MH370: L'avion disparu

On March 8th 2014, Flight number 370 takes off from Malaysia, but disappears from the radar, 239 people on board vanished.

Episode one had me absolutely captivated, it was so moving, hearing from the loved ones of those missing people, very moving, a little mystery was suggested surrounding the bizarre disappearance.

Sadly, episodes 2 and 3 followed, and both were dismal, the sad, but intriguing story turns into a haven for conspiracy theories, and dare I say the words, but fanboy (and fangirl) theories, I watched in horror as this series played host to two people to have a dig at one another.

The Russians, The Chinese, those Australians, The Americans, The Pilot, nobody was safe from the theories, Finland and Nigeria fortunately didn't get blamed, they were about the only two nations that weren't.

This was very poor documentary making, you wonder who edits and signs off things like this, in this day and age, this just wasn't acceptable, the deaths are still relevant, still fresh for many, this was totally distasteful.

A few points for episode one, that was powerful, the rest was awful, over long, it didn't give voice to the relatives, it was quite frankly ridiculous.

4/10.

In its attempt to introduce new angles and material not seen before it has focused far too much on conspiracy (painted as seemingly viable alternatives to the current evidence-based versions available). This mystery-tragedy has left hundreds of people without their loved ones and they deserve more than conspiracy and speculation. This series provided a platform for rabbit holes, and gave far too little airtime to the individuals providing scientific and credible information and insights into this missing aircraft. It's hard to see what the point of this docu-series is, aside from trying to introduce new, fresh narratives at any cost.

The incredible bumbling and arrogance of the Malaysian government and Malaysian Airlines is undeniable.

This aviation writer, Jeff Wise, clearly wanted to break into Hollywood and Netflix gave him his chance. His multiple theories completely ignore most logical facts, like the other passengers on board saying, "hey, a Russian just opened the hatch and went down." This guy is guilty of confirmation bias who rode this crash to fame.

Meanwhile, all Wise can do is dismiss the debris finder, Blaine Gibson, as a part of a vast Russian plot.

Meanwhile, the woman who said, "look here is the plane. I can see the debris field exactly where it would be, in the South China Sea near Vietnam." If the catastrophic event happened when the plane went dark on radar, that's where it would be. Her story, rather than explored on its own, is wrapped into yet another wild conspiracy theory by the wholly unbelievable fantastical French journalist.

Fortunately, there is Mike Exner to bring sanity to all the wild theories.

What surprises me most is no one talks about golfer Paine Stewart's ill-fated flight wherein the planes pressurization failed and all were killed by hypoxia and then the ghost plane ran out of fuel and crashed. The Captain and co-pilot would have had more oxygen and could have tried to turn the plane back towards home.

The story behind the disappearance of MH370 is a tragic mystery that deserves serious and careful analysis. Alas this three-episodes series devotes most of its time and attention to crackpots who are peddling moronic "double-agents in the CIA met with the Uzbekistani navy at Roswell to recruit Bigfoot to steal the plane" conspiracy theories; and, even worse, it gives a sympathetic platform to the cynical creeps who are exploiting the families of the passengers for fame and money. These people are disgusting, particularly a French "journalist" preying on the hope and denial of a grieving father and husband.

Although the series does also briefly present more rational perspectives, it never effectively challenges the crackpots and con-artists' sophistry.

There are so many conspiracy theories presented in this "documentary" with zero evidence whatsoever. The main theorist, Jeff Wise, has multiple bizarre chains of events that he has concocted in his mind based with no evidence to support his theories. He ascribes no motive to any of the people or governments to whom he tries to blame (eg the pilot, three Russian passengers, etc). I'm surprised Netflix thought this was fit to air.

He has done no research into the private lives of the pilot (who he smeared for 10 minutes before saying, "oh, maybe it wasn't him) or the three Russian men. This "documentary" is utter tabloid garbage.