Spoilers ahead for Episode 12 of Found Season 2, called “Missing While Misidentified” and will be available streaming with a Peacock subscription.
Found returned to NBC after a week off in the 2025 TV schedule with a couple of cliffhangers to pay off on. Jamie seemingly turned up out of nowhere to reunite with Margaret, while both Gabi and Sir were carted off to jail by Trent. The main case of the week took place via flashback to Gabi’s first days of keeping Sir trapped in her basement. This meant Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar facing off in that basement dungeon again, and the result was an episode so intense that I quickly understood why the actors were so excited about it.
The cast of Found walked the press red carpet at SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, with Arlen Escarpeta weighing in on Found replacing Law & Order: Organized Crime and Shanola Hampton and Mark-Paul Gosselaar sharing their thoughts on being nominated for Critics Choice Awards. I took the opportunity to ask the two stars about the episode that was set to go back to the beginning for Gabi and Sir, and Hampton responded:
I have to tell you about [Episode] 12. This has been my favorite episode to shoot, throughout the entirety of them. Sonay Hoffman, who is our showrunner, wrote an incredibly in-depth, powerful script that has so many layers. There are so many things happening. There are so many balancing acts happening. For us to be able to go and see the origin of this story, I think is going to satisfy the fans as much as it satisfied me creatively to shoot it. I’m really excited for everyone to see it.
I hadn’t yet seen “Missing While Misidentified” yet when I spoke with the stars at TVfest, but Hampton didn’t hold back in hyping the episode and what made it stand out as her “favorite episode to shoot” so far. Gabi didn’t have a great time while dealing with panic attacks and Sir already playing mind games just hours after arriving in her basement dungeon, but that’s not the case for the leading lady. For his part, Mark-Paul Gosselaar agreed that “it’s a great episode” and added that it’s “very intense.”
Of course, for Gosselaar, returning to the basement dungeon means some uncomfortable circumstances for Sir. For much of “Missing While Misidentified,” he was even gagged and had to deliver a performance without being able to speak. So, what is it like for the Saved by the Bell alum to go back to that dungeon, after Sir had escaped at the end of Season 1? I asked that very question, and Gosselaar responded:
It’s a place where I know that her and I are gonna connect. [To Shanola] It’s weird – it’s like when we go back there, I know it’s just gonna be you and I and we’re gonna be connecting. Some really good work happens down there, so I’m always excited to revisit that.
The episode ended with Sir in police custody, so Mark-Paul Gosselaar presumably won’t be back in the basement dungeon for a while unless Found continues with flashbacks, but the twists at the end of the hour certainly suggest that he’s not out of tricks. He swiftly took care of the charges against Gabi by refusing to make a statement incriminating her, so Gabi was free to reunite with the rest of the M&A team – and meet the teen who might be Jamie – before the final credits rolled.
Of course, this is Sir we’re talking about, so Gabi pointed out that he didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart, and the episode ended with a zoom in on Sir’s face in his prison cell with a creepy cover of Animotion’s “Obsession” playing. It remains to be seen how Found will keep Sir in the mix now that he’s behind bars, and I still want to know what’s up with the boy who Margaret at least believes is Jamie.
Keep tuning in to NBC on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. ET for new episodes of Found, following Law & Order: SVU. The stars’ excitement over Episode 12 doesn’t mean that the intensity is going to lighten up moving forward, so I’m guessing that now isn’t the time to start missing installments.
