We watch a lot of Amazon Prime or Disney+ tv - that's pretty much what evenings are in this house. And a lot of it is good. But every so often you watch something that actually leaves you thinking about it during the day, waiting for the kids to go to bed so you can watch the next episode - and Will Trent has absolutely been that for me.
Will Trent is a detective in Georgia, USA. Like Columbo, or The Mentalist, he notices things everyone else misses to solve the murder or kidnap. And he's got his quirks, his idosyncracies. The crimes are sometimes gruesome - there was at least one episode we actually didn't enjoy watching. And you can ALWAYS guess "who done it". Disappointingly so - a character walks into the scene and you immediately know, it was them. But then I guess, with Columbo you see the crime happen, so you always know - the entertainment is seeing the detective solve it. With the format where you don't see the crime though, I do like to try to guess the outcome and that being so very, very easy was a bit of a let down. Having said that, there was one episode where it wasn't who you thought it was going to be - as if they heard us complaining about this "flaw" of the plot lines - and that was equally rubbish because it was a character we didn't even know. They hadn't been in the episode up until the point he was caught, it was just said "oh yeah we arrested this other guy because we found out he knew them". So to be fair, if you've only got 45 minutes or so to introduce a handful of characters, and it's got to be one of them, then it's perhaps going to be obvious.
The only other gripe we had with the series was the voice of Amanda Wagner, played by Sonja Sohn - it just felt a little too husky, a little over the top. And hard to hear when you've got the volume down low because the little people in the house are asleep and you just need to give your eyes and brain a rest from reading subtitles. But a few eposides in, either we got used to it or she heard us talking about her - because her tone lifted and then all was well.
So why, if I'm citing these gripes, did I LOVE it SO SO much?! One very strong answer - the characters. Will, played by Raymond Rodriguez, is practicly perfect as far as I'm concerned - although he's really not and might be annoying in real life and would be frustratingly tidy to live with. But he's incredibly intelligent, compassionate and admits when he's struggling and wants to talk. Meanwhile his on-off-girlfriend Angie, played by Erika Christensen, won't admit when she needs help - and boy, has she been through a lot. And here's the bit I haven't seen in a detective show before - they both grew up in care. They had foster parents who abused them and they know the system. The back story of these characters - and how that story gradually unveils itself as being intertwined with everyone else in the cast - is what makes this show totally addictive. The tv series of Will Trent is absolutely, for me, all about the characters rather than the story lines - more so than pretty much anything else I can think that I've watched. And that would no doubt not be the case if it wasn't for the exceptional portrayls. The 5 main players - the people already mentioned plus Iantha Richardson and Jake McLaughlin - are absoultely outstanding.
At the end of series 1, you do get a lot of answers. But there are still things you know could be explored in future seasons - and that has left me eager to see it return.
In writing this post, I was Googling the show and discovered that it's actually based on a series of books by Karin Slaughter (great surname for a murder writer), which I've found here on Amazon so if you'll excuse me, I'm off to download some to my Kindle and keep getting my Will Trent fix until Series 2 airs, hopefully in early 2024.
