Fantastic first episode. Gripped!

Loved it, and even just one episode in I prefer it to the first series.

I just love Keeley Hawes, and nice change to see Laura Fraser with an English accent.

Does anyone know if the actor Tchéky Karyo has a hobble in real life? My housemate thinks he should get an award for his 'acting hobble' and then a mini argument broke out that he could be a disabled actor and his genuine hobble should not be erased

He said that it should be him worrying about her and not her about him. That is implying that there is something about himself that he hasn't told the sister, eg illness. Why would it be his responsibility to tell the sister that she was still working?

In the first series we saw Julien Baptiste injured in a car accident, producing the hobble. This is just a continuation of that I would say.

Oh I forgot he had an accident (how did I forget that)! So very much great hobble acting.
My housemate pioneering for more disabled visibility on tv will be bummed.

I've recorded this. Really disappointed with the ending of 1st series. I'll store it up and decide if I'll bother later on if reaction is that it is worthwhile. Not committing yet more time to drama that is underwhelming. Done too much of that lately. Back to box sets.

Wow... what a brilliant first episode. First of all, I'm gutted about Baptiste's brain tumour, which suggests he's going to die in this series, so we won't be seeing him in a potential Series 3.

My observations on the plot:

• Why did Daniel Reed (the man who Baptiste now wants to speak to in Iraq) look so surprised at finding blood on the floor (he dropped his shopping when he saw the blood, so he couldn't have known it was going to be there)?

• Who was the blonde woman at Daniel Reed's father's funeral who was making Daniel so edgy?

• What's the significance of the theme park rollercoaster photos that Gemma was viewing on her laptop (at Baptiste's request)?

• Engel, the Polizei chief commander, appears very dodgy and I'm sure he knows something or has some involvement. Echoes of the mayor of Challons du Bois in Series 1 (who it turned out was involved in the cover-up of Oliver's disappearance and subsequent "death")

• Re. Baptiste being chased through the marketplace with 5 grand in his pocket - it was said earlier on this thread that that sequence was just meaningless padding. I'm not too sure about that - the whole set-up with the travel agency and the owner's brother being out of the office - it all seemed too elaborate to be irrelevant to the overall storyline.

• Baptiste, speaking at the end of the episode (in 2016), only said "I believe" the woman who turned up wasn't Alice. So it clearly wasn't established forensically that she wasn't Alice; 2 years later it's only Baptiste's hunch. I'm guessing she really was Alice (could the tattoo, memories of her brother, her parents recognising her face, etc, REALLY be faked?) and we're seeing Baptiste being driven crazy by his obsession to find the truth, like Oliver's father at the end of Series 1.

Alice died 8 days after Henry Reed, according to the dates on Alice's headstone and Henry's coffin.

I dont think retired police officers in France are allowed to keep live kidnap files at home. Julien said...i am now retired but i will check my files.

So she killed herself after he shot himself. Stockholms.

I suspect he killed himself because she escaped and we are yet to find out why she died- possibly something to do with his son.

Can feel quite abit of negativity slowly burning away with some people on here who want all the answers in episode 1. It's an 8 part series for heavens sake- have a little patience

I guess for french police to be involved one of the abductions was in France. For it to be conducted in the same jurisdiction as Juliens after Olivers so called non abduction......is stretching credibility a bit. The writers from series 1 do not fill me with great satisfaction that they wont resort to the same nonsensical bizarre tricks to keep interest alive at the risk of sacrificing all semblance of credibility.

Is it the same guys writing as series 1. 8 weeks they have to play with us.

Great start. I'm totally engrossed already. I'm going to have to watch it through again though, judging from posts here there are quite a few things I missed.
Same style of writing as the first series, different time lines showing how things have changed for the characters. Then gradually filling in the blanks to reveal what has happened. Very clever, keeps the viewer guessing while throwing around red herrings to keep us intrigued.

Excellent post. I thought it was a brilliant first episode and can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

Just a few lol!

Superb start - unusual to get such a level of positive response on a DS thread

There gave been quite a few dramas I have watched in the last year or two that have been really let down by poorly directed and written opening episodes, that inevitably then lose a big percentage of viewers, who don't want to invest the time in future episodes.

But this was fantastic, it has set up many different mysteries within an overall story arc but in such a way that it is intriguing to the audience rather than in a "wtf is going on?" style which can sometimes be the case!

Reading through all the many interesting and different theories on this thread I actually want to watch it again today which is unusual nowadays!

is this a follow up to the james nesbitt story??

or a totally different one?

Completely different..I think. Baptiste is the only connection with the first story, he has already referred back to Oliver a couple of times. But the viewer doesn't need to have watched the first series.

Very good but the girl who was found really creeps me out, especially if it isn't actually their daughter

I'm even worse. I may never find the gist! I wonder if the posters who find it easier to follow have 'younger' brains!
Maybe it is us 'oldies' who have these problems.

Or it could be revenge by a member of the armed forces in the same barracks against the Dad. Work related enemities gone to the extreme. Maybe it could be an Oldboy style revenge. Keep daughetr for a few years and then release her back to the family but this time get another girl to impersonate her. And watch how the family crumbles......which will be the next 7 episodes of Keely crying as she can do so well..........and watch it from a distance in the barracks. Yes an Oldboy film rehash?

hope there is a proper ending to this one,wonder if poor james nesbit is still searching for his son?we never did find out what happened to him did we?

I thought series 1 was great, and this looks like it might be just as good if not better.

Jumping back and forth between the timelines is, I think, a little overdone in this production, but the differing appearances of the main characters make it easy to follow. It's the type of drama that requires your full attention on the screen for the entire hour, so those who are moaning that they are struggling to keep up should sit up straight, put your smartphone / Facebook away, and concentrate!

I do however, have one major gripe which also applies to many other dramas. Why on earth do they get actors to mumble or whisper some of the dialogue, while completely unnecessary muzak is playing in the background? I want to hear what they are saying, not some random tinkling on piano keys. If I could find the meeja person who decides these things, I'd grab his ponytail and ram his head into the wall repeatedly until he understood what the viewing public want.

I didn't notice the long / short hair of the mother and even thought is was her in the sack with the scarred father rather than the lady soldier until I realised how short she was. Facially they are a spit for each other. Is she this sister they are talking about?

Looking at the comments I feel like the only one who was thoroughly satisfied by the ending of the first series. Good to see lots enjoyed that series 2 opener though. I thought it was very well done. They've given us plenty of tasters of mysteries to unfold over the next 8 weeks.