Gone

Chris Noth is every missing child and parents hero. He plays FBI agent Frank Booth who works missing children cases. A former child abductee named Kick Lannigan (Leven Rambin) who FBI agent Frank Booth rescued a long time ago still keeps in touch with her to the current day. Kick has remained a single adult who owns and operates a self defense school.

A potential client named Bishop (Danny Pino) who wants to learn self defense requests Kick provide him with a private lesson. Although the teacher versus new student defense class does not go as planned for either the teacher Kick, nor her new student Bishop, in walks the FBI agent Frank Booth, who rescued Kick all those years ago with an offer. I thought the fight scene was more than over the top. Ouchhhhh!

Frank asks Kick and another kidnapping survivor named James Finley (Andy Mientus) to join a special kidnap/rescue forces team that he is just forming whose job is to investigate recent child kidnappings. The special kidnapping task force team includes three former actors who all starred in previous successful television crime series. Chris Noth (Law & Order), Danny Pino (Cold Case, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), and Tracie Thoms (Cold Case).

The pilot episode provides the TV viewers with some insights into what each member of the task force brings to the team. Kick is obviously still harboring some demons from her childhood days held in captivity but she knows the ins and outs of these child predators fro first hand knowledge as to how they cultivate their victims and keep them as hostages for years (as she was).

My Pet Peeve: Whenever I see a member of TV's law enforcement who looks like (s)he is still in high school sitting in front of a computer monitor and frantically typing aimlessly on the keyboard in front of them, and within five (5) seconds of air time they have discovered the perpetrators hideout I grow disappointed quickly in the quality of the program as it is a very cheap and lazy screenwriter who cannot build a storyline that captures the audiences attention.

I give the pilot episode a decent enough 8 out of 10 rating and time will tell how this series progresses. I just hope the series Gone loses the phony keyboard typing detective that is so prevalent in so many mediocre TV crime series.

If you've always been a fan of Chris Noth, whether he's playing Mike Logan or Mr Big or that guy in The Good Wife, you'll enjoy Gone. The stories are well written, and, happily, entirely realistic, and the acting is perfectly pitched - no scenery chewing, but enough emotion to keep the viewer entertained.

Leven Rambin is excellent as the female lead - she does a very commendable mix of tough, smart, and vulnerable, and works well with Noth, Danny Pino, and the regulation nerdy guy.

And the funky, high-tech plane the team gets around in is a real treat - it's a nicely original take on the currently fashionable, ultra-sophisticated investigation tools cop shows use these days.

The cast has obviously gelled quickly, and their combined professionalism delivers an interesting, very watchable, show.

GONE is a procedural thriller with terrific character development and backstory. The show is anchored by Kick Lannigan (Leven Rambin) who was abducted as a young girl, and Frank Booth (Chris Noth) the FBI agent who rescued her. This dynamic, and the abduction that still haunts Kick, give the show emotional depth. The pilot sets up the basic premise: Frank recruits Kick to join a small team of agents tasked with finding victims of abduction. The excellent writing distinguishes GONE from ordinary procedural, and the acting is superb. I watched the second episode and I was hooked. The limited series peaks in the middle of the season -- episode 6 entitled "Don't Go" is a stunner -- and by the end I was ready for GONE, Season Two.

Enjoyed the premise but disappointed in the acting of the female lead. How could she and her techie sidekick just up and go? What about her self defense pupils and where is the dog. Did the writers forget about that?

What happens if you put Mr Big together with a former Law & Order SVU / Cold Case detective and Glimmer from The Hunger Games? To be honest I thought nothing happens. The first trailer of Gone left me like "well ok another crime drama with borings characters, don't care" but after I watched the first two episodes, I was so caught up on this show.

First: Yes, it's a crime procedural, one case an episode and a "main story" in the background.

Second: Yes, it might be nothing new.

But: Don't judge this show too quickly. The pilot was solid, not brilliant or something. But the other episodes begin to build a really great story and we get to see a lot of interesting cases with well written plots and some plot twists.

But what really makes this show so great is the cast and the characters. Danny Pino as FBI Agent Bishop is so brilliant, I actually could have watched this show just for his acting. Leven Rambin does a really good work, too. Their characters Kick and Bishop are full of flaws and that's what makes them really catchy. And we can see the characters grow which I really like when watching a show.

All in all Gone is a really good crime show with a bit drama, a lot of secrets and mysteries, amazing actors and a lot of hope in every episode.