'The Missing' Season 2 Episode 1 Review: Keeley Hawes, David Morrissey Have Viewers Hooked

Julien Baptiste returns for another missing child case.
|

‘The Missing’ returned last night, and it wasn’t long before the writers had us scratching our heads, trying to work out what and who went where in the timeline.

While the first series had the relative simplicity of one missing child, two grieving parents and a helpful detective, instead the first episode of Season 2 had two missing girls, a bunch of strangers connected we know not yet how, and a jumping timeline to keep us on our toes.

Open Image Modal
Julien Baptiste (Tchéky Karyo) is back on duty
BBC

We had the same humane detective as before in Julien Baptise - bored, ailing, his best work behind him, his sleuthing being celebrated on the TV like a eulogy, his wife looking sympathetic and, worst of all, his bees all dying off in the bucolic French countryside. If only he had something to keep him occupied…

And then… a ghostly girl turned up in Germany 11 years after her disappearance, claiming to be Alice Webster, much to the discombobulation of her parents, and much to the interest of the police force, once she mentioned the name of another missing youngster. Cue Monsieur Baptise’s return.

Open Image Modal
Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey play the battling Websters
BBC

Although James Nesbit’s rabid, desperate father stole the show in the first series, David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes gave us plenty to chew on here, every line of their tearful reunion with their daughter shrouded with ambiguity, the scars on Morrissey’s Sam as yet unexplained, Julien’s doubts regarding Alice’s identity coming to light. 

Meanwhile, as Julien, French actor Tchéky Karyo once again brims with a compassion surplus to his job description, and it was a welcome return to our screen for the hero of ‘Trapped’, Iceland’s big furry bear of a star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.

There’s mystery to spare here, and we’re only just beginning. 

NOW READ:

Top Drama Picks For Autumn 2016
The Fall (BBC Two)(01 of12)
Open Image Modal
The third and final series finds Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson pitted against serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan). With Spector captured and injured in the final scene of the second series, it’ll be interesting to see what writer Allan Cubitt does in this final run to round things off in a satisfying conclusion to a memorable trilogy.
Our Loved Boy (BBC One)(02 of12)
Open Image Modal
The story of Damilola Taylor and the aftermath of his senseless death, as told through the eyes of his grieving family in this feature-length drama. Their quest for justice sits alongside their personal battles with a cast led by Babou Ceesay and Wunmi Mosaku, in a story told with the support of Damilola’s tireless father Richard Taylor OBE.
The Missing Series 2 (BBC One)(03 of12)
Open Image Modal
Writing brothers Harry and Jack Williams (who also wrote ‘One of Us’) are back on more familiar ground of the trauma surrounding a missing child. No James Nesbitt in this one, instead we have David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes as a couple whose lives are overturned when their missing daughter returns after 11 years. The thing we’re most looking forward to? The return of Tcheky Karyo reprising his role of the compassionate detective Julien Baptiste.
Close To The Enemy (BBC Two)(04 of12)
Open Image Modal
‘One Day’s Jim Sturgess leads the cast in this six-part series set in a bomb-damaged London hotel in the aftermath of World War II. Sturgess’s Captain Callum Ferguson is an intelligence officer whose job is to persuade a captured German scientist to lend his skills to the RAF’s task of developing the jet engine. All is not as it seems.
Tutankhamum (ITV)(05 of12)
Open Image Modal
Max Irons and Sam Neill star in this four-part mini-series, re-telling the story of Howard after and his discovery of the tomb of the most fascinating of Egyptian pharaohs. With Irons as Carter, Sam Neill plays his supportive patron Lord Carnarvon, who defies all doubt to keep Carter’s dreams of discovery alive.
Broadchurch (ITV)(06 of12)
Open Image Modal
David Tennant and Olivia Colman return for the final series of this haunting series, joined once again by Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan as grieving parents Beth and Mark Latimer. Following the mistakes of the second series, writer Chris Chibnall instead focuses on a brand new case, with detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller investigating a sexual assault, while the close Dorset community must once again deal with the unwelcome attention foisted on them.
The Halcyon (ITV)(07 of12)
Open Image Modal
The title refers to a five-star hotel in the centre of 1940 London society at a time of falling bombs and heightened emotions and fears. Steven Mackintosh and Olivia Williams lead a cast that also includes Kara Tointon and Alex Jennings.
Paranoid (ITV)(08 of12)
Open Image Modal
Arguably the jewel in ITV’s winter schedule, this is an eight-part series exploring what happens when the murder of a mother in a school playground proves to be far less clear-cut than at first appeared. Neil Stuke, Indira Varma and Robert Glenister star.
Tina and Bobby (ITV)(09 of12)
Open Image Modal
The lady who can currently do no wrong, Michelle Keegan, stars as the wife of the revered England football captain, as they became the most recognisable couple of their generation. As the country got swept up in World Cup euphoria and by the Moores in particular, this most normal of couples must face some huge challenges. Alongside Michelle is Lorne MacFadyen as Bobby - Patsy Kensit and David Bamber also appear.
National Treasure (Channel 4)(10 of12)
Open Image Modal
Robbie Coltrane gives an ironically compelling turn as a huge entertainment star caught up in an historic sex allegation. As the police work their way through his complex life, those closest to the ‘national treasure’ must deal with the effects of secrets uncovered and loyalties tested. Julie Walters, Andrea Riseborough co-star.
Humans (Channel 4)(11 of12)
Open Image Modal
After the surprise phenomenon of Series 1, Gemma Chan and co return for a second series of compassionate sci-fi, exploring what happens when robots become loveable.
The Young Pope (Sky Atlantic)(12 of12)
Open Image Modal
Following a rapturous reception to its debut episode at the Venice Film Festival, Jude Law brings his troubled Pope Pius XIII to screen. The first American pope in contemporary times, the pontiff is a man of a great power who nevertheless fears losing those closest to him, and even being abandoned by his God. Alongside Jude, Diane Keaton, Ludivine Sagnier and James Cromwell star.