Critic’s Rating: 3.8 / 5.0
3.8
There is no shortage of twists on Found this season.
After Found Season 2 Episode 6, it’s confirmed that Sir is working closely with someone, and the others know it. Trent is coming after both Gabi and Dhan, and Margaret is facing devastating repercussions for her actions.
And that’s only a fraction of what the hour delivered.
Something that’s working incredibly well this season is the flashbacks.
Jasmine Washington and Azaria Carter are truly amazing, and the focus on them is sometimes more gratifying to watch than the present day, which speaks volumes as there’s plenty to enjoy in the current timeline.
As I mentioned before, the heart of this season and this series is the sisterhood between Gabi and Lacey.
Through those flashbacks, they’re digging into their past and illuminating this dynamic that we couldn’t even begin to properly understand during Found Season 1.
Bella’s nonverbal state after her kidnapping has not prevented her story from being one of the most compelling of the season.
Washington is such a beautiful young girl who evokes so many emotions through facial expressions and body language so wonderfully that it’s worth commending every hour.
In the flashbacks, an article about their ordeal nearly drove a wedge between them because a journalist twisted Gabi’s words and suggested that she felt Bella was broken.
It was so apparent that this was never the case that it was a relief when Gabi pulled out that recorder and played what she really said so Bella could hear in Gabi’s words just how much she admired and loved her little sister.
There is nothing broken about Bella, and it’s such a rare find that a series deems to explore trauma-based nonverbals and commits to it.
They didn’t duck out of it when it was most convenient or felt the audience wouldn’t notice.
It’s something that Bella genuinely has to work through in her way.
But the flashbacks were great at further establishing two points: one being Lacey’s constant battle with trusting her own mind but also convincing others to actually listen and hear her, and two, giving Gabi the support that young Gabi always gave her.
Lacey is instrumental in them ever coming close to finding Sir and capturing him.
But at this rate, it’s doubtful that they can.
I love Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s presence in this series, and Sir is truly a terrifying figure.
But the way he evades capture requires an unreal suspension of belief.
This time around, we saw the man entering M&A by himself as if he owned the joint, using keys that he had made from an impression in hopes of having another conversation with Gabi or worse.
And somehow, despite the alerts, he could casually stroll away and disappear into the night without the cops or anyone else finding him.
How?!
But thanks to Lacey and the team finally listening to her, they’re making headway by realizing that someone is helping Sir, and Lacey isn’t imagining that.
It’s so frustrating that she has to keep proving that her mind isn’t playing tricks on her and that what she says is real.
For a bunch of trauma survivors, it’s as grating that everyone tends to doubt Lacey or tell her how she should feel and what she should do as it is they are treating Gabi like crap.
She spent so much of her life with others gaslighting her “for her own good,” and it’s disheartening that as a grown woman, she still has to deal with that.
Gabi and Dhan seemed receptive to what she had to say. Still, it wasn’t until Margaret could confirm Lacey’s theory, despite her own frazzled and emotionally unstable state, that the collective listened.
For Lacey, Zeke gets carried away with being protective, invalidating her at every turn, and questioning her judgment and mental and emotional state.
He’s so painfully in love with her, and it’s adorable, but he needs to stop telling Lacey how she should feel about everything. It’s so grating!
But at least he had some endearing moments, such as their near kiss and his stepping a foot out into the rain.
Gabi faces similar treatment by the group.
Sir is working with someone, and it must be a woman. We saw the hands of the person patching them up, and it had to be a woman.
What’s interesting is that we know about Christian but still haven’t heard much of anything about their sister. Neither brother mentions her, which must mean there’s something more there.
Sir is such a diabolical character, but damn if he doesn’t have his moments.
Initially, it was easy to assume that Margaret had hallucinated Sir, too, and that he wasn’t there.
However, he was, and we got one of the most unexpected showdowns of the series.
Margaret was terrified of Sir but kept her composure as best as she could, and she took notice of these little details about him.
Meanwhile, Sir threw so much shade at Margaret that it was hard not to laugh.
He gave her a run for her money with the dry, witty barbs.
It was quite the interaction, but inquiring minds would love to know if Margaret has softened or found more sympathy for Gabi after experiencing Sir directly.
Although she did her best to hide her fear, she was visibly scared of him.
It’s frightening that he walked into their place of business like it was nothing and shattered any illusion of safety at M&A.
Sir is all about control, and he spent the full hour showing everyone exactly how little they have and that he is holding all the cards.
He also rattled Gabi with this case, making her doubt her capabilities and wonder if she could ever solve a case without him.
We know she’s been doing that just fine for years before she locked Sir in her basement, so it’s not like she’s incapable, but it’s hard to convince yourself of things when you’re spiraling.
The case had its fair share of twists as Other Gabi sent everyone on a wild goose chase when she faked her kidnapping for attention and stole another girl, too.
This case had a lot going on in an hour that already had more than enough going on, which made the whole thing feel a bit clunky.
However, Charlotte had to post a video hailing Sir as a hero for saving her since he beat Gabi to the location.
