Netflix thriller series with potential are too crowded to satisfy

The new Netflix thriller series, miss you, certainly has a juicy premise. A detective’s fiancé left her without explanation, and 11 years later she finds a profile of him on a dating app.

The five-episode series is based on Harlan Coben’s 2014 novel and is a twisted journey in search of the truth. Packed full of mysteries, surprises and secrets, it’s a whirlwind of a crime series with a small cameo from TikTok star GK Barry.

Missing You release date: January 1 on Netflix
Cast: Rosalind Eleazar, Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage, Ashley Walters, Sir Lenny Henry, Steve Pemberton, James Nesbitt, Samantha Spiro, Lisa Faulkner, Mary Malone
Number of episodes: 5
Directors: Nimer Rashed and Isher Sahota

What is ‘Missing you’ about?

Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar), who works in the missing persons unit, struggles with her dating life. When we first meet her miss you she is dating a man who is obsessed with working out and counting calories. It’s understandable that dating would be tough for her after her fiance Josh (Ashley Walters) left her 11 years ago without a word of explanation.

But there is more to Kat’s story. Her police officer father was murdered and the man who confessed to killing him, Monte Leburne (Marc Warren), has terminal cancer and not long to live. This means Kat urgently wants to talk to Monte in hopes of getting some answers about her father’s death, including why he killed her father.

Kat’s friends are processing the trauma and still push her to date, encouraging her to join a dating app that matches people based on their music tastes. That’s when Kat gets spooked and matches a profile of her ex-fiancé.

miss you have a lot to investigate. Who really killed Kat’s father? Why did Josh disappear? And on top of that, Kat investigates other cases, missing persons Rishi Magari (Rudi Dharmalingam) and Dana Fells (Lisa Faulkner).

That’s a lot of missing people with cases that could all be related to each other.

Is ‘Missing You’ worth watching?

While miss you has the makings of a great mystery series, it’s just too crowded. It’s one thing to keep the pace up, especially in a thriller, but this show feels rushed as it tries to cram too much into five episodes.

There are several matters that Kat really cares about and I just wish we had time to care about them too.

The flashbacks showing Kat’s relationship with Josh were effective, but we still don’t get enough time to really feel invested in their love story, especially when she matches him so quickly after signing up on the dating app.

What really saves miss you is Rosalind Eleazar. The actress gives a moving performance with the structure of the show she works in. It’s emotional and you can really sense Kat’s anger, sadness, vulnerability in such a layered portrayal of this character.

Additionally, Kat’s relationship with her mother Odette (Brigid Zengenii) is a highlight as the story tries to build that richness in Kat’s life, as rushed as it may feel.

As the ending tries to tie up these loose ends in the story, it is not particularly satisfying. But a setup where every single person in Kat’s life is keeping a secret from her makes it a particularly difficult feat to get a rewarding ending.

That said, if you’d like a quick new mystery heading into the new year, perhaps something to pick up on as you start to crawl back into your post-holiday emails, this might be it a good place to start.