User reviews

When Anthony Sullivan (Michael Riendeau) disappears on his tenth birthday, his family is devastated. However, as more and more time passes without the police being able to locate him, long-buried family secrets are dragged to the surface, turning the Sullivan family against one another.

A journeyman show, The Disappearance is very much paint-by-numbers stuff, with nothing you haven't before seen in half-a-dozen similar narratives, with writers Normand Daneau and Geneviève Simard taking no real risks. Having said that, however, it's a well made piece of television. Confidently directed by Peter Stebbings, the material may offer nothing revelatory, but what it does offer is enjoyable enough on its own terms. An excellent Peter Coyote dominates the show as Anthony's grandfather, Henry, a retired judge with a strained relationship (to say the least) with his son, Luke (Aden Young), Anthony's father. As the veneer of civility slowly erodes, the fissures running beneath the family dynamic begin to erupt, with blame and recrimination becoming the central tenets of familial interaction. You may guess half-way through who the kidnapper is, and yes, they're one of those Hollywood kidnappers who leave cryptic clues everywhere, but this remains a well made, if unadventurous, show.

Anthony Sullivan follows his police investigator grandpa Henry Sullivan (Peter Coyote)'s advice to take photos of his neighborhood for a school project. He even breaks into a home and stumbles upon something. His snooping gets him in trouble at school. His parents Luke and Helen are getting a divorce. It's his 10th birthday. He's following Henry's birthday treasure hunt and goes missing. The show jumps two year ahead and he's still missing.

I like the start. It's a standard missing kid show but it's done well at the beginning. There are good actors. It's only six episodes but even with that, the plot deteriorates. It should be a lot simpler considering its limited run. It's still a worthwhile watch but it's not exceptional in any way.

Oh Peter Coyote, what a dog of a performance you gave in The Disappearance. Micheline Lanctôt's character was useless. Neil Napier wasn't even trying. And then there's poor Anthony, played by Michael Riendeau-a messed up little boy at the beginning of the film, a messed up little boy at then end of the film. Add a splash of sexual sacrifice, a smidgen of 'almost incest' and way too many convenient subplots that miraculously solve themselves; and this could almost be a Lifetime movie(the armpit hair of the film industry). Wasted efforts all around-enough for everyone.

I watched this, at the beginning, only for Aden Turner as I was a fan of his when he was in Rectify. After the first episode I was hooked. Being a fan of mystery thrillers, this was right up my alley. So many twists and turns. Soon I realized that this was a Canadian production based on the original French show. Well done! I now only hope I can purchase this on DVD so I can watch it again. I am sure I missed some subtle things. Thanks all for this series!

Well, it gets two stars because it started out well. The first episode was intriguing, but each subsequent episode got worse. It was hard to hear the dialogue with loud background noise, and the main characters constantly shouting at each other. The grandfather was obnoxious, the mother screeched a lot, and the son was a drip. The grandson who disappeared was probably the best actor of the lot. It had a reasonable storyline, but was badly let down by the acting and directing. Don't bother.

This was a great show until the 3rd episode. It seemed to me like everyone, the writers, the director and the actors just ran out of gas and went through the motions from there on. Peter Coyote appeared to be reading his lines from a teleprompter and the rest of the cast disappeared. I don't know what happened but I just totally lost interest and really didn't care what happened in the end. Usually a show is either good or bad from the very start but disappearance had one good half and one bad. That does not make for a good product.

This mini series would be a nice adventure game. Clearly the writers are gamers, rç.

I'm surprised they delivered a good and clever drama without the usual 1h+ tiring episodes.

Brilliant acting.

A missing boy plus a dysfunctional family headed by an arrogant, overbearing patriarch simply makes for an annoying shoutfest. IF you enjoy seeing hours of family bickering, shouting and screaming at each other, you might enjoy this. Otherwise, I'd stay well away. Just awful!!

Good mystery story but the constant background soundtrack screws up the dialogue

Gripping drama, interesting and deep characters, good mystery with some nice plot developments that keep it constantly engaging. Really good ending too, last two episodes are really dramatic. Well done.

Despite the negative reviews, I thoroughly enjoyed this. The acting was good and the plot excellent. Too many amateur reviewers out there trying to be literary geniuses. If you don't like it, stop watching it. It's definitely worth viewing.

Excellent serie, suspens all along, you want to know what is going to happen. Great actors.

Fabulous twisting tale keeps you hooked. Only downside is the terrible acting from the two male leads, the judge and his son. This is a real shame as it is hard to take either of them seriously they are so wooden. Would have given it 9 or 10 with different actors.

It was like the director had said to the cast "look guys I want you to act like ametuers". Could have been so much better.

I had already watched the French series and enjoyed it, so was looking forward to watching this. I'm sure I would have liked it, but I had to turn it off after about 20 minutes, the back ground music was way too loud so much so that sometimes it was difficult to hear what the characters were saying. I get that sometimes background music is necessary to build tension etc but not to that extent.

I thought I liked Peter Coyote until I watched this show. Was he directed or did he refuse direction? The acting and writing are laughable. This is the worst miniseries I have watched all the way to the end, only because it has a good storyline. Too bad they ruined it.

First two episodes looked very promising but from then onwards, what a drag.

Appalling acting generally. The old bloke really grinds after a while. Totally silly storyline.

Don't waste your time with this.

I'm writing this review after only the first episode. Why? Because what I don't understand is the premise of the "The Disappearance". How the hell does a parent allow a 9 year old to go to school alone in this day & age, HUH??? We're not talking about the school being around the corner. The kid had to bicycle down to a body of water, take a ferry, fer cryin' out loud and then continue on to the school and then do the same thing after school. What is even more disturbing is that the RETIRED, DOTING, HELICOPTER grandfather, who, btw, lives next door, doesn't take to & bring back the boy is particularly astounding given that he was a prosecutor & a judge & must have handled HUNDREDS of crimes. THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!! Like I said, this 1 star review is only for the first episode. I'll see how this plays out, if I can tolerate it, and re-review the The Disappearance.

The trailer would have you believe that this series was about an abduction being solved using a kids homework project.

Nothing of the kind.

Awful convoluted plotting wrapped in melodrama, and some aspects/scenes that make you shout "why would anyone do that????" This review is my gift to you so that you don't waste 6 hours of your life on this crap the way I did.

Acting is so bad it's hard to watch and music is ridiculous throughout