Have You Seen My Son?‘s plot seemed pretty baseless to me, to be very honest. Jim Cliffe’s TV thriller film revolves around Catherine (Sarah Smyth), a mother who was sent to prison for manslaughter. She was accused of killing her son Alfie, (Elijah Fox), some 12 years ago. But the problem is that they did not find Alfie’s dead body. So, how can you send someone to prison without proper evidence, just based on some witnesses? I don’t know, one of the serious flaws in the screenplay to begin with. Anyway, after getting out of prison, Catherine decides to find out the truth about what really happened to Alfie because she can’t seem to remember anything at all. But Catherine is sure of one thing: she didn’t kill her own son. So, the question here is: Is Alfie really dead? And if he’s alive, then why was Catherine sent to prison? All will be answered in the recap and explanation of Have You Seen My Son?
Spoilers Ahead
Why was Catherine threatened with being sent to prison again?
As soon as Catherine came out of prison, a plethora of rules and regulations were imposed upon her; she wasn’t allowed to do so many things, and it felt like another prison for her. But the upside was that Catherine got to live in a residential home under Natasha’s care, and there’s Abbi, who was once her cellmate in prison. So Catherine is excited for her new journey in life, however, her sole motive is to find out what really happened 12 years ago, because of which Catherine was sent to prison. Catherine is convinced that she didn’t kill Alfie, but she also doesn’t believe in herself as she had faded memories of the past. While Catherine was in prison, she was diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, where she had forgotten all about the night her son was murdered. She remembered how she held her son while he was crying madly, and she just wanted him to stop crying. So Alfie and her drove around in the car for her son to stop crying, and then the next morning, when she woke up from sleep, she saw him gone, and the next thing she knew, she was being accused of murdering her son.
Catherine started blaming everyone, including her ex-husband Matthew, who easily got on with his life after Alfie’s death and Catherine gone to prison. He has his own family now. So, he obviously didn’t like how she goes around asking him questions, accusing him of things and jeopardizing his peace. But the problem was that when she got back to the house, she saw her room had been vandalized, and then there was someone who had left a jewelry set in her room, planting it in a way that implied she had stolen it. She knew someone wanted to send her back to prison, and she was now sure that she did not kill Alfie and that maybe he was still alive. In the meantime, Catherine thought she should contact the witnesses Stephanie and her husband Rob to find out the truth. But as she went to Stephanie’s house, she could not find her but found Gary and Martha, her parents. As she tried to contact Stephanie, she saw how they were blocking the door as if they were hiding something and immediately called the police, complaining against her for asking around for Stephanie, which she was not allowed to do. But because of these stealing and threatening incidents, her parole officer thought she might end up in jail if another such incident happened. She knew she had to be cautious to find the truth!
Who actually had Alfie?
Catherine thought that if Stephanie was a no-show, she should find out about Rob, from whom she could get this information. In the first meeting, he didn’t say anything, just saying that her son was not alive. But in the meantime, when Catherine, taking help from Abbi, went to Stephanie’s house, she saw from the junkyard in her house a picture of Stephanie with a little boy, and she immediately recognized that picture. It was her son, Alfie! That means she stole her son from Catherine! Rob also confessed the truth that Stephanie indeed stole Alfie from her. Meanwhile Martha, Stephanie’s mother, realized that Catherine was to close to find the truth, so she wanted to hide this and kill Catherine. So she called her from a fake number and made her go to a location where she trapped her and infused gas into the chamber, and Catherine got out of there anyway. Catherine realized before it was too late that she needed to know the truth. She found out Stephanie’s location online, and when she went there, she saw pictures of her with her son Alfie. She got more sure, but anyway, Stephanie held her, hit her from behind, and strapped her to a chair. But if you look through Stephanie, you will understand that she was not brave at all; she just hid the truth because of her decision.
Actually, Stephanie had a miscarriage and was dying to have a child but couldn’t have any. But in the meantime, she met Catherine and saw how miserable being a new mother was, and she wanted to take Alfie away from her, thinking Catherine was a failure at being a mother and not fit to be a mother, so it’s best for her to have him. So they planted evidence against Catherine, making her miserable and eventually sending her to prison. But the problem is that Catherine was not guilty at all; she had been innocent all along. But there is another twist in the story. It’s not Stephanie who has her son now. It’s Natasha, her sister, who is actually the caretaker of the residential home where Catherine is staying now. She took Alfie away from Stephanie, and in this matter, Gary and Martha helped her because they thought she would be a better mother to Alfie than Stephanie. Catherine couldn’t believe the truth. After all, she, who has been taking care of her and being empathetic towards her, is actually the one for whom she went to prison. She is really wrong to recognize people, Catherine realizes, and she is ready to take her revenge!
In Have You Seen My Son?‘s ending, at least Catherine knew her son was alive! She went to confront Natasha, who actually tried to kill Catherine with a gun, but Catherine hit her from behind, and eventually the police came and arrested her. Justice has been served! And you know the best part? Catherine is reunited with her son again! Of course, it was difficult for Alfie at first to get over the idea that Catherine is his mother, but he’s also ready to give their relationship a chance. We can hope that they will together make up for lost time!
