Missing You
I have to admit that I need to start each new year with a transplanted Harlan Coben miniseries. Damn you Netflix! You've created this addiction in me! Since 2020 Netflix has started each year off with a bang by dropping an addictive Harlan Coben adaptation invariably with Richard Armitage in some role. I mean, there's a fair amount of James Nesbitt too, but he's like the extra special sauce only available once in awhile. Last year though Fool Me Once left me feeling unfulfilled. By not focusing on the story that mattered and having a lackluster and unsympathetic lead in Michelle Keegan it made for a forgettable series. Unless you're me and spend all your time thinking how it could have worked if certain things had been changed. I mean, they had Joanna Lumley, literally anyone else could have made that work! Which is why when they announced that the new series was starring Rosalind Eleazar I breathed a sigh of relief. Best known as Louisa Guy on Slow Horses I knew in my bones that at least we had a lead that could carry the show. And I'm sorry if you're a fan of Michelle Keegan, but she was unable to rise to the challenge that is the flawed yet sympathetic lead needed for a Harlan Coben miniseries. And while Rosalind Eleazar is wonderful, her family secrets, her father's murder, her lost love, her second chance with her soulmate who just happened to be in So Solid Crew, that isn't what I loved about this series. This series begins with Kat finding her ex on a dating app. He disappeared out of her life overnight over a decade earlier without an explanation. See aforementioned family secrets and father's murder. Of course this leads her to investigate what really happened to her ex Josh. Traumatic revelations, eventual reconciliation, yadda yadda, you get the picture. But it's that picture on that dating app that is what draws you in. Because Josh's picture was being used to catfish people. It was a whole operation run by Steve Pemberton at his dastardly best. He was kidnapping and killing people once he'd gotten a hold of all their assets. He kept them prisoner in a farmyard, chained up like animals. But because of one woman searching for the love of her life this huge vast network of horror is brought to it's knees. But what really gets me is that these criminals, who, aside from their leader, aren't the brightest bunch, saw a picture of Ashley Walters and went, yeah, this hottie will bring the ladies to the yard and just used it on a public platform. Not really thinking about the consequences of what might happen if someone who knew him saw it. And, in fairness to the underlings, this is a man who just disappeared off the face of the Earth and a really dedicated copper couldn't find him, so, it would appear that this picture would be fair game. Then all the stars aligned and the exact wrong person saw the profile and started to pick at the thread. The whole sweater started to unravel, and while she's off trying to find answers about her own life she just incidentally stops evil in it's tracks. That's why I love this series so much. The random nature of the universe. Everything has to happen just right for all the dominoes to fall. Of course this is fiction, so Harlan Coben is able to put the dominoes exactly where he wants...but this still felt feasible. One of those too weird to not be believable stories. Damn. I admit it. I'm a Harlan Coben addict. I can't wait for the new year.
While no one was really paying too much attention Harlan Coben has made himself a little dynasty over at Netflix. While everyone was obsessing over Bridgerton or pouring over the details of Ryan Murphy's deal with Netflix for the last six years Coben has delivered eight shows that are solid and addictive mysteries. The recipe was simple; take one of his books, change the setting to England, add Richard Armitage, and voila, hit show. But a hit show without too much coverage. It's like how Suits emerged out of the mists of time to become popular again. Harlan Coben's adaptations succeed whether they're talked about or not. And Fool Me Once is the only one I've really seen talked about. Which is a shame. This adaptation just didn't work. Could it be too little Richard Armitage? Perhaps. Could it be that despite being the darling of British television I found Michelle Keegan flat and incapable of shouldering the duties of leading lady? Oh, most definitely. Joanna Lumley should have killed Michelle in the first episode and made it her own. The problem with this adaptation is at its heart it's about a British drug dynasty like the Sacklers, but told in the stupidest way possible. This is buried so deeply in the narrative it only becomes clear in the final episode when Michelle Keegan's Maya confronts her husband's family. I would have far rather watched eight episodes of Maya living this half life between the world she was born to and the world she was thrust into because of her marriage than her wandering about being wooden looking into the deaths of her husband and her sister, one of which really makes no sense when you learn the truth. Which just lends itself to the convoluted nature of the entire show. So much is not explained and left unresolved. If you like your mysteries with a big helping of vague, well then, this one's for you. The lead cop, played wonderfully by Adeel Akhtar, is taking drugs produced by the "Sacklers" and is having severe health issues. Are we ever told why he's on medicine that he pops like candy? No! And then when he's at the doctors trying to figure out why he's blacking out, when the doctor is talking the sound fades away. So... No idea what's going on there. So much is not knowing what's going on or just assuming the audience doesn't care about a single detail. Like Maya's sister gave up a baby for adoption. Why did she give the baby up? Did her husband know? Or did Maya's friend actually have kids? I never saw these kids or even pictures of said kids. These little things keep building over time until I was just so frustrated that I'm glad Maya died. This show explained nothing, underused great actors, and overused incompetent ones. I kept thinking that this could have been something but in the end I just no longer care. Yes, it was slightly redeemed by vigilantism with dire consequences, but it was too little too late.
