‘Missing You’ Netflix Series Review - Another Bad, Bland Harlan Coben Adaptation

A Harlan Coben TV adaptation comes with plenty of disappointment. From Prime Video's Shelter to Netflix's Fool Me Once, there is only intense foreplay followed by premature ejaculation. My 2024 new year started with Fool Me Once. This year, I find myself watching Missing You, which is another bad, bland Harlan Coben adaptation. What's it about? It follows Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar), who finds her "missing" fiancé, Josh (Ashley Walters), after eleven years on a dating app. This being a Harlan Coben show, we get other mysterious questions like, "Who killed Kat's father (the killer who confessed to the crime reveals that he was paid to take the blame on himself)? Why did Josh leave Kat? Why does he suddenly mute Kat on the dating app (it certainly seems suspicious)?" As if all these problems weren't enough, Kat meets a 19-year-old kid concerned about his mother. She went off with her new boyfriend on vacation and has not been answering her son's calls since then. Is she okay? Things become stranger when the new boyfriend turns out to be... Josh!? Is this guy a criminal or a serial heartbreaker? And what's the deal with Rishi (Rudi Dharmalingam)? Oh, oh, what's the deal with that dog breeder (Steve Pemberton)? He has a mean comic streak (look how he snatches a dog away from the arms of a child), but the show doesn't use it much.

The questions that Missing You raises are intriguing enough. Both Shelter and Fool Me Once also grabbed your attention for the first few hours. Unfortunately, though, Missing You, like the other two mentioned shows, keeps on becoming unremarkable as it progresses. A Harlan Coben series is only good at hooking the audience with its mysterious threads. As soon as the veil (or veils) is lifted, you realize there is nothing interesting beneath the gloss of suspense. Kat has a friend who is a private detective, and one of her colleagues is a tech wizard. Both reek of plot convenience, as they supply all the required information to Kat at just the right moment to dispense twists and turns and revelations. These so-called revelations are nothing but confessions. A character decides that he/she no longer wants to hide something from Kat, and this divulgation comes with the command "Experience Shock Now." It's all pretty lame. Missing You doesn't even give you the pleasure of watching a detective use his brain - his gray cells, which is why even Poirot would feel offended by that Poirot reference.

Missing You is very "transparent." It means that you figure out most of its revelations before it arrives at that "aha!" moment. The show addresses the dark side of online dating - catfishing. Anyone can take your photo and pretend to be you on an app or a website. Basically, the internet is bad. Be careful who you chat with. Relevant? Yes. Shocking? Well, we are aware of the perils of the online world, and Missing You fails to use this technological aspect effectively to ramp up the tension. On the other hand, the bad guys are utterly generic. As Kat, Eleazar looks sexy and stylish during the opening scenes, especially when she says, "I love traveling." Gradually, though, her performance starts falling into the one-note category. Her character doesn't get many shades to play with. Others merely stare ominously for red herrings. The internet is filled with scammers and other wicked guys, but the biggest scam is executed by a Harlan Coben show, which lures the audience in with the promise of drama, excitement, and mystery and leaves them feeling cheated, dispirited, and unsatisfied.

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times