NBC’s thrilling dark procedural returned with an intense hour, and it’s worth a round table discussion!
Sir abducted Lacey, and we spent all of Found Season 2 Episode 1 dealing with the fallout, as Gabi’s relationship with her colleagues and Trent crumbled under the weight of her disturbing secret.
We’re kicking off this new season with a Found Season 2 Episode 1 Round Table featuring editor Carissa Pavlica, Jack Ori, and Sara Trimble as they unpack the premiere!
Sir being on the loose was a risky move, given the series’ established premise. Did this risk pay off?
Carissa: I’ve had the benefit of seeing several episodes of the second season so far, and I still cannot say for sure if it pays off.
It’s a new dynamic, but were we ready for that?
I’m worried that his future is limited with him on the run, and the show without him becomes just any other missing persons show.
Jack: If it ends with Gabi recapturing him (or her visiting him in jail to get his input on cases like Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs!), it’s a neat twist that keeps things fresh.
But if the whole season is chasing Sir and Lacey, and then he’s completely neutralized, that would ruin the show.
Sara: Letting Sir loose is supposed to up the show’s tension, but so far, it’s just working as a major divide between Gabi and her team.
It could work out for the story to have him on the loose, especially if he decides to kidnap another girl or two to try and recreate the family dynamic he’s missing now that he’s not getting regular interactions with his obsession.
It’s unclear how the story will resolve Sir’s capture.
Will they let him become a prisoner of his victim again, or will he finally face the justice system for his crimes?
This would give us an overdone trope of a bad guy in jail helping out good guys as a form of redemption.
How do you feel about the premiere strongly reaffirming that Sir is a monster in light of the discourse around him being capable of redemption or “misunderstood?”
Carissa: I was having this conversation with a friend yesterday — not about Sir, but about bad guys and redemption.
I am that person who refuses to believe someone can’t be redeemed. I see good in everyone, even when they’re awful.
It’s a bad character trait, but I wish for redemption every single time.
The Waterfords on The Handmaid’s Tale is a good example. I wanted Fred to be redeemed, but I still cheered when he was destroyed.
Homelander in The Boys is a bit more difficult. But Sir? They won’t prove he’s irredeemable until I fully understand his backstory.
I’m a sucker for this stuff!
Jack: It feels weird to discuss someone like Sir being redeemable.
However, I enjoyed the deep dive into his psyche last year and the suggestion that he was redeemable because he acted out of pain and trauma.
I feel like they changed Sir somewhat this season, though.
I mean, he was always a kidnapper who preyed on children, which is pretty sickening stuff.
In his own mind, he thought he was rescuing Gabi from an unhappy situation and kidnapping Lacey/Bella to help ease Gabi’s loneliness, so he wasn’t just a psychopath.
He had empathy even if it was all messed up, and enjoyed helping Gabi find other missing persons even though he didn’t like not being given all the credit for her wins.
Now they’ve made him into this supervillain who is evil for the sake of being evil.
I’m not sure that version of Sir is nearly as redeemable.
Sara: The entire story arc of a child kidnapper having any redeeming qualities has been a burr in my saddle.
We often see bad guys cooperating during criminal cases, mostly out of self-preservation.
Sir’s assistance with missing person cases has not been a way for him to offer redemption for his misdeeds but a selfish way to convince Gabi to spend more time with him.
She would keep returning to him as long as he was useful. And that’s what Sir wanted.
Not to be helpful or to demonstrate change. But to manipulate his victim yet again for his benefit. Regardless of what Gabi thought, she was never in control.
Are you surprised that Lacey’s abduction will take longer than an episode to resolve?
Carissa: Yes!
And I don’t like it. At all.
I guess it gives the others a chance to see Gabi in a different light, but I liked Lacey and think she grounded Gabi from some of her more outrageous ideas — even if she didn’t know about Gabi’s duplicity with Sir.
Jack: I’m not happy about that.
I enjoyed the original premise of a bunch of people with trauma from having been kidnapped or having a loved one kidnapped now helping others in similar situations, with the twist of Gabi’s kidnapper being forced to help bring other missing people home.
So, I don’t want a whole season of searching for Lacey.
I want to get back to M&A searching for the missing person of the week.
Sara: I wasn’t surprised we didn’t see Lacey rescued immediately.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes several episodes to find her with a game of cat and mouse between Gabi and Sir.
He’s changed the game, and Lacey is his bait for Gabi to come to him on his turf.
