"Missing" Pilot (TV Episode 2012) Poster

(TV Series)

(2012)

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9/10
Slow into Go - Becca snaps our Attention
maine_3105 June 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I understand the meaning of attachment. When someone becomes a part of you, they are so attached to the limb. Even when you are apart from them, you are still close. That is the kind of relationship I understood for Becca and Michael. She loves Michael. It's that simple. The acting is an acquired taste that pulls you into a Missing imagination. You can relate, but you have to let it sink in.

235@W' brought me back to the days I used to make up some kind of code my friend and I used to outsmart our kindergarten teacher. Things like that we forget now because we barely find the time to learn a new language unique to ourselves. I have forgotten the symbols I formed when I was younger, but it was cool. This is was when the pilot kept me glued. I found the pace a bit slow in the beginning. Becca was running, but I still felt as though I wanted to be on that run with her. When she passes by some people now warming up for their run, this kept it real. It is subtle things like that some writers forget to include. A sense of continuity prevails when we realize that the pilot is not when Becca's life begins, we have partially interrupted a portion of time from Becca's life. That run looked very good too.

When I did my research on the title of course mainly serious matters appear. That is missing children among many. It can be a very sad topic to think about. This can hurt this new series. If at some point it turns out to be clichéd and overacted or just boring, it does no justice to the real issues that exist in society. Who can or should be entertained by someone being abducted? This series however slowly parts from that perspective and focuses on the perils of a mother. We see the connection a mother has with her child and we feel the torture of watching your child grow up and then mature away from a mother's oversight.

Clearly this explosion was an oversight. When Paul's car exploded during a conversation Becca was having with her son it lends itself to the drama television somehow creates, but not in real life. How would the Becca Winstone of this time deal with hearing an explosion and not knowing what happened on the other end of the phone. Unfortunately this was not truly delved into. The writers thought it more important to show Michael survived and Paul did not. It was clear, no more debate. I still felt that about ten years later, watching Becca run with Michael happy did not wet my appetite. Did the child actor look like present day Michael? Maybe. We don't care at this point. How did this explosion affect their lives? We do not get to see that.

So yeah we look for many things in a pilot. 1) A relationship, 2) Action 3) A story we can actually follow. Spy movies and television series have been done and overdone time and time again. Let's face it we all picture at some point being spies in our minds and keeping secrets that no one else but you and a selective few know. We let our minds explore the possibilities of anonymity to hide away our true selves and we escape. We pride ourselves on learning skills and holding the wealth of technology in our palms. These are all trade qualities we crave sometimes on a long on the clock day of work, come on it happens. If not then through the people we socialize with. I forget all that with Missing. I don't need to compare with other series because it stands on its own. So the pilot worked for me and I caught the reruns when available.

The writing of this series comes full circle in the pilot when Michael tried to make sense of his symbol with his mother. Part of how it all began, to end with Becca knowing that his son stayed at a place where that symbol existed. It melts you in a way that not many truly understand. Some shows are just there for you to look at but Missing goes the extra mile to pull a cast from all over to have a home in one sitting. That is truly remarkable.

4.8 Stars

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5/10
Not very promising, but possibly worth a second look
Sarasilien15 March 2012
Warning: Spoilers
The most memorable thing about the premiere episode of "Missing" is Ashley Judd's terribly forced acting as former CIA agent Becca Winstone. She coos over her son Michael, cries over her lost husband Paul, gasps to see Michael abducted, rages at the CIA agent who stands in her way -- all without seeming even the teeniest bit authentic or honest.

This is not entirely her fault: the dialog is clunky and clichéd, the plot is clunky and clichéd, and the other actors, working off of a crappy script, play clunky and clichéd characters.

Fans of the very-similarly-themed Liam Neeson movie "Taken" will be disappointed; Judd exudes little of Neeson's barely-contained violence, his stone-cold competence, his I-will-damn-my-soul-if-I-have-to ruthlessness, or his quick and clear-eyed improvisational skills. She isn't a CIA agent who happens to be a forty-something mom, she's a forty-something mom playing at being a CIA agent.

A number of reviewers have compared the visual style of "Missing" to the Bourne movies. Nonsense. The action sequences in "Missing" have no more dynamism or artistry than those in the typical TV cop show.

Tip: In case you haven't watched it, USA's "Covert Affairs" is no more realistic than this show, but the acting and dialog are better and it's a lot more fun.
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