When The Turtle and The Stick begins, Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) arrives at a scene. Remy Giroux (Fabrice Rodriguez) angrily yells at Julien, as the detective rushes up a few flights of stairs. He confronts Mrs. Giroux (Ildiko Szucs), who has positioned herself on the other side of the balcony. Despite Julien’s attempts, Mrs. Giroux lets go and crashes to the ground. After the intro, we jump to Eckhausen, Germany in 2014. Gemma (Keeley Hawes) peeks in on Alice (Abigail Hardingham) and catches her staring at old photographs. Gemma says nothing. Sam (David Morrissey) intrudes and admits it is strange to have Alice back. The couple discuss the amount of time it may take for Alice to return to normal. Sam ventures downstairs and joins his daughter in the kitchen. Their encounter is awkward to say the least. Nonetheless, Alice makes it clear that Sam can ask her any questions he may have.
Sam uses the opportunity to ask Alice how she slept. She admits she did not. Moments later, Julien Baptiste arrives at the door. He speaks with Alice’s parents and coaxes them into letting him inside. Julien speaks with Alice and asks about her escape. He also ponders whether or not she would be willing to return to the scene and help them pinpoint where she was held captive. Julien is urged by Sam and Gemma to leave. Before he does, he notices something strange about Alice’s hand. Then, we jump to the local butcher, where we’re introduced to Kristian Herz (Filip Peeters) and Nadia Herz (Lia Williams). Nadia is recognizable from the funeral in the previous episode. The couple catch about their relationship and Nadia’s pursuit of Kristian. They’re interrupted by their incompetent helper Andreas (Sebastian Urbanski), who is in desperate need of assistance.
Meanwhile, Julien calls his wife, Celia (Anastasia Hille), and asks her to send him an old video of Sophie. She quickly finds the video online and emails him the link. Julien watches the video and notices that Sophie had a nervous twitch of sorts with her hands. Next, we jump to the present. Julien and Stefan (Olafur Darri Olafsson) finally reach their destination. Julien remains adamant that finding Daniel Reed (Daniel Ezra) will lead them to the abductor. Sam and Eve Stone (Laura Fraser) get together once again. Eve tells Sam she doesn’t want to speak about his family. Sam leaves the hotel, but not before the receptionist pressures him into signing the guest book. He pockets her pen and makes his exit. Julien and Stefan enter a ravaged ghost town. Despite Stefan’s reluctance, Julien insists they must look for Daniel. During their search, Julien tells Stefan about Sophie’s nervous habit.
Julien goes on to tell Stefan that the abductor was looking for a specific physical type. The pair are stopped dead in their tracks when they spot an ISIL flag nearby. Eve pays a visit to her father. Outside of the house, she speaks with his nurse, who is on the verge of quitting. The nurse agrees to stay, until Eve can find a replacement. Inside, Eve speaks with Adrian (Roger Allam). He tells her about his father and the war. However, he seems unable to recognize Eve. We jump back to 2014. Adrian and Police Director Eichel (Bernhard Schutz) discuss the size of the search area. Emma receives a call from Gemma. She is informed Alice is ready to lead them to the dungeon. Moments later, Eve and Julien wait outside the Webster home. Julien thanks Eve for bringing him along. Alice emerges and tells her father she wishes to go alone. He puts up no resistance.
Gemma brings Alice one of her old belongings. She doesn’t seem to recognize it. The group heads into the woods with Alice leading the way. During their search, Julien tells Eve about his suspicion regarding Alice’s identity. He asks her whether or not the police checked her DNA. She admits they did not, since her parents identified her. Alice leads them to ladder leading underground. During this time, Gemma asks Sam whether or not Alice seems different to him. She admits the scarf incident was awkward. She doesn’t go any further. She confirms she always wanted Alice back, but not in this manner. Sam insists she is back and that’s all that matters. Meanwhile, the others begin to explore the old bunker, which possibly dates back to World War 2.
Jorn (Florian Bartholomai) and the other police officers venture inside. On the surface, Julien speaks with Alice and tries to trigger her anxiety. He speaks with her about Sophie’s parents. Her fingers begin to work overtime, after he departs. During this time, Daniel visits Nadia. He speaks with her about his father, Henry, and insists he had no reason to kill himself. Daniel reveals his father wrote in his journal daily, but stopped when he fought in Iraq in 1991. He tries to obtain information from Nadia, but she remains mum. They argue, with Daniel insisting Nadia can’t patronize him since she is no longer in the army. Meanwhile, Julien ventures into the bunker. He looks around and speaks with Eve. Back in the present, Julien and Stefan learn that the jihadists have been driven out. According to a local, the Peshmerga drove them out. Julien shows the man a picture of Daniel and the man offers help.
Sam meets with a plastic surgeon. The man agrees to repair Sam’s scars for free. However, Sam doesn’t like the ideal of returning to his former self and refuses the offer. Back at home, Gemma continues looking through her old photographs. Sam enters and tells her they cannot afford the plastic surgery. Matthew (Jake Davies) passes by and ignores his mother calls. Sam ignores her pleas to speak with his son. Instead, Sam takes off his shirt and heads outside to work on his vehicle. Gemma picks up his shirt and finds the pen from the hospital in the pocket. Eve and her father tour a nursing home. Adrian doesn’t like the ideal in the least and lashes out. During his rant, he complains about Arabic speakers and mentions Henry Reed’s name. Julien and Stefan watch as a few local boys kick a soccer ball around.
Julien tells Stefan that he could get surgery, but that option could also lead to death. Julien also explains that he still carries guilt from the Sophie Giroux case. During their conversation, Julien spots a familiar man (Cela Yildiz) approaching. He quickly alerts Stefan and the pair flee. Moments later, their vehicle is pulled over. The Peshmerga inspect their IDs, before looking at Julien’s picture of Daniel. Julien’s interest in Daniel gets both men loaded into the back of the guard’s truck. Back in 2014, Julien discovers something under the soil in the bunker. That night, Alice speaks with Matthew. She speaks with him about the past, before begging him to lock her inside the shed outside. Although Matthew seems hesitant, he agrees believing it will help his sister sleep.
In the morning, Jorn tells Eve about the receipt Julien discovered. Although it only contained a partial card number, they managed to link the card to a name. The cops arrive outside of the butcher’s shop and take Kristian into custody. Sam and Gemma awaken Alice and tell her the cops want her to look at a few pictures. She heads inside and looks through the pictures. She quickly stops and becomes distraught when Kristian’s photograph is revealed. Alice rushes outside. Adrian Stone convinces the others to allow him to speak to Alice alone. He heads outside with the picture. Adrian tells a tale about a turtle and uses the symbolism to threaten Alice in so many words. He obviously wants her to remain quiet. Alice asks him how he can life with himself after what he has done. An unemotional Adrian heads back inside.
The Missing Review
The 2nd episode of The Missing was excellent and revealed a great deal. We learned about Julien’s backstory with Sophie Giroux. Whether or not Alice is really Alice, it is still obvious the girl has been left devastated one way or another. The episode gave a little further insight into her mindset. Gemma has apparently learned about Sam’s affair. Will she be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and how will she react?
Or is she too caught up in Alice’s case to care? What is Kristian involvement in the abduction? Where is Daniel and what is Adrian trying to hide? Is Alice killed, because she knows too much? Only time will tell. The Missing’s second season is just as intriguing and baffling as the first. A good episode leaving plenty of questions left to be answered. An 8 out of 10 is deserved. Catch up with previous recaps of The Missing right away.
Jay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his best to keep up with the latest foreign television shows and movies. Jay loves skinny dipping in the dark too.
