Following Prison Break is its new companion piece, Vanished. When I first saw that this was coming on, I thought it was Kidnapped, but then I realized that was the wrong network.
I watched the premiere and I am sad to report that I was not blown away by it. I was, however, intrigued by the over the top complexity.
The episode opens with Senator Jeffrey Collins (John Allen Nelson) and his beautiful young wife, Sara (Joanne Kelly), going to a benefit gala in her honor, only for her to disappear.
Called into work the case are Agents Graham Kelton (Gale Herold) and Lin Mei (Ming Na). In short order, Kelton has alienated his co-workers, the victims, and anyone else in his path, while Lin Mei tries to keep him on the straight and narrow.
Of course, our hero is damaged goods. He is just returning to action. Six months prior, he worked a case that saw a little boy get killed on his watch — an action he took the blame for. I am sure his ability will be called into question many times over the course of this series.
Kelton puts his nose down and starts his investigation, which immediately leads to a SWAT team breaking in on the Senator's daughter and her "friend" at an inopportune moment. This leads to elevated tensions among the family members.
The story itself is primarily setup. In no time at all we are introduced to conspiracies, decade-old kidnappings, fake names, murdered suspects, and more. I think I will stick with this for a little while and see how the pieces are moved around the chessboard.
Hopefully the show will not degenerate in overcomplexities, doing nothing but confusing the viewer. I also hope the characters will gain some depth. This premiere doesn't really offer too much beyond the setup. Overall, the premiere was decent — lots of characters and lots of potential threads to follow. Keep your eye on this space for future thoughts on the series.
The new Fox Monday looks pretty good. Prison Break started off strong and Vanished has some promise. Let's see if the early start pays off.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
I, too, wasn't blown away with episode 1 of Vanished, but I will give it a chance for a little while.
2 - chantal
Great review....I was sorry I missed the premiere of Prison Break, that 8:00 time slot kills me.