S02.E17: Missing While Manipulated

[Trini]

An emotional father takes drastic measures to find his missing son, causing Gabi to be caught in his crosshairs. M&A races against the clock to uncover the truth. Margaret makes a shocking revelation about Sir's accomplice.

(Directed by Mark-Paul Gosselaar)

Airdate: April 3, 2025

Edited April 3 by Trini

[AnimeMania]

Spoiler

Jacinte Blankenship as Norma

McKinley Belcher III as Monty

[Brown44]

I called it. I mentioned in the comments earlier in the season that Sir mentioned he had a sister he said he was protecting his brother and sister from there mother and I mentioned that the sister must be the one helping Sir.

[Rodney]

Mark-Paul directed an amazing episode.

I can't believe that Gabi and Margaret stayed so calm while Monty was holding a gun on them for the bulk of the episode.  Seems like Margaret couldn't read him as long as he had the gun.  But I liked how she used her experience with losing her family to guide Monty into holding on to his own hope.

I'm surprised that Margaret lost Darryl and her daughters after just nine months.  Margaret made it sound like it was at least a year or more before Darryl left her.

Wow.  So the lady at the bus station became a real friend of Margaret's?  Wow.

I'm more positive that this is Jamie now.  His panic at Margaret being in trouble was all that I needed.  If he were fake, he wouldn't have panicked.

Margaret really redeemed herself (at least in my eyes) for a lot of past behavior in this episode.  Getting more of her background really made me understand her even more!  Also, I loved her scenes with Sir.  Kelli and Mark-Paul both went at it perfectly.

Still waiting for Sir to have extended interactions with Dhan and Zeke, though.

Even with Sir being an obsessed freak over Gabi, he still cares about her enough to not want her in danger.

Dalia's parents and the unseen shrink being the true evil ones I didn't see coming.  But I had a feeling that the friend, Norma, knew more than she was saying.  But in the end, it was all part of a long game for Dalia to reunite herself and Jalen with Monty.

Monty turning himself in was nice, even despite Gabi and Margaret not wanting to press charges.  I hope that they do indeed go easy on him.

Oh, God.  Heather is Lena!  Nice job to whomever suspected that!

And holy fuck!  Did -- did Lena take Jamie?!

Great episode!

[Rodney]

7 minutes ago, Brown44 said:

I called it. I mentioned in the comments earlier in the season that Sir mentioned he had a sister he said he was protecting his brother and sister from there mother and I mentioned that the sister must be the one helping Sir.

And now she might be the one who took Jamie.  If so, then that explains why she was introduced.  And why she probably unleashed Jamie on the team.

[TiffanyNichelle]

Finally we get confirmation that Heather is Lena. I was doubting it for a while when she and Sir met in person and it felt like there was no connection but nope, she is his sister. I knew they were keeping her and Margaret from meeting for the longest time for a reason. Margaret vision for the win!

I had a feeling from the start that the father hadn't hurt the son at all and it was the mother. Then we met her parents and the casual way they talked so awfully about her sealed it. She had no chance. But he lost me with you know, almost shooting people with the gun. I'm glad that in the end he offered to turn himself in and due his time for holding Gabi & Margaret hostage. I know Gabi felt bad for him but just like she felt she had to do her penance for keeping Sir, so did this guy.

I was eating a slice of cheesecake when Trent fell out of the ceiling on top of them and I almost choked laughing, it was so funny. I felt bad for him when they were making him feel like crap for handcuffing the guy. Sorry he missed the breakthrough when he was trying to save Gabi's life.

Sir is awful but he did hit it on the head about the way Margaret treated Gabi for weeks (months?) after she found out that Gabi had Sir in the basement. When she and Zeke were reminiscing about how Gabi was there for them during their hard times, I think it hit home for Margaret. Gabi had her back when she spent night after night in a bus station, so much that she lost her husband and her daughters but she couldn't give Gabi a little grace for how she spiraled out in response to her father's death. It might be because for all of her Margaret vision, she couldn't read that Gabi was keeping such a big secret from all of them?

I think one of the bus station crew is who took Jamie and stayed close to Margaret at the beginning to make sure she didn't figure it out. It's always a trope in crime shows about the criminal insinuating themselves into the investigation.

[Rodney]

1 hour ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

I think one of the bus station crew is who took Jamie and stayed close to Margaret at the beginning to make sure she didn't figure it out. It's always a trope in crime shows about the criminal insinuating themselves into the investigation.

I'm not so sure about that.  Sir repeated something to Margaret that Jamie had apparently told him while he was gone.  That implied that Sir had known Jamie during his "captivity."  That would only have happened if Sir had known the person who had Jamie in the first place.  That's why I'm thinking that Heather/Lena must've done it.  Or at least someone close to them.

