Shanola Hampton is a force of nature in Found.
If you don’t take anything away from Found as a series, that’s what should stick with you.
And Found Season 2 Episode 12 displayed the depths of her talent and ability to connect with the audience through her powerful performance.
“Missing While Identified” Skirts the Traditional Case to Focus on M&A
Sometimes, Found Season 2 loses sight of the cases this season because there’s so much rich drama to unpack with the characters.
It’s had varying effects at times, but here, it works out as we explore the past and present as we learn more about Gabi’s state and the early stages of Sir’s basement dwelling while prodding at the Jamie imposter theory.
Fortunately, this pans out well and simultaneously serves as a breather and the adrenaline-fueled edge we expect from every Found installment.
The hour juggles the past and present well by dovetailing a specific moment in Margaret’s quest to find Jamie with the raw vulnerability and grief Gabi is experiencing shortly after the death of her father.
It highlights their grieving journeys and how that can manifest in people differently, which is at the heart of the series. It’s also prominently led to tension between Gabi and the others, mainly Margaret, for the first half of the season.
Gabi’s Grief Was Palpable After Losing Her Father & We Understand It Better
All season, Found has explained how Gabi’s grief pushed her to this point of kidnapping Sir and holding him hostage, but the flashbacks during “Missing While Unidentified” play it out for us.
I love Found because as much as it sounds the alarms about how Sir is a bad guy and there are no healthy romantic undertones between him and Gabi, it won’t prevent the imaginative “dark romance” girlies from their crack-shipping.
And to each their own, it’s all part of the fandom experience. But for those who are into that, the captivity scenes were likely delightful, and anyone who enjoys Gabi as a vigilante was sated by them, too.
For those deeply in tune with Gabi as a trauma survivor on the edge and how the psychological and sociological bits the series plays with so well, the hour feeds our souls, too.
New Elements of the Cat/Mouse Basement Mind Games Carried the Hour
Found never loses sight of its messaging and the story it’s trying to tell. Nevertheless, it still has a way of appealing to its diverse audience; it’s something I adore about this series.
We heard about Gabi on the breaking point, but Found Season 2 Episode 12 shows it well, and with the visual images, one can understand and relate to Gabi even more.
Few people get to experience Gabi at her most vulnerable, and it was heartbreaking to witness her panic attacks every time she looked at her father’s urn.
The camera work, direction, and editing did a marvelous job of putting viewers in Gabi’s state with her, only adding to the emotions of it all.
Even Found Season 2 Episode 12’s wardrobe choices are inspired. Gabi’s white and black blouse highlighted her conflicted state, but it was fascinating how the black portion overtook the white — she was giving into her darkness more than her light in that basement with Sir.
She really wasn’t okay, and it’s in those quiet moments when she’s alone or the burning rage she has for Sir in that basement where everything is so raw for Gabi.
Found Season 2 Episode 12 Confirms Sir Almost Always Has the Upperhand
I hate to say that as much as Gabi believed she had all the control in that situation, it wasn’t true. Sir picked Gabi apart quickly and understood why he was there and how much pain she was in.
He also knew she wouldn’t — couldn’t kill him no matter how angry and hurt she was, and he was able to play things close to the vest and take advantage.
Ironically, Gabi gave Sir some of what he wanted and desired in the first place, which is how we can understand Gabi’s ability to keep him in her basement for a year.
In these early stages, it’s clear as day that Sir wanted to be there. Even if it meant he was living in some form of squalor and outside his comfort zone despite his fastidiousness, it meant he was with Gabi. He seized that opportunity.
A grieving Gabi played into his hands when she forged this case-solving partnership with him. Sir always wanted to work in tandem with Gabi, believing that she was the only person in the world who could match his brilliance.
He even did what hostages try to do, relating to the person holding them, appealing to their humanity by reminding them of the similarities. Sir admitting that he suffered from panic attacks as well until she entered his life was quite a twisted admission.
What’s Sir’s Big Gameplan After Sparing Gabi from Prison?
Sir pours everything he feels that’s good into his life onto this woman, and he won’t accept for a second that she doesn’t want it or him. It’s fascinating how he credits her with everything he holds dear.
Gabi “saving” him had to result in him destroying her and everything she loved, which is a special type of madness, isn’t it? Sir is diabolical, through and through.
