I Will Find You: Five gaping plot holes and flaws viewers just can't see past in Netflix's latest Harlan Coben thriller
If you're looking for realism, turn away now...
Netflix viewers aren’t just divided, they’ve been torn down the middle by the latest Harlan Coben adaptation I Will Find You, with some refusing to forgive the plot holes.
Some have hailed it “amazing”, “wild”, and “thoroughly enjoyable”. With one even proclaiming the eight-part series is “the best Harlan Coben series yet”.
But others weren’t onboard the ride at all. The reason? A whole host of gaping inconsistencies that left viewers with more questions than answers.
We’ve narrowed down five of the biggest plot holes in Netflix thriller I Will Find You for you to pick over…
***Warning: spoilers from I Will Find You ahead***
Plot holes in I Will Find You on Netflix
Flaw number one! Apart from the wild reveal in the ending of I Will Find You, Netflix fans have had quite a bit to say about the gaping plot holes in the limited series.
And one of the most obvious ones was the addition of Milo Ventimiglia and Madeline Stowe. They are actors who aren’t usually shoehorned into a side plot. It was only a matter of time before they were revealed to be villains.
One fan said: “Every time Madeline Stowe is on my TV, I know she is playing a villain! She’s got to be the villain, I just know it. #IWillFindYou.”
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Another said: “Milo Ventimiglia back on our screens as sweet supportive ex-partner. Calling it now. He’s behind it. just don’t know how and why yet.”
A third added: “You don’t get an iconic This Is Us star in to play support. Watch this space.”
What was the point?
Secondly, fans were truly baffled by the plot surrounding Milo’s character Hayden. Reader, he was the mastermind behind it all. But, hang on, why? Hayden broke up with Rachel, which he described as the “biggest mistake of my life”. Why didn’t he just NOT split up with her?
One confused viewer wrote on X: “He killed his mum too. What was the point of doing all this? Hayden could have been with Rachel either way and get her pregnant…?”
Another queried the process at the Berg Reproductive Institute, where Cheryl went to have donor sperm inseminated – using her sister Rachel’s name. Of course, viewers discovered that the clinic was owned by the Payne family.
Hayden Payne, Rachel’s ex-boyfriend, saw Rachel’s name on the list and secretly swapped in his own sperm with the donors.
Marvelling at the preposterous twist, one said: “I’m watching #IWillFindYou and I’m so confused. How and why did they have Hayden’s sperm…? Was he notified about the fake alias Cheryl gave?”
Well, yes, exactly. But this was explained later in the show. Hayden’s assistant sometimes worked in the clinic, and notified him when they saw Rachel’s name come up in the records. Just don’t ask too many questions, it won’t hold up to serious interrogation…
Major plot holes in I Will Find You: Cheryl
David’s ex-wife Cheryl actually takes two of the biggest plot holes and flaws in the Netflix series I Will Find You.
We’re talking THAT bus accident. Yet another red herring pointed us to Cheryl’s new husband Ronald Dreason. He had lied about the night David and Cheryl’s son had gone missing.
Ron worked in the same hospital as Cheryl, a doctor. On the night Matthew was taken, he called Cheryl saying she was needed at work. There had been a bus accident with mass casualties, and it was all hands on deck.
But, when she arrived at the hospital, the bus had been diverted. And she stayed at work anyway?!?! One viewers flagged this, saying: “So if there was no bus accident, what was she doing all night at the hospital? Slacking off with her new husband, don’t say that? #IWillFindYou.”
Of course, Cheryl subsequently married Ron.
‘Cheryl was so irritating’
David’s ex-wife Cheryl came under more fire for how quickly she turned on her husband and the father of her child.
One viewer fumed: “Cheryl is so irritating. You didn’t believe your husband when he said he didn’t kill your kid and then you married a weirdo? #IWillFindYou.”
A second blasted: “Cheryl, grieves her dead son for long enough to divorce David, marry another man, and get pregnant by him. All while not asking questions about her husband’s guilt. Go figure.”
A third added: “Cheryl was just an annoying character, because Rachel needed to have a sister married to David. The show could have done without her.”
Has Harlan Coben watched too much Prison Break?
Lastly, Harlan Coben fans wondered if the author had perhaps watched too much of the hugely popular drama series Prison Break which ran from 2005 to 2017.
On it, a structural engineer installs himself in a prison his company helped design in a bid to save his falsely accused brother from a death sentence by breaking both of them out from the inside.
One Netflix viewer said: “Feel like Harlan Coben just watched too much Prison Break and tweaked it slightly #IWillFindYou.”
Another agreed, writing: “I Will Find You fans might want to refer to Prison Break before wasting time on this.”
I Will Find You ‘loses itself in a maze of plot twists’
While some fans loved the series, others blasted it for being a “wild mess’.
One said: “#IWillFindYou starts with an intriguing premise, but eventually loses itself in a maze of muddled plot twists!”
Another said: “Making up a bus accident sounds no more absurd than faking DNA, burying a look-alike or trying to kill a murderer doing life in prison after 5 years #IWillFindYou.”
A third wrote: “Harlan Coben with some major league [bleep], 8,000 twists and neverending unrealistic crap in I Will Find You. How can anyone take these shows seriously? #IWillFindYou #AwfulShows.”
“Ridiculous story, horrible show, but still watched all of it in a day lol,” admitted another. While one added: “#IWillFindYou is so maddeningly, hilariously stupid that it almost earns the ‘so bad it’s good’ label. Almost. More garbage on Netflix.”
