Without a Trace, on CBS TV, is a drama about the Missing Person Squad of the FBI in New York. The Missing Persons Squad is a special task force that is assigned to looking for missing persons.
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The CBS show always starts out before the person goes missing. There is a brief scenario, where the audience sees the person in the last place they were seen. Whether the person is at a party, work, school, restaurant, bar, home or elsewhere they have a final interaction or conversation with someone, The missing person to be wanders off and fades away.
The next scene, after the commercial break, is when the missing persons squad is notified of the new case. Some information is provided about the missing person from a perspective different that what we viewed in the opening scene.
The missing person may have been kidnapped, killed, in hiding or run-away
The mystery unfolds as the FBI squad members investigate the person’s last movements, working backwards to find a clue to their whereabouts. As the squad investigates, the audience learns along with them. The squad finds out about the person’s relationships, jobs, home life and occasionally some undesirable things about the missing person. The Missing Person’s Team works against the clock, knowing that in their cases every second counts. The squad uses psychological profiling techniques as they investigate the life of the missing person to trace their whereabouts
The FBI squad learns who the victim is so they can learn where the victim is.
Squad members seem to take each case to heart, as they learn about the missing person. Squad members seem compassionate and sympathetic to the missing person’s plight. There is always a plight of some kind.
The missing person’s team reconstructs a time line of “the day of disappearance” on a board in the squad room. Every possible minute is documented as they dig deeper into the hours prior to disappearance. Every facet of the missing person’s life is turned over and inspected.
By the end of the show, the FBI finds the missing person, but the results are not always pretty. Sometimes they find a dead body. Usually they have some type of resolution to the complicated cases. The show has an astute understanding of human nature and the situations people find themselves in.
The members of the squad sometimes get a world -weary “seen it all” look as the ugliness they deal with becomes overwhelming. There are also glimpses of the personal life of the members of the squad. There are just a few minutes out of most shows that tell a little about he human side of the people in the missing person’s squad.
Following are the cast members of “Without A Trace”:
Antony LaPaglia, plays Jack Malone. Malone is the guy you want looking for you if you need help. He is tough, compassionate, smart and professional. He is the head of the team and a dedicated pro. His personal trials include: divorce, the death of his father and coming to terms of his mother’s suicide. Malone had an affair with Samantha Spade, who is one of his agents. Malone has soulful eyes and a sympathetic demeanor. LaPaglia has won a Golden Globe Award , an Emmy Award nomination and two SAG Award nommmmminations for his role as Malone. Television credits include “Frasier”, “Murder One”, “Never Give Up: The Jimmy V Story”, “Criminal Justice” and “Garden of Redemption.” Movie credits include “Lantana”, “Betsy’s Wedding”, “The House of Mirth”, “Sweet and Lowdown,” “The Client,” “Company Man,” “Summer of Sam,” Autumn in New York,” “Lansky,” “Phoenix,” “Commandments,” “Brilliant Lies,” “Winter solstice” and “The Architect.
Poppy Montgomery plays Samantha Spade. Samantha is an attractive blonde agent who can be tough. She had an affair with her boss, Jack Malone.Film credits include Dead Man on Campus,” “The Other Sister,” “Life,” 50 Way to Leave Your Lover,’ and “Between”.
Marianna Jean-Baptiste plays Vivian Johnson. Johnson is an investigator with a no-nonsense approach and special insight. Film credits include “Secrets and Lies,” “The Cell,” “28 Days,” “t?eh 24 Hour Woman,” “Mr. Jealousy” and “Spy Games.”
Enrique Murciano plays Danny Taylor, an agent with a sensitive side.
Eric Close plays Martin Fitzgerald, who had a recent brush with prescription drug addiction that showed a dark side, making his persona more complex.
Roselyn Sanchez is played by Elena Delgado
“Without A Trace” airs on Sundays evenings on CBS. TNT Cable network carries reruns of this fine program.
