Will Trent has been one of our favorite shows since it debuted two years ago, mainly because it takes a lot of care to explore the lives of not only its main character but it’s small ensemble of supporting characters. The cases that Will, an agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, has to solve with his unorthodox methods aren’t always great, but the banter on the show and the way he and the others bring their pasts into their investigations are consistently entertaining. The start of Season 3, coming six months after the events of Season 2, demonstrates this.
WILL TRENT SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A body floats in a pool, which we see from underneath. It turns out that it’s the daughter of APD Det. Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), who is at a pool party thrown by Capt. Heller (Todd Allen Durkin).
The Gist: The captain asks two other cops at the party to go get ice, and as they walk into the street, a man in a red car wearing the orange colors of a local gang, shoots them both. One officer is killed and the other is injured.
In a press conference with Atlanta’s mayor (Olivia Denise Dawson), GBI Captain Amanda Walker (Sonja Sohn) announces that agent Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson) is leading the investigation. But Capt. Heller thinks they should round up Rafael Wexford (Antwayn Hopper), the leader of the gang who wears those colors. When the GBI and APD surround his house, though, he asks for one person: Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez).
Here’s the thing, though: Will Trent is working as a private investigator in Tennessee. Six months ago, he left Atlanta after having the love of his life, APD Det. Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) arrested for tampering with evidence regarding the teenager that murdered the man who abused Angie in her teen years. He took his dog Betty (Bluebell) and left without telling anyone anything, including Betty’s dog-sitter Nico (Cora Lu Tran).
We see him relatively content, having ditched his signature three-piece suits and swapped his busted-up flip phone for a smartphone with a Spanish-speaking accessibility app Eduardo. Somehow, though, Amanda happens to find him, and asks him to come back to talk to Wexford. The two know each other, with Will having spent some time in the house under the care of Wexford’s grandmother (Marla Gibbs). But, being on either side of the law, the two haven’t spoken in years.
Will reluctantly agrees to come back to Georgia temporarily, and has to build trust with Faith again; her new partner (Douglas Smith) is adept but a little awkward, to the point where she calls him “Lurch”. In the meantime, Angie is working as a security guard in an upscale housing development as her reinstatement with the APD is considered; she barely escaped conviction after Will had her arrested.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Considering we just wrote an opinion piece that grouped Will Trent with Elsbeth, Matlock and High Potential, we’ll go with that.
Our Take: Will Trent, created by Liz Heldens and Daniel T. Thomsen based on Karin Slaughter’s novels, continues to do what we’ve enjoyed about the show during its first two seasons, which is explore how Will’s rough upbringing informs his relationships and investigations. The past two seasons have also deepened the side characters, especially Faith, Amanda and Ormewood, to the point where the ensemble has become a group we want to spend time with and find out more about.
The third season, though, has Heldens, Thomsen and their writers at a crossroads when it comes to Will and Angie. Their complicated history was one of the best things about the show, because the history is so deeply rooted in their shared foster child upbringings and how they supported each other through their respective traumas over the past 30 years. Season 2 ended with Will having to choose between pursuing the life with Angie they both always wanted or following his instincts as a cop to do the right thing.
The consequences of him doing the right thing, though, means that Will and Angie are going to spend some time apart, and will have to rebuild their trust in each other. Splitting up a dynamic like they have is always risky, even if we know they’ll get back together at some point during the season.
We’d imagine it’s the reason why Gina Rodriguez, playing assistant district attorney Marion Alba, has joined the cast. As soon as she’s introduced in the first episode, we see she’s positioned as another smart, resourceful person that Will can have intellectual and romantic chemistry with. We’re unabashed fans of the former Jane The Virgin star, and it’s fun to watch her and Ramón Rodríguez (not related) share banter.
Unlike what we saw in the first two seasons’ first episodes, the two-part mystery in the third season premiere had some meat and twists to it, and wasn’t obvious until close to the end of the second episode. But at this stage of the show’s existence, the cases-of-the-week are really taking a back seat to the regular characters and their stories.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: Will, Faith and Ormewood find out that whoever had the cops killed also took Wexford’s teenage daughter.
Sleeper Star: Bluebell will always get our vote here. What we didn’t realize is that her name isn’t just “Betty” on the show, it’s “Betty Maria White Trent.”
Most Pilot-y Line: A letter carrier and local waitress openly watch what’s going on in the window Will is taking pictures of, funnily but obviously blowing his cover.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Will Trent continues to be more about a great ensemble of characters than the cases they have to solve every week. And the addition of Gina Rodriguez will hopefully make up for a lack of scenes between Ramón Rodríguez and Erika Christensen at the season’s outset.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Will Trent’ Season 3 On ABC, Where The Quirky GBI Agent Returns From Self-Imposed Exile — And Gina Rodriguez Joins The Cast appeared first on Decider.
