Missing You – Series Review | Netflix

MISSING YOU on Netflix is a new Harlan Coben series with just five episodes. Yet again, a mystery is at the heart of the story. It has a character-driven plot in which the past catches up with the present. Read our full Missing You series review here!

MISSING YOU is a new Netflix limited mystery-thriller series from Harlan Coben. Or rather, it’s based on a Harlan Coben novel like many other wonderful Netflix series. Sure, there have been a few misses, but overwhelmingly, these adaptations work. This one included.

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If I were to give one quick (and spoiler-free) warning, it would be that the ending feels a little rushed. Everything happens a little too quickly and while most answers are given, it feels like an additional episode to explore several elements would’ve been better. All five episodes were watched for this review.

Continue reading our full Missing You series review below. Find it on Netflix from January 1, 2025.

When the past catches up to the present

In Missing You, we follow Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) who works on missing persons cases. Her father (Lenny Henry) also worked as a police officer until he was murdered, which is something she’s never really gotten over.

Another thing, Kat Donovan has never been able to get over, is the fact that her fiancé Josh (Ashley Walters) disappeared eleven years ago. Shortly after proposing to her, he just packed up and left.

So really, he didn’t “disappear” like the people she searches for in her job. He left her.

With no explanation and nothing that indicated anything was wrong, Josh left Kat, which is a surefire way to keep someone hanging on and longing for you more than a decade later.

Just as she finally feels ready to move on, she goes on a dating app and suddenly sees his face. He’s listed as a father and widower, so clearly Josh has been busy the past decade after leaving Kat.

Murder, missing people, and blackmailing

Seeing Josh on the app brings everything back for Kat, but she isn’t a victim or crying about it. It’s a dating app where people find mutual interest via their love of music, so she sends him a song they both love: John Waite’s “Missing You”.

Hence the title of the series (and the novel it was based on).

Of course, Kat’s non-existent love life (though she gets her needs met when she desires) isn’t the key topic of this mystery and thriller series on Netflix. Instead, it’s her father’s murder, new missing persons cases on Kat’s desk, and an extremely brutal case of blackmailing.

One we will learn results in even more murders. However, before we get that far, the young adult son of a missing woman, shows Kat who his mother was dating before her disappearance.

Yet again, Josh’s face shows up, and Kat must realize that maybe she didn’t know him at all.

Missing You has a subplot worthy of a horror movie

I’m glossing over all the nitty gritty bits and bobs here, as you need to experience it all for yourself. However, I do want to highlight that the whole kidnapping and blackmailing element of the story is brutal.

As in, this part of the plot could easily have been a horror movie. Seriously, I think quite a few people will be terrified by that story. And appropriately so, I might add. The British countryside can be a downright scary place.

Not unlike what’s shown in the US remake of Speak No Evil.

Overall, Missing You has both the missing persons, the blackmailing element, and the mystery surrounding the murder of Kat’s father. Especially the latter will include uncovering long-buried secrets from the past.

Netflix series Missing You ending

I don’t want to do spoilers for the Harlan Coben Missing You series. However, I do need to highlight that the ending of the Netflix series wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been. With just five episodes, a sixth episode could’ve helped answer many questions.

Personally, I would’ve liked to have an additional episode that focused even more on the blackmailer along with Josh’s life after leaving Kat. Sure, we do get answers, but a lot is unanswered as well.

For me, this made the ending of Harlan Coben’s Missing You on Netflix weaker than it could (and should) have been. The story is strong, but too much is left only particularly answered in the Missing You Netflix series ending.

Watch Missing You on Netflix

As mentioned many times already, this new Netflix series is based on Harlan Coben’s novel. This series script adaptation comes from writers Sumerah Srivastav (Manifest) and Victoria Asare-Archer. The series directors are Isher Sahota and Nimer Rashed (Fool Me Once).

While the ending wasn’t as strong as I wished, the character-driven plot of Missing You worked really well. Not least thanks to the strong cast. Alongside Rosalind Eleazar in the lead, we have a few other familiar faces from several previous Harlan Coben series adaptations.

Most notably, the Harlan Coben alumni cast includes Richard Armitage (The Stranger, Fool Me Once) as Kat’s boss and previous partner of her father. Also, James Nesbitt (Stay Close) plays a criminal who everyone seems to know and fear.

Other key actors from the cast are Rudi Dharmalingam (In the Shadow of the Moon), Charlie Hamblett, Catherine Ayers (Who is Erin Carter?), Samantha Spiro (Sex Education), Jessica Plummer (The Girl Before), Mary Malone, and Oscar Kennedy (Wreck).

Finally, Steve Pemberton (Killing Eve) is terrifying as the blackmailer! If you’re a horror and thriller fan, you can watch it for the story about the kidnapping and blackmailing alone. On the other hand, all fans of Harlan Coben should also be pleased. Even if the ending could’ve been better.

Missing You is out on Netflix on January 1, 2025.

Details

Directors: Nimer Rashed & Isher Sahota
Lead Writer: Victoria Asare-Archer
Cast: Rosalind Eleazar, Ashley Walters, Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage, Sir Lenny Henry, Steve Pemberton, Marc Warren, Samantha Spiro, Lisa Faulkner, Mary Malone, James Nesbitt, Matt Jay-Willis