However, seeing how the flashbacks played out confirmed how Sir wanted to be with Gabi and liked giving her the illusion that she had all of the power. He got off on it.
He could’ve left at any point, as he wasn’t tied down well. His foray into Gabi’s sanctuary while she was away, where he learned that her father died before heading back to that basement, was enlightening.
It’s almost like Sir seized the chance to step into her father’s place in his mind after learning he died. He stayed because of that, and it shows how Sir is all about the long game with Gabi.
Could Heather Be the Key To Sir Escaping Imprisonment?
As a result, we also don’t know what to expect from him now. He’s in prison, a real one, but for how long? He doesn’t seem fazed at all.
Does anyone wonder if this is where Heather will come into play?
What remains laughable is that Trent honestly thought that hauling Sir, the fugitive kidnapper and killer, into custody would result in him turning Gabi over.
The notion that Gabi would go to prison and Sir would send her there was ludicrous. I’m grateful someone within the Found universe finally acknowledged that.
No prosecutor would touch that case with a ten-foot pole. Who would want to send a survivor of captivity and a staple of the community who finds the missing to prison for holding her captor hostage?
And given Sir’s obsession with Gabi, why did they think he’d ever willingly send her to jail?
We Need to Talk About Imposter Jamie … WTF?!
Yes, Sir robbed Gabi of the chance to atone, but it would always end like this.
Thankfully, now that we’ve moved past that bit, Gabi can direct all her attention to this imposter posing as Margaret’s son.
I love that everyone knows it’s shady as hell, but they’re trying to look out for Margaret and not push her over the edge. She genuinely wants to believe that this young man is Jamie, even when all the signs point to a falsehood.
My beloved Dhan is determined to get to the bottom of this. Again, I need EVERYTHING about Dhan and his story.
I’m eager for flashbacks to how he met Gabi and how this one woman has served as his lifeline for so long. Dhan would do anything for Gabi and has proven that time and again.
Dhan’s Loyalty and Devotion to His Found Family is Found Season 2 Episode 12’s Greatest Gift
He was willing to admit to everything if it meant getting her out of prison, and he would’ve traded his life for hers. You cannot buy that level of loyalty; blood family members don’t always exude that.
Their relationship remains one of the best components of this series, and Dhan is emerging as one of the most captivating characters in a series filled to the brim with them.
Fake Jamie clocked him as a pessimist, but I was more intrigued by how Dhan approached “Jamie” outside the building. Instead of leading with distrust and hostility, Dhan related to the kid and was vulnerable.
It shows how much Dhan has grown and that he’s using his vulnerability as a weapon and sees its strength rather than weakness.
He’s often failed to realize how he can connect well with people and that they may respond to him.
Will Dhan Be the Key to Solving the Newest Jamie Mystery?
The bits he shared about his captivity and the little information about how Gabi pulled him out of that dark place and showed him that he didn’t have to navigate the world while donning a steel coat was catnip for my Dhabi-loving heart.
Dhan didn’t believe Jamie was who he claimed to be in that moment, but he still recognized that this was a young man who maybe had endured something, and it seemed to get through to him and disarm him.
“Jamie” has been watching Margaret from afar at that station, doesn’t have the mole Jamie has, and doesn’t express any excitement or desire to connect with Margaret.
Everything is off about him. Deep down, Margaret knows it, too. Otherwise, she wouldn’t withhold his arrival from her ex-husband and daughter.
If “Jamie” isn’t Jamie, then who is he? Why is he there? And who sent him?
Found Season 2 Episode 12 Shows That “Jamie” May Have Ulterior Motives and Is Working with Someone to Get to Gabi
He showed particular interest in Gabi and wanted to know why she wasn’t at the office where he could meet her when he first arrived. He was faking sleep when Dhan came in to take his food to test it.
Could “Jamie” be another missing person hoping to find a connection anywhere because it’s better than nothing? Did someone force his hand to pose as Jamie to get to Margaret or Gabi?
And what does Sir know about this situation? Multiple times, Sir mentioned how he knew what happened to Jamie, and no one has taken him up on it yet.
He also showed interest in the case when first in Gabi’s basement and helped her dispel the notion that those remains belonged to Jamie. What are we missing here?
Over to you, Found Fanatics.
How did you feel about Found’s return? Did you enjoy the flashbacks to Sir’s captivity?
What are your theories on Jamie? Let’s hear it all in the comments below, pretty please!
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