Imagine the most terrifying event in your life becoming your life’s mission and now your job.
That’s exactly what Gabi Moseley (Shanola Hampton) does in the suspense thriller “Found”… sort of.
Moseley, a search specialist, works with the team to find missing people who have fallen through the gaps in the system.
Whether they skirt the lines of justice or overstep them entirely, the team is united in their quest, bonded by personal experiences that inspire them to employ whatever tactics are necessary to return the missing home to their families.
At the center of Moseley’s resolve is Hugh Evans (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), his high school teacher and the man who inspired his life-changing events 20 years ago.
Aware of her voracious appetite for literature and books, Evans lured the then-teenaged Moseley to his home on the pretext of showing her his extensive collection of rare first editions.
As the mood changes from innocent to sinister, Moseley finds herself stuck in a land without electricity and, informed that this is the place where she will be completing her education, she has no choice but to comply and must call him “Sir.”
I won’t spoil the suspense by giving details of her ordeal, so suffice it to say that Moseley devised an unconventional and, as she soon discovered, dangerous way to bring her captors to justice while helping others who had suffered a similar fate.
What I like most about this series is the originality of the stories – they’re surprising and different from anything I’ve seen before.
Transforming a personal tragedy into something positive and uplifting isn’t uncommon, but this series subverts that notion and takes it further than expected.
I also deeply appreciate the attention it brings to worthy causes like missions and exploited children.
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons Database, a national clearinghouse and resource center for missing, unidentified and unclaimed people, more than 600,000 people go missing each year.
The statistics are staggering, and while the series takes a fictional perspective on these issues, they are rightly highlighted as very real concerns.
The concept of this series intrigued me, but the cast convinced me to watch it.
Hampton brings authenticity to the character that audiences can relate to, and it’s refreshing to see Gosselaar play a character so far removed from his iconic role as Zack Morris on the late ’80s TV show Saved by the Bell.
The series is definitely worth binge-watching, and critics seem to agree, with the story set to continue in an upcoming second season.
Season 1 is available to stream on platforms including NBC, YouTube TV, Peacock and Hulu, with season 2 available to watch on October 3rd.
This series contains violence and sensitive content. Viewers are advised to exercise caution.