Review: 'The Vanishing Women' Finale - 08/29/2016

Congratulations, Investigation Discovery, you got me good.

As a viewer (or TV critic), there's nothing worse than that moment when you've finished watching a show that obviously, visibly, sought to mislead you. I understand that to some extent all reality/observational drama television shows are manipulated and edited to make for better television. But there is a line where the manipulation and trickery goes from "trying to be entertaining" to "screw you, we'll keep you coming back for more, no matter what it takes."

The Investigation Discovery limited series "The Vanishing Women" crossed that line very early in its six-episode run and I'm the first to admit that I was an overly optimistic idiot for hanging on as long as I did. I feel like a boyfriend who knows his girlfriend cheats on him, but sticks around because he's somehow convinced himself it'll be worth it in the end.

"The Vanishing Women" has a great premise. It's a real-life recounting of an ongoing investigation of six women who went missing around Chillicothe, Ohio between May, 2014 and May, 2015. There are hints that a serial killer might be at work and on the face of it, this sounds like a hell of a story. I enjoyed watching Discovery's "Killing Fields," even if it ultimately failed to solve the case that was at the core of the show. Still, six murders in a small Ohio town. This HAS to be good television.

Unfortunately, the show began to fall apart pretty early in the run. After a quick setup, the show jumps to the details surrounding the disappearance of the third or fourth missing woman. Each week another disappearance is covered, but it's out of chronological order and there doesn't seem to be any real facts to point to a serial killer. Other than a lot of talk from friends and family that there "HAS to be more to this story."

The cases of the women are sad but the only real thing they seem to have in common is that they were all seemingly involved in some sort of high-risk behavior: prostitution, drug use, etc. Yes, most of the women seemed to have at least met each other. But given their lifestyles and the fact that Chillicothe is a fairly small town, that's not unusual. Throughout the course of the five episodes, there was no real evidence to suggest the six cases were connected.

In fact, the network delayed the airing of the final episode because they decided to focus on two facts that were breathlessly reported in episode five. A potential serial killer had been arrested in nearby West Virginia and he might have some connection to the Ohio disappearances. And a man named Jason McCrary had been arrested for the murder of the sixth missing woman, 38-year-old mother of five, Timberly Claytor. It all seemed as if there was some big break in the cases that was going to be revealed in the season's final episode.

I won't spoil the episode by writing about the details, but let's just say that most of what you hope will happen in the episode isn't going to take place. In fact, the producers drop a final tease at the end of the episode, implying that maybe some up-until-now unidentified person might be responsible for the disappearances. It's just an annoying and manipulative coda to one of my least favorite shows this year. I can't recall the last time I went into a true crime television show so optimistic, only to end up feeling as if the producers had mugged me and stolen six hours of my life that I'll never get back.

The finale of "The Vanishing Women" premieres on Monday, August 29th at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.