Season 3 of the ABC police procedural show Will Trent continues this week with episode 14, which finally reveals the real nature of the past friendship between GBI Special Agent Will Trent and the leader of the Piedmont Kings gang, Rafael Wexford. Earlier this season, it was mentioned that Rafael had seemed saved Will’s life when they were young men, but the story behind this incident was not expanded upon. Now, when Will receives the sudden news of the death of Rafael’s caring grandmother, Pearl, he revisits those memories and gives us an insight into his relationship with the Wexford family, all while he still plans on arresting his old friend.
How had Pearl welcomed Will into her family?
Will Trent season 3 episode 14 opens with the doorbell at Will’s house ringing, with the protagonist realizing that it is Rafael Wexford who has come to visit him, which is rather confusing and slightly surprising for him. But when Rafael says that his grandmother, Pearl, has passed away, Will cannot help but be affected, for he had once been very close to the woman.
The episode eventually takes us 20 years back, to 2004, when young Wilbur Trent had just turned 18 and so had been evicted from the foster care system as per the regulations. As soon as orphans and children living in the foster care system turn 18, they are booted out of the system to make way for new admissions, while they still hardly have any clue about how to navigate life and earn their living.
It was at this time that Will had become friends with Rafael, and the future gang leader had brought him home a month later the protagonist had been shown the door at his foster home. Since it was Pearl’s house that Rafael had been living in, it was obvious she decided whether to let a new guest in. Besides, Will was a young adult man coming out of the foster care system, which can sometimes be a dangerous profile for a guest.
It can be sensed that Pearl did have some reservations at first, but she was impressed by Will’s ability to fix things, starting with her old cuckoo clock that had not worked for many years. It was already established how Will was an extremely resourceful person from a very young age, possibly because he had had to pick up skills quickly and fend for himself at all times.
Will stated that he would do the laundry, help with the yard work, and fix household appliances as his contribution to running the house if he was allowed to stay, and Pearl perhaps thought of how everyone in his situation would naturally say all this just to impress their potential host. But when the young man also proved his point by fixing the cuckoo clock in a matter of seconds, Pearl was evidently impressed, and despite the faint objections of her own grandson, she allowed Will to move into her house and stay with the family for as long as he needed.
Rafael obviously wanted a room for himself, and therefore did not really want Will to move in, but Pearl decided otherwise, and she let the protagonist move into her spare room without having to pay rent. She did not want any further discussion, as it was time for her favorite TV show, “General Hospital,” and Pearl sat down with Rafael and Will on the couch to catch the latest episode. This quickly became a tradition for the family, and Pearl thoroughly enjoyed watching her favorite show with her biological and adopted grandsons, for Will truly became a part of the family with her love and her very welcoming nature.
While Will quickly built a strong bond with Pearl, his friendship with Rafael began a bit later, when he proved his resourcefulness to the young man in a different way. It was quite evident, right from the time the two were 18, that Will and Rafael had differing opinions about life and the world. While Will believed that hard work and dedication would take him to a respectable station in life, Rafael felt the need to do things that would make him rich and famous quickly, and so he began accepting the idea of turning to crime for a living.
It was around this time that Rafael took Will to give him a surprise after the latter had been fired from his menial job at a fast food joint because of his struggles with dyslexia. Rafael showed Will a truck that he had somehow managed to get a hold of from somewhere, which carried a cargo full of rugs, clearly stolen from somewhere. Rafael’s plan was to sell these rugs to customers and earn profits from them, since he had not had to pay anything for them.
Although Rafael’s plan was to make a few thousand dollars by selling the rugs, it was Will’s earlier experience with rugs that made them aware of the fact that the handwoven rugs could fetch them even more money, as they usually sell for tens of thousands of dollars at retail. This is when Rafael truly saw a potential in the duo working together and committed such petty crimes for money, and this is when their friendship began development.
How had Rafael saved Will’s life in the past?
In order to execute their plan, Rafael and Will had gone to the house of a potential customer, who acted very interested in the rugs and also seemed surprised at the considerably low prices being asked for them. He stated that he needed to confirm the purchase with his wife first over a phone call and then agreed to buy all the rugs for about 3,500 dollars, much to the delight of the young men.
