Rosalind Eleazar, Charlie Hamblett, and Catherine Ayers, Missing You
Netflix[Warning: The following contains spoilers for the series finale of Netflix’s Missing You. Read at your own risk!]
When it comes to mysteries with epic twists and unexpected turns, Harlan Coben is the reigning king. There’s a reason so many of his books have been adapted into Netflix series: They keep us on the edge of our seats.
That’s especially true of 2025’s new entry, Missing You. The five-part series is based on Coben’s 2014 book of the same name. However, instead of taking place in New York, the action moves across the pond to the U.K., where Detective Inspector Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) is determined to learn what really happened to her father Clint (Sir Lenny Henry) — who was murdered — once and for all. At the same time, she enters the world of online dating, only to stumble across the profile of her ex-fiancé Josh (Ashley Walters), who completely ghosted her 11 years earlier. Unsurprisingly, the two threads are linked in ways she could never have predicted.
If that isn’t enough to hook you, Kat is also tracking down a missing man whose disappearance may have more to do with her ex than she knows.
While each of the five episodes contains some twisty moment or jaw-dropping cliffhanger, the finale does an excellent job of wrapping everything up. Here are the biggest moments that conclude another excellent Coben series.
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Coming Face-to-Face
After searching for Josh all season long, Kat finally comes face-to-face with her ex in the closing moments of Episode 4. The finale picks up from there, and it’s instantly clear that these two still have chemistry 11 years later. Since Josh’s sudden disappearance, he’s married, been widowed, and had a child, who started Josh’s Facebook profile, believing him to be lonely.
Josh explains to Kat that he never started the dating profile and that it is someone else using his photo. Something in the back of Kat’s mind has to click, but she’s too overwhelmed by emotions and runs away, leaving Josh alone by the water.
A Frantic Search
While Kat is busy dealing with her emotions, Dana (Lisa Faulkner) desperately tries to escape the farm where she is being held against her will. She remembers a telephone in the main house and doubles back to call for help.
There, Dana tries to call her son, Brendon (Oscar Kennedy), to warn him of the kidnappers coming his way. Before she can call the police or anyone who can actually help, one of the goons spots her and rips the phone from the wall. Dana accidentally hits him in the stomach with an axe, leaving her to free the other prisoners from the barn.
Titus Kidnaps the Wrong Person
Convinced that Dana is working with Kat, Titus (Steve Pemberton) decides his best course of action is to kidnap Kat’s son when he spots him outside Kat’s apartment. Although everyone should know by now not to approach strange vans, Titus tricks Brendan into coming to the van, where he and his sidekick promptly shove him in the back and start beating him up. Kat finally returns home to hear Brendan’s screams, and although she can’t stop Titus from driving off, she manages to get the plate and involve her colleagues back at the station.
A Fiery End
Titus isn’t the type to let a grudge go, so he immediately uses Brendan to threaten Dana back at the farm. As Dana and the other prisoners try to run away, she stops cold, hearing that the man is standing over her son. Dana returns to the fiery farm Titus has ordered to burn, knowing the police are on the way. He doesn’t know that Kat is already there, and she also approaches with a gun in hopes of saving Brendan.
Titus shoots Brendan in the leg, but thankfully that’s as far as it gets. Kat arrives just in time to save mother and son in a tense shootout that leaves Titus dead on the ground.
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Calligan Grants Kat’s Wish
With Dana and Brendan safe, Kat returns her attention to her father’s case, especially when Calligan (James Nesbitt) tracks down her dad’s secret lover, Parker (Cyril Nri). Kat goes to Parker’s address expecting a woman, only to discover there is much more to her father than she previously realized. Parker is happy to see Kat and fills in some blanks but is unable to provide any further details about the night he died.
A Romantic Rekindling
Now that Kat knows more about her father and she’s been able to return to work, it seems she’s also ready to repair her personal life. When Josh calls her, they work it out and get back together in a happy montage that shows them all coupled up. Although Kat doesn’t know the whole truth, life is good, and it seems like she can almost be OK with that going forward. Almost.
The Fingerprint
Despite Stagger (Richard Armitage) trying to block the second fingerprint from Kat’s dad’s murder scene from going to the lab, he misses Charlie’s (Charlie Hamblett) second request for an ID. In the closing moments, it finally comes through, and he calls Kat as Josh freshens up in the bathroom.
Turns out the fingerprint was a match for some guy who got in a barfight in Scotland. Kat’s Spidey sense immediately realizes the shocking, world-turning-upside-down, Harlan-Coben-twisty truth: It was Josh who killed her father, and he’s been hiding it from her ever since.
Everyone Was Protecting Kat
Ashley Walters, Missing You
Vishal Sharma/NetflixKat is devastated, naturally, but the truth is more complicated than she realizes. In a flashback, we see that on the night Kat’s father was murdered, Aqua (Mary Malone) saw him with Parker. Clint then tracked Aqua down to the apartment and threatened her for fear she’d tell his family. He didn’t want Kat to know he had a secret relationship and wasn’t ready to confront his sexual identity.
In the flashback, it looked like Aqua could smooth things over, but then Kat called her and Clint saw her name on the caller ID. He raged out at Aqua, and Josh arrived, trying to break up the fight. In a confusing moment with a knife, Josh accidentally stabbed Clint, and Calligan rushed in, having suspected something was off with Clint during their earlier phone call.
The trio couldn’t save Clint’s life, and in honor of the man’s final wishes, Calligan covered up the crime scene to protect Josh and Aqua. As Kat grieved over the loss of her dad, Josh was unable to live with the truth that he killed her father — even if it was accidental — so he packed up and left.
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Be Careful What You Wish For
Now that Kat knows the complete truth, she realizes everyone around her was trying to protect her and follow her father’s final wishes. In the closing moments, she sits on the bed beside Josh, processing everything she’s learned. Forgiveness seems impossible, but Josh is also the love of her life. And so she makes the first, tiniest move toward a potential reconciliation and touches her pinky finger to Josh’s before the closing credits roll.
Missing You is now streaming on Netflix.
