S02.E07: Missing While Hated

[Trini]

M&A investigates a hate crime when an activist disappears.

Airdate: November 14, 2024

 

 

[AnimeMania]

Michael Cassidy as Christian Evans
Mike Whaley as Richard Mosely
Arturo Soria as Bennie Jackson
Edwin Joseph as Rash Besu
Pamela Gold as Patrice Dubois

Lee Osorio as Ethan
Cameron Bass as Wayne Hall
Chip Lane as Congressman Bradley Germaine
Malcolm Mau as Todd Walters
Jaime Andrews as Gabi's Classmate
Debra Glenn as Reporter #1
Jillian Walzer as Reporter 2

[Rodney]

Good Lord.  Now Sir has people trying to discredit Gabi?!  At least Gabi tried to set the record straight.  But damn.  To be her when Sir put up his own video?  That infuriated me, and I'm not even his victim!

Damn.  Gabi couldn't celebrate the second anniversary of her mom's death because of Sir?  That's awful.  Even more awful is that her father ruined their third anniversary celebration because he'd rather have gotten drunk.

Yet another example of how Sir wrecked her life.  Poor Gabi.  I felt so terrible for her younger self in the flashback scenes.

So this is the first nonbinary victim.  I get why those who identify as such choose to use the gender-neutral pronouns of "they," "them," "their," and "theirs" to identify themselves and each other, but I've never gotten how that makes them sexual minorities.

Zeke really should've consulted Gabi first before deleting Sir's message.

I thought that Bennie took Rash until he explained his side of the story.  I started figuring that it was the Congressman or someone working for him.  Was surprised that it was just a scared witness.  At least Wayne intended to tell the cops where Rash was.  And the Congressman being a sexual predator of gay men?  Didn't see that coming.

So Christian is going to help with the search for Sir, after all.

Margaret can't go to the bus station, but Zeke at least makes sure that the bus station can come to her.  At least until Trent came in and ruined it.  Kelli Williams played her meltdown at the end perfectly.

Damn.  Fall finale is next week!

[TiffanyNichelle]

So I'm putting Ethan on the list with Margaret of the people who I'm done with. He has such an issue with Dhan supposedly feeling like he owes Gabi all sorts of loyalty when his relationship with Dhan is completely unethical. He was his therapist! Some would look sideways at that relationship and wonder if Dhan isn't confusing gratitude with love so many he should take several seats.

Trent keeps wanting the M&A group to look at him as friend while acting like a complete foe. Yeah, Zeke shouldn't have hacked into the police server but Trent carries such a nasty attitude with the rest of them at all times even when he knows they weren't apart of Gabi holding Sir prisoner.

I liked that they gave Margaret the bus station without her actually being there. They should have done that a long time ago.

So far this season Sir has contacted Margaret and Zeke. Is talking to Trent next?

[PupCal]

Yeah, I feel like M&A really dropped the ball on just letting Margaret hang out at the bus station all night when this option was 100% available.

Although, now I want her to be staring at it when her son walks across the station and looks directly into the camera and she's completely unable to get to him.

[FlowerofCarnage]

Amazing what people are willing to overlook when the monster is attractive. Insinuating that Gabi and Sir had a romantic relationship should make Sir look worse! Gabi was fucking 15 years old and even if she was at the farmhouse willingly, Sir was still a grown 30 year old man playing house with a child.

 

Not Sir having a moment of self-awareness and deciding to not kidnap teen Gabi in her moment of great distress.

 

I am glad they showed that Zeke isn't this all powerful hacker who never gets caught.

[cfinboston]

6 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

 

I am glad they showed that Zeke isn't this all powerful hacker who never gets caught.

What was up with them screaming at Trent "I thought you were my friend"? Zeke was hacking into Trent's private notes; was he supposed to overlook that? Trent went to the trouble to accommodate Zeke's agoraphobia, was he supposed to tell police brass that Zeke is his pal so they just let this one slide?

[babyrambo]

These characters have always been weighed down by trauma, but unravelling seems to be the theme of this season. And I think the writers are actually going about that pretty well.
 

With Margaret specifically, it’s like she can’t handle Gabi falling from the pedestal that she put her on. I don’t always like how they write her, but I think the actress is doing a great job demonstrating that conflict.

