The Missing is back next week!

[HarryPottersMagicWand]

For those who loved it last time, will you watch after the let down of the ending? (Well I felt it was a let down, don't think there was a proper conclusion at all and still room for doubts as to whether he was still alive or not).

I loved it though and will definitely be watching the next series. I've seen the trailer and it looks very very good. Julian (think that was his name) is still in it. Looks like it is based on JayCee Dugard/Elizabeth Fritz type cases where they have gone missing as children and reappeared years later.

Cannot wait!

OK phew! In the time between series I'd forgotten how confusing this programme is...still love it though!

I so enjoyed the last series, and all our theories. This morning the first thing that popped into my head was that Alice and Sophie had body swaps. It's Alice's head on Sophie's body, and that was why she had no knowledge/memory of pregnancy. When I'd woken up a bit more I realised that if the docs had noticed stretch marks they'd probably also have noticed the scar from a head transplant, so bang goes that theory. I also realised this theory might be a teeny bit far fetched. I did read a book based on that idea once - Alasdair Gray was the author I t think.

I spent a lot of the episode thinking maybe Alice was Sophie, but when Julien voiced the idea (and the mum in the trailer) I thought that couldn't be right, because they wouldn't flag it up in episode one?
What struck me was the mum and Alice's interactions (or lack of them). I think in the first scene in the hospital, Alice said hello to her dad and her brother, but not her mum. Then they seemed really odd together in the bedroom - no hugs or warmth at all.

Why did Alice deny having a child? She was odd with her mum. Its all very edgy. ( have to concentrate and i find that hard! )
Do you mean the pics from the theme park Man?

I was thinking about it in the middle of the night, and the theory I came up with is that Alice isn't Alice, because she wasn't Alice when she was taken, ie the child the couple had brought up thinking was theirs wasn't.

Will be gobsmacked if it's true!

Loving that the second series has started - been waiting for it

If I remember correctly the tombstone for Alice said 22-12-2014 so I think she dies quite soon after she was found because I noticed that at the beginning all the houses had Christmas trees in them and it was snowy when Alice turned up so was evidently Christmas time which means she must die within a week or so (well, could be a month as I put my tree up early )

I too noticed how cold Alice seemed to be towards her mum and that the mum wasn't rushing to hug her etc. My DH thinks that Alice is Sophie but to me Alice as a teen with the big eyes looks too much like the Alice just been found so I ruled it out but I guess it could be possible that they looked similar. Did anyone see Revenge? Same plot with switched identities.

Roll on next week, I'm hooked

I'm in again (waves to posters from previous thread). I remember last time our theories on here and discussions of them were almost more enjoyable than the actual plot. My contribution this evening is to say that I don't think Alice can be Sophie because Sophie is French and while she might have picked up English being locked up with Alice over the years then assuming she was also 11 when she was abducted she would have been unlikely to lose her accent entirely. Alice perfectly understands what is said to her and speaks perfect English so not Sophie. Second point is that while I'm following the hairstyles I'm less sure about the scars - wouldn't they be more livid after only two years? They look much older to me (though while I'm confident about language and bilingualism I know nothing about scars!)

I also realised this theory might be a teeny bit far fetched.

It's no worse than "Olleh's in the telleh" to be fair

Nope........ I'm confused.

I dunno, I've seen a few French actors like Juliette Binoche, do an English accent. I think if you spent 11 years with someone and you were that way inclined you could do it.

I might be over thinking here but could the tattoo mean something? It's just quite an intricate and unique design. Not something most 11 year old girls would draw.

Finally got to watch ep1 last night. Loved series 1 was gripped from the start and think this will be the same. I don't agree with some that Alice is really Sophie it just doesn't make sense. Why would Sophie impersonate her? What would be the motivation for it? Would she not just go back to her own family who obviously loved her because they had the great baptiste working on the case. Doesn't seem like Alice had a fantastic home life when she was abducted so why would Sophie want it? I do think baptiste was metaphorically speaking when he said it wasn't Alice. I took it to mean the girl who went was not the same girl that went because of all that had happened to her in the 11 years. I didn't see anything significant about denying the pregnancy we are being led to believe she has been through a horrific traumatic experience so has undoubtedly blocked some of it from her memory. I also thought the footage of the family when they hear Alice has returned in 2014 shows them very together and close as a family, the son seems well and together compare that to them in 2016 where they are all a mess so what has happened in the last 2 years has been more traumatic for them then the 11 years Alice was missing.

