Missing: Dead or Alive? – Netflix Review

MISSING: DEAD OR ALIVE? on Netflix is a new documentary series following investigators on various missing person cases. There are four episodes with the first being the longest. A real look “behind the scenes”. Read our Missing: Dead or Alive? docu-series review here!

MISSING: DEAD OR ALIVE? is new Netflix docu-series with four episodes to this first season. The first episode has the longest runtime (just over one hour), and the case even continues into the next episode.

It’s a true-crime documentary production where we follow investigators on various missing person cases. Even though the investigators often mention that these cases can have surprising outcomes, I couldn’t believe it until it actually happened. And in this Netflix series, you’ll be surprised a few times!

Continue reading our Missing: Dead or Alive? documentary series review below. Find it on Netflix from May 10, 2023.

You just never know!

As long as a case is still listed as a “missing person”, you never know how things will turn out. We always know this to be true. And yet, we look at the circumstances and start building a narrative. It’s just human nature, I suppose.

However, this is something the investigators address early on; You have to fight against this, because you really never know!

Things might look a certain way, but until the missing person has been found (either dead or alive), it can still have a happy ending or a brutal outcome. Working these cases keeps the investigators locked in an actual Schrödinger’s Cat paradox, where both options are equally possible.

Right up until the moment when all is revealed and you know for a fact that the person is dead or alive.

A look behind the curtain

I always like finding out the inner workings of things. And yes, this extends to seeing how law enforcement and investigators work. It should come as no surprise that it really is leg work for the most part. The investigators have to go out to where the missing person was last seen. As well as, obviously, speak with those who last saw the person.

There will also be moments where you wonder; Why didn’t they cover the basics faster? For me, this moment came with the very first case, where the bank isn’t contacted until after some other “bases” have been rounded.

I just always figured you’d follow the money first. If a person is missing, I would think they’d look to see if money had been withdrawn. First, to see if there has been any activity. Second, to see where the activity had happened.

Don’t get me wrong, it is covered fairly quickly, but still not within the first few days which continues to baffle me. And yet, I recognize that the investigators were constantly on the move. There is a lot of ground to cover (both physical and analytical) when a person is missing.

Especially as it doesn’t become a missing person case for no reason. Usually, they search for individuals who’ve disappeared under troubling circumstances. The question they need to answer is whether they’re gone due to a criminal event or a wish to disappear of their own accord!

Watch Missing: Dead or Alive on Netflix now!

We follow the investigative officers from a South Carolina sheriff’s department, which obviously results in a different series than if it had been in a place like New York City. I could easily imagine they’d make more seasons of this for Netflix, where a different department is at the heart of the investigations.

The episodes in this first season of Missing: Dead or Alive? are between 30 minutes and one hour in length. The cases are very different, which also makes for a very interesting season. As mentioned earlier, you’ll probably have a gut reaction to the solution of each case. However, be warned, you never really know!

For me, it was sort of like watching an episode of Catfish (which is a series I adore really). Whenever I watch that show, I often find myself feeling certain that I know the answer. And sure, often you might have an idea, but ever so often, you find yourself surprised with the outcome. The very same thing is the case with this Netflix docu-series.

Season 1 of Missing: Dead or Alive is on Netflix from May 10, 2023.