Gone For Good (2021) Netflix Limited Series Review
Who’s ready for a whodunit?
The Netflix adaptation of Harlan Coben’s
mysteries continue to roll out.
And this time it’s Gone For Good
and it’s set in France.
Will you be watching?
Ten years after the tragic death
of his brother and ex-girlfriend,
a young man’s lover disappears, suddenly
leading him on a search for all the truths
that have been hidden from him.
OK, so this is going to be spoiler free
because it is a mystery
and I would love for you to experience
the same intrigue I did.
Also, if you care about munchies
and want to hear about some new ones
that I found, stick around
to the very end.
Guillaume is a social worker in his 30s
who has had tragedy in his past
during his mother’s funeral.
His lover gets a mysterious phone call
and she has to leave
and then doesn’t return.
Guillaume follows clues
to see where she could have gone,
which then uncovers other mysteries
he thought were resolved.
This is a quick, limited series.
It’s only five episodes, and each of those
are only about 50 minutes long.
The story moves along
pretty quickly as well.
that is interesting from a character
standpoint, but not necessarily important
to the central plot.
Each of the episodes
focuses on a particular character
giving us insight into their lives
and more importantly,
into their past, which greatly influences
their current motivations.
The episode that I thought
was a little more filler than necessary
focused on Guillaume’s boss, Daco.
I think his character
arc is powerful, especially given
the growth that we witness.
But it doesn’t really
contribute to the mystery
and the journey that Guillaume is on.
That being said, there are still portions
within the episode
that do keep progressing
the narrative forward.
So it’s not like
you can skip it and not notice.
I was drawn into the characters.
They’re all flawed, making them
layered and complex.
I think their motivations make sense, too.
So when we see actions,
they make sense in accordance with what
we’ve seen in their personalities
and their backgrounds.
As far as the mystery goes,
I was stumped, which I loved.
There’s nothing worse
than figuring out who and why early on
and then having to suffer through
to the end to just confirm you’re right.
I had guesses, but mainly
I was trying to work the clues
to try and beat the story
to its conclusion.
As more and more unfolded,
there were definite portions
that I just didn’t expect.
And even if I did have
some suspicions on certain characters,
I was completely in the dark
about guessing the motivations.
The story is fairly tragic,
and there are a few scenes that shocked me
with the violence.
One in particular
is meant to have a palpable effect on us,
which I think it did.
I mean, when we’re watching,
we winced and yelled at the TV in shock
at what was happening.
It was brief, but it was also terrible.
There are a couple of characters
that kind of get sidelined,
and I thought they’d have
a larger prominence to the story.
One is Guillaume’s sister.
She’s in the first two episodes
and then pretty much just disappears.
The other is the little sister
of Guillaume’s ex-girlfriend
that had died 10 years earlier.
She’s mildly important to the story,
and I do like her resolution at the end.
But I think more visual importance
was placed on her
than was necessary, especially
when she doesn’t add a ton to the story.
Those are nitpickes and really the only
faults that come to mind as I watched.
I was invested in the mystery
and became hooked into Guillaume’s pursuit
to find the truth. He’s a likable
character, even when he’s flawed.
His charisma and pureness
shine through, making him a protagonist
that we really want to root for.
The settings are beautiful
as the scenes transition from Nice, France
to the countryside’s of Barcelona
and the coast of Sardinia, Italy.
This has also been contrasted
with some grittier sides of Nice,
where Guillaume works with street kids.
It gives us that dichotomy of wealth
and poverty, showing us
how the two worlds intersect.
So if you’re familiar with Harlan Coben’s
adaptations, more often than not,
the storytelling follows
a back and forth formula.
We’ll watch characters
interact in the present,
and then we’ll have scenes that flashback
a number of years to clue
us into events that shape
current motivations and behaviors.
I enjoyed the way
this was executed in the series.
I didn’t ever feel like
I was getting whiplash
from transitioning too quickly, and
I felt like the storytelling flowed well,
interweaving the past and present
to create a compelling drama.
So overall, I had a lot of fun
with Gone For Good.
The mystery and intrigue
kept me engaged and guessing.
The characters are complex
enough to be compelling,
but also simple enough
to have some relatability.
The five episodes went by quickly,
but didn’t feel like the story
was being rushed
to get us to a conclusion.
There’s no sex or nudity.
A lot of profanity and some violence
I give Gone For Good
four out of five couches.
OK, so I’ve got two munchies for you
today. One is Mango Pepsi.
And I was pretty unsure
about this purchase when I picked it up
because I’m not a huge mango fan.
Now, when you drink this, the smell
is certainly stronger than the taste.
And to me, it almost has this peachey
rather than a strong mango smell to it.
And even though the scent is stronger
than the flavor, you can still taste
the fruityness in there.
You know that mango ish.
So overall, it wasn’t
a terrible thing to drink,
but I’m not going to be picking up
any more of it if I’m going to go
with a flavored dark soda.
I’m sticking with Vanilla Coke
or Cherry Pepsi.
Now, the other munchie came
from a recommendation from one of you.
And these are Blue Heat Takis.
Now, I love blue stuff.
Blue foods have a certain taste to them
and for the most part,
if I hear that a snack or candy is blue,
I can pretty much count on it
having some berry ish flavor.
Yeah, that’s not the case here.
These are rolled
tortilla chips covered in a blue powder.
Now, I love spicy foods,
but these aren’t particularly spicy.
I mean, yeah, there is a little bit of
heat to them, but overall, Flaming
Hot Cheetos are much spicier.
The flavor, though, is oddly satisfying,
but only in small doses.
There’s this tanginess to them
that kind of overpowers everything else.
And I think that takes away from the heat.
So while these are OK
and I am grateful for the recommendation,
they’re just not going to be
in a regular rotation of munchies for me.
I’m going to stick with my Flaming Hot
Cheetos or Flaming Hot Nacho Doritos
as my go-to spicy snacks.
So do you have a favorite
Harlan Coben story?
Has it been adapted into a mini series?
What’s one that you would like to see
Netflix adapt next?
Let me know in the comments below.
If you enjoyed this review,
please give it a like.
Also, don’t forget to share and subscribe.
I’m Chris. This is Movies
And Munchies. Thanks for couching with me.
Yeah, not bad, but,
you know, I don’t know if you can see that
from here, blue junk like I smashed
a Smurf in between my fingers is on there,
but overall, not horrible. [smacks]
