Found Unveils a Twisted Partnership Between Kidnapper and Former Abductee in Series Premiere — Grade It!
In 2003, Gabi Mosely (played by Shanola Hampton) was just a missing teen — alongside a newly abducted Bella (Jasmine Washington) — trying to escape their kidnapper Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar). In the present day, she dedicates her life to finding the marginalized individuals who’ve slipped through the cracks.
Tuesday’s series premiere of the NBC drama Found kicked off with a grown-up Gabi using unorthodox methods to save a young boy who’d been taken. Pretending to be a damsel in distress, she convinced the perpetrator to let her into his warehouse before taking him down with one swing. She then offered him two options: tell her where the boy was and then turn himself in to the police, or face the kind of torture that would have him begging for death. He chose the latter.
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While Dhan (Karan Oberoi) roughed up their suspect, Gabi went for the boy, who was hidden away in a nearby building. Despite finding him relatively unharmed, police officer Mark Trent (Brett Dalton) gently reprimanded Gabi for the harsh methods she employed to close out the case, which seemed to be a regular occurrence between the two.
Speaking to reporters, Gabi laid out exactly why she and her crisis management team acted as vigilantes to yet again do what the local police could not. After all, she rescued herself as a teen because no one was looking for her. As she explained, if everyone continued to prioritize the “missing high-profile blonde girls of the world,” there would always be a need for what she does. Case in point: Sarah Holden, a senator’s daughter who’s been missing for just over a day, has received wall-to-wall coverage while Dashika, a Black girl who’s been missing for two weeks, has received no media attention at all.
Recurring flashbacks painted Sir as a controlling man who could snap on a dime. In one past scene that illustrated her potential escape, teenage Gabi pressed Sir for abducting Bella since she was so young, and Sir grew angry at her refusal to follow his script for a “nice” dinner. Bella then burned her arm while cooking and screamed, which sent Sir into a furious rage. He rushed into the kitchen, and Gabi then clocked him in the head with a pan and stole his keys. Both girls ran.
Back to the present, Gabi’s newest case arrived in the form of a boy named Deron (guest star Trayce Malachi), who came to her office on behalf of his foster sister Camilla (guest star Chloé Flowers). Although she got into an argument with their foster parents, he knew something was up because she’d been missing for over a day and never would have left him behind. A visit with the foster parents raised suspicions, especially since the doors in the house contained locks that were designed to keep someone in.
With time running out to find Camilla, Gabi convinced the media to show up to a press conference for a “high-profile” case most reporters assumed involved young Sarah Holden. Still, Gabi got Camilla’s case some much-needed attention and put pressure on police to finally do something.
Gabi’s team followed several promising leads, including Camilla’s skeevy older boyfriend Eric and her birth mother Rosario, who threatened to leap from a building before Dhan talked her down. However, their big breakthrough came when Sarah was found wearing Camilla’s sweatshirt, which suggested that they were taken together.
Believing that the senator would be reluctant to speak with her, Gabi prepared a blackmail folder as a failsafe. It’s a good thing she did because she later realized, while speaking with Sarah, that the kidnapper was also Sarah’s brother’s drug dealer hoping to score a large ransom. According to Sarah, Camilla helped her escape but could not get away herself. Gabi concluded that with Sarah back home, the kidnapper had no reason to keep Camilla alive, so her team rushed to the rescue. Gabi stormed the drug dealer’s house and quickly found Camilla alive in a nearby fallout shelter. Camilla happily reunited with her foster brother at the hospital.
Although the team celebrated another job well done, subsequent scenes showed they were all struggling with their own traumas. Lacey’s home contained four locks, a deadbolt and alarm system protecting her front door. Zeke (Arlen Escarpeta), meanwhile, broke down over being unable to go outside and help save more lives. Throughout the hour, he worked diligently from his basement setup.
Elsewhere, Margaret returned to the same bus station her son was taken from, refusing to give up on finding him despite the years that have already passed.
We ended with Gabi, who opened the four locks guarding her basement. In a surprising turn of events, she’d been keeping her kidnapper Sir chained to a wall. But Sir didn’t seem too perturbed by the setup and noted that they “make good partners.” Even though Gabi found Camilla with his help, she refused to call what they were doing a partnership. Sticking to the business at hand, she handed him the file to their next case involving a trans woman who was taken in broad daylight.
What did you think of Found’s series premiere? Will you continue watching? Grade the episode below, and share your opinions in the comments.
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