I can see a world where Karen Slaughter's Will
Trent novels got a more faithful adaptation, much in the way the works of
Michael Connelly and Tony Hillerman have during the past decade.
(Spoilers for the books ahead)
In that version Michael Ormewood was the first
serial killer Will and the GBI hunted and is long dead. Angie Polaski and Will
have a relationship that has always been toxic and Angie ends up leaving the
Atlanta PD and essentially becoming a vigilante. Amanda Wagner is Will's boss
and she is constantly berating and abusing her underlings and treats Will like
dirt. Will and Faith are partners but Faith's personal life is even more of a
mess then it is right now.
That series might have been a masterpiece. But I
think that both myself and the legions of fans and critics that love this show
(it was named one of the 25 best shows of 2025 by IndieWire) are grateful that
we have the one we've gotten on ABC for the last three seasons. This Will
Trent is dark to be sure, but its also hysterically funny at times, its
characters have demons but they are not overwhelming, it’s a procedural show
rather then serialized, and perhaps most wonderful it has a heart to go with
its brain.
We see this in the two-part season 4 premiere in
which Will has to deal with his past in the worst possible way. James Ulster
(Greg Germann absolutely tearing into the worst parts of his nature) the serial
killer whose chain of victims include Will's prostitute birth mother managed to
escape from the prison he's been held in ever since the first season finale. A lot has
changed for Will in the two seasons since – among other things he's going to
therapy (I love Margaret Cho here) – but he's been reeling from the baggage of
Ulster ever since.
Now as Ulster commits a series of murders on his
path to escape we see Will dealing with the horrors knowing that he had a
chance to end Ulster's life but he chose to take the high road. Will is banned
from the manhunt by GBI by among other people his birth father Cal Broussard (Yul
Vasquez) but nevertheless he and Faith start to chase after him.
Will's ability to get inside the head of the
killer has become more direct and in the opening we see that Ulster is now
inside it, by far his greatest fear. By the end of the season premiere Ulster
has taken Cal's grandson hostage and Will has taken his place. There's the
obligatory cliffhanger that Will and Ulster have died in a fiery car crash in a
murder-suicide but no one believes it for long. (His name's in the title after
all.) The show is far more interested in the journey Will takes and its terrifying.
Will was held prisoner by Ulster but he quickly
turned the tables. However rather than take Ulster into custody he chose to
divert and we saw (in a series of powerful monologues by Ramon Rodriguez) just
how close Will was to throwing everything away to kill Ulster. The decision was
taken out of his hands in a way that was both horrifying – and then hysterical.
By this point we learned that like far too many
serial killers Ulster had convinced no less than three women on the outside to
marry him. At first this was hysterical as the two of them met and fought each
other and then it was horrifying as we saw he'd killed a third in his escape.
Naturally they were abducted by the fourth – except events immediately spiraled
out of control as this one was even crazier than Ulster. In a scene that
perfectly balanced insanity and comedy we had to witness a domestic meal in which
his prison guard wife held them all prisoner and forced them to eat in a
domestic setting with stun zappers and gunpoint. Will was cagey enough to play
along; Ulster's psychosis and ego wouldn't let him.
Eventually the episode ended very much how it
played out in the novel's – Ulster dies but not at the hands of Will. However Ulster
spent much of the two party making it very clear how proud he is of his son and
his last words were definitely designed to put a bug in Will's ear the way he
did so many other people. I suspect the repercussions will play out.
Because this is network TV rather than cable or streaming
two of the cliffhangers that came at the end of Season 3 were resolved. Ormewood
(Jake McLaughin) and Amanda (Sonja Sohn) survived their medical crises. But
neither is remotely 100 percent and both are clearly feeling the effects of it.
Ormewood has been limited to desk duty for months and while he's clearly very
good at it – he was integral at both helping find Will and figuring out who was
holding him hostage – he continues to think he is less of a man. He's still
suffering from nausea from chemo and exhaustion from the side effects, and he
thinks he's failing as both a cop and a father. Considering Ormewood has always
been a man of action the show does much to illustrate his humanity in this but
it also makes it clear that his children are more than there for him.