Edited April 4 by Rodney

[TiffanyNichelle]

29 minutes ago, Rodney said:

Sir repeated something to Margaret that Jamie had apparently told them while he was gone. 

I thought that Margaret was shocked to hear that Jamie said his mother always said it because she had never said something like that before. Later when she was digging through that box of things that must be Jamie related I thought she was going to pull out something that had that phrase on it. And whatever it was would have either come from someone else, not Margaret.

I think it would be too weird for Heather to have been the person to grab Jamie and raise him. To me it would too much of a coincidence that they are all connected.

[Trini]

This show is pretty good with the cases of the week, but it's really failing at the ongoing arcs. At least this season.

The Heather/Accomplice reveal is because Margaret thinks she looks like Sir? LAME. I hope they get actual proof next episode. And maybe it would have had more impact if they had spent more time showing or telling us about Sir's family. Lena was only mentioned exactly once with no information.

Don't know why they're playing so coy about Jamie for so many episodes.

[Ellee]

Is it possible that Heather was Jamie’s father’s ‘girlfriend’ back then and the father of Jaime was involved in his disappearance?

[DanaK]

10 hours ago, TiffanyNichelle said:

I had a feeling from the start that the father hadn't hurt the son at all and it was the mother. Then we met her parents and the casual way they talked so awfully about her sealed it. She had no chance. But he lost me with you know, almost shooting people with the gun. I'm glad that in the end he offered to turn himself in and due his time for holding Gabi & Margaret hostage. I know Gabi felt bad for him but just like she felt she had to do her penance for keeping Sir, so did this guy.

He was so violent and threatening with Gabi and Margaret, I felt so sure he was violent with his wife and son, so I was surprised at the end to learn he wasn't. He properly deserves to go to jail for the violence and threats against Gabi and Margaret. It's one thing to wave a gun around, it's another to actually point it at someone and threaten to pull the trigger. Either the actor overdid it or the director didn't reign him in; his wife's description of him as someone who wouldn't hurt her or their son didn't match what he showed Gabi and Margaret

[Rodney]

5 hours ago, DanaK said:

He was so violent and threatening with Gabi and Margaret, I felt so sure he was violent with his wife and son, so I was surprised at the end to learn he wasn't. He properly deserves to go to jail for the violence and threats against Gabi and Margaret. It's one thing to wave a gun around, it's another to actually point it at someone and threaten to pull the trigger. Either the actor overdid it or the director didn't reign him in; his wife's description of him as someone who wouldn't hurt her or their son didn't match what he showed Gabi and Margaret

I think that it was a deliberate choice to hide from the audience that he hadn't been violent with his family.  Just to show that he was desperate in this situation, but had been otherwise calm before then.

[Rodney]

12 hours ago, Trini said:

The Heather/Accomplice reveal is because Margaret thinks she looks like Sir? LAME. I hope they get actual proof next episode.

Margaret has spotted relatives since as early as the pilot.  She looks for similar familial traits to figure out when someone's related to someone else.  So that's not "lame."  It's something that's been established.

[Trini]

It's LAME. They could have done something better. I thought it was really lazy.

[babyrambo]

13 hours ago, Trini said:

The Heather/Accomplice reveal is because Margaret thinks she looks like Sir? LAME. I hope they get actual proof next episode. And maybe it would have had more impact if they had spent more time showing or telling us about Sir's family. Lena was only mentioned exactly once with no information.

Exactly. I went ‘that’s it?’ when she said that because HeatherLena was something most of the audience either guessed at or knew. Her offkilter meeting with Sir threw me off for a bit, but I never stopped suspecting her as an accomplice. And because they saved Margaret’s reveal for the end of the episode, I expected something more interesting or sharp. For it to just be that they look alike was a pretty lame use of her superpower, I agree.

But I’m glad the reveal is out because just like Jamie, it was dragged out. I know they’ve all but said that he is who he says he is, but still. A quick google shows that an at home DNA test result can arrive as quickly as 2 weeks. So for them to still not have confirmation after all this time is a bit forced. Just like Sir’s appearance in this episode. I know MPG is a regular but Sir’s catty monologues to open/close out the episodes are getting a bit stale IMO. 

Also didn’t care for the case, because as someone else already mentioned upthread, desperate or not, the father’s rough actions/demeanour and what was being said about him just didn’t track. 

[Rodney]

2 hours ago, Trini said:

It's LAME. They could have done something better. I thought it was really lazy.

*waves dismissively*  Different strokes, then.  I loved it and didn't find it "lazy" at all.  But have at it if you want.