It’s almost laughable that anyone could see that video of this looming, high-profile fugitive and not be horrified that a known child abductor is anywhere near another teen girl, whether he saved her or not.
But Sir is attractive, articulate, and seemingly well-mannered, so it’s no surprise if he garners quite the fanbase after that video.
The author, Arthur, was a potentially intriguing element to the show, but it was a waste to utilize him here.
Bringing AI into the mix was an appreciated nod to how disruptive it would be if AI took over everything, but it got squeezed into play, and there was too much the hour was already juggling.
Frustratingly, Gabi knew that wasn’t Sir, but she still had Trent and others trying to suggest that she didn’t know what she was talking about, and it was such an irritating pattern.
Blessedly, Gabi finally went off on them and pushed back more than usual, which means that she may be reaching her boiling point and won’t keep sitting there, taking everyone’s digs all the time.
But it’s laughable that these other people were trying to tell Gabi about Sir. If anyone knows Sir well, it’s Gabi.
As his primary prey, she can’t afford not to understand her predator fully.
In other news, we’re inclined to show Margaret some grace, at least marginally, because she’s vital to the agency and has a lot going on with her.
What I cannot fathom is what Found intends to do with Trent.
I do not foresee a believable way for them to make him redeemable after the first half of this season.
He lacks basic professionalism when he’s in the vicinity of Gabi or any of her friends and those close to her.
He’s hellbent on building a case against a woman the nation only knows as a survivor and a hero, who they have more faith in than him as an officer.
Trent is more fixated on building a case against Gabi than he is finding Sir, the actual bad person and serious threat to the public.
The way he’s been in Sir’s vicinity or close on his heels and fumbled the chance to capture him is unfathomable.
But it’s Trent’s way of trying to exploit people’s trauma or simply bulldoze past it to come after Gabi that makes me so angry I physically shake when he’s onscreen.
There is no pathway toward making Trent a redeemable character, and there certainly isn’t an avenue where I can actively support some relationship between the two, so what are they doing here?
At this rate, as much as I love Brett Dalton, I’d sooner see him off the screen than continue down this path. It’s not entertaining or fun; it’s genuinely offputting.
At least within M&A, Dhan reached a point where he had to call everyone out for their behavior.
It’s gotten to be too much, and it’s stressing him out in a way that highlights his fears and some of his triggers.
I hope the series spends some time touching on that more.
He can’t reconcile turning on a woman who saved his life; he genuinely sees Gabi as the reason he’s still here, and their relationship means far too much to him for him to want her shipped off to prison.
There’s a codependency there that the series still needs to unravel fully.
But it’s also sensible because outside of Lacey, who is also advocating for Gabi, he’s the only other person who recognizes that she’s a trauma survivor just like them and knows that she’s just as vulnerable as she is strong.
And his payment for that is Trent actively going after Dhan, too, which is too irritating for words.
Dhan did a decent job calling Margaret out on her “having a bad day” and a horrible reaction, but it didn’t penetrate Margaret’s exterior.
She still sees herself as different from Gabi and views Gabi as some monster for her actions.
She was also adamant about Dhan telling Ethan the truth.
It went well until it didn’t.
Ethan is a character that I often forget exists until he’s mentioned or shown. It’s a shame.
However, something that always bothered me about Ethan during the first season was how he felt more like Dhan’s therapist than his husband, likely because he is one.
Ethan speaks to Dhan like he’s something he’s trying to fix, which creates an uncomfortable power imbalance that gets stirred up again during this installment.
Interestingly, Dhan clings to these connections because as much as Ethan seems to resent Gabi’s hold on Dhan and his unwavering loyalty and devotion to her, Dhan may have the same dynamic with Ethan, too.
After all, didn’t Ethan “save” him as well?
Ethan handled the news that Dhan helped Gabi well.
He was perfectly forgiving and understanding the whole thing until he realized Dhan told M&A first.
And now Dhan is in the dog house, and Ethan is upset that he comes second to M&A.
I don’t know what to do with that, so I’ll leave it there.
Despite Margaret’s ire, snippiness, and strong judgment, Gabi and Lacey were right there to support her in the end, proving that the sisterhood extends beyond just Gabi and Lacey.
Frankly, Gabi’s grace is impressive. I’m a grudgeholder and petty, so I probably couldn’t resist being snippy while helping.
Margaret isn’t doing well and desperately needs to go back to therapy, and if anything will drive her back there, it’s the bus station banning her from returning, and in this case, the man she assaulted is building up.
She reacted poorly to an employee she was friendly with before moving the fliers about Jamie.
And surely, once the floodgates opened because of that incident, it was easy to justify her never stepping foot back in there since she spent every night there, slept there, and approached people constantly about her son.
Margaret can no longer include the bus station in her routine, and it’s hard to say how much farther she’ll fall because of that.
For better or worse, despite their differences, she at least has her M&A family to support her through this.
However, Sir presented an offer that Margaret initially refused. Anyone would be tempted to take him up on it.
What if he really can find Jamie?
Over to you, Found Fanatics.
Are you sick of Trent?
Will Margaret consider Sir’s offer?
Let’s hear it below!
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