DVD Review: Missing (The Complete First Season)

DVD Reviews, Reviews

Ashely Judd seemed the perfect candidate for small screen success. Her movie career had cooled off a bit from her high profile thrillers that seemed to always co-star Morgan Freeman. For the last few years, her largest exposure came from running around the Indy 500 to join her husband (Dario Franchitti) at the winner’s circle. Having her arrive on TV wasn’t a shock. Having her be part of an international thriller seemed obvious to her strengths. She seemed ready to become a superstar once more. Unfortunately something didn’t click with viewers. Missing: The Complete First Season is actually the only season.

“The Pilot” starts with a bang. Judd finishes her jog somewhere outside D.C. when she gets on the phone with her husband (Lord of the Rings‘ Sean Bean). He’s in Vienna with their son. They’re getting ready to fly back to America. She’s excited since she’s ready for a second kid. Hubby is ready to help out. Before they can drive off to the airport, the son has to run inside the hotel to get a soccer ball signed by Zindane. When he heads out the front door, dad turns the key and the car blows up. Judd gets to hear the blast on the cellphone. Why would someone do such a thing? The show quickly flashes ten years into the future. The son (Nick Eversman) is now in college and ready to visit Rome to further his education. Judd isn’t ready to let her boy go back across the Atlantic. Her paranoia pays off when the kid vanishes from the school. She flies to Rome to confirm her worst fear: he’s been abducted. Why? Turns out Judd and Bean were a married CIA couple. She uses all her skills to track down leads on her son. The trail is hot when she busts into a warehouse. Her son might not be there, but now she has CIA agents believing her story.

The show becomes a chase across the European landscape. Things get so intense that she makes a stunning discovery in “Tell Me No Lies.” Since the series ended after 10 episodes, there’s no need to spoil this major moment. A hint for the curious is that she learns that someone extremely close to her is a major liar. At the same time, she gets support from an unexpected source to continue her hunt. Is that vague enough? The series goes into overdrive when agents are getting shot all over the continent. Not wanting to spoil the experience, but there is a slight resolution to the pursuit of the son. However there’s still a major cliffhanger to make you think there’s a second season ready to roll this fall. Be prepared to accept the cliffhanger as something that will leave you hanging for the rest of your life. At least the good news for Judd was that after her show was canceled, her husband won another Indy 500.

The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The transfer is fine with the details glowing on the European locations. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo. They did a rather impressive sound design for the show. There’s plenty of gun shots to test the speakers. The episodes have subtitles.

Missing: In Action (16:05) lets cast and producers explain how the series came together.

On Location: Inside Istanbul (32:38) captures the production crew’s rush to shoot a lot of stuff in a foreign country in a really short amount of time. The footage looks almost like a Travel Channel special.

Deleted Scenes (6:33) has seven segments that went missing from the broadcast version.

Missing: The Complete First Season is a rather impressive short run series. The fact that they at least don’t leave you completely dangling at the end of 10 episodes makes it work as a DVD.

ABC Studios presents Missing: The Complete First Season Starring: Ashley Judd and Sean Bean. Boxset Contents: 10 episodes on 3 DVDs. Released: June 12, 2012. Available at Amazon.com

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.