When the finale episode of The Missing opens, we see a snowy Russian playground. A man walks onto a playground and stares at a group of kids, before they run away. Next, Vincent Bourg (Titus De Voogdt) attends a religious treatment center, but leaves early. He questions the power of God or Jesus to cure his sickness.
Tony (James Nesbitt), Emily (Frances O’Connor), Julien (Tcheky Karyo) and Mark (Jason Flemyng) wait outside of the Eden hotel for Slyvie to leave. After she is gone, they break in and scour through the sober coin collection of Alain Deloux (Jean-Francois Wolff). Laurence (Emilie Dequenne) waits outside, after receiving a phone call from Georges Deloix (Eric Godon), who insists it is time to shut down the investigation. However, Laurence warns him that they’ve made a breakthrough.
Inside the hotel, the group discovers that the coin does indeed belong to Alain. They visit the hospital, where Alain is being treated for cancer. At first, he refuses to answer their questions. Eventually, he begins to speak, after being confronted with his coin. As Alain begins to speak about the night of Oliver’s (Oliver Hunt) disappearance, the show flashes back.
Tony and Oliver climb down the motel stairs and Oliver drops his yellow scarf on the ground. Alain is working the desk at the motel, when confronted by Tony and Oliver. Tony gets directions to the pool from Alain. After they leave, Alain picks up the scarf and uses it, as an excuse to escape from Sylvie (Astrid Whettnall) and the motel. Next, he visits the bar, where he downs lots of alcohol.
Next, we see Oliver and Tony, as the pair attempt to purchase drinks. Oliver sees a fox, which he loves, and chases after it. He follows the fox to the roadway, steps out in front of Alain’s vehicle and is hit by the car. Since Alain thinks the boy is dead, he puts him in the trunk and makes contact with his brother.
Alain and Georges rendezvous and argue, before Georges gives Alain specific instructions. Alain takes his vehicle to the house and leaves Oliver and the car inside the garage. Georges makes contact with someone he helped in the past and insists he needs their help. It turns out the man, Costa Costel (Csaba Bartos) was the Romanian, who attempted to kill Rini Dalca (Anamaria Marinca) earlier in the series.
When Costel arrives at the home, he discovers that Oliver has escaped the trunk, which Alain left open. He finds the boy trying to open the home’s window and quickly subdues him, before dragging him to the basement. Alain insists he didn’t know that Oliver was alive, before continuing his story. When Georges visits the home, he speaks with Costel, who informs him that Alain was wrong. He suggests that he killed the boy, since he saw his face. Costel shows Georges something inside the back of his van, which is hidden from the viewer. As Georges leaves the home, he walks right past Karl Sieg (Johan Leysen).
Before the Hughes group leaves the hospital, Alain begs them to keep everything a secret from Sylvie. Outside of the hospital, Julien questions Laurence about the phone call that she received back at the motel. She admits it was Georges, who only wanted an update on the case. She runs off, before we watch the police storm George’s office. Of course, he has already fled. The police find a passport and set up roadblocks to prevent Georges’ escape.
Back at Hotel L’Eden, Tony checks out. He tells Sylvie that Oliver was killed shortly after he was taken. He begins to tell her about Alain, but stops and tells her to tell him goodbye. Next, Mark and Emily take a train towards home. Afterwards, Julien and Tony pull up to the train station. Julien suggests Tony return home and start to live his life, but Tony is eager to find Georges. Tony questions Julien about his 2006 lead in Paris, which involved the Caid de Cite moving a package to the Far East. He suggests Julien must’ve thought the package was Oliver. Julien brushes it off and insists it was nothing but a scheme to flush out Leon. Despite Julien’s reassurances, Tony refuses to let it go.
Julien admits that Oliver could have faced worse situations, such as ending up in the hands of someone like Ian Garrett. Tony attempts to thank Julien by handing him information for a rehab center in London, which is supposed to be the best. Tony insists Julien shouldn’t give up trying for his daughter’s sake. Before Tony exits, he again recommends Julien to never give up no matter what.
Next, we see Vincent enter his flat and eat. He writes a letter to his mother apologizing, before hanging himself in front of his window. Next, Laurence and Julien track down Georges. When they approach him, Georges kills himself, without saying a word about Oliver’s body. Afterwards, Mark and Emily finally get married, with Tony is attendance. Emily makes a speech and thanks Mark for being by her side throughout the situation. She makes no mention of Tony.
We watch as Julien and his wife reunite with their daughter. Rini and her boyfriend share a hug outside of their house. Malik Suri (Arsher Ali) has dinner with his wife and kid. Also, Anouar Charmataines (Yassine Fadel) visits his dad’s gravestone. Slyvie visits Alain, as he died in the hospital.
After her speech, Tony and Emily meet inside the home. Tony ignores a phone call from Julien. Emily tells Tony about Vincent’s suicide, before saying she thinks it is wrong for people to give up. She still believes people can change. She also admits to be relieved, when she found out Oliver was dead.
Afterwards, Tony is back at home trying to return to a normal life. Oliver’s drawing hangs on his fridge. He makes a call to Julien and questions him about Georges. He also brings up the Romanian who attacked Rini. Tony continues holding onto hope, since they do not have Oliver’s body. Julien tells Tony, if he cannot live with your doubts, they will destroy you.
Next, we flash to Russia and see a drawing, which is very similar to Oliver’s on the window of a vehicle. The man approaches the children and they run off quickly. When the man turns around, we see Tony, with a full beard. He visits an apartment, where he confronts a boy, who he believes to be Oliver. He shows the boy the drawing, but he doesn’t respond. The police arrive and haul Tony away. They reveal they’ve already had reports of Tony harassing children in several different cities. As the cop car drives away, Tony stares into the camera.
Review
After watching The Missing finale several hours ago, I am still contemplating what I saw. The finale contained a lot of information, as well as many questions. Alain, Khalid, Ian and Vincent all met their ends. Their stories are over, but Malik, Rini, Tony and Costel left some lose ends, which will leave you guessing for a few more days. There are a few possible scenarios here.
For one, Tony could have potentially found Oliver in Russia. Or perhaps Alain’s story was true and Tony has gone mad? I believe the show ultimately explored parents coping with the disappearance of their son. While Emily was able to break away and reclaim her life, Tony wasn’t so lucky. Perhaps it was because he had nothing and no one back at home? After years and years of searching, it became clear Tony lost his life, when he lost Oliver. This is a heartbreaking, truthful portrayal of parents dealing with the loss of a child.
Overall, The Missing kept me on the edge of my seat. I found myself working the case, along with Julien and Tony in every episode.and sympathized with Vincent’s plight, until the very end. The acting was absolutely top notch. The most impressive were Titus De Voogdt, James Nesbitt and Tcheky Karyo. It was also nice to see the show pull itself together in the end, without any glaring potholes, which are common with other shows. All in all, The Missing is one of the better television shows of the year. I’d rate it a 9.5 out of 10.
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.
