Season 3, Episode 13 of ABC’s police procedural Will Trent continues the story presented in Episode 12, in which the GBI stumbles upon an organization called the Olas Collective, which is suspected of being a cult masquerading as a wellness center. At the end of last week’s presentation, lead detective Will Trent decides to infiltrate this supposed cult as an undercover agent so that he can gather enough incriminating evidence for the GBI to build a case against them, and also to deal with his own inner demons, after he accidentally kills a young boy. In Will Trent season 3 episode 13, the protagonist finds himself in big trouble when he is caught spying around, while the GBI and APD prepare to intervene and rescue him.
What strange things does Will notice at the wellness retreat?
GBI Special Agent Will Trent has previously faced dangerous emotional turmoil when he accidentally shot and killed a young boy while on duty, for which he was also sidelined by GBI authorities for a time. However, when the bureau accidentally discovers that the Olas Collective, a wellness organization run by Rain Woods, is likely kidnapping babies from their rightful mothers, Will decides to step up and go undercover, despite knowing full well that it is extremely risky. Assuming the false identity of Bill
Morales, Will enrolls in a wellness retreat held at the organization’s facility in the woods. So, episode 13 of season 3 begins with him going through a cleansing ritual, where the inner members of the collective bathe him in holy water, and this baptism is supposed to be a new beginning for him. Everyone affectionately calls Will their brother, which is actually the first clear sign that this group is a cult.
Even though Will knows that he is, in all likelihood, dealing with a dangerous cult, he still decides to give the collective a chance and thus puts some faith in its principles and the words of its founder, Rain. The woman is very supportive and helpful to Will, explaining her philosophy of the world and exactly how her Olas Collective is different from other self-help groups. She distinguishes between guilt and shame, stating that while guilt is often felt for any particular circumstance or situation, shame is a more overwhelming feeling and causes people to truly believe that they are evil or unworthy of anything positive. It was also noted earlier that the Olas Collective easily lets their members accept their shame and believe that they are bad people, seemingly only to make them realize their self-worth later.
In the present, Rain assures Will that her collective has welcomed him regardless of the broken form in which he came to them. Will also does a good job of keeping up with his story, as he convincingly recounts how he is haunted by memories of the boy he killed in a traffic accident. Perhaps this detective is more convincing because he is actually telling the truth, to some extent, about his guilt for killing Marco during a routine mission earlier. While everything about the Olas Collective initially seems fairly normal and believable, the first major strangeness that Will notices in the place involves a member named Quincy. During his first few visits to the wellness center, Will had heard Quincy talk about his past trauma that had held him back in life, and he felt that the man’s story had something in common with his own.
However, Rain now announces to everyone that Quincy has decided to leave the retreat and return to his normal life, which surprises and discourages some of the members, including Will. Rain tries to reassure everyone that it’s okay and says that she understands that people will want to return to their normal lives, and that not everyone wants to stay at the camp forever, but a hint of passive-aggressiveness can be heard in her voice. When Will walks up to Quincy and asks why he suddenly decided to leave, the man acts strangely and says that he realized something was very suspicious about the retreat. Before Quincy can explain further, another member named Gabriel intervenes on Rain’s orders, so Will is unable to learn anything more about Quincy’s findings.
A little later, Will visits the nursery building inside the camp to meet a young woman named Naomi, with whom he has already grown quite friendly. Naomi is the one responsible for taking care of infants, and at present, she is seen nursing a baby that she reports to have been abandoned by its mother. It is very evident that this is the same baby that Rain had carried to the GBI station and that it actually belongs to Jade, who had tried to escape from the cult in the previous episode and had been nearly killed. Therefore, collecting DNA evidence from the baby’s body is crucial for Will, and this is what he manages to do through his genuine friendship with Naomi. The woman, just like the other kids at the place, is very fond of music, but she is unable to listen to or play any because no objects from the outside world can be brought to the retreat.
Believing that harmless musical instruments like guitars are agents of corruption that destroy the souls of humans is pretty solid proof of Rain being a cultist. Therefore, Will smuggles in a banjo for Naomi, possibly through his GBI friends, with whom he is still in touch secretly, and immediately cheers her up. This allows him to get the chance to hold the baby and rub his handkerchief over its arm, which is currently erupting with rashes, so that he can collect DNA from it. Will then leaves the DNA sample at the designated spot from where representatives of the GBI will collect it and send it for examination. He also calls up Amanda and informs her of the whole situation but gets caught in the act by the teenager seen in the previous episode, Finn.
As the young girl was basically being manipulated into working for Rain, she is all the more dangerous as she blindly follows the rules. However, Will manages to befriend Finn as well by sharing stories about his pet dog, with the girl telling him about her secret pet rabbit, which she has to hide from the world because keeping pets is not allowed by Rain. Ultimately, Finn does not report Will’s phone to the authorities, but she does destroy it in order to ensure that he does not get into any trouble later on.
