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Found's Premiere Episode Ends with a Major Twist: The Truth About Mark-Paul Gosselaar's Character
Plus, another twist explains how Gabi Mosely and Lacey Quinn know each other on Found.
NBC’s new fall drama, Found, promises in its trailer to reveal a shocking secret, and actress Shanola Hampton recently teased viewers just “have to make it to the end” of the first episode to get the twist.
In the first moments of the series premiere, viewers got a glimpse of two kidnapped children — one of whom is Gabi Mosely, played by Hampton. But what’s the big surprise? It involves Mark-Paul Gosselaar.
What's the twist on Found?
The opening moments of Found are dramatic, as a little girl named Bella comes into a home, crying, as Gabi is cooking by a stove. When Bella asked Gabi how long she’s been at this home, Gabi replied, “Too long.”
Soon, the fate of child Gabi is revealed. After helping to rescue a missing child, adult Gabi says, “You’re talking to a woman who 20 years ago had to rescue herself from her kidnapper because no one was looking.”
Hampton recently said her character’s traumatic childhood is what drives her.
“Gabi Mosely is powerful, broken, complicated, fierce, traumatized, hurt, and a childlike superhuman,” Hampton said to NBC Insider. “She’s full of depth. And that’s the best character to play.”
RELATED: A Sinister Kidnapper, a Tough Missing Persons Expert — Meet the Cast of New NBC Drama Found
But just how did Gabi escape? Flashbacks throughout the premiere answer that question. They also reveal the role Gosselaar plays in Found: a kidnapper named “Sir ”— a far cry from his days as the fun-loving Zack Morris on Saved by the Bell.
During one flashback, we see Bella burn herself on the stove while getting more food for “Sir.” During the chaos, Gabi hits “Sir” on the head with a pan, and the girls run away.
Another flashback shows Gabi and Bella in the hospital after escaping captivity, as the police promise to find “Sir.”
“You can’t promise us that,” Gabi says. “If he was really gone by the time you got to that house, that means the man that took me from my family — took us — is still out there.”
The end of this scene is also part of another reveal: the real identity of Bella.
The camera pans to a burn on Bella’s arm from the accident on the stove, and then the show flashes to Lacey Quinn, Gabi’s coworker, played by Gabrielle Walsh, who has a burn on her arm in the same spot, meaning Lacey is Bella, all grown up.
Gabi’s experience being a missing person is the driver behind her founding of the public relations firm, Mosely & Associates.
“Found is about a woman who was abducted, and whose life mission is to help other forgotten ones like her,” Hampton said of her character to NBC Insider. “Gabi is fierce. She was a victim, and now she is victorious.”
Although Lacey’s true identity was a big surprise, an even bigger revelation comes in the final moments of the premiere. When Gabi returns home, she puts a file folder on a tray with food and water, and we see her undo three locks on a door and go down steps to a basement.
“Was I right? She was still on the property?” a voice says, as we see “Sir” walk out from the shadows to the light of the basement.
“We make quite the partnership, don’t we?” he adds, and it’s clear he’s now helping Gabi solve missing persons cases.
“We’re not partners,” Gabi responds. “New case: We need to narrow the search fast. Trans woman, taken in broad daylight outside of Crystal City shops, 11 hours ago. Where would you have taken her first?”
As "Sir" comes further into the room with shackles on his feet, he picks up the file from the floor as the show ends.
Now the audience understands not only is “Sir,” a former kidnapper, now helping to find missing persons, but stunningly, Gabi, a former victim, has turned into the kidnapper, with “Sir” locked in her home.
Watch new episodes of Found on Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
