This week opens in the past, two years before the present day, and the death of Sara, who we discovered overdosed while Baptiste shopped for the knitted elephant that haunts his waking nightmares. But it does mean that one has to tell when we are going by Baptiste's current facial hair arrangement, which is not an ideal storytelling device.
Perhaps this being Baptiste's final season (and final mystery), the series feels that having the story told on twin tracks works better overall. However, otherwise, everything stayed in the show's dictated present, with clear delineations when flashbacks arrived. Season 1 of The Missing did have the final reveal that the bearded stalker was future James Nesbitt years later. Up until now, time jumps were not Baptiste or The Missing's MO. But it's also irritating because it detracts from the show's better moments. On one level, it does keep the suspense up, as there are things that happened in the past fans haven't seen yet. But this week, unfortunately, doubled down on the interspersed timelines. In this case, I was ready to let Baptiste have it for the moment, as long as it wasn't going to abuse jumping around in time.
It's the current fad in prestige TV sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. I didn't take you for a cliche.Īt the top of last week's recap, I noted that the season began (as so many do now) in media res. But there is one big issue that the show is struggling with: Time.Įmma: A man who won't talk about his feelings. This season opened with a mystery that didn't just kidnap a child or two but took out her husband, disabled her, and (finally) found a way to entirely sidestep the child-sex-ring storylines that have haunted the series since its days as The Missing. Credit: Courtesy of (C) Two Brothers Pictures & All3MediaĪfter a disappointing first season, Baptiste landed feet first with the opener for Season 2, hitting the new season out of the park on the first round with future Dame Fiona Shaw as Tchéky Karyo's latest co-star.