Five Days

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How is it a mother and her two children disappear on the side of a busy road? Why do the cops have no leads and seemingly stumble onto every clue they find? What about the husband and father, a trainer suspected of having an affair with a co-worker? And the vain ex-husband in France? What do the investigators look for when the trail has all but dried up on the seventy-ninth day since the disappearances? All those questions-and more-are answered in the HBO miniseries "Five Days."

Co-produced by the BBC and HBO, the five episode miniseries introduces us to one character after another from friends and family to journalists, cops, well doers and even the people responsible for Leanne´s (the mother) disappearance. Exclusively written by Gwyneth Hughes, "Five Days" tries to branch out from the normal police procedural by focusing more on the family than the nuts and bolts of the investigation. Yet, in the end, it is precisely this examination of the personal dynamic which ultimately leads to the downfall of the endeavor.

A certain social contract-either implied or implicit-is made with the viewer when a plot centers on a kidnapping. We want to know who did it, how they did it, why they did it and everything will be alright in the end. Think of "Law and Order" or any of the "CSI" series: each begins with a mystery to solve and ends with a resolution. Maybe not the preferred resolution, but the pieces all fit in place to give us a complete picture. The viewer does not have to put the pieces together themselves to bridge the gap between one episode and the next in multi-part stories. Here, the titular five days are spread over a total of 79 days (we are presented with Day´s One, Three and Twenty-Eight on Disc 1 and Day´s Thirty-Three and Seventy-Nine on Disc 2). Where one episode leaves off, say the recovery of young Ethan in a storage shed at the end of Day One, the next picks up as if nothing has happened.

Therefore, when characters like Leanne´s ex-husband Daf shows up and gets into a dust up with her father John, it is maddening to know nothing will come of it in the next episode. In a way, programs like "24" have spoiled us in America: one episode leads directly into another, providing the bridge the viewer needs to become re-invested in the story. (At the very least, "LOST" generally provides a recap at the top of each episode to remind us where we´ve been if there is no direct continuation.) "Five Days" would have been helped immeasurably by including a "previously on" segment before the main credits rolled each time out.

The other problem with the mini comes straight from Hughes in the two disc set´s lone bonus feature. She has no idea how the story is going to end when she begins to write. She doesn´t know who is going to end up dead, no idea who did it…only a hope she´s thrown enough onto the proverbial wall to make something stick in the end. The writer even freely admits this is a dangerous way of working and drives her directors mad. With a whodunnit, there has to be a guiding hand behind the endeavor, making sure the pieces line up and the audience is fully engaged in the plot. After all, if the writer doesn´t know who the eventual villain is, how can the audience play along while watching?

This unfortunate writing style is evident throughout the production. Husband Matt destroys his cell phone, later recovered, why, exactly? To make sure sexy text messages from a co-worker aren´t found? Sarah Wheeler, the woman who finds Ethan, integrates herself into Matt´s family for what reason? The eventual mastermind behind Leanne´s disappearance-don´t worry, I won´t spoil it-can´t be guessed or even implied. One of Matt´s friends is recruited by the police to keep an eye on him…again, why? Despite being military, he is still a civilian.

And in the best sense of seeing what sticks, myriad characters and subplots are thrown into the pot for no apparent reason. One of the detectives, an Amy Foster, makes no mention of retirement through the first four episodes, yet a lengthy retirement party rears its head in the fifth. Family officer Simone Farnes realizes a work crisis in "Day Thirty-Three" for no apparent reason other than to buy time to get to "Day Seventy-Nine." It´s just a complete jumble, not aided in Hughes´ intention of including five disparate days in the course of the investigation, nor by the clumsy way the children (not to mention the eventual true story) are found.

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