"Vanished" The Black Box (2006)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Dwight H. Little

Writers:

Josh Berman (creator)
Chris Black (written by)

TV Series:

"Vanished" (2006)

Original Air Date:

25 September 2006 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Judy's coverage of the Sara Collins case -- and her personal life -- hit a rough patch. Kelton and Lin Mei search for the source of recent video surveillance footage of Sara found on a suspect's computer.

Cast

Gale Harold	...	Agent Graham Kelton
John Allen Nelson	...	Senator Jeffrey Collins
Joanne Kelly	...	Sara Collins
Margarita Levieva	...	Marcy Collins
John Patrick Amedori	...	Max Collins
Robert Hoffman	...	Adam Putnam
Christopher Egan	...	Ben Wilson
Ming-Na	...	Agent Lin Mei
Rebecca Gayheart	...	Judy Nash
Penelope Ann Miller	...	Jessica Nevins
Josh Hopkins	...	Peter Manning
Michael O'Keefe	...	Bob
Bianca Kajlich	...	Quinn Keeler
Elizabeth Lackey	...	Dr. Rachael Lawson (as Lisa Lackey)
John Ales	...	Zach

Runtime:

44 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Vanished: The Black Box has a lot of subplots to wade through

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This weeks episode begins with reporter Judy Nash making love to her cameraman in the editing room. It gets interrupted by an assistant knocking on the door telling her about something on a rival channel. Judy sees on one of the displayed TV screens an elderly man saying to a female reporter that he had buried Nikki Johnson, the woman Peter Manning claimed the missing Sara Collins was 12 years ago before SHE disappeared during that time. After the segment was done, this elderly man goes to a dock where we see him talking to the man we saw ending last week's episode digging a grave. "You said everything you were supposed to say," the grave man states before shooting elderly man in boat! Judy gets sent to her boss' office where he tells her to publicly apologize to the Collins family on TV. Meanwhile, Agent Kelton asks someone in his employ if he can trace any of the pulled live footage of Mrs. Collins to her location. "It will take awhile," comes the reply. Kelton later meets Nash at a bar where they engage in a quid-pro-quo: she gives the agent all the info she has on the Supreme Court nominee in exchange for the supposed remains of the "late" Nikki Johnson. The agents get a list of the judge's phone calls to the senator's house on an unlisted number traced to daughter Marcy while Agent Lin Mei shows Nash on a computer screen the scull of the remains tracing to a woman who looks nothing like Johnson. Nash's boss still won't let her go public without more proof and tells her even her cameraman has doubts since he was the only one in the room when the Nikki Johnson video disappeared on the monitors several episodes ago. Cameraman quits as a result. Kelton interviews Marcy about the calls especially about the last one on the day of the judge's court nomination. She refuses to answer about that one and pleads the agents to not tell any of this conversion to her dad. They oblige when the father calls at that point. The person who used the pulled Collins footage traced it to a pole with a black box that was found belonging to the cult that kidnapped Sara. The agents used this box to help locate her whereabouts but when they get there she's gone with the walls now covered in blood... There's some other details like Marcy's pregnancy, Sara's parents with her illegitimate 11-year-old daughter, and the Collins son's previous auto accident that will probably come into play later on. Besides the "previously on" prologue, Judy Nash reiterates what has happened so far on television to keep us viewers from being confused or unaware if we miss an episode. I'm still intrigued by what happens next but it would be nice if some plot points were resolved like whose baby is Marcy carrying and why Sara's parents won't talk to Paul Manning. Still, as always, good performances from all.