Missing Ending Explained: Kevin's Plan & The Grace Allen Kidnapping Twist (2024)

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Missing.Nia Long stars as Grace Allen in 2023's Missing, a thriller with a lot of twists and turns, and an explosive ending that pays off its gripping plot threads. Directed and written by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, Missing is a standalone sequel to 2018’s Searching starring John Cho. Like its predecessor, Missing’s plot isn’t as straightforward as it initially seems. The movie boasts a stellar cast, seeing Euphoria's Storm Reid star alongside Nia Long (Boiler Room) and Ken Leung (Rush Hour). The film received positive reviews from critics, praising Reid in particular, as well as the fast pace of the plot.

Reid leads the Missing cast as June Allen, a teenager who uses the technology at her fingertips to find her missing mother Grace (Long) after she disappears on vacation with her boyfriend Kevin Lin (Leung). The Missing movie ending explained the discovery that June’s presumably dead father, James (Tim Griffin), is behind the scheme to kidnap Grace in a bid to get his daughter back, which involved using Kevin to con Grace Allen into going on vacation. James had been in search of June for two years after being released from prison for assault and drug possession, during which time he came up with his sinister plan.

Kevin Lin’s Plan In Missing

Why He Targeted Grace Allen

Kevin may have seemed like a nice guy, but he went after Grace Allen with a detailed plan to take her money and make her disappear without a trace, as the Missing movie ending explained. Kevin was a convicted con man who previously used aliases to steal people’s money. His plan began two years prior to the events of Missing, while in prison with James, Grace’s presumably dead husband, who was arrested and charged with assault and drug possession.

Kevin hatched the plan revealed in the Missing ending to get back at Grace because he knew he would be getting money out of it, and a clean slate in Colombia had everything gone off without a hitch. Kevin didn’t really care about James wanting his daughter June back, which was the whole reason for the plan in the first place. Rather, as the Missing movie ending explained, he saw an opportunity to get rich doing what he did best — conning people into believing he was a standup guy, trustworthy. Grace Allen was merely a pawn in his scheme, and he was only ever after what benefited him.

All The Clues To James Being Behind Grace Allen's Kidnapping In Missing

There Are Multiple Hints Throughout The 2023 Mystery Thriller

The fact that James is behind Grace’s kidnapping is the biggest twist in the Missing ending. However, there are a few clues laid out that point to James being the mastermind behind Kevin’s plan. At the start of the film, Grace Allen — though it’s played as though it’s June — is watching a video of James and June together, trimming it before dropping a part of it into a file for her daughter. The trimmed video confirmed there were missing facts, but the mystery thriller distracts the audience by suggesting Grace is a suspect in her own kidnapping.

Missing’s first scene also includes a file about aneurysms and meningioma, which in hindsight says that Grace Allen was planting the seeds of James’ “death” before confidentially changing her name. Perhaps the movie's biggest giveaway to the Missing ending reveal is when June calls “Jimmy,” a member of the Holy Father Ministries who swears up and down that Kevin is a good guy even after she discovers he’s a con man. Jimmy is, of course, a nickname for James, indicating that Missing’s clues were in front of the audience all along.

Missing’s Grace Allen Identity Change Twist Explained

She Switched Last Names With June

As the Missing movie ending explained, Grace Allen confidentially changed her and June’s last name after she had James arrested for drug possession and assault so that he would never find them when he got out of prison. James was a dangerous man, and Grace knew that he would hurt her and June if he could easily gain access to them. Furthermore, Grace wanted to protect June from the truth. June remembered him as a good dad, a kind man who played hide-and-seek with her. It’s why Grace worked so hard to keep those memories of him alive, even at the expense of her own relationship with her daughter.

Missing’s Searching Connection Explained

Both Are Part Of The Unfiction Universe

Missing introduces a fictional true crime series called Unfiction, in the vein of Netflix's many true crime offerings like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. At the start of Missing, June is watching one of Unfiction’s seasons, which features the disappearance of Margot Kim, who audiences will remember from Searching, and her father David Kim’s attempts to find her. June is also reading articles about the facts vs. fiction of the in-universe series, with a photo of Cho’s David Kim and the actor playing him in Unfiction. Since this movie is a stand-alone sequel, Unfiction is a clever and unique way to tie Missing to Searching.

How The Missing Ending Compares To Searching

There Are Recurring Themes In Both Unfiction Movies

Both the Missing ending and the Searching conclusion share some similarities, which makes sense as the films are set in the same universe. As the Missing movie ending explained, Searching also takes a positive view of technology and showcases the helpful ways it can be used in solving crimes, with John Cho's David utilizing Facebook to track down his daughter's friends alongside other plot threads that include vlogging.

As well, the Searching ending included a twist, with the initial confessor not being the perpetrator at all, but rather, police officer Vick's troubled son. With the addition of the Unfiction series, the Missing and Searching universe opens itself up to even more stories.

