Will Trent quickly became a fan favorite with thought-provoking cases. Did you ever ponder how those cases affected the team?
If you binge-watch Will Trent Season 1 to prepare for the upcoming season, you might notice there are nuances that you catch in a binge-watch that you missed watching weekly.
For example, the leading agents witness a horrific, violent crime in almost every episode. We won’t rehash them all, but we will delve into why some of those incidents should have sent our favorite agents into therapy.
Will and Angie often dealt with crimes that triggered memories of their traumatic childhood, while Faith found herself in danger more than once.
Det. Ormewood didn’t deal with as many as others, but he dealt with a few horrific crimes that motivated him to become a better man.
Eliciting Memories of Will’s Childhood
Will Trent feels a kinship towards forgotten foster care kids or ones struggling with learning disabilities. Starting with Emma’s kidnapping with Warren as an accomplice was the ideal choice for the series.
It crushed Will that he couldn’t save Warren before he blew his brains out right in front of him. Warren wasn’t evil. He was misunderstood and dyslexic, and Evan Bernard ridiculed him, making him feel worthless, and ordered him to kill himself if he didn’t kill Emma.
While Will stood up to Evan Bernard, he wasn’t strong enough to do that as a child, and he confided to Faith that he’d been burned with cigarettes similar to the “bad” fathers in Will Trent Season 1 Episode 4 for offenses as minor as bringing back the wrong type of soup from the pantry.
That’s an awful way to treat scared children. Will’s experience helped him rescue Theo when there was a massive shooting at a trailer park, and a young boy was hidden inside.
He knew enough to allow the boy to re-enact the crime scene with chicken nuggets and fries and got Theo to trust him.
It was so heartbreaking that Theo’s grandmother caused the shooting to win custody of the boy, but luckily, Theo quickly gained Will’s instincts. It would have been worse if Theo had seen the massive shoot-out between his family and Will.
It just reiterated that you can’t always trust those you think. Will has evolved from these cases. Hopefully, one day, he’ll foster a child. He could help one immensely.
Horrific Crimes Triggered Angie’s Sexual Trauma
Angie Polaski has suffered more trauma than anyone should, and it’s devastating that it began with her mother pimping her out as a young girl. You could argue that Will crossed the line when he had Angie share that trauma to relate to a witness. After all, that was something only they shared.
Foster care homes should be a safe haven, yet Angie was sexually abused, which they showed in flashbacks in Will Trent Season 1 Episode 9, right before her abuser was released in the present time.
While it can sometimes be therapeutic to confront your abuser, it can also be dangerous, especially if he’s charming like Lenny was. Lenny had his new family fooled, as well as his girlfriend’s daughter, almost insinuating Angie stalked her with all her warnings.
Abusers never change their spots completely, though. Lenny started abusing his girlfriend’s daughter, Crystal, and he thought he could make Angie sound crazy when she arrested him.
In a twist, Crystal shot him, and Angie covered for her, not wanting another teen girl’s life wrecked by that monster. In all honesty, Crystal probably did what Angie had been fantasizing about for years.
The problem was even Det. Ormewood could tell that Angie didn’t shoot Lenny, and while he was willing to lie, how could they convince anyone else to protect a victim? Angie definitely needs therapy so she doesn’t lean back on bad habits like drugs and alcohol.
Faith Kept Putting Herself in Danger
Faith Mitchell had a bad habit of trusting the wrong people and putting herself in danger, beginning with admiring and trusting Sheriff Josie in Will Trent Season 1 Episode 3.
Faith wanted to believe that Josie was one of the good ones helping them solve the murder, but that belief disintegrated when she found evidence in Josie’s glove compartment box.
Holding a GBI agent at gunpoint was enough to mess with Faith, but it crushed Faith even more that Josie would instead jump and drown and become another Lake Lanier “ghost” rather than surrender.
Dirty cops seem to be a Will Trent trope, and they always put Faith in danger. A cop took Faith hostage to prove his innocence, and things worsened when Officer Grillo framed them for committing another crime.
There’s nothing more frightening than being on the run with a fugitive you don’t know and being framed for a crime you didn’t commit. Faith was in double the danger, and somehow she survived.
She kept her wits about her in a remote cabin and had more chemistry with Sam Laporte than any other man.
Ultimately, she had to choose whether to save the fugitive or the cop. Taking another cop’s life is always challenging, even if they are dirty.
While it was a clean shot, it’s no wonder they made Faith take leave and had her mother visit her and take care of her. She needed someone to care for her for a change, and as great as Jeremy is, teenage sons aren’t good at pampering.
Det. Ormewood’s Experiences Motivated Him
Det. Michael Ormewood acted like a massive jerk at the beginning of the series, not wanting to cooperate with the GBI because of his issues with Will.
That hurt them in Will Trent Season 1 Episode 4 when the Coldfields kidnapped and tortured “bad” fathers. It was the most brutal episode to watch in the torture chamber. Some of the men were burned with cigarettes and restrained as they begged for mercy.
Det. Ormewood kept trying to one-up Will by finding clues, and then he became captured by Coldfield’s son Tom.
When Det. Ormewood became captured, and it was challenging to decipher if it was because he had almost solved the case or because he was deemed a “bad” father. After all, he cheated on his wife with Angie and had PTSD and anger issues.
After Will saved him, the two men developed an uneasy truce and Det. Ormewood admitted his anger issues to Angie. He finally realized that he needed assistance before he hurt a suspect or worse — her.
He also began listening to people and instincts and learned the importance of teamwork. He was essential in getting Faith back and in helping Angie cover up Lenny’s murder.
He had the best redemption arc, so hopefully, we’ll see him make amends with his family and build a better partnership with Angie and the others in Will Trent Season 2. Sometimes, being shaken up teaches you a lesson.
Old Crimes Affected the Present
Times were different in the 1980s. African-American females weren’t supposed to be cops delving into important cases, so when Amanda and Evelyn noticed a string of rapes and murders, things became chaotic.
Those crimes were creepy, with the women’s mouths sewn shut, indicating that they should speak no evil. The women were positive the culprit was caught until murders were committed with the exact MO in the present, right down to the sewn mouths and eyes and red nail polish.
It affected Amanda, Will, and Angie since several of the victims were from the children’s home, so the killer was sending either Will or Amanda a frightening message. This case nearly destroyed Amanda and Will’s relationship.
Amanda had always cared about Will, but she never told him about his mother until she had to reveal Lucy was one of the original rape and murder victims. So, the only photos Will ever saw of her were crime photos.
This case was heartbreaking because no one expected James to be the murderer in the past or Will’s father. How could someone as decent as Will come from a monster? James blamed Will for Lucy dying in childbirth, so he vowed to take Angie from him.
Something snapped in Will that night. Will was rarely violent, but he almost beat James to death in a quest for vengeance. He already lost his mother. He wasn’t going to lose another woman he loved.
Amanda made many mistakes, but she rescued Will as a baby. Although this case altered their relationship, hopefully, they can repair it now that the truth is out. Will definitely needs therapy after learning his family history.
What horrific crimes stood out to you in Season 1, and which characters would you like to see in therapy? What are you looking forward to seeing in Will Trent Season 2?
Will Trent returns on Tuesday, February 20.
Laura Nowak is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on X.