14 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

Trent keeps wanting the M&A group to look at him as friend while acting like a complete foe

Right? He keeps acting like Gabi held Sir in the basement for her health and was giving him regular beat downs. What she did was wrong but she kidnapped her kidnapper, bot some random stranger and he’s acting like she’s a danger to the world at large. I know he’s a cop but he’s obviously bringing personal feelings into it and it’s gotten old.

I also agree with you on Ethan. They lost me once they revealed he was Dhan’s old therapist. Also he’s clearly not very good at his job if he would date a client and then can’t even get a clear read on that client in their home. I get feeling betrayed that Dhan procured Sir for Gabi and didn’t tell him but he crossed all types of lines and is dating an extremely traumatized man. I loved that Dhan was married at first (although I find it odd that in a season and a half they didn’t kiss once, and kept getting regulated to the forehead touches and handholding that so many gay couples get instead of kisses and regular physical intimacy like straight couples) but I’m not at all sad to see him go. 

6 hours ago, FlowerofCarnage said:

Amazing what people are willing to overlook when the monster is attractive.

Exactly. Violent serial killers have fan clubs so Sir having stans shouldn’t surprise me, but I’m still disgusted by the comments on promos from fans who claim they would’ve eagerly gone with Sir as teens and that Gabi should stop being so stubborn and just ‘give in’ to his love 🙄. More like sick obsession and possession. The fact that these people can’t grasp that she was a child and he was a grown man who abducted her is beyond me. But if anything that video of Sir would’ve only made his fans all the more dedicated in universe and irl. 

Also I think his partner is his sister. There was casting news a while ago about a new female character and while she wasn’t named, I’m guessing that’s Lena. 

[cfinboston]

I really hated both Margaret and Zeke this episode. They're both mentally ill but have moved into an environment that indulges it. This might be comfortable in the short term but eventually they've both become dangerously self centered.

Why would you be allowed to physically injure a bus station employee and then cry because the bus station won't allow you there anymore? Why should you be allowed to illegally hack into the DC police department files and then cry because they cut off your Internet? There are consequences for actions and unfortunately both Margaret and Zeke have been coddled for too long to the point where they believe their accountability should be erased. 

I also won't jump on the anti Trent bandwagon. The M&A crew seem to expect him to be at their beck and call when they want the police department as their muscle and enforcement, but they get resentful when the police have to do their jobs like arrest kidnappers and hackers. They're like teenagers expecting an allowance and a ride to the mall but they want to break curfew and misbehave without consequences.

[andromeda331]

Yeah Margaret and Zeke were both terrible. I go back and forth on Trent but he's a cop and Zeke hacked into his stuff. He's shocked that he's being arrest for that? It is a crime and Trent is helping them. But no they should get a free pass? Ah, no. They can't have it both ways.

Margaret's shocked that the ban wasn't lifted? You attacked someone Margaret over touching a paper. Ethan's on my list too. I liked that one of them was married. But Ethan went overboard going off on Gabi. It's really creepy that he was Dhan's former therapist. That's so wrong.

Of course Sir comes out and says one thing and it immediately turns the tables on Gabi. Who cares that she was kidnapped as a kid for a year and tramatized for the rest of her life? Sir's cute. It's horrifying and sadly realistic.  

Poor Gabi her father really sucks.

[TiffanyNichelle]

I understand Trent is wanting to go by the book and they are all breaking the law so he's not going to let things slide. But it's the fact that with Gabi it's so personal for him that bothers me the most. I think his chief hit it on the head, this is more about his ego and not that she broke the law holding Sir in her basement. I'm starting to wonder if she'd confessed to him right after she took Sir & let Trent in on the secret if he would have helped her the whole time. I think he's more hurt about that versus he needs to put a bad guy (Gabi) in prison for breaking the law.

He's also frustrated that as angry as the group is they aren't willing to help to give evidence to put her away. Yeah Zeke being shocked that Trent came to seize the computers is like, what do you expect but Trent still thinks they are all cool and united against Gabi. Right now it seems that Gabi is the only one who is seeing the situation clearly. 

