out the fearful Romanian gang leader had transitioned and was living as a woman called Kim Vogel – the owner of trans brothel Dream Room.

Baptiste assumed she is protecting Natalie from the gang in exchange for Natalie not revealing that she used to be known as Dragomir. Baptiste also added she wants to make amends for all her past dealings, restoring power to the sex workers of Amsterdam. 

While she eventually gave Baptiste details of Natalie’s whereabouts, she never actually commented on his version of her intentions, leading us to believe she could still be up to something else.

How is Natalie tied up with the Romanian gang?

Were Kim’s claims that Natalie only fell in with them after running out of people to fund her drugs habit true? Or is there another explanation? 

What has the tulip farmer’s dog discovered?

After the tulip farmer discovered a necklace with the letter “N” on it, we originally believed it had something to do with Natalie, but she was later seen alive and well. 

However, the farmer’s dog was later seen digging up something highly suspicious, but we are still to find out what it was...

Where are the girls in the sex trafficking ring being taken?

The trafficking ring is obviously what the many sex workers of Amsterdam are terrified of, but quite what happens to them after they are taken remains to be seen. We’re assuming once we discover this info, it will unlock other clues to the wider mystery.  

Is Baptiste’s son-in-law to be suspected?

After one of the gang was seen listening in to Baptiste’s daughter’s apartment, you had to wonder quite how he managed to bug the place. But one awkward camera shot made us look at Baptiste’s son-in-law in a whole new light.

Who really is Edward Stratton?

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When Baptiste tracked Natalie down at the address Kim supplied him with, he was shocked to learn Natalie was not English. She then told him Edward was not her uncle, while we also learned Natalie has a sister who is being trafficked.

With Edward having made no mention of a second niece to Baptiste, we were forced to question his whole story.

Our theory here is that Edward is actually connected to the Romanian gang and was employed to track Natalie down, using the alias of being her uncle to give him legitimacy.  

What is Edward doing with the old man’s head in his basement?

That is going to cause him an untold amount of flies. 

Baptiste continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.