[andromeda331]

I was hoping for a better reveal about Heather then just looks. That Margaret would "see" something else.

I'm glad she didn't use Gabi to get information about her son. I guess Jamie is her son? He really freaked out when he heard Margaret was in danger. Margaret heard that saying before. I wonder who it was. I really hope not her husband. I still feel really bad for him and the daughters. They lost Jamie and Margaret in one moment. Margaret's non-reaction to him leaving and taking the girls was hard and sad. Along with her telling him she only had enough energy left for Jamie.

I did like Margaret and Gabi both talking to the father about their experiences. Dahlia's parents' really suck. Same with that therapist.

[omgsowicked]

23 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Margaret heard that saying before. I wonder who it was. I really hope not her husband.

I never suspected him before but I've found his behavior toward Margaret in the flashbacks to be really odd. I wasn't sure if it was bad acting or purposeful but he seemed really annoyed by her the whole way through. Like, she was clearly suffering and desperate to find Jamie and he seemed to have moved on really quickly and was annoyed she hadn't. It could be that he knew he still had two other children to be present for but perhaps he knew Jamie was perfectly fine. But why would he do that? He hated Margaret/their marriage that much? Maybe the kidnapper(s) threatened to kill Jamie if he told her? I mean, I don't know.

Now I'm wondering if this is the real reason why Jamie's been kept from the rest of the family because you'd think that would cause a massive blowup. She's not the only one who lost him. But maybe it's for the same reason Margaret couldn't meet HeatherLena until now, it would give the whole thing away.

Add me to the list of people who are fed up with this delayed DNA test thing. Send that shit to LabCorp and move on, damn!

[Trini]

17 minutes ago, omgsowicked said:

Add me to the list of people who are fed up with this delayed DNA test thing. Send that shit to LabCorp and move on, damn!

The fact that they've kept delaying this very basic piece of info is what has me now thinking that they might be setting up for some type of twist, and he's NOT the real Jamie.

If it is Jamie, it's just a super stupid, super annoying, unnecessary drama generator.

[tennisgurl]

Heather being Lena really does explain a lot, although I do wish that Margaret had figured it out in a more interesting way than just noting their facial similarities. When she was doing her whole "sure I'm working to get an evil man who you correctly loath out of jail but that shouldn't affect us baby" routine on Trent all I could think is how delusional this lady must be, and knowing that she's Sir's sister really explains it all. They not only share eye shape, but long con plans and delusions. 

The case of the week was pretty good, I like that nether parent was really perfect or awful, they just had issues, and it was the snobby parents and corrupt therapist who screwed things up. I felt bad for both of them and their son but Monty was right to turn himself in. He had good intentions but he did threaten and hold two people hostage with a gun, I hope that they go easy on him but its very fair that he faces consequences for his actions. 

This Jamie story will literally never end, every time I think we're getting answers they pull back yet again, like even the characters are purposefully padding this story. I like the idea that Lena kidnapped Jamie and set him loose on the team to mess with them now that Sir's in jail, it would certainly tie everything together, but for gods sake, can they just reveal everything? This is probably the first episode that I really felt like Jamie was Jamie, he really did seem afraid when he found out his mom was in danger. 

The flashbacks are really sad, although now I wonder if Margaret's husband knows something that he's keeping from her. Margarete is obsessing but he seems kind of chill about his son being missing, although its also fully possible that he's just trying to keep it together for his daughters. It was really sad when Margaret's husband asked if she would fight for her daughters and she couldn't answer, those poor girls lost their brother and their mother in one day. Again, I have to ask, why aren't any other members of their family there to see Jamie? I would love some interactions between Margarete, her daughters, and Jamie. 

[possibilities]

Also, if Margaret's husband is not guilty and was a decent guy, why would he not be insisting she get therapy, instead of just berating her and then leaving? She's clearly having a complete breakdown due to grief and guilt. And he's acting like he doesn't care about her OR their son. He's not wrong that she has a problem. But he's handling it in the most abusive way possible. And yes, maybe he's angry because Jamie disappeared on her watch. But, again, he's not being reasonable in how he's handling it. He seemed to move on suspiciously fast and without any emotion.

I also find it inexplicable that, after all this time, Jamie has still not had any contact with his father or sisters-- if he really is Jamie. Maybe he was sent there to mess with Margaret, and now he's decided he likes her and the rest of the team, after seeing them help people. Or maybe he really is her son and he has Stockholm Syndrome. But the total refusal to even notify the rest of the family is a hugely suspicious thing that I can't get over, unless dad is in on the whole thing.

--

The dad who threatened Gabi and Margaret really ought to have tried talking to them without threats first. He went from "desperate parent" to "maniac with a gun" and back very quickly.