The Season 3 premiere of Will Trent jumps forward 6-months from the end of Season 2, which saw many characters going their separate ways. Will had turned in the love of his life, Angie, for covering up evidence to protect a friend, leading to her suspension from the APD. And then he skipped town. The season premiere, titled “I’m a Guest Here” and directed by star Ramón Rodríguez, finds Will being pulled back home for a case, with every intent on making this stop temporary.
Season 3, Episode 1 – “I’m a Guest Here” – Written by Liz Heldens & Daniel Thomsen
Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) enjoys Captain Norton Cromwell’s (Matthew Sean Blumm) backyard pool party with his kids, Max (Owen Trumbly) and Cooper (Jophielle Love). When Cromwell’s alarm goes off, he asks Robbie (Thom Scott II) and Chester (Kasey O’Barr) to make a run for more ice. When the backyard party is interrupted by gunshots, Ormewood and Cromwell rush out to find both Robbie and Chester have been shot and killed.
Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) leads a press conference for the murder of two officers, introducing Special Agent Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson), who is leading the investigation. Mayor Barbara Anthony (Olivia D. Dawson) enacts a curfew for the city of Atlanta.
In a GBI meeting room, Captain Cromwell is irate to be hearing that his officers were targeted for murder from the press conference rather than from Faith directly. She summons Special Agent Gross (Douglas Smith) to bring her the evidence that shows there was no robbery in progress. Ormewood thinks it was the Piedmont Kings since before Robbie and Chester died, they said they saw four men wearing orange in a red car. Chester was on the gang task force. Cromwell wants to arrest the gang’s leader, Raphael Wexford. Faith says they need to confirm some details first. Cromwell reveals he already sent a task force to his house.
Fatih rushes to the scene. Captain Heller (Todd Allen Durkin) gives Faith a phone and backup as she approaches, tossing it through a window. Rafael Wexford (Antwayn Hopper) calls Faith, who guarantees his safety, but says they have evidence he was involved with the murder of two police officers. “Get me Will Trent,” Rafael demands. Faith says he has been missing for months. He insists – “Will Trent!”
Where is Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez)? We find him living a quiet life in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, with his chihuahua Betty. He uses an accessibility assistant named Eduardo, who gives him answers in Spanish and has been pre-programmed to know that the cutest dog in the world is “Betty Maria White Trent.” He accepts private detective work to pay the bills and keeps to himself. But his past life soon finds him when Amanda Wagner shows up at his home unannounced. She pushes him to say that Crystal’s mother was going to go to the press and sue, so he had to do what he did. He needed to start over, which is why he left unannounced. He hasn’t talked to Angie since. Amanda tells him about the slain officers, the standoff with the Piedmont Kings, and Rafael Wexford’s request for Will to take the case. “He said you were the only person he’d speak to.” She begs him to come.
Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) has taken a job as a security guard of a gated community called Waldorf Estates, where she settles neighbor disputes about un-picked-up dog poop. Her sponsor, Franklin (Kevin Daniels), pays her a visit to tell her that Will Trent is coming back for a case. She tells him she’s good, and unlikely to run in. He reminds her to work on her statement for the hearing, saying that can get her out of this situation.
Will and Betty arrive outside Rafael Wexford’s house. Faith is cold to him, handing him a bulletproof vest and a gun as Gross introduces himself to Will. Gross takes Betty as Will says he knows the layout of the house, having once lived here. He refuses the gun and vest as he goes in. Rafael approaches Will with a gun, which Will quickly takes apart. They start to fight like kids, with Rafael giving Will a wet willie. Their fight is broken up when Rafael’s grandma, Ms. Pearl (Marla Gibbs), enters the living room, asking, “Is that my Sunshine?” Rafael tells her that Will is back, and she’s excited to see him. They watch General Hospital with her until she falls asleep, then they talk. Rafael says he’s being set up; he wouldn’t do something as stupid as killing a cop in broad daylight wearing their colors. Rafael says he has many things to live for, telling Will that six months ago, Lincoln Spelling of the Grove Park Boys came to him wanting to merge. Because Rafael said no, he’s being set up. Rafael tells Will he owes him for a big favor he once did that got him his life.
Back outside, Will tells Faith and Amanda that they need to look into the Grove Park Boys. “I’m going to see this case through, then I’m going back to Tennessee.” Amanda tells Will that Faith is in charge and that better be OK with him. “That’s fine; I’m just a guest here anyway.”
At the GBI, Will finds that Faith took his office and Grove has taken hers. He can work from the bullpen. Faith yells at Will for living and not telling anyone where he was. Ormewood comes in to take Faith to talk to Lincoln Spelling, who assigns Will to follow up on the shooter’s getaway vehicle.