I really need to stop with the shots of Sir in little Lacey's closet because now it's starting to feel silly. So was he just living in that closet? Did her mother never have to go in there? If Lacey thought he was in the closet couldn't she have communicated that the doors should be open at all times or taken off the hinges?

[threebluestars]

I love how messy and trauma ridden they all are, because it's way more realistic to life. They are accomplishing things, but also hampered by what happened to them. Their traumas help them while investigating and hamper them in life outside of that.

I'm hoping they'll do individual episodes flashing back on Zeke, Dhan and Margaret and what happened to them and how it affected them in the past. We know Lacey and Gabi's history, but aside from knowing Dhan was tortured (possibly a POW?), Zeke was held captive as a child and has agoraphobia and Margaret's son is missing, we don't know a lot about who they were before and what the circumstances were, so I hope we get into that.

[Dowel Jones]

All I can say is (from the shallow end of the pool), Lacey needs to work on her wardrobe.  That sweater and shirt combo...

[peeayebee]

20 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

I liked that they gave Margaret the bus station without her actually being there. They should have done that a long time ago.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. "Hey, what a great idea! Why didn't they do that before?"

51 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

All I can say is (from the shallow end of the pool), Lacey needs to work on her wardrobe.  That sweater and shirt combo...

Ugh. I kept thinking she was wearing a chef's apron around her waist.

 

[possibilities]

It can't be legal to essentially bug the bus station, so I wasn't happy about them doing it. But in the larger picture of everything they do, I guess it isn't the worst thing.

I still think it would be better for Margaret to be in therapy, though, than to indulge her compulsion.

I get she doesn't want to stop looking for her son, but sitting all night int he bus station doesn't strike me as how to do that, anyway.

[Dowel Jones]

Maybe it was the bus station CC camera, and Zeke had hacked into the feed.  Still illegal.

[andromeda331]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

It can't be legal to essentially bug the bus station, so I wasn't happy about them doing it. But in the larger picture of everything they do, I guess it isn't the worst thing.

I still think it would be better for Margaret to be in therapy, though, than to indulge her compulsion.

I get she doesn't want to stop looking for her son, but sitting all night int he bus station doesn't strike me as how to do that, anyway.

She really does need therapy. Unfortunately I don't see it happening since she quit when her therapist tried to encourage her to not go to the bus stop.

[TiffanyNichelle]

When Margaret was crying asking why Gabi can't find her son, I thought maybe it's because you spend every night in a bus station hoping he just comes back there.

[Rodney]

6 minutes ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

When Margaret was crying asking why Gabi can't find her son, I thought maybe it's because you spend every night in a bus station hoping he just comes back there.

It's been explained more than once that she mainly goes back to keep the memory of that day fresh so she can hopefully remember something she hadn't considered before that can help with finding her son.

[TiffanyNichelle]

1 minute ago, Rodney said:

It's been explained more than once that she mainly goes back to keep the memory of that day fresh so she can hopefully remember something she hadn't considered before that can help with finding her son.

It's been years and if she hasn't suddenly remembered anything yet, I don't think anything is going to pop up now. She lost years with her daughter b/c she had to sit there every night, attacked a janitor because he moved a flyer, and harassed him so badly she's been banned from the bus station. Being at the bus station hasn't helped at all.

[MarylandGirl]

2 minutes ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

It's been years and if she hasn't suddenly remembered anything yet, I don't think anything is going to pop up now. She lost years with her daughter b/c she had to sit there every night, attacked a janitor because he moved a flyer, and harassed him so badly she's been banned from the bus station. Being at the bus station hasn't helped at all.

It seems very much like an OCD and PTSD thing to me. As someone with OCD, compulsions (like her sitting in the bus station) don't generally make sense. She may be engaging in what's called "magical thinking," that she can control events by what she does, like if she follows her "rule" of sitting in the bus station every night, then she might find her son.

It may seem crazy and/or illogical to people who don't have OCD (or whose compulsions show themselves in different ways, like checking many times to make sure a door is locked), but it can be part of the disorder. I think she's portrayed rather realistically, including fighting against someone who is trying to take down the information on her son from the bulletin board (not that I've ever done anything like that!).

