Very few series attempt to capture the multilayers of trauma and survival.
Much to our delight, Found is leading the pack with Found Season 2 expounds on what the first season established in captivating and frustrating ways.
But most importantly, the series and this season have been conversation starters, and so much of that rests upon Gabi Mosely’s complexities.
Multifaced and Flawed Female Characters (Especially of Color) Are a Rarity
Despite television leaning toward dark stories and characters, arrives rarely allow female series leads to be complex, imperfect beings, and even less so for women of color.
When Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder concluded, a golden era of powerful, imperfect female characters (particularly WOC) ended, too.
Gabi Mosely carrying the baton Oliva Pope and Annalise Keating left behind is one of many reasons that Found continues to be one of the most thrilling, compelling series currently airing.
But with Gabi, there’s this extra layer of seeing something we don’t typically see onscreen, and that’s a woman living through trauma.
Gabi’s Motivations Are Often Lost in Translation
The first season set the groundwork for that when we saw that Gabi was still reeling from the loss of her father and executing what she felt was some form of revenge by having Sir chained in her basement.
Not only did she feel she got to punish him for what he did to her and her sister Lacey, holding them captive for months to over a year, but she also got to punish him for stealing precious time away from her father, who was never the same after her abduction.
Those are essential elements to remember as they become crucial to the fiery aftermath of her rash decision, which blew up her life all over again.
We slowly piece together that while Gabi thought she had all the control when Sir was chained up in that basement, she didn’t.
Sir’s obsession with Gabi kept him in that basement, not whatever illusion she had of controlling him.
He took it the second he had the opportunity to leave, ironically, to “save” her when her life was in danger.
It’s another critical realization that shapes the nature of Gabi and Sir’s complex dynamic and how it continues throughout this series.
Gabi sought any combination of revenge and control; ultimately, she didn’t have either.
But that’s often lost in translation as the others have caught up to her misdeeds and responded in myriad ways, most of them uncomfortable and arguably offputting.
Found Unpacks the Ugliness and Uncomfortable Effects of Trauma and Grief
And this is where Found, even as it frustrates, digs deep into its theme of trauma and the flaws of humanity all at once.
One has to hope and believe that there’s a very intentional way of telling this story and some of the outcomes are to reflect back on the audience and how we as a society react to trauma survivors.
Both Trauma and Grief are ugly and messy and as non-linear as it gets.
There isn’t a “right” way to tackle either, and on a series like Found, they opt to explore what constitutes a “wrong” way and how it plays out.
What’s been most interesting about the fallout from Sir is how badly Gabi is facing scrutiny from those closest to her.
The lack of grace extended to Gabi by some characters has been downright frustrating.
Found’s Short Timeline Compounds the Fallout in Alarming Ways
Every installment of Found this season has been tougher than the previous one regarding how Gabi’s close ones have treated her regarding the Sir revelation.
The series likes to operate two spaces regarding this:
- Your worst act should not always define you
- Trauma and pain don’t override accountability and bad choices
However, we’ve mostly seen the heavy leanings toward the latter, which has resulted in characters like Margaret and Trent browbeating Gabi over her horrific actions.
It’s at such an alarmingly intense level that often it bears reminding that while we’ve been watching this storyline over an extended period within the series, it has only been three days since they all learned the truth.
Found loses a bit of ground there.
It’s difficult to grasp that short time frame when we’ve also had to buy into a fractured M&A successfully solving three critical or high-profile missing persons cases within that period.
That may be where the time frame gets dicey and becomes a source of contention among viewers.
It stretches some believability for us, requiring that the audience be more patient with the likes of those who feel betrayed by Gabi while also marveling at how even dysfunctional and down a member, M&A pulls off an impossible feat.
But even considering the short time frame for the others to process this news, the lack of grace extended to Gabi during this challenging time has still become an irritating (albeit realistic) point of contention.
Found Disassembles and Reexamines the “Strong Black Woman” Trope
Gabi Mosely is a trauma survivor.
If this situation hasn’t exposed anything else, it’s how easily some viewers and other characters fixate on the “survivor” component more than the “trauma” portion.
What’s fascinating is how the series plays with who Gabi Mosely is as both a Black woman and a trauma survivor and what it subtly revealed where there was a high expectation of her in nearly any situation.
Found disassembles the “Strong Black Woman” trope and allows us to reexamine all its components.
It’s fascinating to see the underlying theme of other characters expecting Gabi to be stronger, better, less broken, and more superhuman than human and getting incredibly angry when she falls short of those expectations.
Gabi is essentially the glue that holds M&A together.
