After watching 5 1/2 episodes of ABC's action series, Missing, I finally had to throw in the towel, give up the ghost, throw out the baby with the bathwater, and all the other hoary cliches I can think of right now. I deleted it from my TIVO season pass after about twenty minutes through episode six. I'm not sure what drove me to it. Was it the fact that only Becca (Judd's character) knew how to disarm all the booby traps in what used to be her and her husband Paul's love shack? Or when bitchy young CIA agent Violet started snooping around and accidentally set off a hidden bomb that blew the cabin to bits? Or how about when Violet takes the blame for destroying ALL the evidence, and Becca says, "That's the first thing you've gotten right, princess." No, I think what broke me was the umpteenth flashback of Becca and Paul in happier days (before she thought he was killed with a car bomb--oh, he's alive! And evil), when she was either getting married or pregnant with the missing kid, Michael. In this episode/flashback, they are "painting the nursery" in said cabin, and have a playful paint fight. Really? That ship has sailed circa John Hughes and She's Having a Baby from 1988 (with incredible Kate Bush accompaniment during moving montage).
Sorry, Ashley Judd. You are a terrific actress and an outspoken feminist, and I am still hoping that all the hubbub regarding your rebuttal to dozens of discussions about your face seeming PUFFY focuses more attention on your series. I cannot watch this show anymore. I only have so much room and time for bad shows that could be useful for discussions about gender (I'm looking at you Revenge). Granted a show where a woman hero more than competently handles herself in the male-dominated world of action and espionage deserves some kudos. Still, it seems that in the world of action heroines, we've got limited choices.
- Action Babe: sexy clothing and hair, often uses sexiness as way to fool bad guys before she kicks their butt, because looks belie competency. Should be young, thin, and gorgeous, but now even Helen Mirren is in on the fun. Sexiness is required at any age now.
- Little Girl Killing Machine: often raised by psycho ex-spy Dad, is trained in all the ways to kill and does not have normal kid "affect." Not sexualized (yet), but plays little girl trope to fool bad guys, because looks belie competency.
- Traumatized Victim/Hero: almost every horror film Final Girl and rape avenger. Must live or re-live graphic and protracted trauma before getting righteously angry and fighting back. Almost always broken or crazy in some fundamental way.
- Bad Ass Grizzly Mama: the most acceptable motivation for a woman enacting violence, this Mom is either a retired or amnesiac bad ass who is forced back into the game because of her kid, or a lady with deep nurturing instincts that accompany her fighting skills. If you do not support her quest, you obviously hate children.
Quick plot synopsis: Floral shop owner Becca Winstone (Ashley Judd) bravely sends her 18 year old son, Michael, off to Rome to study architecture on a summer fellowship, even though she hasn't let him out of her sight for the last decade, when her husband, Paul (Sean Bean, head still attached), was killed by a car bomb when he and Michael were on vacation. Turns out that both Becca and Paul were CIA operatives, and she turned away from all that after her husband's death. A couple of days after her son stops sending her constant texts, she becomes suspicious, jets off to Italy, and finds out that Michael has been kidnapped, although she does not know by whom or why. As episodes unfold, Michael's kidnappers appear to be connected to Russian intelligence, and one immediately wonders if this show takes place in the eighties (nope--lots of Ipads & Iphones). Oh, also Paul is actually alive, or someone's been surgically made over to look like him (episode 4).
The show initially had such potential. Becca Winstone has mad skills, including hand-to-hand fighting, driving cars, boats, and motorcycles, shooting a variety of guns, and breaking into French intelligence by scaling some support pillars in an office building.
Actually, in this shot she's climbing a different structural support. The scene that I admired in episode 2 has her back against a wall and a column, and she shimmies up the wall in a completely believable manner. She is tough, resourceful, and talented. In episode 3, Becca's involved in this awesome speedboat chase scene, and she's shooting while driving. In episode 5, she and her ex-lover, Interpol buddy Giancarlo, break into a bank in Prague, just to prove that they can do it right under the CIA's noses. Everyone else on the show just basically follows Becca around while she solves all the puzzles, collects all the clues, fights all the bad guys, and outshines EVERYONE, young or old, male or female. She's beat up and shot in Paris, and bounces back from these wounds quickly enough to continue fighting some more. Really, in describing these moments, the show sounds pretty exciting and fun! If only the show had no dialogue and no one every talked.
Throughout the series, characters repeatedly overstate ham-fisted dialogue. I wanted to start a drinking game where every time Becca announced, declared, or shouted that "I'm not CIA, I'm a mother looking for her son!" I would drink, but I would have died of alcohol poisoning mid-way through episode 2. Random characters from Becca's past tell her that "motherhood looks good on her," and everyone is impressed by her skills more than a decade out of the field. Fierce mamas always fight when their family is harmed.
She also is very handy at crying and wailing, and collapses into a sobbing heap when she misses saving her son by mere seconds. She also cries quite a bit when she finds out that Paul is alive. I know that these events would be upsetting for anyone, but her reactions are not really consistent with her overall character. Numerous flashbacks indicate that Becca is the tough, pragmatic one in her romantic relationship. At the same time, some of the flashbacks are so acutely sentimental, and triggered by Becca's consciousness, that perhaps she is far mushier than she appears. Only during flashbacks of her wedding, or during memories of Paul and Michael, does Becca smile. When she does, the world shifts on its axis; Judd's beauty and charisma are truly luminous. The rest of the time she's firmly focused on "finding her son!"
Of course, the show's entire raison d'etre is that Becca's son is missing, so he cannot be found too quickly. Bring on the ridiculous subplots and flashbacks to give the show's characters more depth. Michael, once kidnapped, is repeatedly moved just far enough from Mom's grasp. As of episode 6, he's hanging out in a "castle," and has befriended some diabetic ex-model from Eastern Europe who is being used to keep him in check. He is just about to escape, but then changes his mind and goes back for her, because he must love her already. About ten days have elapsed, BTW.
Another problem with the show is how the other female characters are handled. Violet, a younger, sexier, CIA operative is sleeping with her boss, Dax (pictured below). He's divorced with a couple of kids, so he's much more attached to Becca and her needs, than Violet's, for he understands what it means to love your children. Violet acts out in typically jealous and childish ways, and by episode 6, Becca and she are undeniably pitted against each other (see earlier "princess" comment). She does have a really awesome tattoo on her back (because we see her naked).
Becca's friend and fellow flower shop employee, Mary, shows up out of the blue in Italy, because Becca's not returning her calls, and she is promptly used as a bargaining tool by some bad guys in episode 4. Becca explains everything--kidnapped son, ex-CIA operative--and Mary gets sent back to the states in order to make random phone calls to Becca in future episodes (including 5). She's also one of the only people of color in the entire series. One of the bad "guys" in episode 4 is a woman. Sloane is an icy, blonde type with a British accent, and she's promptly shot in the head at the end of the episode. One of the heads of the CIA is a woman, but we only see her on the phone with Dax, throwing a wrench into any plans he has to help Becca. So she's bad. And finally there's Oksana, Michael's new diabetic girlfriend, who will surely have a long career playing victims after this gig. Even if Becca is super-competent, ever other woman in her diegetic world is out to get her, or exists as some kind of obstacle in her mission to "save her son!" Ugh.
Five and a half episodes at least suggests some kind of commitment on my part to give Ashley Judd's action series a chance. I do wish her many successes, because I believe that she is talented and is loaded with good intentions. Unfortunately, her show is just unwatchable. If it does get canceled, maybe she'll have more time to do worthwhile work such as this video.
