Something is unsettling about a story built around a missing child. That fear is real and becomes even more apparent when questions remain unanswered and one is forced to move on. This is what Last Seen shows us. The plot revolves around Ian Rideley, a former police officer whose three-year-old daughter, Maggie, was taken from her bed eleven years ago. In these four decades, Ian is forced to live with the devastating uncertainty surrounding her disappearance. Just as he accepted that he may never know what really happened to his daughter, new information emerges. The investigation eventually reveals that Maggie might be alive and has been raised by another family. And this is where the plot of Last Seen starts to become interesting. Initially, Ian is relieved to know that his child was alive. Sadly, this also means that Maggie has become a woman who no longer remembers the first three years of her life. What Ian now experiences is a mix of jealousy, anger, and hope.
What stands out the most about Last Seen is the cast. Patrick Brammall has brought out the complications of his character pretty well. There is a psychological game between what is good and what is not. With Patrick Brammall, we see what a father is undergoing: first, he spent years trying to find her, only to lose her differently. Maxine Peake brings another layer of complexity to the show by her character Jenna, the woman who raises Maggie. And a lot of us might just view her as a villain. But the truth is, she isn’t completely one. There is a whole backstory to her character as well. That adds more weight to the plot as a whole.
The only thing where Last Seen tends to struggle is the pacing. The plot moves at a very slow pace, which can test the viewers' patience. An intriguing plot like this works best when the speed of the track is great. But that is not what we get, sadly. The makers have taken time to explore the consequences of kidnapping, the trauma the parents face, and how the narrative is supposed to shape up post the incident. While it is completely fine to go slow, sometimes a little bit of speed is what is required for the plot. And that is highly missing in Last Seen.
But eventually, when you start watching it and focus more on the plot, this slow pacing won't bother you much. You will get pretty okay with whatever you are shown at that speed because now your focus will move on to what is going to happen next. That is possible because the character development in Last Seen is worth a watch. In Ian, we see anger, and in Jenna we see hopelessness while also being the gray role. From the first episode till the very last, there is a remarkable development that we see, which makes the plot worth every watch. So all in all, apart from the pacing issue, Last Seen remains a crime thriller that is worth a watch. It is a narrative that most of us might not have seen before, which is why the show is intriguing.
Final Score- [7/10]
Reviewed by - Neerja Ch
Follow @NeerjaCH on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times