Critic’s Rating: 4.2 / 5.0
4.2
We have another wrinkle in this situation, on Found, whose name is Christian Evans.
Much of Found Season 2 Episode 2 saw Gabi and M&A struggling to keep the agency and their mission afloat while stretching themselves thin trying to find Lacey.
If this season isn’t doing anything else, it’s capturing how difficult it is when a family full of traumatized people fractures.
Detective Shaker is the Gift that Keeps Giving, Spotlighting Her More is an Asset
Kicking things off with the case, Shaker is an utter delight and is fast becoming one of my favorite characters in the series.
Anisa Nyell Johnson pulls off this wonderful blend of sympathetic and comedic in this role in a way that provides some levity to the series, which can be pretty dark.
Shaker is a woman who is about justice and helping others, not unlike the people at M&A herself.
She’s forged this camaraderie and working relationship with them, and now, they’re a tool in her belt she can enlist when the force can’t manage to help.
Shaker’s use of M&A as a third-party force that can move beyond what the police can not only makes her admirable and practical, but it’s also refreshing.
Typically, law enforcement staunchly resists other organizations or agencies like Gabi’s that can assist and navigate the channels that they can’t.
What Shaker saw was that Viola was a woman who slipped through the cracks of medical healthcare, like too many Black women do, and that she also had lost her child in the process.
Found Season 2 Episode 2 Tackles Subtle Microaggressions on Two Fronts
It was a two-prong case right out of the gate, and it was easy to connect with because it felt familiar, based on experiences with loved ones.
As the oldest child of three, I remembered how much my own mother had to advocate for my sick brother in a hospital when he suffered from some rare disease.
It was terrifying when she faced resistance and threats rather than help, and we learned relatively quickly that had she not pushed so hard, he would’ve died.
I also remember and have previously discussed what it was like when she and I had to advocate for her during her labor and delivery and how it nearly cost her her life.
As a result, I appreciated the little moments like Shaker and Gabi connecting or commentating on the frustrations of medical care when you’re a Black woman just as much as Margaret’s “meltdown” about the media not seeming to care enough about a missing Black infant who was dying.
It was also a great moment when M&A confronted Viola about her search engine bringing up miscarriages.
They immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario rather than taking a beat to think it through.
The reality is that even the most enlightened and well-intentioned of us, sometimes, including peers, whether it was Gabi as a fellow Black woman or Margaret as a fellow mother with a missing child, fall victim to the same misconceptions and snap judgments that we’re actively working to combat.
M&A Isn’t Exempt from Snap Judgments Proving Flaws and Humanity
People are human and flawed, and Found Season 2 Episode 2 and, more broadly, Found Season 2 thus far is doing a great job of exploring that more with characters we love.
It’s not a stretch that a woman who had to partake in IVF and could only bear a child via an egg donor would be trying to do everything in her power to protect herself and the baby.
You don’t pour that much time, effort, and money into the process to throw it all away and arrange for someone to kidnap your child.
That situation not so subtly acknowledged the specific plight that Viola and many women like her experience when she has to advocate for and defend herself even to the people who meant to help.
Viola’s daughter and pseudo-son sharing culpability in Reign’s abduction wasn’t all that surprising of a twist when you gave it much thought.
Found Season 2 Episode 2’s Case, While Interesting, Wasn’t Without Issues
If I had to criticize anything about how that played out, it’s that the concoction of this elaborate plan was juvenile and outlandish for two teens.
How would they find Reign a good home when the rest of the city was looking for her?
How would Reign disappear from their lives to make more time for the other two when Viola would’ve spent the rest of her days grieving the loss of a child she worked so hard to have and never having closure?
Yeah, they were both young with undeveloped brains, but it stretched the limits of believability that they didn’t think any of this through more.
Nevertheless, it was upsetting to see that this young woman thought the best way to handle the situation and cope with her guilt was to attempt suicide.
Gabi is right in asserting that she needs some real help, and hopefully, she’ll get it.
Is the Gabi Browbeating Becoming Too Much?
Regardless of Trent’s grating, snarky comment about how he didn’t need lessons on being a monster, it doesn’t change the fact that historically, the same system he works within and tries to do good with often fails people like her and the likelihood that she won’t get the help she needs is far higher.
It was difficult for the team to take one when they were trying to find Lacey, too, and I almost hate that Sir got some twisted satisfaction in feeling he was instrumental in solving a case that they could and should’ve managed on their own.
However, so many elements were at play when you consider how triggering this case was for Margaret, who was already not in a good place because of Gabi and Lacey.
Advocating for a mother with a missing child falls directly within her purview, but that also meant dealing with the press directly.
Found Season 2 Episode 2’s Case Hits Close to Home for Margaret
It made sense why Gabi pushed for her to do the press conference. It’s publically know that Margaret is a mother who has experienced the same thing.
