[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Will Trent Season 3 Episode 2, “Sunny-Side Up.”]
The two-part opening event for Will Trent Season 3 came to a happy-ish ending on Tuesday’s (January 14) episode.
Following the events of the premiere, which saw the murder of a police officer who was ready to cooperate with a DA investigation and the eventual abduction of gang leader Raphael’s daughter Sunny, Will (Ramón Rodríguez) and Faith (Iantha Richardson) put their beef aside to work together on the case.
After finding Sunny’s caretaker murdered, they learn that she was abducted by one of Raphael’s rivals, a gang leader, and soon learn that he, too, has been murdered. Amanda (Sonja Sohn) suspects someone connected to the police would be the only one brave enough to take him out, and she’s right.
After the GBI arrests a low-level (and low-level intelligence) operative of the car theft ring connected to the cop-killing, they’re able to connect with Sunny directly through her specialized gaming device and find out she’s been taken to a police safe house. Marion (Gina Rodriguez) identifies Sunny’s captor as another officer at the deadly party, and Amanda talks her through how to escape her abductor’s car. As he tries to chase the girl, he warns someone on the phone that if he goes down, they will, too. Things quickly escalate into a firefight, in which Will takes a bullet to the chest (but isn’t badly injured thanks to his vest), and the cop-turned-perp is arrested… and quickly killed off while in custody. Will soon connects the dots and realizes it’s the mayor herself who’s at the top of this criminal enterprise, and she gets arrested.
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For Will, it’s a bit of a full-circle moment, as he’s been largely villainized by other police for turning in officers in the past, and it helps him feel better about returning to the line of duty once again after his extended getaway.
As Ramón Rodríguez told TV Insider, “Obviously, it’s a big part of his purpose of why he does what he does, is to take on corruption and criminal activity… He didn’t have somebody there to really protect him and help him as a kid. And so I think that serves as a real purpose for him now in life. And so when he sees or learns that the mayor’s corrupt and what the mayor’s involved in, that’s a big deal, and I think that does check a big box for him. I think that serves the purpose of his job life and work life.”
Indeed, at the conclusion of the case, when Raphael says he hopes Will will return to Tennessee now that the case (which Raphael himself summoned Will back for) is solved, he declines, saying boldly, “I think I’m going to be sticking around for a while, and it’s Special Agent Will Trent.”
About that declaration, Rodríguez explained, “By the end of Episode 2, we sort of see him put that suit back on, and something about it feels right again. And I think he realizes this is what he’s meant to do — at least for now.”
That doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of complications ahead in the new season. Rodríguez warned that when it comes to Will’s relationships — “with Amanda or with Faith and even with Angie and Betty” — there will be “friction” that plays out throughout the new season, “where relationships are falling in and out of his life and working and not working.”
“There’s gonna be struggles and there’s going to be other drama, or else it wouldn’t be a good show,” the actor and executive producer teased of what’s ahead.
Will Trent, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC
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