THE MISSING IS BACK - part 4

[MrsderPunkt]

As part 3 is full.

I'm having a day off due to illness, so am planning a re-watch from the beginning as have got used to the time switches that confused me at first. Quite looking forward to it - will pay extra attention to all things yellow, legs in fireplaces and anything else that you suggest. Probably cover my eyes at the drilla moment again though!

Just finished watching. A very good ending. I almost didn't bother with this series after the ending of the first one but I'm so glad I did.

So many thoughts. Baptiste on the op table being 'made of stronger things' was very moving. J'aime Baptiste.

I don't think you could ever say in advance what you would know / do in such situations. People always think / say they would, but when push comes to shove.... things are never what we think.

Whilst there are significant differences between the two girls, there was also enough to tie them together. For example, they both had the same identifying tattoo, she had Alice's necklace and she knew stuff that any old imposter wouldn't have known. So whilst there were differences... there was also enough to convince too. Enough for it not to be dismissed or explained away. I think it's easier to explain away the physical differences (after all, she would have massively changed from 11 to 22) than it was to explain away the coincidences and the knowledge only Alice would have known...

But yes, it didn't convince Gemma - she had her doubts! And as Gemma said, Sam was never around when Alice was little - always away, so would he have recognised??

Absolutely loved it. Started sobbing at about two minutes in when Sam saw the stars on the ceiling of the basement.

My heart went out to Matthew through all the episodes - he seemed to have been left to his own devices, took up with some dodgy mates but at least they looked out for him. Loved the moment he was reunited with Alice, cried again of course , but not as much as when Gemma grabbed hold of her.

Well done to the pp who remembered Mark Walsh from S1 - vaguely thought it rang a bell but there was too much other things happening to stop and think.

Also agree that Eve's 'he's coming with me' means she's taking him in for questioning. To me there was a defiant look in his eyes.

I have 2 complaints - why did real Alice have brown eyes not blue, when we first saw her at the beginning of ep1, and in the photos Gemma looked at, her eyes were startlingly blue, like Sophie's.

And 2 - Why did we not hear Lovely Jorn's song he recorded for Eve??? I was looking forward to shedding a few more tears on that - gutted.

Is Sophie guilty of a crime? I know she would be unlikely to be charged as she was brainwashed but impersonating Alice, faking her death, collusion.....how would they tease out her involvement? Irrelevant I realise that!

Don't forget, Sophie only came back as Alice for a very short period: days. With Gemma's doubts I'm sure they would have asked more questions - but with Brig faking any DNA (as asked by drilla) they would have been told it was Alice anyway.

Also something else nagging me - the drilla was meticulous in his planning and execution. Ffs he held 3 girls a mile from the home of one of them for 11 years and he planned the release is one, being replaced by another one and the framing of herz. But then he's so clumsy he leaves Swiss francs and a photo of him marked 'switzerland' as her leaves. Pretty major major clues for someone going off to disappear forever.

My favourite red herring of the series was that the transvestite was lena! And another - log leg. These threads have provided much much joyously funny red herrings. The log leg discussion itself lasted weeks! Having said that as a collective we pretty much worked out what was happening.

I think there is going to be another series. The way baptistes countdown just cut off at three was odd, it wasn't like he had just gone under, it cut off dead.

Or it could be that 3 seemed to be important in this. 3 girls, 3 army men etc

Was she? I thought the woman in the room with her was the psychiatrist from the first episode. I would imagined she would have a boat load of therapy as she seemed very damaged (unsurprisingly). She was thethe real focus of Gettrick's warped attentions.

I think the Brig was definitely dodgy in Iraq too when he mentioned the girls he and Gettrick were involved with over there.

'Was she?' was in response to Sophie being treated like a criminal.

power he had to leave in a rush because Julian was onto him! He even said when he got to the toy shop about having no cash, and I thought he would use a card which would trace him

Brilliant ending. I did think the scenes building up to finding the girls - Swiss money, photo on wall, waiter in cafe conveniently seeing pic on phone and sending them in right direction, camper van - was all a bit Enid Blyton.

Gutted that Sam died. So glad Gemma and Eve will support each other. Matthew needed that hug from Alice more than anything. I hope Sophie finds peace.

Baptiste counting down to 'trois' is a definite clue for series three.

I enjoyed watching, but didn't find it a satisfactory ending.

I was expecting a few loose ends, but not so much left unexplained.

My twitter says there's a live Q and A at 1 on BBC website today with the writers.

I need to know what they intended about the Brig's dementia.

I'm out all day but will be interested to read it later.

Allpowerful I don't think there was very much left unanswered. I thought it was tied up pretty tight at the end.

I'm certain Eve was taking Brig for questioning, not home to care for him. She said "he's coming with me" in a very steely voice when it became obvious he had been faking/exaggerating.
I don't think he could have completely faked the dementia because he would have had to be diagnosed to get his medical discharge and nursing home care. But he certainly exaggerated and put on symptoms to evade blame/punishment andEve had realised that and decided that justice outweighed family loyalty

To the PP whose DH interfered with her viewing by criticising the hare scene - in a nod to the girls, shouldn't you have sent him to the shed or the cellar rather than his room? LTB.
Looking forward to reading in the DM about peaking pre-Christmas sales of Matchmakers!!!! Have we started a revival?
Thoroughly enjoyed these threads!

That's what I thought shallichangemyname

Can someone link to the live q and a after its over so I remember to read it - I'm at work all day

How did Lena die? How did her body get into the shed? How did Sophie get out of the shed? What else happened in the missing 3 hours? (did she meet Driller then to refine the next bit of the plan, how did she know where as she'd never lived in Eckhausen?) How far was a Brig involved? How did the apparently single Driller secure an MQ? How did the DNA get fudged in a way that the German police didn't notice?

Why did Baptiste suspect Sophie's father of involvement? Why wouldn't Sophie see her father after her release?

It was so lovely seeing the relief on Matthew's face when he was finally reunited with his sister. He must have been carrying (misplaced) guilt all those years as he was the last to see her. Brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.