Lifetime
Following Lifetime’s Girl in the Attic, the abduction theme continues with another abduction tale — post-abduction, actually — titled The Boy Who Vanished. You might get some very familiar Six Degrees of Separation vibes while watching it.
The Boy Who Vanished centers around the Reese family, mom Haley, dad Richard and young son Tyler. One day out of the blue, they are informed their older son Jack, whom they have believed for 12 years was abducted and murdered … by Haley’s brother Michael … suddenly turns up at the police station. During his interview with the detective, he seems to answer all of their question with enough certainty to convince his and the Reeses that he is indeed Jack. So much so that even though the police want to take some blood samples just to make sure (couldn’t they just swab the inside of his cheek?), Haley refuses, absolutely certain this is her son. They get him home and he meets his younger brother, who was just a newborn when Jack was abducted, and they try to move on with their lives as if everything is normal. Jack does have some odd behavior like not wanting to be touched, but he begins adjusting to a more comfortable life. We’re never really told how old Jack is, but he needs to go to high school so he may have been four when he was abducted, and he aces an exam explaining that the people who abducted him insisted he learn about everything including critical thinking to see things from different sides. Jack is actually eager to start school, and he even makes a new friend in a classmate named Summer. But things aren’t all well and good.
While out and about, Jack’s parents keep running into some creepy people, mainly a woman with red hair who pops up and insults Richard because of his wealth (at one point picking his pocket to get his wallet and credit cards), while Haley seems to be stalked by a guy who looks like Charles Manson (who is also connected to the woman, Luna, as they communicate about some plan they are working on for ‘the family’). At home, Jack keeps asking curious questions about Richard’s job which involves finances, and later he calls someone to tell them the family is buying everything he’s selling them. So is this not really their son? Things get more complicated when Haley’s brother sees the news that Jack has returned, and it isn’t long before Haley shows up at his off-the-grid mobile home with her tail tucked between her legs. He was the prime suspect in Jack’s ‘murder’ because some of Jack’s clothes were found at his home. He was exonerated, but the stigma never stopped following him. He isn’t sure he wants to meet Jack, and he doesn’t think the kid claiming to be his nephew looks anything like the child he knew 12 years earlier. But the situation with ‘the family’ begins to escalate as the Manson-like leader Travis tells Jack that it seems he’s beginning to enjoy this life too much and he’s not moving fast enough with the plan, so he’s going to have to take more drastic action if Jack doesn’t get into Richard’s laptop and transfer millions of dollars into a different account. So is Jack really Haley’s son, or do the Reeses have more secrets that Travis and his ‘family’ are attempting to exploit? Will the truth shatter everything they’ve built or make the Reese family stronger?
Lifetime
The Boy Who Vanished is a pretty decent thriller that is an obvious play on the Six Degrees of Separation story (based on the true story in which a young man claimed to be Sidney Poitier’s son but was a scam artist), so right off the bat anyone who is familiar with that story will automatically assume Jack is a con artist. The script by Ken Miyamoto, however, keeps you guessing until the real truth is finally exposed. You can empathize with Haley not wanting to get Jack’s DNA tested to see if he really is her son, and in this day and age it should be a rather simple process that doesn’t involved the drawing of blood, but besides her motherly instincts telling him this is Jack, we learn later that she’s actually hiding a secret from Jack that she intended to reveal to him — but he already knows because of his abductors and is the reason he’s there in the first place — but it wasn’t something she wanted to unload on him the second he walked through the door (even her husband alludes to having to tell Jack the truth at some point but things escalate until she can, and then she is forced to tell him everything). Because of all the uncertainty, the story will have you thinking one minute that he is Jack, and the next he’s not. It will keep you on the edge of your seat, especially as Travis and company begin to close in on them. Director Christie Will Wolf also guides the story and the cast with great skill, never making any of the story elements obvious and ruining the surprises.
Aiden Howard does a terrific job as Jack. He perfectly plays the shellshocked Jack as he just seems to appear out of the wilderness, hesitant in how he speaks, reticent about his new situation (he has a line about the house being bigger than he remembered that is a nice touch because it was not the house he lived in when he was abducted), jumpy when his parents try to touch him, but quickly bonding with his younger brother and Summer, and then acting like a completely different person when he’s on the phone with Travis. His performance always keeps us wondering if he really is Jack or just a scam artist out to get the Reeses’ money. Tegan Moss is also excellent as Haley, making you feel her emotions when she first sees the son she thought she had lost forever. You do want to shake her and tell her to get the DNA test, but she makes you believe that Haley is so certain that this is her son that you have to go along with her. She never for a minute doubts him, and she really springs into ‘tiger mom’ mode when the strangers start threatening her family. Matthew Kevin Anderson also does a good job as Richard, often trying to be the voice of reason, but also happy that Jack is taking an interest in his work (what he at one point refers to as ‘the family business’). Young Kingston Goodjohn also gives a nice performance as little brother Tyler, quickly bonding with Jack but also able to convey some real fear after Travis makes a violent attack on the car he and his dad are in. These performances are so good that you can buy them completely as a family.
Lifetime
Speaking of family, Haley’s brother Michael is played by Jesse Moss, actual brother of Tegan Moss so their connection as siblings is even more real than what is scripted. He does a great job of showing his anger toward Haley, especially when she won’t tell him if she truly believed he could kill his own nephew. He really conveys years of hurt, anger and disappointment Michael has felt over the last 12 years, but he’s never a jerk about it. He is entitled to his feelings and through his performance we hope that at some point he and Haley can mend some fences (and situations that arise because of the actions of ‘the family’ force them to join forces to protect their own family). Maia Michaels’ Luna always has an attitude about her, and even when she’s trying to trick Michael into letting her sit in his car to eat with him, any rational person would have given her a hard no. She might come off a little too aggressive, but for some reason Michael still allows her to join him and it was not the best decision for him. Gord Pankhurst gives total Manson vibes with his attitude and look, making Travis nothing but dangerous, a man with a short fuse that’s already near its end by the time the story starts. He just becomes more and more terrifying as the story progresses, and we are not sure what he’s capable of. Pankhurst makes Travis someone who you’d cross the street to avoid if you saw him walking toward you. Grace Beedie is also really good as Jack’s new friend Summer, and even though it’s a very small role, her connection with him puts some fear into your heart for her well-being (especially when Travis makes some veiled threats to Jack about her).
The Boy Who Vanished is a surprisingly good thriller with a solid premise whose mysteries will keep you on the edge of your seat, everything not being as obvious as you might think it is. A good story, good production, great writing and directing and an excellent cast makes this one well worth your time.
The Boy Who Vanished has a run time of 1 hour 28 minutes, and is rated TV-14.