The Missing Season 1, Episode 6 Review: Concrete

TheMissing_Trio

‘Concrete’ picks up in the past where we left of with ‘Molly’, Tony has just brutally killed Ian Garrett and is deciding what to do with the body. He very efficiently cleans the murder scene, wiping it of any trace of blood and DNA evidence and then wraps Ian’s body in a sheet and weighs it down. He then proceeds to sail out into the open water, dump the body and swim back, only to forget that his shirt was covered with Ian’s blood and he  to hide it in the concrete in the property that has yet to set. I’ve watched Tony for six episodes now and even when witnessing his violent outbursts I’ve still attempted to see his point of view and understand him but watching his actions gave me chills. He knew almost exactly what to do to get away with murder, like he’d done it before perhaps? I knew he was a violent man but he put me on edge during the opening of the episode.

It must have killed Tony inside when he met Emily and she informed him that the police had followed up on their information about Ian and he had an alibi the night Oliver was taken, he was clearly not involved. The look on Tony’s face says it all, he had killed a man with his bare hands but it ended up being for nothing, he was a paedophile but he hadn’t taken Tony’s son. When the police realised that Ian was missing they instantly decide to question Tony, who lied and managed to get Emily to lie for him, and the police took it at face value. I assumed that there would be some sort of follow up, they weren’t this compassionate when arresting Tony for assaulting Vincent so why are they now? I was incorrect, Emily didn’t have a hand in killing Ian but with the false alibi she does have a hand in covering up and I think that information will probably come to light some point as this episode showed us that she isn’t completely sane due to the trauma.

Speaking of Emily we got to see her a lot more in this episode than previous ones, for the mother that lost her child she hasn’t really been present during the past and present. After she has lied to the police about Tony’s whereabouts we see her lose it again and go off in a trance, once again hallucinating that Oliver is there and she is following him. She is led onto the edge of a bridge by the figment of her imagination and has to be coaxed off by Mark. She didn’t realise what was happening which was quite worrying, we haven’t seen as much of her as we have of Tony so how often do these trances happen? I know it’s quite far fetched but could she have something to do with Oliver’s disappearance or hampering the investigation? We’ve only got two episodes left so I’m throwing all the wild accusations out there hoping that one will stick. In present day she finally gives into the investigation and travels to france with €15,000 after Tony sends her the video of Oliver in the house, bringing her to the realisation that her son has gone through a terrible ordeal and may still be out there. We’ve seen her attempt to move on and she even admitted to Tony that she doesn’t want to think of her son in that way, she wants to keep her last memory of him in tact but she can’t avoid it any longer.

Last week Rini managed to get the name Karl Sieg from her brother during the present day investigation so Julien and Tony followed that up in ‘Concrete’. Karl Sieg cleaned the house up after it was used to hold Oliver and I am informed by twitter friends that we also got a glimpse of him in episode one playing with Oliver which I missed. Due to that I assumed that he would be a big part of the storyline, and it also made me want to watch the past episodes, see what else I missed and catalogue every bloody character that is featured. They found Karl fairly easily even though he is living under an assumed name, and of course he didn’t want to give them any information. I assumed he would have been heavily involved if that was the person Rini’s brother named under and he’s been spotted on a few different occasions so it made sense that he didn’t want to spill. He did however offer them a deal, €15,000 for all the information he has related to Oliver, which is where Emily comes in, Tony clearly doesn’t have the funds and Julien is a retired police officer who wouldn’t get involved with bribery.

With the price of €15,000 you would expect decent information wouldn’t you? Especially if it’s from someone like Karl Sieg who was named as an accomplice and has had the eye of the police for many years. The revelation of the information he held was quite a let down, he arrived to the house to do some cleaning and was greeted by a masked man and didn’t see Oliver, he saw blood. I would have forgiven Tony for having another violent outburst after that, it doesn’t seem to be worth €15 let alone €15,000. He did see something in the street that could end up being a solid lead, a Moroccan police officer bagging evidence, a man that the Hughes and Julien presume is Ziane. Julien informs the two that Ziane never handed in any evidence during the investigation, so what he found is still out there and could help. I’m wondering why Ziane was there in the first place, didn’t Julien ask him to canvas the pool to keep him out of the way? Did Ziane have inside information during the initial investigation? Theres constantly a massive question mark around him.

TheMissing_Malik

One of the reasons that there is a question mark around him is his relationship to Malik. In the past Malik is blackmailing him with information that’s still to be disclosed to us loyal viewers (only two episodes left and I’m getting quite annoyed, please tell us soon), in return for information regarding the Hughes case. We find out this episode that the evidence that Sieg saw Ziane retrieve is given to Malik and they agree that he will return it within 24 hours so Ziane can submit it as evidence. Of course Malik is an ambitious journalist with a hold over Ziane so he goes back on the deal which leads to Ziane threatening him. This is a lesson to us all, don’t let anyone blackmail you, and if you do don’t piss him off. It is presumed that Malik leaves whatever he is blackmailing Ziane with for Julien, then Ziane attacks Julien as he is leaving the station. I understand he was attempting to get the leverage but did the attack have to be so viscous? He crushed Juliens leg with the car door (the answer to his present day limp) and didn’t even seem to be going for the parcel, he ended up having to be dragged off by Mark (I still feel iffy about him) and unmasked. I assume that this means we will find out what Zianes been hiding next week.

In present day we have the police investigating Ian’s disappearance again, which is a bit too coincidental (by that I mean forced) for my liking. Julien decides to spearhead that investigation as well which again feels coincidental as he’s retired and is only assisting with Oliver’s case. Of course Julien is a super-cop so he deduces that something is amiss with the concrete that Tony hid his shirt in and retrieves it. Fortunately for Tony he doesn’t hand it in to the police straight away, he decides to ask Tony about it first. Tony doesn’t say too much during the exchange but essentially admits that he killed Ian and we can see the guilt in his face, I know I say this every week but James Nesbitt truly is brilliant. Julien then gives a beautiful speech about how Tony has been in prison everyday since the disappearance of Oliver and that’s torturous enough, he won’t be handing in the evidence. It’s nice to see them caring for one another after eight episodes, initially they were a means to and end but now they are friends.

I had an inkling that we had seen that last of Vincent in ‘Molly’ after he met Ian’s wife but I was wrong, without Ian hanging over him he gives into Malik’s persistence. He grants Malik and interview, which unfortunately we don’t get to listen in on which made me want to kick myself. I was live tweeting during this episode and ended up in a discussion with someone about Malik and his motives, perhaps he was involved in Oliver’s abduction? He had nothing before this case came along, but now he’s riding high. He seems to be the only one that has benefited from this and he could easily move on to other things but chooses not to. Perhaps he’s still following the case in an attempt to hamper it and cover his tracks? We know that he is holding possibly vital evidence so who knows? We only need a way for him to be connected to the Romanians.

We only have two episodes left of the series and the episode gave us more questions than answers, sure we’ve received a few clues but it seems that we’ve only made a few short strides in a marathon. With every episode I gain a new theory on what happened and now I wonder if the show will be able to resolve it in two hours. But then I’m reminded of Karl Sieg, sure I was disappointed with what became of him but he had clearly been planted their early on so the writers have got a vision in place for the show so I’ll gladly ride it out. Bring on the next episode!

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