The thing with OCD is, the more you give in to compulsions, the more they can take hold. The therapist she saw for a bit was doing the right thing, in getting her to work on gradually decreasing the amount of time she spent there. But it was too painful for her.

 

[possibilities]

And with respect to Zeke feeling like losing the computer cuts him off completely from the outside world, there were agoraphobics and homebound disabled people before computers, and definitely before videoconferencing. It's a loss, but he can still be piped into meetings via speakerphone, he can use a cell phone, and he is not nearly as isolated or without resources as most people in his situation.

I wonder what they will do, though.

Is he banned from using tech? He has money, so if he's not banned, he could replace most of it. They didn't formally say he's out on parole, so it didn't seem they've charged him yet, and they are just seizing the equipment suspected of being part of his illegal activities.

I am not predicting how the show wants to go, because I really don't know. Maybe they want to force everyone to face all the traumas and adaptations they've developed, and find new ways of coping, or maybe they just want transient drama. I kind of like that I'm not sure.

[KaveDweller]

7 hours ago, possibilities said:

Is he banned from using tech? He has money, so if he's not banned, he could replace most of it. They didn't formally say he's out on parole, so it didn't seem they've charged him yet, and they are just seizing the equipment suspected of being part of his illegal activities.

I don't think he could be banned yet, that is something that would come out as a sentence after being charged and found guilty. Maybe it could also be a term of being out on bail? But it seemed like they were just searching his home and seizing the evidence. I assume that will lead to his arrest if he wasn't already under arrest at the time.

I doubt he will be banned, his tech skills are too integral to them solving their cases.

[possibilities]

I know someone who was banned from using a computer while he was out on bail awaiting trial, so it's theoretically possible.

I'm just unclear about whether Zeke was charged and allowed to stay "on house arrest" as an accomodation for his disability, or if he hasn't been charged yet, and they are still just investigating.

The cop (Trent?) said he was not forcing him to go into the station because he's sympathetic to Z's issues, so that made me think maybe Z was charged, but they didn't make it clear (to me, anyway).

It seemed to me that they had a warrant to seize the tech, but if that's all they were doing, why would Zeke be expected to go to the station in the first place?

They seemed very sure that he had hacked the police, and that seems like they were at the arrest stage, too.

Maybe the show is confused, not just me.

Trent seems willing to remove Gabi from her investigating position if he can get her sent to jail, so I don't think they would be hesitatnt to ban Zeke from his role, either. Pretty much everything he does is illegal anyway, so there's that. But also, it seems like the investigationss embarrass the police, and there has always been tension between M&A and the cops.

 

[peeayebee]

20 hours ago, possibilities said:

I am not predicting how the show wants to go, because I really don't know. Maybe they want to force everyone to face all the traumas and adaptations they've developed, and find new ways of coping, or maybe they just want transient drama. I kind of like that I'm not sure.

That makes sense. I can't remember: What is Dhan's trauma?

[Trini]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

That makes sense. I can't remember: What is Dhan's trauma?

They actually haven't given us much info, but he was a prisoner of war held captive for months(?) at least.

[KaveDweller]

16 hours ago, possibilities said:

Trent seems willing to remove Gabi from her investigating position if he can get her sent to jail, so I don't think they would be hesitatnt to ban Zeke from his role, either. Pretty much everything he does is illegal anyway, so there's that. But also, it seems like the investigationss embarrass the police, and there has always been tension between M&A and the cops.

The police wouldn't hesitate to do it, but I meant the writers wouldn't want to write that because they need to keep doing a show where people investigate missing people. Just like I don't think the writers have plans to actually send Gaby to prison long term. 

Would the police actually be able to arrest someone without bringing them to the station? I can see doing house arrest to accommodate a disability, but wouldn't he need to be brought in initially?

Maybe they can't arrest him yet because they need to search the computer equipment for evidence first?

[Rodney]

17 hours ago, Trini said:

They actually haven't given us much info, but he was a prisoner of war held captive for months(?) at least.

Years, actually.  Three of them.

[Trini]

I did like that the flashbacks explained how Gabi and Lacey came to consider themselves sisters -- they actually did live together for a while; and it wasn't just the trauma bond of them both being kidnapped.