Found – Season 1 Episode 1 “Pilot” Recap & Review

Pilot 

Found episode 1 starts with a flashback to 2003; we see a young lady, Gaby, painting. She turns when the door opens, and a young girl called Bella is shoved into the house. Bella is screaming for her mom, and Gaby tries to calm her down. She promises to return Bella to her mom. Bella asks how long Gaby has been kept in this house, and she responds,” Too long.”

Presently, Gabi runs a Crisis management team. They are working to locate a missing Black boy. She and her team have narrowed down where he is being held hostage. Gabi uses the damsel in distress ruse to get into the house and take down one of the men. Another team member, Dhan, charges in and handles the man as Gabi rushes to find the boy.

She uses her earpiece to get directions from Zeke. We learn that Zeke finds this particular case triggering. What happened to him? Gaby asks about his online date to distract him, but Zeke says he will instead focus on the case. He directs Gaby to where the boy is using thermal imaging, while Gaby finds the boy and assures him he is safe.

The police get there a few minutes later, along with Bella. We meet Detective Trent, who asks how many laws Gaby and her team broke to rescue the boy. He wants to take over the scene, but Gaby insists on staying with him until his family arrives. The boy is rushed to the hospital and reunited with his family. The family thanks Gaby for not letting them down.

Outside the hospital, the police captain, Mallory, is already holding a press conference, taking credit for the rescue. Bella finds it annoying, but Gaby reminds her that the boy is fine, which is all that matters. The press spots Gaby and Bella and asks for their comments. Gaby is quick to clarify that her team was the only rescue operation. She puts the captain on the spot and promotes her team. The press asks what she has to say about being classified as a vigilante. 

Gaby quickly responds that her highly educated team is only dedicated to finding the people the police have let slip through the crack. She notes she is happy to pick up the slack for the police. She brings up her experience 20 years ago when she rescued herself from a kidnapper. The police never paid attention to her case. 

She drives the point home even further by showing the picture of Sarah Holden, daughter of a senator.  Sarah has been missing for 29 hours and is already national news. However, another black girl, Dashika, has been missing for the past two weeks, and no one is talking about her.

The following morning, a young boy, Deron, visits Gaby’s office. He is hoping she will help him find his foster sister, Camilla.  Camilla has been at odds with her foster parents, and they are not worried about her missing. They believe she ran away to blow off some steam with her boyfriend. However, Deron believes something happened to Camilla because she would never leave him behind. 

The team immediately begins to investigate the case. They look into Camilla’s past, and Dhan is also not convinced Camilla was kidnapped. As they investigate, Gaby turns on the news and sees the media is still covering Sarah’s missing case only. She motivates her team to get to work because Camilla also deserves to have people looking for her. She assigns each team member to a specific task and leaves to meet with Camilla’s foster parents. 

Gaby brings along Margaret and Bella to meet with Camilla’s foster parents.  Margaret is good at reading people’s behaviours and is highly observant. She notices there are a lot of locks on each door.  The locks are meant to keep the children inside the house. Margaret thinks the house is a mini-prison. She also believes that Camilla seems protective of Deron in every single picture. She doesn’t think Camilla ran away and left Deron behind. Gaby decides to call 911 and report Camilla missing. She hopes they will issue an amber alert, which might save Camilla’s life.

She later calls the press and promises to give them a tip about a high-profile case. She and her team check the social media, and Sarah’s case is still trending. Zeke checks Camilla’s social media and finds a photo of her boyfriend. He is older and not exactly the young man parents would like to see their kids date. As this goes on, we learn that Zeke and Dhan don’t get along. Zeke is the new kid, and Dhan is not welcoming. However, Gaby keeps pushing them to work together closely. She says they are good for each other.  

The investigation deepens, and they look into Camilla’s foster parents and boyfriend. Gaby calls a press conference, and Deron gives a tearful plea seeking help to find his sister. After seeing the press conference and how she came for the police, the Captain send Trent to follow up on Camilla’s case. The press conference works and gets people talking about Camilla. The team learns that Camilla’s mom is back and asking for custody. They look into whether the woman kidnapped her kid.  

Trent drops by Gaby’s office to follow up on the case. In a fascinating twist, we learn that Gaby once slept with Trent. It looks like he is not over her yet.  Back to the case, Trent is displeased to know Gaby planted secret cameras around Camilla’s foster parent’s house. Trent gets a call as they talk that Camilla’s biological mom has been found. 