Faith confronts Lincoln Spelling (Isaac Keys), whom she previously arrested three times, in his private office at the Grove Park Boys clubhouse. She asks him about the proposed merger of the Grove Park Boys with the Piedmont Kings. Lincoln says Rafael is unwell as he tries to make a move on Faith, who injures his knee and takes her leave. Outside, Ormewood sees two guys putting tarps over cars and rushing away. He looks closer, and they’re all Ziverans.
Will uses Eduardo to search the database for a red Ziveran with partial license plate numbers. Gross says Ziverans are getting stolen frequently in Atlanta. Will follows Eduardo’s lead to an abandoned red Ziveran under a bridge next to a homeless tent. The windows are down, and the car is open, so he enters with Betty, finding bullet shells on the passenger seat and a flash drive plugged in. Suddenly, a masked man (Ryan Lewis) with a gun claims he’s the owner. Will grabs the gun and introduces himself. The man’s name is Jerry, and his car was stolen yesterday. He left a tablet under the seat to find its location and hid out hoping to find who stole it. Will tells him the car and tablet are now evidence.
Faith looked into the USB device, which contained a quick hack to that model of Ziveran. Ormewood found a whole line parked behind the Grove Park Boys clubhouse. She says Rafael was correct about being framed. Their conversation is interrupted by Cindy (Jennifer Keane) yelling at Ormewood in the hallway. He enters to tell them she’s Chester’s widow who just found out her husband had college funds set up for kids she didn’t know about with another woman. He says he knows someone he can talk to about Chester, a former colleague of his.
Ormewood goes to Waldorf Estates that night to talk to Angie, disconnecting the governor on her golf cart so they can drive fast. He tells her about Chester’s second family. It seems out of character to her. He asks how she’s getting sober. She tells him she only ever used to forget things, and she doesn’t want to forget Crystal.
Will enters his Atlanta home for the first time in months, finding that Nico (Cora Lu Tran) did some redecorating. Nico takes Betty, hugging her, crying. He tells Nico he’s just visiting. Nico tells Will he can sleep in the garage, while they and Betty sleep in the bedroom. Will lifts up a tablecloth, looking at the table he had restored with Angie for their unlived life together.
The next day in the GBI conference room, Amanda asks for an update. Ormewood found Chester’s sidepiece, and Faith leaves with him to question her. Gross comes in, saying they found a burner phone in Chester’s locker. He had been texting with someone and was scheduled to meet them at a local Mexican restaurant in an hour. Will heads out to go there.
Eduardo reads off the menu to Will as Marion Alba (Gina Rodriguez) enters in the midst of a phone call. They each place an order, and Marion asks Will if she’s the one he’s meeting. She’s with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office. He tells her Chester, a cop who was murdered, is the one that reached out to her. She seems scared and gets up to go, but Will begs her to help. He tells her about having to turn in the one he loves last year and busting a ring of corrupt cops three years prior, saying it’s not easy, but he does what’s right. She agrees to have lunch with him.
Chester contacted Marion, saying he had something he wanted to get off his chest and had a lot of questions about immunity. Marion is working on a RICO case against the Grove Park Boys. She thinks he was a whistle-blower. She brings up Rafael Wexford. Will tells her he lived with him for a bit when he got out of foster care, but they had a falling out. Marion says Will should be careful who he speaks to in case there’s someone inside the APD involved. They’re interrupted by a new headline – Rafael Wexford has surrendered, confessing to killing the two cops. Will asks Marion to come with him.
Will visits Rafael in prison, asking why he confessed. “I finally found God; I’m not gay anymore,” he jokes, holding up his painted nails. Will says he wouldn’t have called in his favor if he did it.
Will goes to the GPD with Marion to say that Rafael didn’t do it. Faith and Ormewood found out that the woman Chester gave money to wasn’t the mother of illegitimate children – her husband was killed in a carjacking, and Chester was killed in a carjacking. He was donating money to her kids’ college funds. Will thinks Rafael was forced to confess and wants to go check his house. He asks Marion to keep the case open and buy them some time.
Searching Rafael’s home, Will finds a homemade friendship bracelet Rafael was wearing when they fought. He finds height markings on a wall for “Sunny,” last drawn at 12 years old. Faith found a laptop but couldn’t unlock the password. Will asks her to try “Sunny.” It unlocks and he sees a picture of a girl bound, abducted. “It’s his daughter,” Will realizes. “They took his daughter.”
To be continued next Tuesday, January 14th, in “Sunny-Side Up” on ABC at 8/7c.
Under mounting political pressure, the GBI and ADA Marion Alba race against time to rescue a kidnapped child, all while uncovering dark secrets that could shatter their preconceived notions of the law enforcement community.
Songs Featured in This Episode: