The new Freeform thriller The Stolen Girl released its first episode on April 16, 2025, and the opening scene is chilling. A car trunk opens, and a young girl inside questions, “Who are you?”
(This is a recap, so there are spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned!)
Elisa Blix (Denise Gough), a flight attendant for a private plane, is late picking up her daughter, Lucia, from school. She meets the mom, Rebecca (Holliday Grainger), of her daughter’s new friend, and Lucia begs to go to her friend’s house. Rebecca assures Elisa it’s okay. After some reluctance, Elisa gives in and lets her daughter go with them.
Lucia calls her mom and asks if she can sleep over, and again Elisa is reluctant. Lucia has never had a sleepover before. After agreeing, she brings Lucia’s overnight bag to Rebecca’s house so she can see where her daughter will be staying the night. As the girls emerge in costumes, Elisa prepares to snap a photo when Rebecca abruptly instructs her not to. Rebecca feels uncomfortable with her daughter’s photo being taken.
The next day, while on a flight, Elisa calls her husband, Fred (Jim Sturgess), to see if he talked to Rebecca. Apparently, Rebecca is taking the girls swimming and will be dropping Lucia off at noon.
Elisa calls mid-flight to talk to Lucia, but Fred says she isn’t there. Elisa points out that it is after two. After assuring her he will figure it out, he asks if Lucia used Rebecca’s cellphone to call them to ask about sleeping over. Elisa confirms that she did, and Fred finds it strange that Rebecca’s call this morning came from a restricted number.
Elisa calls the number and finds it’s disconnected. Fred meets her at the airport, and they go straight to Rebecca’s house. They are shocked to learn from the housekeeper that no one lives there. It is a vacation rental!
After that disturbing turn of events, they call the police and head to the station. Elisa appears to be in shock, and her husband does all the talking. Elisa, unable to handle the situation, steps outside and breaks down.
Reporter Selma Desai (Ambika Mod) is late to the press conference, sliding into a seat just as it begins. The press conference reveals that Rebecca provided the school with a false identification card. The police show a sketch of Rebecca provided by Elisa. After the police lay out their information, Elisa speaks to the press, trying to appeal to Rebecca.
Although they said they would not be taking any questions afterwards, Selma stops Elisa before she and Fred could leave. Selma asks the couple, “Why Lucia? Why you?” Elisa stares at her before being led away without an answer.
DC Coolidge (Forrest Bothwell) is sent back with the Blixes, just in case Rebecca makes contact. Back at the house, DC Coolidge looks around as Elisa and Fred discuss whether their son Georgie should stay with them, only to discover Coolidge observing them. Fred realizes Coolidge is there to watch them and make sure they aren’t involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
While Fred is making promises to Elisa about finding Lucia and bringing her home, he spots Selma lurking outside their home. Coolidge handles it by telling Selma to leave. Selma receives a voice message from a male saying he needs her finished copy of an article she’s been assigned to write.
The police search the house Rebecca claimed was hers. DI Sinclair (Bronagh Waugh) and DS Walker (Layo-Christina Akinlude) show up at the search and reveal the credit card Rebecca used to rent the place was stolen a month prior. The search turns up empty, except for Lucia’s stuffed animal Elisa dropped off for the sleepover.
Selma visits Lucia’s school to question the teacher about Rebecca and learns Rebecca seemed sweet and like a loving mother. But when the teacher says she didn’t know Josephine well, Selma is confused. She assumed Josephine had been at the school a while. The teacher informs her she was recently brought in as an emergency transfer due to being bullied at her last school.
Sinclair and Walker meet with the Blixes and hand them the stuffed animal they found. Fred breaks down. The cops believe Josephine isn’t really Rebecca’s daughter and was most likely brought in to help take Lucia. Elisa is in denial; their relationship seemed so real, and they seemed very close.
The Blixes are asked if anyone has a grudge against them. Fred explains he’s a criminal lawyer and has a client who was coerced into laundering money. Sinclair informs them they will be looking into their home lives. They need access to their emails and passwords. Elisa is on board right away, while Fred looks scared. Elisa notices, and Fred wants to talk to her alone. He admits there is another woman.
Back at the police station, Sinclair starts to read Fred’s emails with the other woman, Sarah, to Elisa and Fred. Sarah contacted him after seeing him at mini golf with his family, and eventually he FaceTimed with her. Walker reads his subsequent message to Sarah about how the FaceTime was sexy, despite his claim that they just talked. Sarah pushes Fred to meet in person, but he stops responding to her, which makes her angry. Her last message to Fred was, “I’ve had enough of you. Go back to your perfect family and enjoy it while you can.”
They show him a video (a poor one where you can’t see Rebecca’s face) to see if that is Sarah. He can’t tell. Elisa questions why the police can’t look her up by her phone or her Instagram. They reveal Sarah is basically a ghost; they can’t find anything on her.
Selma shows up at work, and she’s not happy her article was messed with. She’s told she’s late, missed the deadline, and was already warned not to approach Elisa. She shouldn’t go after the mother of a missing girl. Selma is convinced that the target was Elisa, which is why Lucia disappeared.
Georgie comes home, and Fred’s mom attempts to get them to let her stay. Georgie asks if someone hurt Lucia; he saw it on TV. Elisa is furious that her mother-in-law let Georgie watch the news. After Fred’s mom takes a jab at Elisa, saying Lucia spent half her childhood with her while Elisa was up in the air, she finally leaves.
Elisa tries to hold it together in front of Georgie. Fred apologizes to his wife about Sarah, and when the apologies don’t work, he throws himself a pity party. He uses Elisa’s absences against her and coldly says, “I would never let Lucia stay with a woman I didn’t know.”
The Stolen Girl episode one ends just like it began, with the trunk opening and Lucia asking, “Who are you?” Rebecca, now sporting darker hair, watches the press conference. She repeatedly replays the portion with Elisa begging, “Please don’t hurt our daughter.”
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