My current theory is Alice was never what she seemed and was an accomplice in Sophie's abduction and had a part to play in her being held for the past 11 years. No doubt though it will be disproved in the first 5 min of episode 2

Oh blimey yes. She could have had something to do with it.

I read a lot of true crime stuff and it's extremely difficult when kidnapped children come back after a long period.

Jaycee Dugard protected her kidnapper and let numerous chances to escape go. It's a psychological minefield.

Thought it was great!

Re Alice not being Alice-surely a DNA test would be one of the first things that they would do?

Unless she died too quickly after being found?

Just a quick question about Series 1.

So Ollie died after being hit by a car.

Was kept in a basement that was being repainted.

How did the stick man drawing that his dad found get there?

Did his dad do it?

Ollie did the drawing before he was killed. It's how they realised he had been at the house.

I'm not sure they would do a DNA test. If she said her name was Alice Webster then the family came in and didn't say "what, this isn't her" they probably wouldn't bother. Why would they.

No Ollie did it.

He wasn't killed in the RTA; he revived in the garage/basement and then (horribly) he was later 'finished off' and the body disposed of.

But he was conscious in the basement (and also appeared at the window upstairs briefly, where he was unkowingly captured on video by the party people opposite),

The knowledge that he survived the initial accident, plus the lack of the body, is what fuelled the Dad's uncertainty and hope he might be alive out there somewhere (having been trafficked).

All rather grim, really.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Yes I can see how a DNA test might not be done, or might not be a priority.

Plus she has gone home very early presumably with counselling in the offing.

Do we think that there is any relevance to Stone not wanting to talk to Baptiste when he turned up in Germany, her dad saying that her sister would be upset(?)/annoyed(?) with her still working & the finger thing that Alice was doing?

What was the finger thing? I can't remember that.

Iirc, it was as she was walking along to her bedroom, sort of tapping her fingers to her thums as if a code?

Or to help her remember something?

Was Stone's father telling her that her sister was worried a pointer to her losing the baby?

When the sister was mentioned I did wonder about surrogacy.

Is it just me who thinks that Laura Fraser is gorgeous?

I was thinking about it in the middle of the night, and the theory I came up with is that Alice isn't Alice, because she wasn't Alice when she was taken, ie the child the couple had brought up thinking was theirs wasn't.

I think this is a rather inspired suggestion! Or maybe that the parents did know she wasn't theirs, but kept up a sham for some reason. I think there must be some dark backstory in the family, which may explain Alice seeming rather troubled at 11 and the rather brittle reunion with the parents in 2014.

Yeah, definitely something going on before she disappeared

Yes, surrogacy could explain it.

Ok re-watching again now as watched at 4am this morning when DD decided she wouldn't sleep.

My observations:

1. We don't see the abduction, clearly a troubled young woman already- she knew her abductor?
2. JB and the army: are they going to close ranks on him? Not want him investigating? Will this end up as some kind of military cover up?
3. "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who believe they are free" and the Fraust reference to selling your soul to the devil is obviously a big clue. Who is it that is going to believe she is free? Alice is the obvious one, but might it be more nuanced than that?
4. The father and the son's guilt...the baby...the scars? All linked?

I love JB's cardigan

So glad The Missing is back, I loved all of the theories last time and after watching the first episode I'm looking forward to more. Yes I agree it's Christmas when Alice returns in 2014, Christmas trees around, including in Daniel's/his fathers house (blood on the floor) and I think I heard Christmas music when Baptiste arrives in Germany.

Also wondering what the finger tapping thing is, comfort?

Who the Aldi&funeral woman is, what did she do?

Alice was troubled at 11, her brother was concerned about her, what's the background, will it go back to 2003 again?

Rollercoaster pictures, maybe Alice and/or Sophie was let out with captor at some point and Gemma is looking for evidence?
Or, do we know where Sophie was taken from? Possibly theme park?

Baptiste present day is fiddling with a card, looks like a phone card maybe? Is this part of what's leading him on his current search or nothing to do with anything.