We saw this most clearly in last night's episode
when his daughter was walking Betty with Nico because she said she wanted to
get a dog. In truth she confided in Nico what she really was concerned about
was her father's lack of ability to exercise and that this was just as excuse.
The show has done a superb job at adding Ormewood's family as characters in
their own life and its been a small joy to see in the last two seasons how much
they love each other and support their dad. In a touching scene Ormewood came
home planning to watch a movie with his daughter but collapsed on the couch. All
she did was put a blanket over him and smile.
Amanda is still working from a crutch and she's
been on medical leave for three months. The problem is an acting director was
put in charge in her absence, another in a long line of tools at the GBI.
Amanda managed to take back her position but the man in charge made it clear he
was not going to let this rest. Amanda has made her share of enemies on her way
to the top (this would be keeping with the novels) and it is impossible to
believe this will not come back to bite her in the ass later this season. In this case the decision to make Amanda
Wagner an African-American woman has absolutely helped the series: considering
that the show takes place in Atlanta one has no problem believing that
she would have made enemies even if she behaved congenially to everybody on the
way to the top. Now she's vulnerable in a way she hasn't been to this point and
we know there will be repercussion.
During Season 3 Will and Angie finally admitted
what took much longer in the books: that they're no good for each other. Both
of them ended up in relationships with other people during the season: Will
with ADA Marion Ravenwood (Gina Rodriguez) Angie with widowed doctor Seth
(Scott Foley). In a conventional drama
these would be momentary pauses on their way back to each other and indeed by
the halfway point of the season Will and Marion were done. (I do hope we
haven't seen the last of Gina Rodriguez) However Seth and Angie were not as we
learned Angie was pregnant. And critically when Will learned it at the end of
the season, Angie chose Seth to see the sonogram of her daughter – and Will left
the room.
At this point in Season 4 there seems to be no
sign that either one wants to go back to the other. Angie has accepted Seth's
proposal and while she keeps putting herself in danger against his wishes, she
seems open and honest with him in a way we've rarely seen her be with Will – or
really anyone else. It would have been natural to take Angie Polaski into the
anti-heroine mold that the first home of Shondaland has been growing. But Erika
Christensen has taken Angie in a different direction, particularly after she
was suspended from the GBI last year. It's clear she knows she will always be
in Will's life but she's more interested in being part of a team and a friend
then anything else. The scenes between her and Ormewood have been small joys as
both are dealing with in different ways being incapacitated for health
reasons. She seems to have realized her
problems in a way she never did in Slaughter's work and it’s a reason I love
this show.
And Will also seems to be moving on. In last
night's episode he ran into an acquaintance from way back in Season 1 Ava Green
(Julia Chan). There were sparks between the two of them even then but Will was still
going through the off-again part of things with Angie so he chose to let things
pass. This time when he runs into her at another murder (and with new hair) he
goes out of his way to ask for her help and the flirtation is clearer and more
mutual, ending with the two of them hooking up as she develops film. At the end
of the episode he's flustered around her but she tells him she's going to be in
New York for a few weeks. "Not everything has to be so serious," she
tells him as she leaves. And when Will actually puts that in the notes he
usually retains for casefiles – with a smile on his face – we actually think
he's growing and changing.
Will Trent remains as quirky along with its darkness: the subplot of last
night's episode involved Betty (the real star of the show) helping find a
murder victim and being part of a crime solving. When Ormewood ended up
entering a house he had to chase down an elderly man and what followed was
hysterical as we saw the first walking chase scene in hysterically as the
fugitive ended up running away on a bicycle and Ormewood couldn't pursue. Eventually Ormewood caught him but both men
were too exhausted to do more than just lie there for the next five minutes.
We all need joy in life now more than ever and
every time I watch an episode of Will Trent I find it. There are better
shows on TV in the levels of darkness and characters that I respect and love to
but we all need escape and pleasure. And sometimes that involves watching a man
with a three-piece suit and an adorable Chihuahua track down killers. There could
have been more faithful adaptations of Karin Slaughter's novels but I'm
thrilled that this Will Trent is the one we got. I think we all are.
My score: 5 stars.
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