{"id":744869,"date":"2026-06-18T11:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744869\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:43:08","slug":"i-will-find-you-review-netflixs-new-harlan-coben-show-is-ludicrous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/744869\/","title":{"rendered":"I Will Find You review: Netflix’s new Harlan Coben show is ludicrous"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, there was plenty of chatter<\/a> about Netflix\u2019s alleged directive for writers and showrunners to dumb down stories<\/a>, lest anything too complex or thought-provoking distract viewers from spending time on their phone while the show plays, or worse, make them stop binge-watching altogether. In other words, not all (of course) but enough of the streamer\u2019s originals seem curated for background viewing\u2014surface-level thrillers (The Waterfront, Untamed, His & Hers<\/a>) with plot points frequently repeated so you don\u2019t miss anything, shockingly silly twists, and subpar work from talented actors who help maintain a facade of prestige. The latest to join this slate is I Will Find You, which, based on the title alone, indicates how plainly it wants to spell everything out for viewers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The eight-episode series is Netflix\u2019s 13th (!) adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel; evidently, there\u2019s an appetite to see Coben\u2019s engaging airport reads translated to the screen, even if it comes at the risk of dull storytelling. At least I Will Find You\u2018s creator, Robert Hull (Quantum Leap), brings a slew of cool stars aboard this mostly sinking ship: The ensemble features Sam Worthington, Britt Lower, Milo Ventimiglia, Madeleine Stowe, Chi McBride, and Logan Browning. It\u2019s just too bad that each of them is saddled with a one-dimensional character who speaks in dialogue that mostly doubles as exposition dumps.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Everything about I Will Find You comes across as doing the bare minimum, including the acting, direction, and focus on any interpersonal relationships between characters, including the ones who are meant to be the show\u2019s driving force. None more so than protagonist David Burroughs (Worthington) and his former sister-in-law, Rachel Mills (Lower), who team up to hunt for David\u2019s presumed-dead son and evade the feds on their tail, all while David\u2019s ex-wife\/Rachel\u2019s sister, Cheryl (Erin Richards), is mostly kept in the dark. Unfortunately, everyone\u2019s phoning it in here, and the leads\u2019 stiff performances just detract further from the plot\u2019s urgency.<\/p>\n

I Will Find You opens with David pointedly narrating that for the past five years, he\u2019s been wrongfully incarcerated in a Maine prison for the murder of his three-year-old son, Matthew. When Rachel drops in one day with proof that his kid is actually alive and out there somewhere, they make it their mission to find both the truth and Matthew. David\u2019s able to break out and head home to Boston because the prison\u2019s warden (Peter Outerbridge) is a former cop who once worked closely with David\u2019s dad (Hugh Thompson). David\u2019s best friend, Adam (Jonathan Tucker), is also a police officer who helps him, in case you were wondering if the circumstances of the protagonist\u2019s escape were getting a little too convenient.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Such contrived developments\u2014not coherent, compelling narratives\u2014push the show\u2019s momentum forward, including how freewheelingly Rachel, a former Boston Globe investigative journalist, uses her contacts or gets stories published. She reaches out to her extremely wealthy ex-boyfriend, Hayden Payne (Ventimiglia), whose involvement only amps up I Will Find You\u2018s total suspension of logic. Hayden is hardly a step above a plot device; someone who lets David and Rachel crash at his penthouse and whose wealth is like a literal get-out-of-jail-free card. Any build-up required to sell Hayden\u2019s relationship with Rachel is nonexistent, and yet, the show relies heavily on their bond.<\/p>\n

I Will Find You\u2014in a wannabe Mare Of Easttown way\u2014hints at an emotional throughline about the lengths parents go to and sacrifices they make for their children, but this thesis is inconsistent and explored only on a surface level. Some of that weight is well carried by\u2014mild spoiler alert\u2014the father-daughter FBI task force duo hunting for David and Rachel. While looking into them and the case, agents Sarah Greer (Browning) and Max Williams (McBride) look back on their own relationship over the years, which lends I Will Find You some heft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the show\u2019s suspense gradually spins totally out of control. Shady figures like a vengeful, semi-retired mob boss (played by Clancy Brown) and a calculating heiress (Stowe) emerge as underdeveloped suspects for David and Rachel to chase across the Eastern Seaboard. And once Cheryl eventually becomes a part of the mission, the twists go from ridiculous to downright offensive, with hardly any commitment to unpacking the implications of why David and his family were targeted in the first place. Somehow, the show takes itself too seriously and not seriously enough, leaving it an inorganic mess that not even its cast can elevate.\u00a0 At least it won\u2019t distract much from the doomscrolling you\u2019re doing while the episodes play.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saloni Gajjar is The A.V. Club\u2018s TV critic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I Will Find You premieres June 18 on Netflix.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, there was plenty of chatter about Netflix\u2019s alleged directive for writers and showrunners to dumb down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-744869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}