“Found” offers a solid tackle the procedural genre — with several novel twists.
The brand new NBC series, premiering Oct. 3 at 10 p.m., stars Shanola Hampton as Gabi Mosely, whose high-profile, high-powered crisis-management firm, Mosley & Associates, finds missing people relegated to the margins of society (minorities, sex employees, etc.) and ignored by the general public and by the press.
Gabi, who’s in her late 30s, knows from whence she crusades: she was taken on the age of 15 from her father by a creepy, bearded, impeccably-dressed man she called “Sir” (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) who held her captive in a locked, book-filled house while force-feeding her an education … on his terms (Shakespeare, science) and, literally, scripting parts of her existence with a healthy dose of emotional abuse.
Sir eventually kidnapped a younger girl, Bella, after Gabi expressed her loneliness — and, together, the 2 hostages suffered under his psychotic rule until they were capable of escape.
Flash forward to twenty years later. Gabi now runs her powerful firm in Washington, DC, together with her crack crisis-management team, all of whom she’s helped in a technique or one other. There’s Zeke (Arlen Escarpeta), an agoraphobic computer whiz whose wealthy family is funding Gabi’s company; Margaret (Kelli Williams), who possesses an uncanny sense of detection after looking for her missing son the past 13 years; Lacy (Gabrielle Elise Walsh), who’s recent to the team after graduating from law school (paid for by Gabi); and Dahn (Karan Oberoi), who (grudgingly) works with Zeke and who himself was taken as a toddler, using that have to fuel his outrage and his outlook.
Gabi et al. often work with the DC police — who don’t exactly appreciate their efforts — in the shape of Det. Mark Trent (Brett Dalton), who’s got something of a romantic history with Gabi and, per TV’s rules and regulations, sports the requisite stubble. Gabi, who’s not press-shy, will herself go undercover to assist break a case or capture someone, and he or she’s not averse to skirting the law to accomplish that … but she at all times gets results, often embarrassing the DCPD for ignoring her clients while specializing in “high-profile” cases (the white missing child of a US senator within the series opener).
The Big Reveal here is that Sir was thought to have vanished into the wind after being whacked over the noggin with a frying pan by Gabi 20 years earlier. But he’s alive and sort-of well — and he’s been imprisoned and shackled for seven months in Gabi’s basement (his beard much bushier), helping her get into the minds of those that have taken her clients.
Put it this manner: He doesn’t have much selection. And the anniversary of Sir’s vanishing act in turn triggers more flashbacks regarding his treatment of Gabi (and Bella) during their time as his prisoners. I’m guessing we’ll learn just how he ended up as her personal Hannibal Lecter. But, hey, turnabout is fair play, right?
“Found” moves at a rapid clip and sustains its momentum even while giving us the contextual big picture and filling within the supporting characters’ back stories. I like the way it takes a couple of didn’t-see-that-coming U-turns along the best way but not only for the hell of it: these surprises add to the series’ overall story arc and can fuel the “Found” engine as Mosley & Associates chug together with their weekly caseload.
The acting is superb; everyone stays of their procedural lane with some personality quirks thrown in so as to add depth to the primary characters.
The series does shine a light-weight on a topical issue — missing individuals ignored because they’re not “mainstream” enough. So far as I do know, this has not been tackled elsewhere, on a weekly basis, by a scripted drama, so kudos to series creator Nkechi Okoro Carroll (executive producer on the CW’s “All American”) and Hampton (who’s also an executive producer here together with TV veteran Greg Berlanti, amongst others).
“Found” won’t pummel you with a preachy mallet and can, by all indications, pack enough surprises to maintain viewers guessing week to week.
