In the second season, we return to a new set of powerful events. When a young woman (a kid kidnap) returns to her hometown, her family is in a state of turmoil. Her name is Alice Webster. Two years later, investigator Julian Baptiste resumes searching for another missing girl. On the other hand, Webster struggles to cope with the return of their daughter while searching for another missing girl. The shock waves of Alice's return still feel two years later.
Series two's opening episode, featuring a brand new story and a new missing child / children, hits all the right notes, with heaps of intrigue and a mightily impressive new cast.
Baptiste wants to give them a happy ending, without ignoring the haunting lessons. By embracing him - as well as an ambitious premise - The Missing improves in Season 2. And where they go from here remains enticingly unknown.
It is ... like the first series, a deeply human story about loss and grief and blame, and what something like this would do to a marriage and to a family.
The Missing on BBC1 is like televisual Sudoku, yet it is utterly compelling, brilliantly acted and written, and a match for the much-lauded Scandinavian noir of recent years.
I won't write this off yet - I'll be back for more next week, mainly for Hawes and Morrissey - but let's hope that the second series of The Missing isn't let down by another anti-climax.
It's that kind of quick-witted mystery storytelling that allows The Missing to stand out against other pulpy whodunits. It keeps you guessing, and keeps you watching.
The Missing does an excellent job of making its many, many twists feel like natural reveals, and it moves along at a quick pace while leaving enough time to explore the difficult and complicated emotions of its leads.