Without a Trace
As any detective can tell you, investigating missing property or deaths is comparatively easy compared to elusive missing people. However in New York City, there is a special unit of the FBI that is designed to find them. Using the vast resources of their bureau, the team, lead by Agent Jack Malone, race against time in the tight 72 hour window after a disappearance while hope for a recovery is still typically possible.
- Metascore75
- 2002-2009
- 7 seasons
- CBS
- Suspense, Drama
- TV-14
As any detective can tell you, investigating missing property or deaths is comparatively easy compared to elusive missing people. However in New York City, there is a special unit of the FBI that is designed to find them. Using the vast resources of their bureau, the team, lead by Agent Jack Malone, race against time in the tight 72 hour window after a disappearance while hope for a recovery is still typically possible.
Season 2 Episode Guide
24 Episodes 2003 - 2004
Episode 1
The Bus
Thu, Sep 25, 2003 43 mins
A bus full of students goes missing during the middle of its morning round. It becomes clear that the bus was hijacked. When it is finally located, it is empty save for one student who explains that the hijackers were two of his classmates who want a large ransom.
Episode 2
Revelations
Thu, Oct 2, 2003 60 mins
A priest from a poor area of town goes missing after a car accident in the city. He needs to be found quickly because he is in need of a liver transplant, and a donor liver has just become available but can't wait for long.
Episode 3
Confidence
Thu, Oct 9, 2003 60 mins
A recently engaged woman goes missing during her engagement party. However, the team discovers that her background is full of fraud and scams, which may be the reason for her disappearance.
Episode 4
Prodigy
Thu, Oct 23, 2003 60 mins
A famous 14-year-old concert violinist goes missing and the investigation looks into whether the disappearance was related to an obsessive fan, her becoming unhappy with her concert schedule, some family connections to known Russian criminals, or something else. Meanwhile, still recovering after being wounded and shooting a suspect in the line of duty, Samatha is reluctant to open up in her required counseling.
Episode 5
Copy Cat
Thu, Oct 30, 2003 43 mins
A suburban mother goes missing in broad daylight, similar to another case from years ago where Jack failed to save the victim. Graham Spalding copycats the case only to taunt Jack and seek revenge.
Episode 6
Sons and Daughters
Thu, Nov 6, 2003 43 mins
High school student Ethan Sawyer goes missing from his home, where his parents believed him perfect. Hours earlier he returned from team practice with cuts and bruises on his face and the team speculate that he may have had some personal trouble; coach Jim Shirley claimed a drug problem was eradicated, but not quite. It is discovered that, behind the seemingly idyllic life the shy soccer boy is leading, lies a world of teenage parties or even orgies hosted by his 'cool' orphaned best mate Alex Durphy at the home of generally absent uncle and accusations of other illicit activity. The squad must unravel the mysteries in the small town in order to find the boy, including a fake rape allegation from Ethan's first-ever sex partner Jennifer Norton, the lies that turned her unfaithful and a surprising kinship.
Episode 7
A Tree Falls
Thu, Nov 13, 2003 42 mins
An unknown boy is seen being kidnapped and placed into an SUV in a neighborhood with a large population of undocumented immigrants. Despite no missing person report by the boy's family, the team is able to identify him as a local kid who, for one reason or another, had been desperately trying to get his hands on some money by exchanging cans and selling some of his belongings.
Episode 8
Trip Box
Thu, Nov 20, 2003 43 mins
A fire-fighter goes missing, just after a large fire in which one of his close friends, despite having been saved from death, ends up badly injured. Although he had told his wife he was heading home, the fire-fighter disappears on the way.
Episode 9
Moving On
Thu, Dec 11, 2003 42 mins
Reputed neurosurgeon Lianna Sardo disappeared, shortly after a shooting in her home. Former husband and hospital colleague Dr. Evan Mayhew when he found she had a licensed gun, falsely claiming a crime wave in her building. She recently broke off contact with lover Jesse, a construction worker who once beat up a foreman, and ha a miscarriage just before he changed his mind in favor of their pregnancy. Mystery payments she made were to the shot victim, Ronald Phelps. Threats from the father of a lost kid patient prove a false trail. She personally arranged medication for a girl she believes to be her firstborn, adopted by a couple unknown to her when she was a teen, but that proves a crime cluster in its own.
Episode 10
Coming Home
Thu, Dec 18, 2003 43 mins
A young man goes missing after attending his High School reunion. The team investigates and learns that his happy marriage may be a cover for a struggle with his sexual identity.
Episode 11
Exposure
Thu, Jan 8, 2004 50 mins
A man who invests all of his time as a member of the paparazzi disappears after waiting around to get a shot of a professional basketball player. The team discovers that this man may have been trying to change his life for the better in order to help a radical environmental group.
Episode 12
Hawks and Handsaws
Thu, Jan 15, 2004 60 mins
A young criminal defense lawyer working for legal aid goes missing, last seen in the middle of the night apparently running from people shooting after him. A quick bit of research and it is discovered he has recently been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, yet due to the nature of his work, the FBI isn't certain what he is imagining, and what is really wrong.
