Missing You is one of the most popular Netflix shows of 2025 so far, and fans can't stop talking about the big twist in the series finale, "Chain Reaction." Unfortunately, it's not for all of the right reasons.
Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Missing You!
Rosalind Eleazar, who stars in the series as Detective Kat Donovan, recently opened up about the series finale and why it was important to leave the story open-ended. Here's what Eleazar told Entertainment Weekly about the decision to leave things up to viewers' interpretation:
"I was more on the side of keeping it open. There's a final hand moment at the end and I thought, I dunno whether I feel that that's too quick. That's just so heavy. Your fiancé's killed your dad. It's too much to process. However, I also do like that you can interpret her sort of touching his hand at the end as, 'I can't deal with this just now.'"
For those out of the loop, Missing You follows Kat's quest to find answers about her father's death and why Josh (Ashley Walters), Kat's fiance, disappeared shortly after. Eleven years later, the pair rekindle their romantic relationship after Kat learns Josh spins a story of sorts about why he had to leave after Kat's father, Clint (Lenny Henry), died. In the final scene of the series, Kat learns that Josh was actually the person who killed her father, although it was an accident because her father was trying to kill Kat and Josh's friend, Aqua (Mary Malone), because Aqua discovered Clint's affair with a man, Parker. Stagger (Richard Armitage), Kat's boss, helped cover up Clint's death, saving Josh and Aqua and sparing Kat's feelings in the process. In reality, Kat learns that everyone in her life has been lying to her for the past decade. Then, the series ends.
So, yeah, it's a lot to take in for Kat. I don't think there's any normal reaction to learning your fiance killed your father and then disappeared, so I understand why Kat just sits there, too stunned to move.
Initially, I interpreted Kat's hand movement toward Josh as forgiveness, but after hearing Eleazar's thoughts, I don't actually know what it means. I think it's truly an open-ended story. Viewers will have to reckon with what happened next by themselves.
Eleazar also shared what she was trying to convey in that final moment to EW:
"A human mind cannot process what that means that quickly. To be honest, it's just pure, utter shock. For me, I had this image of me drowning really slowly. I wasn't trying to fight to get out. It was a sinking feeling."
I have to agree with that. I praised Eleazar's performance throughout the series, and that last moment with Kat is just incredible. Viewers can easily pick up on Kat's face what Eleazar is describing here.
Ultimately, I do wish that Missing You revealed this information a little bit earlier. It's kind of the whole point of the show, so it basically ends at the climax rather than giving viewers any resolution. It's fine to do that, but it isn't the most enjoyable experience. Of course, the series is still worth watching, though. I've seen a lot of discourse online that the series is a waste of time or something, and I don't think that's true at all. If you're a fan of the Harlan Coben Netflix shows, it's definitely worth watching. It's not a skip, like some of Coben's other Netflix shows. There are many more to watch after Missing You, too.
Most importantly, the ending does make sense in terms of the overall story, but it's definitely a bit underwhelming in how rushed it is compared to the other smaller reveals throughout the series. Again, it might have felt a little bit cleaner had they given us a little bit of time to take in the full scope of what really happened the night Kat's father died and see her reaction to it, knowing everyone had been lying to her for so long.
On top of that, I do think it's good that Missing You also wasn't dragged out for another one, two, or even three episodes like we've seen from mystery shows in the past. So, it's not perfect, but the ending does a decent job of wrapping things up.
And, more good news: there's another one of Harlan Coben's Netflix shows coming very soon!