‘Found’: Kelli Williams Says Margaret Would Be ‘Gutted’ to Learn Gabi Has Sir in Her Basement

Found is returning to the scene of a crime (sort of) with the December 5 episode.

In “Missing While Indoctrinated,” Gabi (Shanola Hampton) and the team revisit a case from earlier in the season involving child trafficking, and their investigation leads them in a shocking direction. Cases involving kids are tough for them — especially Gabi, considering the year she spent being held in that farmhouse by Sir (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), now in her basement.

Also tough right now for one of the team: the idea of letting go of the bus station for Margaret (Kelli Williams), where she last saw her son before he went missing 13 years ago. Below, Williams previews this week’s episode, discusses Margaret’s trauma and her family, and speculates about her character’s reaction if she found out what Gabi’s hiding.

Preview this week’s episode. It takes the team back to a previous case.

Kelli Williams: This young man was part of this trafficking ring that we didn’t know the depths of, and then he wakes up from a coma. Margaret tries to find that middle ground between getting the mom to come and helping with getting the child back, but I know that it’s particularly tense for Gabi when we deal with children, you know what I mean? Because it’s such a trigger for her with her past. I remember it’s a really strong episode.

At this point, what worries or scares Margaret more: letting go of the bus station or being ready to let go of the bus station?

I think that she’s coming to terms with the idea that she does need to go to therapy and that she’s been interestingly holding on to this hope of finding Jamie, and I think it’s terrifying the idea of letting go, you know what I mean? The idea that he could possibly be gone. I could not fathom that kind of pull and deep, deep sadness. It’s almost like her trauma, her original trauma of losing her son and then the 13 years of continually reinforcing that trauma and her own guilt around what happened, I think that it’s opening the gates of that guilt, and really working on it, I think, is incredibly important but terrifying for her.

How much does she also need the work at M&A finding missing people? Because if she lost that, she wouldn’t have anything else.

I agree. I think that they are her family and it’s an incredibly powerful distraction. I think that she also has honed in on the Margaret vision of it all because she’s so hyper-focused around detail. It’s the thing I think that keeps her together. Even if she’s barely together, it keeps her together.

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And she’s starting to work on rebuilding her relationship with her daughter. How does she feel about how that’s going?

I kind of think that she felt like she sort of failed in that in a sense when she came there. I know in the end, she wanted to give her the freedom to emancipate because she wants her to live a good life and not be held back in it. But the idea of making that choice — It’s so multi-layered. It’s like she abandons her other children because she can’t not hold on to what happened. And then that very thing of trying to repair that, it’s so tenuous, the idea of trying to repair that, and then the feeling of, if I want to go see my daughter or one of my daughters and then that means I’m not at the bus station, what that brings up as well. Because that in itself is a huge turning point in Margaret too, that she feels like a failure all over again. I’m excited, though, to see that relationship, how that continues with the daughters.

Yeah, it’s really interesting to watch because you see how much Margaret wants what’s best for her daughter, but she doesn’t know if she’s what’s best for her daughter. It’s just so complicated.

It’s so complicated.

Lacey’s (Gabrielle Elise Walsh) picking up on something going on with Gabi. How much is Margaret picking up on considering her hyper-observance? There’s also the fact of what’s going on in Margaret’s life that could be affecting that.

I know, Isn’t that interesting? I was curious about that, too, because it’s like Lacey [noticed] all the different little tells of her not being completely honest. I wonder if Margaret — I think that Margaret clearly has to focus on something maybe to see it, in terms of things that she misses. Occasionally, she’ll say stuff around how somebody was so good at sort of compartmentalizing or having a lack of emotion, that then she didn’t see certain behavior.

So I wonder if, in the complexities of each of the characters, and particularly Gabi in having held on to the secret for so long, it’s like if you see something that’s off, do you interpret it? It’s like only in hindsight where you see what you’ve missed in a sense with someone that’s close. Maybe she’s too close to her for her to see. This is me just totally hypothesizing. I have no idea. But I mean, as an actor, it’s interesting, too, when it’s written, when Nkechi Okoro Carroll or the writers will then write something, what is it that I’m not seeing on purpose? You know what I mean? To help us in the future storytelling.

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How would Margaret react to finding out that Gabi has Sir in her basement and is using him to help with the cases?

I think that she would feel betrayed, gutted, and I think that that would completely fracture any sense of safety and in their community, you know what I mean? So much of what they have is that they’re built on trust.

Could it fracture her and Gabi’s relationship…

Irrevocably? In terms of making for good drama, I think there would have to be kind of some reconciliation, you know what I mean? Some definite deep discussions. But I think that [there would be] progress [but] then backpedaling. Because it’s remembering having that kind of betrayal. Like any betrayal, how do you work through it? It takes time. So I definitely think it would take a lot of time to build that trust again.

Found, Tuesdays, 10/9c, NBC