They rush to the location to find her trying to jump off the building. She is distraught for letting her daughter down and being unable to stay clean from drugs. Dhan talks her down and narrates his own experience. He was kidnapped when he was young after being betrayed by those meant to protect him. 

Once the situation is handled, Gaby hurries home, and Trent visits to check if she is okay. She assures him she is fine, just a long day and refuses to invite him in. However, she is acting suspicious; she looks really nervous when Trent pops by. Through a flashback, we go back to 2003 after Bella was kidnapped. Gaby tried to help her adjust as she came up with a plan to save them.

The next morning, Trent is among the first people to arrive at Gaby’s office. The team delves deeper into Camilla’s older boyfriend, but his alibi checks out. Gaby decides to switch the investigation and look into the possibility of Camilla being kidnapped by a stranger. 

In the meantime, Margaret confides in Bella about her struggles. She has been looking for her son, Jaime, for the past 13 years. Margaret is hopeful she will find him someday. 

The news of Sarah Holden being found switches the investigation on its head. Sharon is found wearing Camilla’s sweatshirt. They realize the girls crossed paths, probably while Camilla was on her way to DCFS. She wanted to be emancipated and have full custody of Deron. Trent asks the captain to ask the senator for access to his daughter. However, the senator proves to be a pain in the ass since he is more concerned about his upcoming political career. Trent calls him out, and Gaby threatens to inform the press if Camilla is found dead. 

She later gets into a fight with Trent, who wants to follow protocol. She asks him to choose a side, and he says he is on Camilla’s side. Gaby returns to the office and recalls the past. She remembers her kidnapper, who insisted they call him Sir. Sir liked having the girls play out a dinner fantasy. He would write scripts for their conversation at the table and expect them to follow it to a tee. 

One eventful night, Gaby challenges him and asks why he kidnapped Bella. On the other hand, Bella spills some stew on her hand in the kitchen. Sir was about to lose his temper when Gaby grabbed a cooking pot and hit him over the head two times. She then asked Bella to run, and together, they made their great escape. Unfortunately, by the time the police got to the house, Sir was long gone.

Bella and Dhan watch Gaby and are concerned she is having a meltdown. Bella tries to motivate her to get back to the game. Gaby asks why she is still working for her. Gaby wanted Bella to study law and leave. However, Bella wants to stay by Gaby’s side and help her. She is right, though; Gaby will always need a lawyer, given how many times she breaks the law to find the missing people. 

As they talk, Trent sends Gaby Sarah’s location. She is at the hospital getting treatment. Gaby convinces the Senator to allow them to locate Camilla. Sarah narrates how Camilla tried to save her. Unfortunately, Camilla was not able to make a run for it. Sarah identifies her brother’s drug dealer as the suspect.  

The police quickly move to arrest the man after Sarah’s brother finally comes clean. Sadly, the drug dealer refuses to cooperate, and the team frantically searches for Camilla on the house grounds. Luckily, they find her in time and reunite her with Deron.

Later, the team puts up Camilla’s photo in their office and celebrates. This is their ritual every time they save a missing person. Gaby asks Dhan to give Zeke a chance. 

Bella heads home and locks herself in with multiple locks. It is evident she is still traumatized by the past. Zeke, on the other hand, has a minor panic attack. Margaret heads to the airport, carrying an age-modified picture of her son. She keeps looking at the people passing by, hoping to see her son.

The true shock comes when we see what Gaby is up to at her house. She has Sir locked in her basement. He is the one who helps her with her cases. She delivers dinner to him and clarifies they are not partners. She tells him about a new case and asks what he would have done as a kidnapper. 

The Episode Review

We certainly didn’t expect Gaby to be keeping Sir in her basement. What a twist! This is only the first episode, and it looks like this will be an intriguing procedural drama. The characters are well-layered, and we look forward to learning more about them. 

So far, we know Gaby and Bella were kidnapped by the same man. Dhan was kidnapped after being betrayed by people close to him. Margaret has been looking for her son for the past 13 years, and Zeke never leaves the house because something tragic once happened to him.  This is the reason he works for Gaby to get purpose, and his family bank-rolls the whole team. 

Based on the trailer for the upcoming episode, things between Gaby and Sir start getting rocky. How will this unusual “partnership” end?