Episode 13
Life Rules
Thu, Jan 29, 2004 44 mins
A self-help guru is reported missing, but the team learns that he is not who he claims to be, and that he may have staged his own kidnapping as a publicity stunt.
Episode 14
The Line
Thu, Feb 5, 2004 40 mins
Former NYPD police officer Jessica Prince, now a bounty hunter, is shot while trying to track down a criminal who has skipped bail. The team find her blood outside the criminal's house, but no sign of her. Suspects in the case include lover Larry Andrews, a man who worked with Jessica as a bounty hunter, and two men who blame her for sending them to prison, one accusing her of planting a gun in his apartment. However, uncovering serious police corruption at Jessica's old precinct, the team suspect that she may have found out some information that has put her life in jeopardy. Jack puts his job on the line to gain crucial information and the team must race against time to figure out a code Jessica left that may identify her current location.
Episode 15
Wannabe
Thu, Feb 12, 2004 43 mins
The FBI investigates the disappearance of Eric Miller, a middle school student who disappeared during a bathroom break. He was only away for about ten minutes, so either he or his suspected kidnappers may have known what would happen. The investigators learn that Eric had low self-esteem and saw himself as part of the loser crowd at school. When his friend tells Agent Johnson about a bullying incident and they also locate a surveillance video from a local arcade showing an older boy pushing him, they realize they may have something other than a kidnapping.
Episode 16
Risen
Thu, Feb 19, 2004 42 mins
For four years Vivian refused to give up on a dead-end case of a struggling sex addict who went missing. Her perseverance pays off when she receives a break in the case. The hunt for the young woman leads the team on a trail of addiction, abuse, and a strange cult.
Episode 17
Gung-Ho
Thu, Feb 26, 2004 43 mins
A soldier wounded in a firefight in Iraq returns home, only to find his life savings gone, his business closed, and the love of his life with another man. While Jack and Danny travel to Tikrit to investigate what really happened in the firefight, the rest of the team find that the desperate soldier is going to great lengths to get his old life back.
Episode 18
Legacy
Thu, Mar 11, 2004 43 mins
Recently unemployed George Stanley is reported missing by wife Martha, with her hair salon's day earnings. Doted, devoted but job-perspective-lacking son Sean (19) seems to hide having looked for him and his own mild drug past. More crucial proves the old dark family secret, Martha's unreported rape at home, for which a plausible suspect was seen around the very day. Danny is made to reconsider his refusal to testify in favor of his jailed brother at a parole hearing by his new in-laws, and learns their own dark family secret.
Episode 19
Doppelgänger
Thu, Mar 25, 2004 44 mins
A marine biology student is reported missing. The team first suspects the woman's boyfriend, but when new evidence of dead women in different cities points to the boyfriend's identical twin brother, the team struggles to discern which twin is really guilty.
Episode 20
Shadows
Thu, Apr 15, 2004 43 mins
Martin's aunt, a nurse battling cancer, goes to visit a friend but never makes it there. Martin soon learns that his aunt had been assisting terminally ill patients in their suicides. Meanwhile, Jack must deal with his father's medical crisis.
Episode 21
Two Families
Thu, Apr 29, 2004 43 mins
Since Ricky Wilson's capital conviction for his part in a robbery with fatal victim years earlier, his father Mark tirelessly fought for appeals and attempted to find prove of innocence. Now Mark is missing, a few days before Ricky's execution. He had hope to get a testimony to support his theory that Ricky's robber accomplice was the shooter, but frustration drove him to abuse the man. During a prison visit, Ricky stunned his father to despair, but Martin sees trough it.
Episode 22
The Season
Thu, May 6, 2004 42 mins
A football coach who is known for his winning team disappears. The team learns that he recently had an attack of conscience, causing him to crack down on the players' academics and ethics. The team's suspect list is filled with suspended players, angry parents, and university administrators.
Episode 23
Lost and Found
Thu, May 13, 2004 44 mins
The FBI team has a first: school girl Serene Barnes wonders if her adoptive parents kidnapped her as a toddler from her unknown biological parents. Her father Adam is furious she went behind his back, mother Fran soothes 'she's always difficult and slow', but the FBI starts digging in in the choice (in New Jersey) and activities of the adoption agency as well as the family history.
Episode 24
Bait
Thu, May 20, 2004 60 mins
Wall Street tycoon Benjamin Palmer reports his wife Erica and their two kids gone missing at sea from his luxury yacht. He soon receives an anonymous ransom demand: 'our possession' for the females. Pre-teen son Matt Palmer is found frozen after drifting around, and explains he escaped as captain Winters cunningly helped him sneak out and swim to a raft. None of Palmer's business rivals checks out as suspects, one even 'sells back' private eye recordings providing leads in the marina. Martin's careful research -while covertly sharing Samantha's bed- traces to contraband aboard the yacht, regardless of the Palmers as it stems from the previous owner, but was already found, yet still allows setting a trap.