In Harlan Coben‘s latest Netflix thriller, a father takes a massive risk for a big reward. David Borroughs (Sam Worthington) has been serving a sentence for the murder of his son. Many believe he’s guilty, but his sister-in-law Rachel (Britt Lower) has never bought that narrative and has been working to prove that her nephew is alive. And when she brings evidence that David’s son might be alive, it lights a fire under the father, who breaks out of prison to find him. David’s journey puts him in the crosshairs of shadowy organizations, and not only must he survive them, but law enforcement is also in tow.
As with many of Coben’s television adaptations, this one also got mixed reviews from critics. They agreed that it wasn’t anything revolutionary. “An average Harlan Coben adaptation that puts its cast to the test and has just the right formula to pass for breezy entertainment,” reads their consensus on Rotten Tomatoes that accompanies a 64% score. Collider’s Taylor Gates said the series I Will Find You “doesn’t break the mold,” adding, “there is ultimately a genericness that permeates, leaning into tropes and archetypes — the persistent reporter, the shady benefactor, the rogue cop, etc. — instead of creating more well-rounded, fleshed-out individuals.
The polarization was evident, with some critics praising the show’s bingeability. While ScreenRant’s Cher Thompson felt the show burned through its plot, everything worked in the end. “Despite the pitfalls, which are minor at the absolute most, I Will Find You makes a concerted effort to ensure that its mystery makes sense and comes to a satisfying conclusion,” she wrote. Nick Schager of The Daily Beast put it differently, saying the story was “overflowing with the sort of junk-food melodrama that’ll make viewers crave additional servings (no matter how bad they feel afterward).” And viewers are consuming this story.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up
for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your
life would be like.
Stranger Things · Netflix · Since 2016
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he.
What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the
plan.
Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense,
enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous,
and they last for decades because of it.
He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously,
which is far rarer than it sounds.
You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily in Paris · Netflix · Since 2020
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she.
Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with
yourselves.
Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion,
which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy
levels.
You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when
something was happening somewhere else.
She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly,
publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very
good photo.
Wednesday · Netflix · Since 2022
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to
tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this
list.
Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for
an enormous amount.
You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally
incapable of offering you anything else.
Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a
performance out of caring.
Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Squid Game · Netflix · 2021–2025
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is
the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who
keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long
after anybody would blame you for leaving.
He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes
back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
‘I Will Find You’ Is the Fifth Most-Watched English Netflix Series Ever
Despite the mixed reviews, Harlan Coben has a massive fanbase that turns his shows into hits, but I Will Find You is on another level. The series had the biggest debut of a Netflix series this year, a good sign for things to come. It quickly entered the top ten most-watched English Netflix shows of all time. The thriller has added views weekly, climbing the chart and dethroning other shows. The recent victim of I Will Find You‘s ascent is Wednesday Season 2, which has been dethroned from the fifth position. The series has accumulated 120.4 million views, but the next challenge is tough: it needs over 13.5 million more views to dethrone Stranger Things Season 5. Whether that happens remains to be seen.
All episodes of I Will Find You are streaming on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
