Missing (2012 TV series)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Missing is a ten-episode 2012 ABC series starring Ashley Judd as Rebecca "Becca" Winstone, a former CIA agent. She had spent over 10 years taking care of her son, Michael. She had a husband named Paul Winstone, who had been killed by a car bomb in 2001. Michael, once he's 18 years old, decides to go to Rome, Italy, for a summer architecture program. Becca is reluctant to let him go, but she does, having him promise to keep in touch with her. This turns out to be justified, because she doesn't hear from him for over a week, and the university calls her to say that Michael has moved out of his dorm room. Concerned, she heads to Rome to find out what happened. This is where the fun begins.

Tropes used in Missing (2012 TV series) include:
  • Action Girl: Becca.
  • Adult Fear: Your child is studying abroad and goes missing.
  • Big Bad: Victor Azimoff.
  • CIA: Becca was a member of this group. They are very interested in finding out what she is doing.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Becca tells agent Dax Miller about it in the first episode. She wants to be a good mother for her son, because her mother wasn't good.
  • Deal with the Devil: Becca makes this with Antoine. Fortunately, it doesn't go as badly as it might have.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Jamie Ortega, the CIA director.
  • Face Heel Turn: Paul Winstone. Maybe.
  • Genre Savvy: Dax stays on everyone heels by always asking the right questions. If you can't find the leak, look at who is sleeping next to you.
  • He's Just Hiding: Some viewers wondered if Paul did die from the car bomb. It turns out that he's alive and may have gone Face Heel Turn.
  • Knight Templar Parent: Mama Winstone blatantly tells almost everyone she meets that she is willing to do anything to get her son back, she doesn't care what laws she breaks or in whose way she gets. Among other things, she has broken into buildings to see surveillance, gotten herself arrested (deliberately), broken out of custody, almost handed over someone she swore to protect to his hunter, robbed a bank, stolen a CIA helicopter, and walked in the Front Door of someone she suspects has Michael. By the Season 1 finale torture and murder are included.
  • Let's Have Another Baby: Becca suggests this and the conversation ends when a car bomb kills her husband. His reaction suggests he floated the idea earlier, but this is the only on-screen mention.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Sean Bean is in the title credits and is dead in the first five minutes? Surprisingly he stayed out of sight until the end of episode 4.
  • Mama Bear: Deconstructed. Becca is willing to do whatever it takes to rescue Michael. It caused her to make some mistakes that could have cost her dearly. Fortunately, a friend of hers gets her to realize that she needs to act, and not just react to what's going on.
  • My Beloved Smother: Michael thinks Rebecca became this after his father died. He doesn't tell her he's applied to school in Rome until after his acceptance to reduce her space to protest. After a week of not checking in she's buying a plane ticket.
  • No Ending: In the finale, Becca finally reunites with her kid, but has now gone missing herself. The series was cancelled a week before the finale.
  • Shared Universe: This show takes place in the same universe as Castle, who wrote a good review on one of Newman's books.
  • Smug Snake: Antoine Lussier from the second episode. It was very satisfying to watch him go down.
  • The Mole: Violet, apparently.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: Agent Dax Miller is clearly having this struggle. So far, he has not made a decision either way.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Messing with someone + That someone being Becca = A big whopping helping of murder