Asking a wrongdoer for expert help week after week is not a new concept in proceedings. But in the case of NBCs Foundits special twist: Recovery specialist Gabi Mosely (Shanola Hampton) has been holding Hugh “Sir” Evans (Mark-Park Gosselaar), the man who kidnapped her as a teenager, captive for months and is using him to help her solve cases – instantly transformed what could have looked like nothing more than numbers and glossy processes into something far more fascinating. It was a twist that was just crazy enough to make you want to see how things would officially turn out Found the thing that comes closest to a “Procedure that sucks“, which network television had been producing for quite some time.

Outside the high-concept hook, FoundThe strength of “s” as a show lay in its ability to fill a void it left behind scandal. With the dynamics of an ensemble and a workplace evolving into a found family, the series’ title worked on multiple levels, not just superficially, as Mosely & Associates tracked down missing people. This found family component clicked immediately, as Gabi and her colleagues all acted as outsiders (each with their own personal kidnapping story) who had come together for a greater goal. The concept of finding your tribe has a lot of story potential, but it’s part of what came out of it Found What was special about the first season was the decision to portray a distorted version of this too, as Sir’s obsession with teenage Gabi (as her teacher) came from the idea that he had also found his person, his family, his soulmate, his other half.

Naturally, FoundThe second season continues to explore Sir’s distorted mindset and his toxic relationship and obsession with Gabi. While the first season ended with Sir escaping Gabi’s basement and Gabi on the run with her team after revealing what she had done, the second season (of which five episodes have been made available for review) picks up from there, where she left off – with a panicked Gabi trying to get in touch with her colleague and surrogate sister Lacey (Gabrielle Walsh), who Sir blames for Gabi’s escape 20 years ago.

With Sir on the loose and out for blood, the premiere deviates entirely from the typical case-of-the-week format. Instead, FoundReturns is far more of a character study than pretty much any episode of the series up to this point. That is immediately clear Found understands the appeal of the series – its ensemble and the relationships of these characters – and has the confidence to immediately deviate from the norm. And having returned to that norm, this season’s cases are treated as an appropriate thematic backdrop to the series’ plots and characters rather than a driving, central force. This balancing act between plot and character is what often separates the more interesting, risk-taking storylines from the standard, and considering creator and executive producer Nkechi Okoro Carroll’s credentials, it’s clear that the series is both format and what she raises, understands It.

As for the ensemble, with Hampton and Gosselaar, Found has two dynamic leads who can shoulder so much. But it is difficult to thread the needle, especially in the latter case. Hampton remains one of the strongest (and least sung) leading men on television to this day. While Gabi, Sir, being locked away in the first season was clearly a sign that she hadn’t fully processed or healed from her trauma, this season doesn’t shy away from the fact that the ever-cohesive Gabi Mosley is perhaps even more broken than that Audience even noticed. There is both a strength and a fragility that Hampton has to play with this character and she continues to nail it.

Gosselaar continues to nail the role of Sir, clearly having fun playing this demanding villain and making a meal out of every scene – especially when Sir comes out of his cage and engages in a real cat-and-mouse with Gabi -Game lets in. However, there is still cause for concern that the series may also be indulging in the idea of ​​Sir, as his abilities to evade, trap and trick others are arguably amplified. This is something we’ve seen before Joe Goldberg and Dexter Morgan, and something like that could easily turn the character and the series into a parody of itself. But while this season seems to highlight Sir’s intelligence and evasiveness, this season also at least makes it clearer just how deranged Sir really is. In fact, this season arguably directly confronts those viewers (who certainly exist) who are into the idea of ​​a Gabi/Sir romance, as it officially suggests that Sir has far more than just fatherly desires for Gabi, reiterating them as… refers to his “soulmate” and only goes deeper into his obsession.

While the rest of the supporting cast contributes to the bigger picture – with Zeke (Arlen Escarpeta), Dhan (Karan Oberoi) and Trent (Brett Dalton) also in Sir’s crosshairs due to their ties to Gabi – this season is about finding more to give both Gabrielle Walsh and Kelli Williams. While the first season’s flashbacks focused on teenager Gabi’s years of captivity, this installment focuses on the aftermath of the ordeal from young Lacey’s perspective. Although Lacey wasn’t in captivity for as long as Gabi, we learn how much the situation traumatized her from that young age – and how much it continues to affect her as an adult (aside from all the locks on her doors). And with Williams’ Margaret, her reaction to what she sees as Gabi’s betrayal allows Williams to show the commanding presence she’s always had as an actress – and in some ways the character didn’t allow her to in the first season.

Despite a much bleaker start to this season, Found still remains squarely on the right side of the sordid spectrum with its cases of the week, which is a feature and not a bug. At its darkest, what might be described as the show’s depiction of current issues — in terms of discussions about the erasure of people like M&A’s clients, from the homeless to sex workers to minorities — is still part of the show’s DNA . One might think that this is why this series doesn’t get too dark, even though it deals with the less attractive sides of humanity. This happiness – often seen in the moment when the M&A family can finally say, “Welcome home!” to the last person they found – ultimately provides the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

But as far as the show’s features go (and in this case, one that should be considered a bug), Found continues to fall into the habit that unfortunately so many contemporary series (both scripted and unscripted) do in terms of music monitoring: each song selection is specifically curated to explain what’s happening in the scene and what emotions the audience should be feeling . The final moments of the first season featured a song with the lyrics “So Sleep with One Eye Open” as well as the reveal that Sir was in Lacey’s apartment, waiting to strike. For as competent of a procedure as Found That said, the aggressively literal song choices seem the hardest to set things back. It can be amusing after a while, as this season features songs with lyrics like “Coming out of the Shadows,” “I’m Coming for You,” and “Time is run out,” but ultimately it’s a symptom of a A far bigger problem in television (and network directive shows), it’s all tied to poor attention spans and media literacy. Which, let’s be honest, results in a lot more spoon-feeding than all that juiciness.

Found The second season premieres October 3rd on NBC