As both a mother with a missing child and a White woman, the press would’ve been more inclined to pay attention to her and fixate on that case rather than Gabi and everything else going on.
However, the Gabi/Sir/Lacey story is still a hot commodity, and they’d jump on any chance to get hot gossip on something like that.
Regardless, I don’t care what the headlines said or dredged up about Margaret. She didn’t have a “meltdown,” and we should be well past the time of framing things as such when she simply gave the media the proper scolding that they deserved.
It was difficult to hear Viola challenge Margaret on using her “White Woman Tears” during that ordeal, as, unfortunately, Margaret’s ability to weaponize her whiteness is what makes things work in situations like that typically.
Margaret is going through it, and I sympathize with her, but it’s also frustrating that she’s coming as hard as she does toward Gabi.
I gritted my teeth when she stated that Gabi was the reason she was blocked and couldn’t access her hyperobservational skills.
If Gabi’s actions had that much power over Margaret’s skillset, then what does it say that Christian is why they all flooded back?
Gabi’s Actions Aren’t as Black and White as Other Characters Are Treating Them As
There’s no getting around the fact that Gabi has done horrible wrong and that the lies and betrayal of her team are damaging.
But it’s also not nearly as black and white as some of the other characters make it out to be, and their lack of space and grace for Gabi to be flawed is difficult to witness at times and not constructive in the least.
Gabi must keep toeing this line between being genuinely contrite and cracking the whip to focus on the work when necessary.
It’s not lost on me that Gina remains in her corner as the quiet maternal force Gabi desperately needs.
The way Gabi melts into this woman’s arms does something to the soul. Gabi is the people’s champion and a perpetual caretaker, and it’s cathartic to see someone there who can take care of her, too.
It’s a dynamic that the flashbacks to how young Gabi was instrumental in helping Bella and Lacey enhanced further.
Even if it’s not by blood, the sisterhood and family in those flashbacks are heartwarming amid their struggles.
Dhan is also doing what he can to manage the situation and mediate the tension here, and you can tell it’s taking a toll on him as well, but he’s determined to keep things whole.
Tensions are High Among the M&A Team
His tension with Zeke is somehow more heartbreaking than Margaret’s, but perhaps it’s because he and Zeke initially got off on the wrong foot. Now, there’s no question that Dhan genuinely loves and cares for him.
It’s interesting in some ways how the Dhan/Zeke element has and could have the potential to mirror Gabi/Lacey in some ways.
Unfortunately, Lacey’s abduction continued, and the final shot of her hitting her head on the counter was not great.
But it was great to spend more time with Lacey and see how clever she is at manipulating and fighting back against Sir.
She attempted to appeal to him in a way that she knew Gabi did, but that only made him angrier since his obsession with Gabi couldn’t be duplicated.
Lacey Holds Her Own in Gabi/Sir Cat-and-Mouse Game
But she also knows how to bide her time before making certain moves and puts up a great fight.
It’s fascinating to see Sir have a different dynamic with someone other than Gabi, and there’s no one more fitting for that than Lacey.
Unfortunately, Sir views Lacey as a doll he rewarded Gabi with, and because Gabi “misbehaved,” taking Lacey back is her punishment.
It’s all so twisted as Sir often volleys between this paternal obsession with Gabi and this view that she’s his partner and equal.
The complexities of his grooming are a captivating, eerie watch, and Mark-Paul Gosselaar continues to deliver.
He’s having an absolute blast in this role, and it shows every time.
But I’m utterly fascinated by Christian Evans’ appearance and how the actor captures that similar voice affectation to sound so much like Gosselaar’s Sir.
Christian Evans’ Appearance is a Gamechanger
It’s wonderfully creepy, and Christian puts me on edge in the best possible way.
He’s intriguing because you can’t figure out his motives or whether or not he is sincere about what he claims he wants to do.
He’s supposedly a grief counselor, but we know that doesn’t mean anything when Hugh was a teacher.
Christian has a similar commanding presence. And one has to wonder why he’d like to get involved with this investigation and offer his help now.
It’s hard to say what their intentions are with this character. Still, he’s caused enough tension to spiral into many different directions, with his effect on Gabi when she saw him, on Margaret being oddly taken by him, and on Sir’s freakout when he saw him onscreen.
Sir thought he had all the control over his phone calls and was sitting on the park bench speaking to Gabi.
He had felt like he had won, and he and Gabi were back on their game with him helping with these cases, but now Christian was there.
Christian’s presence pulling the rug from beneath Sir’s feet is a small victory.
Over to you, Found Fanatics.
What’s your first impression of Christian Evans?
Do you think that the others are being too hard on Gabi?
How long will Lacey be missing?
Let’s discuss it all below!
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