Do you ever wonder if you’ll be forgotten? Do you wonder if the people that are supposed to notice that you are there? Do you worry that you’re not making an impact on someones life? Yes, I am fully aware that these are all deep questions and that it’s really early in the morning when you’re reading this.
But for me, as I write this, I have just finished the third episode of FOUND, and it’s 7:21 on a Sunday night. I am crying, posing myself all these questions and wondering what, if any, of an impact that I have made. Would someone notice if I disappeared? Because this episode of FOUND is about a man who has been widowed, who has become reclusive, and all of the sudden, he’s gone.
No one has noticed his disappearance.
Well, except his doorman. His doorman, Cliff, has noticed that Reggie has been gone for two days. He’s noticed that their usual schedule isn’t in play and that Reggie hasn’t been seen. He had seen him leave, but he didn’t see him return and he knows that is odd. He knows that Reggie would have told him if he was taking a vacation or taking time for himself.
Gabi and her team are ready to jump into action. Reggie may not have anyone, but he will have them. He will have someone fighting for him. He will have people looking out for him. Reggie is a man in his 70’s, gay and black – the reasons that Cliff didn’t take this to the police.
This case is the perfect distraction for Gabi who is living with a ton of guilt. As you may remember at the end of the last episode, Sir tells Gabi that he had taken Bella (Lacey) because Gabi had asked him to. He tried to tell Gabi that she was remembering it wrong and she began to doubt what she remembered. She didn’t want to believe that she could be responsible for that. But the guilt of the possibility that she could be responsible for all that Lacey/Bella has gone through has been too much.
And here’s the thing – guilt is something that we can’t hide. Guilt is something that radiates from our pores. Guilt is something that we can’t hide, because it is a deep part of us. Gabi starts to pull away from Lacey, because she can’t deal with the prospect that everything is her fault.
The case is also the perfect distraction for Margaret. Margaret, as we know, keeps going to the bus station every night looking for her son. She’s been there every single day for thirteen years. What we didn’t know though was that she has two little girls that she hasn’t seen in over a decade. One of them shows up at the office asking to be emancipated.
So, as you can tell, there is a lot of drama that is happening, but everyone is looking for Reggie and welcoming the distraction from their lives.
Reggie has a niece, who has been in charge of his finances, and she doesn’t believe that anything is wrong with her Uncle. Hollis is oblivious to knowing what is going on with him. She thinks that he’s great, that he’s not lonely. But it doesn’t take long for her to be informed that she’s way off.
Can we talk about how amazing that Cliff is? He’s paid attention to everything that Reggie has said and done. You can see the pain in Hollis’ face when she realizes that she’s let her Uncle Reggie down. Yes, she thought he was okay, but what she comes to realize is that she didn’t know Reggie at all. She didn’t know how lonely that he was and just how badly he needed people.
But Cliff – he noticed. He noticed because he loves Reggie. He sees Reggie and he hears what he’s saying.
Through twists and turns, we are able to find Reggie. Turns out it was his banker who was bleeding his account dry. Reggie never said anything to his niece, because he was embarrassed. It just reminded me that we need to check in with the older people in our lives. They shouldn’t be embarrassed at all to need people to be there for them.
We should be there.
With a case coming to an end, the team has no choice but to face their own issues.
I cried my eyes out when Margaret and her daughter spoke. The way that the two of them tried to understand each other and the way that it broke both their hearts to let go. I have to admit that I didn’t see the letting go coming, but watching them do just that was a way that we could see a different side of grief and the way that it can and does change you.
Margaret signing the emancipation paperwork and letting her daughter know that she wanted her to move forward, that she did what she did to give her a better life. It was equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking. She loved her girls enough to let them go. She knew that she couldn’t give them a life that they deserved. My heart broke. I broke. I just felt horrible for her.
Then there was the whole Gabi and Lacey moment. The moments where the guilt is getting to Gabi and she wants to know if she’s responsible for all that Lacey has been through.
But there’s a funny thing about being open and telling people what you need. You remember what you need too. For Gabi, it meant remembering exactly what she said to Sir that night.
She said she’d rather die than have a friend. She didn’t want anyone going through what she was and I applauded her remembering. I applauded, because I didn’t think she would ever want the life that she was living for anyone else. She wanted to break free from being a captive. She wouldn’t do that to anyone else. So her remembering meant that Sir was going to get it.
Sir thinks that he can still manipulate Gabi and she’s not here for it. She’s going to show him who is in charge. The two of them keep going round and round in this never ending game of push and pull and it’s quite sad. Both of them need help. Gabi exerts her dominance by telling Sir he has to give up all his books and toiletries. She reminds him that everything that he has is at her pleasure.
These two are so seriously in need of therapy. I have no words. But am I here to see where it heads? Yes. Yes I am. Am I here for Gabi and Lacey’s sisterhood? Yes. But I am really wondering how Gabi thinks that what she is doing is okay.
And how not telling Lacey that she has Sir… how will that change everything. I don’t even know
Found airs Tuesdays on NBC.