Why Rachel Page Agreed To Go Along With Kevin’s Missing Plan

Rachel Was Lured By The Temptation Of Stardom

The issue of Rachel is another confusing piece of the Missing ending. Rachel Page (Lauren B. Mosley) is a bartender and aspiring actress who was targeted by Kevin. However, she wasn’t innocent. She knew that she had to impersonate Grace Allen, using her passport to get into Colombia, wearing her clothes, etc.

Rachel agreed to be a part of the con because she believed Kevin would give her a big break, and she bought into his claim that he was shooting a movie on his iPhone and wanted her to star in it. Rachel agreeing to the plan shows her selfishness, desperate to be in the spotlight despite Kevin’s questionable actions, as the Missing movie ending explained.

Why Missing’s Heather Damore Was Killed

She Was Too Close To The Truth

Long before the Missing ending, Grace’s lawyer Heather Danmore (Amy Landecker) encouraged Grace Allen to go out with Kevin, but it was because he and James were threatening her. Heather was okay with not saying anything to June and acting like nothing was wrong, but she’s only killed by James when he realizes June is getting closer to the truth about why her mother changed her name. If Heather had stayed alive, June could have hacked into her computer or confronted her about Grace’s past. As the Missing movie ending explained, James couldn’t have any of that or risk his entire Missing plan.

How Missing Subverts True Crime Expectations

Missing Avoided Serial Killers

When it comes to true crime docuseries and podcasts, an overwhelming amount of them deal with serial killers. Missing, however, follows an adult who was kidnapped by her husband rather than a stranger. Missing’s James wasn’t a serial killer who had a targeted type, but rather he was seeking revenge on his wife. What’s more, the thriller turns its focus toward domestic abuse and the trauma it incurs on someone, as well as the lengths people will go to protect themselves and their child from an abusive family member. The Missing ending plays on audience expectations while simultaneously subverting them.

The Real Meaning Of Missing's Ending

The Thriller Showcased Using Technology As A Tool To Find Kidnapping Victims

The Missing movie ending explained its promotion of the use of technology to track and find someone if they are kidnapped. The thriller suggests that technological advancements, including surveillance systems, are crucial — despite the lack of privacy — because they can be a key factor in a missing persons case.

Missing showcases June’s use of technology, to hack or even communicate with someone across borders, as a valuable asset. Unlike other movies that use technology as a scare tactic, Missing doesn’t insinuate that too much of it is a bad thing or a danger to humanity. Rather, it’s helpful and needed. Missing is not a cautionary tale, but a spotlight on technology’s most impressive capabilities.

How The Missing Ending Was Received

The Finale Ensured Missing Was A Hit

2023's Missing was a hit for directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson, with the thriller being received incredibly well by both critics and viewers. Missing currently has an 89% critical score and 90% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, highlighting just how enjoyable it was for fans of the incredibly saturated mystery-thriller and true crime-inspired genres.

Given that a satisfactory conclusion is critical to stories like Missing, the almost-overwhelmingly positive response also speaks volumes for how well the ending was received. Many critics pointed toward the pace of Missing being a key strength of the film. It certainly dropped its reveals a mile a minute, though at no point did the ending feel like it came too fast.

The many twists of the plot ran a risk of making the narrative seem too unwieldy, though the overwhelming majority felt that writer-directors Will Merrick and Nick Johnson managed to keep June's story just held together enough for it not to be seen as implausible. This was true right through until the final scenes of Missing, with the last few reveals - such as James never having turned his laptop off - never pushing the plot too far away from being believable for the sake of hammering in yet another shock.

However, reviews weren't universally positive, though those that outright dismissed the 2023 mystery-thriller were few and far between. For the most part, those critics who didn't find Missing an enjoyable and adrenaline-pumping ride until the credits rolled normally pointed to its lack of doing anything truly innovative. Writing for The Guardian, critic Benjamin Lee gave one of the most even-handed appraisals of Missing, rightly observing that it did veer incredibly close to being cliche or cheesy at points, but was ultimately another highly enjoyable and worthwhile addition to the many true-crime movies and mystery thrillers released over the last few decades:

Sighs at incongruously dumb behaviour and groans at the family soap are eventually drowned out by audible gasps at some of the wild twists, the kind that might not make much sense on reflection but do deliver cattle-prod shocks along the way. Missing might not make a strong enough case for the subgenre at large to return (talk of Unfriended 3 has been mercifully muted) but it’s entertaining enough to show that this particular series does have more battery life.

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7/10

Missing

PG-13

Missing is a movie from the creative team behind Searching that follows a daughter trying to find her missing mother. When June's (Storm Reid) mother goes on vacation in Columbia with her new boyfriend, she suddenly goes missing during the adventure. To find her, June will use all the information and social media tools she can to track her mother down before it's too late. However, the deeper she digs, the more she discovers how little she really knew her mother. You can rent Missing for just $1.99 for Prime Day.

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*Availability in US

Director

Nick Johnson , Will Merrick

Release Date

January 20, 2023

Cast

Storm Reid , Joaquim De Almeida , Ken Leung , Amy Landecker , Daniel Henney , Nia Long , Ava Zaria Lee

Runtime

111 minutes