"That's the problem with you people and your rule book. What you can't seem to understand is you're the only ones playing by the rules." - Knapp (Jeremy Sisto) to an FBI agent after the agent botches an investigation
Kidnapped: The Complete Series DVD Review
By Jude Clement
Blame it on Lost. When that series premiered in the 2004-05 season and became an immediate sensation, network executives decided that serialized dramas were the next big thing. The 2005-06 season saw the premiere of several serialized dramas. Most failed, but Prison Break was enough of a hit that the networks remained high on the format. So high, in fact, that among the batch of shows debuting in 2006-07 were two serials centering on high profile kidnappings: Vanished on Fox and Kidnapped on NBC. Both series quickly disappeared from the networks' schedules. With the release of Kidnapped: The Complete Series on DVD, viewers can either discover the series for the first time or, in the case of those few who watched the handful of episodes broadcast on NBC, discover how the mystery ends.
Conrad Cain (Timothy Hutton, Nero Wolfe) is a wealthy businessman who lives with his family - wife Ellie (Dana Delany, China Beach), college-aged daughter Aubrey (Olivia Thirlby, United 93), thirteen year-old son Leo (Will Denton), and ten year-old daughter Alice (Lydia Jordan) - in a huge penthouse overlooking Central Park. Ex-Marine Virgil Hayes (Mykelti Williamson, Boomtown) is the bodyguard hired by the Cains to keep an eye on Leo, who was accosted by a weirdo in the park a year ago. One morning while Virgil is escorting Leo to school, their SUV is attacked by heavily armed men. Shot in the shoulder, Virgil is left for dead. Leo vanishes.
At the urging of the family's lawyer, Conrad Cain hires former FBI agent Knapp (Jeremy Sisto, Six Feet Under) to find Leo. Knapp, a troubled loner, is a freelance private investigator who specializes in tracking down kidnap victims. When Knapp arrives with his smart, feisty assistant - electronics expert Turner (Carmen Ejogo, Cold Lazarus) - he advises his new clients that they should not report Leo's kidnapping to the FBI. There's only one problem: Virgil's brother-in-law, Latimer King (Delroy Lindo, Beauty & the Beast), heads the FBI's New York kidnapping field office. Like it or not, the FBI will be a part of the investigation. Knapp and King don't always work well together, but their separate investigations often lead them down twisty paths to the same places. Can they bring Leo home?
Watching the series, it soon becomes obvious that at some point during filming the creators realized it was going to be cancelled. The positive aspect is that they were able to reward fans of the show by bringing the storyline to a definite conclusion. The ending is a bit rushed and Kidnapped ends up with more loose ends than a cheap horse blanket, but trying to compress what would have played out over an entire season into a few episodes couldn't have been easy.
What's less forgivable is that the series is filled with enough clichés to fill several pulp novels. King is about to retire, but the Cain kidnapping forces him to remain on the job for one last case. Knapp is haunted by a case he couldn't solve when he was with the FBI. He was so traumatized that he was actually committed to a psychiatric hospital. The loss of that young girl is what drives Knapp to save other kidnapped kids. Luckily, the perpetrator in that botched case is still around to periodically call and torment the guilt-ridden investigator. Conrad Cain grew up in a tough neighborhood and may have ties to a crime lord. The list of plot points you'd recognize from movies you haven't even seen goes on and on.
Kidnapped is also a prime example of the abuse of product placement. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, each episode features extensive plugs for Sony products. Every character seems to own a Sony Vaio laptop or a PSP. When one character struggles to grab a cell phone battery that is just out of reach, the camera lingers on the Sony-branded battery. Product placement is fine when it is organic and unobtrusive, but those found in Kidnapped are often so blatant they become a distraction.
Look past all of the Sony swag and you might discover a few great performances. The entire ensemble is terrific - from Carmen Ejogo's cool-as-a-cucumber Turner to Dana Delany's haughty but sympathetic Ellie Cain. Delroy Lindo is so magnetic that you'll have problems looking at anyone else when he's onscreen. Get this guy another series, please.
The supporting cast is also filled with stellar character actors, including Michael Mosley (The Education of Max Bickford), Linus Roache (Priest), Doug Hutchison (Guiding Light), Robert John Burke (Rescue Me), Otto Sanchez (Oz), James Urbaniak (American Splendor), Robert Clohessy (Oz), Ricky Jay (Boogie Nights), Audra McDonald (The Bedford Diaries), Terry Kinney (Oz), Madchen Amick (Twin Peaks), Robert Foxworth (Falcon Crest), Michael Mulheren (Rescue Me), David Patrick Kelly (Twin Peaks), and Giancarlo Esposito (Bakersfield P.D.).
The thirteen episodes that make up Kidnapped are divided onto three discs. The discs are housed in two clear, slim plastic cases, one of which holds two discs. The front covers of the cases include publicity shots of the cast hovering above the New York skyline. The backs list the episode titles along with brief episode synopses. The interiors are designed to look like a stack of case files. The disc art features publicity shots of the cast. The two cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The static menus allow viewers to play all of the disc's episodes or to choose between individual episodes. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
