Found (TV series)
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Found |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Nkechi Okoro Carroll |
| Date(s): | October 3, 2023 – Present |
| Medium: | TV Series |
| Country of Origin: | United States |
| External Links: | at IMDb at Wikipedia |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
This article or section needs expansion. |
Found is a drama series focused on a team, led by lead character Gabi Mosely, who specialise in finding missing people and search for marginalised people who are overlooked by the police and media.
Canon
Gabi Mosely, a PR specialist, heads up a crisis management team who work to bring home missing people from marginalised groups. Her team consists of Margaret Reed, Lacey Quinn, Zeke Wallace, and Dhan Rana. All five members of the team have experienced some type of trauma relating to either going missing or being kidnapped themselves, or having a family member go missing. So, in addition to the story-lines focusing on the cases they take on each week, the different ways trauma continues to affect each team members plays a key role in episodes and character development. Gabi started the entire team because she was a missing person, overlooked by the system and the media, and who eventually rescued herself and Lacey from their kidnapper.
The second twist and ongoing story-line is that in the last year, Gabi tracked down her kidnapper – Hugh Evans, who is referred to as "Sir" in the show and by the fandom – who evaded the police for many years and it is revealed at the end of episode one that she currently has him chained up in her basement, where she uses him for his insight into the minds of kidnappers and predators. The audience learn later in season one that Dhan tracked Sir down for Gabi, though she didn't know what she did with him; when she didn't turn him into the police, Dhan assumed she killed him and kept her secret.
At the end of the season one finale, after Hugh breaks out of the basement, Gabi tells her team about him and what she did, which ends with the entire team distraught and estranged from one another. This means that when Gabi discovers that rat poison has been taken from her home during Hugh's escape – and already used to incapacitate, though not kill, Lacey's guard dog – Lacey will not answer her call. The season ends on a cliffhanger, with a shot of Hugh in Lacey's home.
It was announced that the show had been renewed for a second season in December 2023[1].
Fandom
The show has a considerable fandom on Tumblr and Twitter, with active episode discussions in the week of each episode airing, sharing of GIF sets, and theorising about the overarching story-lines that could be to come; especially with a second season announced and some characters growing suspicious about the fact Gabi seems to be hiding something from them. Fans also frequently discuss how the show demonstrates the long-lasting and different ways that trauma impacts a person without the writing shaming any of the characters for their actions[2].
In addition, many fans are fascinated by the interactions and history between Gabi and her former kidnapper, Hugh Evans. Throughout the first season, it is revealed that he was Gabi's teacher at school, explaining the "Sir" used in place of his name by the show and fandom, before he kidnapped her and held her for over a year. The dark relationship between the pair has been likened by some fans to the relationship between Malcolm Bright and his father in Prodigal Son (TV series), while parallels have also been drawn to Hannibal fandom with the show developing a dark romance fan-base around it.
Some Black fans have voiced their enthusiasm for a show with a Black female lead who is very much a morally grey character, and which leans into the darker aspects of the story-line[3].
#FoundNBC is such an amazing show from the writers the cast and directors to crew it truly is a hit and I hope they get many seasons @nbc don’t let this show go to waste! And as a black woman it is truly refreshing to see such a complex black female lead character on my screenUltimxConfess [4]
At this point, I believe Gabi is an unreliable narrator. She lived the horror but because she was in it, she’s not a reliable source of what happened. Sir, is… he seems like all the things she says he is, but there’s so much that goes unsaid. And because this man spend months conditioning her, she can’t even decipher his lies from the truth. I don’t know what to make of it.
Sir is so sick and twisted, I love it. Such an interesting villain. But my girl Gabi always comes out on top, god I love her.crownspeaksblog [5]
A microfandom has also grown on Archive of Our Own, with the majority of the works exploring the relationship dynamics between Gabi and Sir, most often with the Gabi Mosely & Hugh "Sir" Evans pairing.
Other pairings which receive some fannish focus are the – often one-side from Sir towards Gabi – pairing Gabi Mosely/Hugh "Sir" Evans which is popular amongst dark romance fans of the show; the canonical relationship of Gabi Mosely/Mark Trent; platonic pairings between members of the team; and, largely on Tumblr, Dhan Rana/Zeke Wallace.
Controversy
There has been some criticism about parts of the fandom, with some people voicing disgust that there are people who explore the Gabi Mosely/Hugh "Sir" Evans pairing from a dark romance angle.[6] Those who explore the pairing are often referred to negatively on Twitter and this backlash may play a role in why a notable proportion of the small number of fanworks on AO3 are posted anonymously.
Common Tropes and Fanon
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- Angst - Given the canonical backstories of the characters, unsurprisingly angst plays a big role in many fanworks.
- Manipulation - The character of Hugh "Sir" Evans is particularly manipulative, and the audience is also left uncertain about which events are true or not in the show. While the show only gives brief insights into Hugh's manipulation, fanworks explore these in greater depth.
Notable Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fics
- Haunted by Anonymous - "Why did you never touch me?" It was a question that had been circling her head for 20 years, one that she had never intended to voice.
- any port in a storm by Anonymous - "Who did this?" She can see the wheels turning. He's already trying to calculate how he'll reach out from this jail cell to destroy her attacker.
- The Man in the Chair by etherealnoir - Dhan likes talking to Zeke. And he hates that he likes it so much. But he'd never tell Zeke that.
Arts
Vids
Meta
- What if Sir isn't actually in the basement? by nogoodninny
- Theories and Predictions by nawjuhh on TikTok
Archives & Fannish Links
Archives
- Found (TV 2023) fandom tag on Archive of our Own
Communities
- Found NBC tag on Tumblr
- Found subreddit
- NBC Found tag at TikTok
References
- ^ "Peter White, Found' & 'The Irrational' Renewed For Season 2 At NBC', Deadline, 29 November 2023,". Archived from the original on 2023-12-02.
- ^ ladydedlock post on Tumblr, 15 October 2023, Archived Version
- ^ Ineye Komonibo, 'Shanola Hampton & Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s Chemistry In Found Series Is Riveting (& Uncomfortable)', Refinery29, 12 October 2023. Episode "Wrestling with Demons" by the Black Girl Charmed podcast.
- ^ "UltimxConfess Twitter post". Archived from the original on 2024-01-18.
- ^ "makanvi post at [[Tumblr]]".
{{cite web}}:|archive-url=requires|archive-date=(help); URL–wikilink conflict (help) - ^ "Cherry Ambition tweet". Archived from the original on 2023-12-20.; "mrsalexsmith___". Archived from the original on 2023-12-20.