But neither Will nor Rafael had guessed that someone willing to buy rugs so informally and shell out thousands of dollars would also know that the products were stolen and therefore have some connections of their own. This is exactly what happens, as the buyer turned out to have called a group of gangsters, who quickly arrived at the scene and beat Will and Rafael up for their audacity.
It was basically these gangsters who had first stolen the rugs before Rafael stole the entire truck belonging to them, along with the rugs that were its cargo, intending to sell them himself. The gangsters obviously did not take the matter well, but they were impressed by the young men’s negotiation and business skills, and so they ordered them to sell the rugs off, promising them a small part of the sale in exchange.
There was no option for the youngsters but to agree to this deal as a sort of punishment for their theft, and Will executed the sale quite well. However, when the gangsters wanted them to keep working for them, Will clearly declined, and this is when the matter got extremely serious.
Why does Will really want to arrest Rafael?
At present, Will Trent hatches a plan to arrest Rafael Wexford, not only because he knows that his old friend is a criminal who has been hurting innocent people, but also, and perhaps more importantly, because he wants to save Rafael from committing further crimes and from trouble with the law. But his willingness to save his old friend by arresting him becomes a matter of urgency when the GBI’s investigation into Rafael reveals that there is a plan in the works to possibly kill him and take off with his money.
While Jeremy’s work as an undercover agent for the GBI drew the authorities’ attention towards the accounts of Rafael’s record label, further investigation revealed that the gang leader was actually in the process of gathering all the cash that he had at his disposal, a sum of about 4 million dollars, and was seemingly planning to move it.
The money launderer hired by Rafael is found dead after being tortured, making it clear that the gangsters will not spare their boss’ life either. Therefore, Will decides to make a move against his friend at Pearl’s funeral, but in order to do so, he must find the 4 million dollars that is being moved. In a surprising twist, the money is ultimately found inside the casket that was supposed to be Pearl’s, since Rafael had felt it to be the safest place to hide it. Rafael was also seemingly of the opinion that his enemies would not attack him during such a sensitive event as his grandmother’s funeral, but his belief ultimately turned out to be very wrong.
What happens to Rafael and Sunny in the end?
At the end of Will Trent season 3 episode 14, Will manages to save Rafael just in time, as Emil and his men open fire at them. They take cover behind the casket, and the GBI authorities, led by Faith, also rush in at the correct time and arrest the gangsters. Rafael agrees to collaborate with the GBI on one condition—that he will not be sent to prison—and although Will does not technically agree to the deal, it does not seem like he will actively try to stop such a deal from happening either.
Ultimately, Rafael and Sunny are reunited once again, as they both have to leave Atlanta and move to an undisclosed location as part of the witness protection rules, since Rafael is now working for the bureau. Sunny bids farewell to Amanda and thanks her for being a loving host and mentor to her, while Rafael says his goodbye to Will by handing him a scrapbook that was maintained by Pearl. The kind-hearted woman actually followed Will’s career with a lot of enthusiasm, and she had stuck newspaper clippings of his successes that were published in the newspaper.
Is Michael Suffering From A Terminal Illness?
Will Trent season 3 episode 14 also introduces a sad new twist to the tale with regard to one of the most fun characters in it—Michael Ormewood. Michael is first reported to have gotten into a minor fender bender while driving his son from school, but then his physical condition quickly deteriorates further, leading to him even passing out while at the APD station. This is when he is rushed to the ER and has to go through some tests, which reveal that he might be suffering from a serious ailment, which might even be terminal. Michael had earlier served in the US Army in Afghanistan, where shrapnel had lodged into his skull after an injury.
Dr. Seth McDale, who looks into his medical case, reveals that there is a tumor right next to the shrapnel in his brain, because of which he has been losing his spatial awareness. At the end of the episode, Michael is seen spending some loving moments with his children, which is also immensely sad to look at as well, for the man is clearly losing the faculty of his brain, and what exactly happens to him will be clear in the last few episodes of Will Trent season 3.