I foresee Gabi becoming obsessed with finding Sir as he taunts her with sadistic joy at having Lacey again. Lacey is Gabi’s weakness.
The fallout from Gabi’s admission has fractured M&A. What are your thoughts on the tension between Margaret, Gabi, and Dhan?
Carissa: Frankly, I’m surprised they haven’t left.
Their response does not equal the crime.
They had so much faith in Gabi that learning what she had done should have had a far more significant effect on her team. That it didn’t have that effect really annoyed me.
It’s as unrealistic as Gabi keeping Sir imprisoned in her basement for who knows how long.
She should be on her hands and knees begging them to understand, but she’s got that chilly demeanor that I kind of hope catches up with her.
Jack: It annoyed me.
I get it’s a big betrayal, but the fact of the matter is that Sir being forced to help them solve cases was part of how they did so much good.
Lacey’s mother seemed to be the only person who understood that Gabi was not responsible for Lacey being re-kidnapped, and the others were so angry at Gabi that it was interfering with the search for Lacey.
Sara: I wonder if the tensions aren’t so much about what she did as she didn’t confide in them.
If they had known about him, they might not have been caught off guard when he came after them.
I imagine we’ll see some conflict among all of them throughout the episodes as each person comes to terms with Gabi’s actions.
They could come around to see her point of view if she’d open up and talk to them — especially given Margaret’s past.
Would she not do the same if it could bring her child back?
What do you make of Dhan’s strong defense of Gabi and a desperate desire to keep M&A together at any cost?
Carissa: In Found Season 1 Episode 5, we learned that Dhan suffered great trauma and felt abandoned by the world.
I don’t think he’s coming from a place of defending Gabi as much as he wants to continue helping those who need it. They do good work.
But Gabi also abandoned them with her dishonesty. I wonder if he’ll come to see that as time progresses.
Jack: Gabi trusted Dhan with her plans for Sir, so he has known all this time and is used to the idea.
It’s not this big, shocking betrayal for him, and he’s a bit bemused why no one else sees it that way.
I also agree with Carissa that he wants to get back to helping people who need it, regardless of the circumstances.
Sara: I’m with the others.
Dhan’s biggest concern is helping others going through the most difficult times.
He gets that sometimes you need to fight a monster with a monster.
It’s worth it if good can come of it.
Trent holds Gabi’s fate in his hands. Will he follow through with his plans to arrest her? Do you think his feelings for her influenced his reaction?
Carissa: She won’t be arrested.
He’s too involved with her work and her personally to do that. And it’s her show.
There is too much going on and too much change to introduce an arrest and trial.
And yes, his reaction, and everyone else’s, was totally influenced by his feelings for her.
Jack: I doubt he will follow through with arresting her.
He was conflicted when his boss said that Gabi didn’t deserve the way Sir had tormented her for 20 years, and by the end of this, he’ll see Gabi as a victim fighting back.
There would be no show without Gabi, so it’s a question of how she gets out of this, not if she will.
Sara: I think his threat of arrest was more out of anger than a desire to prosecute her for her crime.
Would a jury find her guilty if she went to trial? Would the DA even be willing to press charges?
I don’t know if he will follow through with his arrest threat, but the news will definitely affect their future relationship.
What was your favorite moment, scene, etc, from the episode?
Carissa: I hate these questions! I never remember those details.
I am just thrilled to have it back on TV. I’m skeptical of the new direction, but I’m also intrigued enough to stick with it and see where it’s going next.
Jack: I’m with you, Carissa.
But the flashbacks of Lacey’s mom with Lacey right after she’d escaped from Sir and her desperation to help her daughter, who wasn’t even speaking because of her trauma, stuck in my mind.
Those were some powerful scenes.
Sara: The hospital scene stood out most to me. It was moving to see the team convince Zeke’s dad to get him home for recovery.
It was heartbreaking to see Zeke’s panic attack when he woke up.
Do you have any other observations, concerns, or thoughts you’d like to address?
Jack: I loved the team standing up for Zeke when the doctor refused to understand that his agoraphobia would make it difficult to treat him in a hospital and insisted he be allowed to recover at home instead of having him committed, which would have been worse.
I was curious about when Lacey changed her name and how her mother reacted.
We saw all those flashbacks of her at home and still being called Bella while super traumatized, but not yet the transition to Lacey.
It struck me that she must have changed her name a while ago because her mother called her Lacey in the current scenes.
Also, I really like Lacey’s mother and hope we see more of her.
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