The Disappearance

I had already watched the French series and enjoyed it, so was looking forward to watching this. I'm sure I would have liked it, but I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes, the back ground music was way too loud so much so that sometimes it was difficult to hear what the characters were saying. I get that sometimes background music is necessary to build tension etc but not to that extent.

When Anthony Sullivan (Michael Riendeau) disappears on his tenth birthday, his family is devastated. However, as more and more time passes without the police being able to locate him, long-buried family secrets are dragged to the surface, turning the Sullivan family against one another.

A journeyman show, The Disappearance is very much paint-by-numbers stuff, with nothing you haven't before seen in half-a-dozen similar narratives, with writers Normand Daneau and Geneviève Simard taking no real risks. Having said that, however, it's a well made piece of television. Confidently directed by Peter Stebbings, the material may offer nothing revelatory, but what it does offer is enjoyable enough on its own terms. An excellent Peter Coyote dominates the show as Anthony's grandfather, Henry, a retired judge with a strained relationship (to say the least) with his son, Luke (Aden Young), Anthony's father. As the veneer of civility slowly erodes, the fissures running beneath the family dynamic begin to erupt, with blame and recrimination becoming the central tenets of familial interaction. You may guess half-way through who the kidnapper is, and yes, they're one of those Hollywood kidnappers who leave cryptic clues everywhere, but this remains a well made, if unadventurous, show.

So many side stories that detracted from the main story, it became mind numbing. I series recorded, I deleted. I'm old, like Donald Suthrland. I've only a few years to live, I don't waste it on this.

Oh Peter Coyote, what a dog of a performance you gave in The Disappearance. Micheline Lanctôt's character was useless. Neil Napier wasn't even trying. And then there's poor Anthony, played by Michael Riendeau-a messed up little boy at the beginning of the film, a messed up little boy at then end of the film. Add a splash of sexual sacrifice, a smidgen of 'almost incest' and way too many convenient subplots that miraculously solve themselves; and this could almost be a Lifetime movie(the armpit hair of the film industry). Wasted efforts all around-enough for everyone.

This was a great show until the 3rd episode. It seemed to me like everyone, the writers, the director and the actors just ran out of gas and went through the motions from there on. Peter Coyote appeared to be reading his lines from a teleprompter and the rest of the cast disappeared. I don't know what happened but I just totally lost interest and really didn't care what happened in the end. Usually a show is either good or bad from the very start but disappearance had one good half and one bad. That does not make for a good product.