She created a safe space for people she helped or connected with who share similar or overlapping traumas, and she gave them all a purpose in assisting disenfranchised individuals who slip through the cracks of a broken system.
Gabi’s Fall from the Man-Made Pedestal Others Placed Her on was Inevitable
Gabi is the fearless leader who rallies the troops and points them due North. She’s incredible at what she does.
To some, Gabi may even be their savior. She’s the pillar of strength and fire, solid and safe, and in their M&A bubble, everyone can simultaneously learn to live with their respective traumas, progress, and do good.
It seems all the other characters have placed Gabi on a pedestal as the best of them all, the poster woman for stability and living through unspeakable things while coming out on the other side “okay.”
However, Gabi Mosely is still a trauma survivor, and the Sir revelation and subsequent reactions have also shown how easily even those close to her forget that.
The two characters who showed her the most grace make the most sense.
Lacey’s mother views Gabi as a second daughter, and she’s familiar with the full extent of what Gabi went through and overcame, as well as what they both had to experience helping Lacey through that horrific time.
Dhan’s Rare Insight into Gabi’s Vulnerability Makes Him the Most Sympathetic and Supportive
Gina sees past Gabi’s facade, offering up the maternal reaction that adds a nice balance to everything else.
Interestingly, it’s Dhan, the one character who serves as the group protector, yes, but also the person who consistently sees Gabi as her most vulnerable and who is finding a way to extend some grace to her.
Dhan never had any delusions about his “savior” being anything other than an equally as damaged and flawed human.
He also comes from a background where the world is far grayer than the others are willing to accept, and after wading in the darkness for long stretches, he’s not as fazed.
It’s Dhan who stands by her as she curls into herself on the floor and cries or who she calls when she’s struggling the most.
He’s the one who saw just how badly her grief over her father was and collaborated with her to track down Sir in the first place.
Unsurprisingly, Dhan is the one person who, despite his disappointment, can soldier on primarily because he never viewed Gabi as infallible.
Zeke is a pure soul; thus, his disappointment is strong enough that he wants to quit, but he can still maintain professionalism.
Margaret’s Self-Righteousness is a Reminder that She Doesn’t Know the Specific Trauma of Captivity
Interestingly, the two people who are the hardest on Gabi at the moment are individuals who haven’t experienced the specific trauma of captivity.
Margaret feels deeply betrayed and as if Gabi’s work with Sir has tarnished everything they’ve done thus far, and she’s been vocal about that since Found Season 2 Episode 1.
It takes away from the good she’s been doing and her sense of purpose.
But Margaret has also repeatedly sniped at Gabi, with disparaging remarks and sharp barbs that have done everything from continually indicting Gabi for her horrible misdeed to implying more than once that she’s somehow “as bad” as Sir (something Trent mentions as well).
It’s an infuriating statement that reflects on how even those close to a person still don’t know how to properly grasp trauma responses if they don’t look like their narrow expectations.
Found’s core is about this a group of individuals with various traumas forming a home.
Often, these individuals clash with one another and cause conflict, and this is a strong example of this.
Margaret’s anger and feelings of betrayal are valid, given the circumstances.
Margaret Loses Sight of Gabi as a Trauma Victim
However, the invalidation of Gabi’s experiences and mental state that led her to her actions is not remotely acceptable, which makes her strong indictments difficult to witness.
Amid Margaret’s anger and insistence on letting Gabi know how she feels, there’s a complete disregard for what was at the crux of Gabi’s initial choice to capture Sir.
In addition to that, we’ve witnessed Gabi’s grief compounded by Lacey’s disappearance and her guilt over that, which has had her taking on all the blame and responsibility for the actions of a madman.
Essentially, it’s retraumatizing a victim, which we’ve seen take place with Gabi for the past four installments.
And it’s not happening once, but twice, as in addition to Margaret’s wrath, Gabi faces Trent’s.
Trent is an established noble character, and Found’s rendition of “one of the good ones,” despite the agency often stepping into the spaces that a flawed law enforcement system leaves wide open, we know that Trent is passionate about his job and well-meaning.
Trent’s Represents How Poorly Law Enforcement and Other Infrastructures Handle Trauma Survivors
But he, like all the other characters, is flawed as well.
Trent is the personification of a system that still isn’t adequately trained nor equipped to handle a wide array of trauma responses.
Ironically, we see hints of this in Found Season 1 in his sheepish pursuit of Gabi.
It’s evident that he has real feelings for her and desires something more from her, and he goes out of his way to make that known and show her that he’s available in that way.
But there’s also this frustration at times that Gabi won’t “let him in” and a constant insistence that he can be there for her romantically if only she lets him.
