THE STORY – A father imprisoned for his son’s murder receives evidence suggesting his child may be alive, compelling him to escape and uncover the truth.
THE CAST – Sam Worthington, Britt Lower, Milo Ventimiglia, Chi McBride, Logan Browning, Erin Richards, Jonathan Tucker, Madeleine Stowe & Clancy Brown
THE TEAM – Robert Hull (Creator)
Any parent will tell you that the love they have for their children is all-encompassing, that it will drive them to do everything in their power to ensure their happiness. Almost every storyline in Harlan Coben’s “I Will Find You“ revolves around this borderline (or straight-up) obsessive parental love and how it shapes the behavior of both parent and child, set against the framework of a high-stakes investigation. The show follows David (Sam Worthington), a man wrongly imprisoned for murdering his son Matthew, after he finds reason to believe his son is still alive. His ex-sister-in-law, Rachel (Britt Lower), is a former journalist devoted to solving this case with the help of her devoted ex-boyfriend, Hayden (Milo Ventimiglia). Meanwhile, Max (Chi McBride) and Sarah (Logan Browning) are a father-daughter duo of FBI agents who begin uncovering a much larger conspiracy that revolves around Matthew’s supposed death.
Now, the themes of “I Will Find You“ are compelling on paper, even if they are a bit clichéd. Almost every single character has some connection to parenthood, and the show goes to great lengths to showcase how the power and the strain of this undying bond. Unfortunately, these efforts largely fall flat because, as much as the show tries to make you care about these relationships, it fails at making you care about these characters. The characterization is always secondary to the show’s spectacle, so any attempt at sentimentality can be likened to cashing out of a bet you placed no money down on. If the writing fails to make these characters fully realized or even particularly distinct from one another, why would any attempt at melodrama involving them be emotionally effective?
Take our protagonist David, for example. He cares deeply about finding his son. He is tough, but he has honor. And he is virtually indistinguishable from the leads of any other Netflix thrillers. So when you ask the audience to care about his specific stakes and relationships with his friends and family, it falls flat because nothing about this character feels specific. Sam Worthington does his best to add heart to this wildly uninteresting character, but he ultimately cannot elevate his material. He also struggles quite a bit with the Bostonian accent; if you did not know the actor was Australian before watching the show, you would absolutely be able to tell after.
Rachel is a similarly bare-bones character, but what makes matters even worse is that her motivation isn’t as simple as “looking for my kidnapped son.“ Her relationship with her sister, Cheryl (Erin Richards), who has had to live with the idea that her former husband killed their child for five years, is completely unexplored despite the narrative potential. She is closer to her ex-brother-in-law than she is to her sister, and for a show that puts so much emphasis on family ties, it is a damn shame. Britt Lower could do this role in her sleep, making it somewhat shocking that an Emmy winner was tapped for a character that requires so little performance-wise.
The one relationship that was somewhat moving was Max and Sarah’s, whose personalities and history come out in their delightful banter. This was the one dynamic that felt somewhat earnest; you could buy that these two had a strained but ultimately loving father-daughter relationship because you could buy these two as people. Instead of being told that these characters care about one another, you are actually shown it. The only real downside to this storyline was that they were largely saddled with playing catch-up to David and Rachel. Almost all the twists in this story occur during David and Rachel’s parts, while Max and Sarah are left scratching their heads, trying to fit the pieces together. These characters are engaging; their plotlines largely are not.
On that note, to give credit where credit is due: the actual mystery of “I Will Find You“ is entertaining. The plot developments are unpredictable, the potential motivations for the central kidnapping shift constantly, the true antagonist remains a question mark, and the finale ties everything together in a fairly satisfying way. It is an extremely watchable show, if a forgettable one. And as a result, it cannot help but be disappointing not to have achieved more.
Perhaps it is a fool’s errand to hope for nuance and depth from a blockbustery thriller. No one is watching “I Will Find You“ expecting to be moved by the character dynamics or brought to tears by the thematic brilliance. Most will expect a fun enough time, with unexpected plot developments at the end of each episode, to make them press play on the next one. But if that is the case, one has to question the point of tying every single character to this overarching parent-child theme only to do nothing compelling with it. Ultimately, what makes “I Will Find You“ so frustrating is that it clearly wants to provoke an emotional response without laying the groundwork for the necessary emotional investment. It succeeds as an exciting mystery, but fails in most other regards.
THE GOOD – The mystery is well-plotted, consistently engaging, and legitimately shocking at many points.
THE BAD – The writing outside the mystery lacks any intrigue or depth, despite vague attempts. The acting is underwhelming, given the cast’s abilities.
THE EMMY PROSPECTS – None
THE FINAL SCORE – 5/10
