Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Will Trent Season 3.Season 2 of the hit ABC series Will Trent ended with an atomic bombshell. The finale concluded on a downer note, with the series protagonist, Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez), arresting his girlfriend, Detective Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen), after realizing that she covered up the murder of Lenny Broussard (French Stewart) in the first season. The season ends with Angie’s life at rock bottom, her career in tatters, and the disintegration of her relationship with Will. Will packed his bags and left town without telling his friends and colleagues where he was going. The way the series resolved its conflict with Angie’s arrest and picked things up in Season 3 indicates that the writers have no idea what to do with Angie.
‘Will Trent’ Clumsily Resolved the Issue of Angie’s Arrest
The series ultimately resolves the problem of Angie’s arrest for covering up Crystal’s (Chapel Oaks) murder of Lenny in the clumsiest way possible. Angie’s actions indirectly led to Crystal becoming a serial killer who murdered four other individuals. How can Angie come back from such an event? The Season 3 premiere, “I’m a Guest Here,” picks up six months after the Season 2 finale. Angie is no longer with the Atlanta Police Department, but she’s not in prison either, working in a low-level job as a security guard for a gated community. Later in the episode, we learn why Angie isn’t behind bars when she says to Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), “To be fair, they were this close to hanging a felony on me. Thank god for that judge.” Ormewood replies, “Yeah, well, you deserve that deal. We need you.”
The bombshell ending of the Season 2 finale is almost completely undone in one silly lampshade of a dialogue exchange. Resolving Angie’s arrest and felony charges of aiding and abetting a murder completely off-screen is deeply unsatisfying. Furthermore, by Season 3’s third episode, “Find a New Pond,” Angela gets reinstated to the Atlanta P.D., and she gets her old job back as if nothing happened, haphazardly restoring the status quo from the beginning of the series in a clumsy manner. Perhaps there was a logical way to pull off Angie’s reinstatement, but resolving her problems off-screen and hand-waving them away with flimsy dialogue does not work. It’s illogical for Angie to return to her old job at the Atlanta P.D. If the show depicted Angie’s acquittal for her felony charges, at least viewers would have benefitted from seeing how the lawyers and judge came to that decision. The way it plays out off-screen in the show comes off as a messy cop-out.
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Angie Punishes Will for Her Own Mistakes
In Will Trent Season 3’s latest episode, “The Floor Is Lava,” Angie and Will share a tense reunion for the first time this season. Things do not go well when Will tries to have a personal talk with her later in the episode, and Angie screams, “You blew up our life!” Angie also resents Will for arresting her in front of her colleagues. The fact that Angie blames Will for upholding his moral code proves she has no remorse about the events in the first two seasons. Additionally, the APD’s board was wrong to reinstate Angie’s detective position with the department because it’s likely she would repeat her past mistakes.
Additionally, Angie acting like Will was in the wrong symbolizes how Angie continues to blame others for the problems she caused. She has yet to take any responsibility for her crimes, and reinstating her allows her to remain off the hook. The way Angie treats Will in “The Floor Is Lava” perfectly showcases why they don’t belong together. At the end of the day, Will and Angie shared a toxic, co-dependent relationship, where they bonded through their shared trauma as abused foster children. As teens, they sought solace through one another to endure a terrible ordeal. However, as adults, they continue carrying their childhood trauma, creating a chaotic and unhealthy relationship. The way the series depicts Angie’s lack of remorse, reflection, and self-awareness of her own actions makes her extremely unlikable. Her yelling at Will and blaming him for the arrest is the icing on top of that toxic relationship cake.
The Way Forward for Angie Polaski on ‘Will Trent’
Ultimately, even if the writers seek to repair and improve Angie’s image, there should be no going back for Will and Angie. Nothing good has ever come out of their relationship, and it never will. Angie must move on from Will to make any progress and take control of her life, and it would be best for Will to move on as well. Additionally, it would be fitting for Angie to make amends, stop blaming Will for upholding his integrity, and at least apologize to Will for her past mistakes.
New episodes of Will Trent Season 3 debut on Tuesday on ABC. Every episode of the series is also available to stream now on Hulu.
Will Trent
- Release Date
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January 3, 2023
- Network
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ABC
- Writers
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Daniel T. Thomsen, Liz Heldens, Karin Slaughter
