See also https://docs.mongodb.com/manual/reference/operator/query-element/ . We want to test the shape of the documents. $exists operator ---------------- Check if a field exists or not. In our database there are some old movies too, and thus they have no Tomato score. First, find movies that have a Tomato meter: db.movieDetails.find({"tomato.meter": {$exists: true}}).pretty() db.movieDetails.find({"tomato.meter": {$exists: 1}}).pretty() // same Now find movies that have no Tomato meter score: TODO...