Again, the intentions are pure, and it’s no secret that Gabi has notoriously taken Trent for granted, which has been equally frustrating.
But Trent’s romantic pursuit of Gabi has always exposed that he’s someone who may not fully know how to deal with and what to expect from romantic relationships with trauma survivors.
Trent’s Misconception About Gabi is that Her Trauma Ended at Rescue
Gabi is a woman whose formative years of dating were in captivity with Sir, a man who groomed her and continues to actively do so.
Even out of captivity, her viewpoint on romance and love is heavily influenced and warped by her experience with Sir, who has loomed over her life for two decades.
By now, we can predict Gabi’s feelings for Trent are why Sir will likely pursue the man.
It’s not a stretch that even in her 30s, Gabi hasn’t learned to navigate romantic relationships too well, so it’s always a bit off when it doesn’t seem like Trent considers that.
Because in Trent’s eyes, he, too, has put Gabi on a pedestal — views her as someone who has gotten past her trauma just because she survived it, which is rarely the case.
Sir’s Hold on Gabi Has Never Gone Away and Affects All Her Relationships
Trent carries this same attitude into his reaction to the Sir abduction.
He’s so morally righteous in this situation that he can’t even see the gray areas or fully grasp how Gabi got to that point.
Trent spent the majority of the season thus far talking and not listening to understand, subjecting Gabi to dehumanizing remarks and demoralizing statements about who she is as a person because of what she did to the man who has haunted her for 20 years.
It wasn’t until Found Season 2 Episode 3 that he actually listened to Gabi’s explanation about profound grief after her father’s death and, subsequently, what led to her holding Sir captive.
Trent, as a law enforcement officer, is so representative of an infrastructure that isn’t well-versed in how to handle trauma survivors, particularly when they don’t fit a narrow scope of what one expects.
Trent Unwittingly Perceives Gabi as Too Strong to Be Flawed
Whether with Gabi personally or anyone professionally, he immediately wants trust and confidence.
Still, he doesn’t always know how to create a safe space to accommodate the many factors that lead someone to need one.
Trent isn’t fostering any of that now, as his anger, hurt, and judgment have resulted in him berating Gabi at every conceivable turn instead of showing an ounce of professionalism or decorum.
In that sense, Trent allows his disappointment over his illusion of who and what Gabi is shattering to override all sense and empathy, which comes across as ignorant, selfish, and shortsighted.
Trent has always been drawn to Gabi’s strength, and it’s undoubtedly a wonderful trait of hers. But harkening back to pedestals, it seems like he placed her on one himself, and now he’s angry that she fell off of it.
A woman like Gabi’s strength is weaponized against her, used to strip her of the same vulnerabilities that make her flawed or expose some of the ugly, dark sides of trauma.
Some of that most certainly has to do with some of the common misconceptions and expectations of Black women, and Found has shown that even the best of its characters (sometimes including Gabi herself) are guilty of acting on these prejudices and thought processes without even realizing it.
The False Equivalency Between Gabi, a Victim, and Sir, a Psychopathic Perpetrator, is Dangerously Problematic Yet Realistic
One of Trent’s most damning moments regarding this, particularly for him as an officer, is when he suggests that Gabi is just as bad as Sir and a monster just like him.
It’s such a dangerously, disturbingly ignorant equivocation that is patently untrue.
In no world would it make logical sense to compare a psychopathic child abductor and a killer who has stalked and harassed innocent people for decades and destroyed many lives to one of his victims who lashed out at him specifically.
Yet, these are the false equivalence arguments that far too many people make about things like this.
Found brutally reflects this on viewers, and they manage to use beloved characters in the process.
One would hope that something would click after Trent witnesses Gabi and Sir’s interactions.
Maybe he’d learn to lead with more empathy as he realizes that Sir still has a hold on Gabi, and she’s still terrified of this man.
Via Gabi Mosely, Found Exposes How Much Farther We Need to Go in Understanding Trauma Victims
Hopefully, it will click that there is nothing Gabi could or couldn’t do to change Sir’s obsession and fixation on her.
As long as Sir is alive and breathing, he will always threaten Gabi and everyone she knows and loves.
Keeping him in a basement (which he relished as part of his sick game) wouldn’t have made a difference when it came to Sir tracking her down and eliminating everyone in her life.
Gabi’s actions haven’t invited Sir to do anything more than that, as she merely existed as a student who respected her teacher as a teen.
One can hope that the tides are turning in balancing the calling out of Gabi for her actions and recognizing her as a victim.
Because, again, Gabi is a trauma survivor, and that’s not always a pretty sight.
Over to you, Found Fanatics.
Found returns with an all-new episode Thursday at 10/9c on NBC.
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