It’s been a rough season for our favorite G-Man, Will Trent, and we are still two episodes away from the finale! Poor guy.
We began the season with Will’s boss and mentor, Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn), recovering from the gunshot wound she sustained in last season’s finale. This season also saw the return of Will’s nemesis, James Ulster (Greg Germann), who escaped from prison and took Will hostage. In a weird twist, Ulster was killed by his own partner in crime, Susan Barno (Michaela Watkins), while trying to protect Will from her.
Will has been suppressing his feelings for Angie (Erika Christensen) while she has cultivated what seems like a very normal, happy relationship with Dr. Seth (Scott Foley), and getting through a pregnancy that has sidelined her from some of the team’s investigations this season. And Faith (Iantha Richardson) has been suffering a crisis of, well, faith all season that has affected her partnership with Will as well.
And then, Will’s Uncle Antonio (John Ortiz) was kidnapped from his home in Puerto Rico by none other than Ulster’s daughter, Adelaide (Mallory Jansen), who was more psychotic than her father. While James’ favorite game was trying to convince Will that they are more alike than Will wanted to admit, Adelaide tried to seduce Will and refused to admit that she’s a little too crazy for his taste.
Will’s pursuit of Adelaide and the search for his uncle were a multi-episode arc that started in a Puerto Rican jungle and culminated this week in heartbreaking tragedy.
As part of the deal Adelaide made with Will in the search for his uncle, she gave him a cell phone. She told Will she would contact him and told him that if anyone from the GBI pursued her or any members of the cult she had created, she would kill Antonio. But Amanda Wagner is not the type of friend to make Will go through something that devastating alone. She secretly pursued every lead she could find regarding Adelaide’s plan and Antonio’s whereabouts. On one of her super-secret stakeouts, Amanda “Wags” Wagner was stabbed by one of Adelaide’s acolytes and dumped on the street for the police to find.
Apparently, killing off Amanda was the plan for last season’s finale, but the showrunners weren’t quite ready to pull the trigger (no pun intended.) Having her here this season felt inorganic, to be honest. We got an episode about her messy love life, which was kind of weird. There was a lot of friction between her and Deputy Director Bill Appleyard, who had been gunning for her job for a couple of seasons. And throughout the season, she was dealing with PTSD from last year’s shooting. The character was not at her strongest. She was not the same Amanda Wagner we met in season one, and it felt like her power had been diminished.
Sonja Sohn’s time on Will Trent has now officially come to an end. Wagner was eulogized by her sister, Evelyn (LisaGay Hamilton), in part by saying she was a groundbreaker in the department. “She was a mixed-race, bisexual woman who joined the APD in the 1980s…Her very existence opened so many doors for so many women.” As a strong, Black woman who made the rules, Amanda Wagner was a powerful character who you don’t get to see very often on network television. It felt like a natural progression from Sohn’s role on The Wire.
She was also a strong maternal figure for Will and Faith, which means that recovering from her loss will be difficult for them more than anyone else on the show. Faith has already spoken to Ormewood about wanting to leave the department. Will Amanda’s death be the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Or will it prompt Faith to lean more into her job, and perhaps take a leadership position?
Will has suffered so many losses. Every season feels like it ends in a traumatic event or someone’s death. There are two more episodes this season. Perhaps they’ll find a way to end on a high note. With Uncle Antonio safe and sound, and both Ulster and Adelaide dead, the only major story arc left to wrap up is Angie’s pregnancy. Fingers crossed that the birth of her daughter goes according to plan. But I’ve been saying all season that Dr. Seth is just too good to be true. I like him a lot. But I fear for Scott Foley’s tenure on the show.
The plus side of Polaski being put on desk duty has been that Franklin (Kevin Daniels) has been pushed into a more prominent role on the show. He, Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), and Faith make a great team. And Daniels is very funny as an actor. I was happy to see him get so much more screentime this season.
Two more episodes. Hopefully, no more tragedies. Nothing but blue skies.
Rest in peace, Amanda Wagner. We’ll miss you.
New episodes of Will Trent air on ABC on Tuesdays and stream the next day on Hulu.