Get your minds out of the gutter, I was trying to be cute!
Will Trent
The new ABC series, Will Trent, has already been picked up for a season 2 and boy did it earn that honor. It follows the titular, dyslexic GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which I guess is a real thing(?)) special agent who helps solve cases using his astute attention to detail. He may have a difficult time reading and writing, but with his trusty recorder he’s able to help people all over the state.
Will and his girlfriend/best friend, Angie (who is a detective in the same building as GBI headquarters) grew up in the foster system and both experienced unimaginable abuse at the hands of their ‘parents.’ Will has a lot of compassion and empathy toward the people he is helping because he knows what it’s like to be abused and looked down upon. Angie has had her struggles because of her abuse trauma and it caused her to turn to alcohol and drugs to cope with it.
Will gets partnered with a woman named Faith. At first they have an odd relationship as Faith’s mother was kicked off the force because she was a corrupt officer and Will revealed her involvement in the system. In fact, most of the police officers hate Will because he got a lot of their friends and coworkers fired from the force. However, this isn’t really a big issue as the season goes on.
*SPOILER WARNING* - Pro or Con?
As a feminist, I probably shouldn’t like this but . . . I love a damsel in distress. Okay, let me explain. I didn’t just mention a famous trope because I thought it would be a nice fact for you to know about me but this is where the spoiler-y stuff comes into play.
In the last two episodes of season 1, Will Trent comes across his biggest bad yet. A man who is responsible for his birth mother’s death and for kidnapping . . . Angie. Will and Angie have had an odd relationship throughout the season, but for as much as they fight they do love each other more than anyone else. Will is so blind with rage that he practically beats the man to death once he gets his hands on him. However, all it takes to distract Will is Angie calling for him weakly as she lies in the corner of a creepy basement where she has potential spinal damage and a likely concussion from trying to escape. Will quickly goes to help her and gets her to the hospital - blah, blah, blah, end of season.
This is the reason I love scenes and storylines like this. I love these types of situations in the media because characters like Will Trent (specifically male, heterosexual characters) are extremely stoic and the only emotion we ever see them express is anger and/or goodness. Will is a flawed character, in the first two episodes of the series Will asks Angie to reveal the abuse she faced at the hands of her biological mother to get a victim to talk. The reason I love scenes of situations when men have to save women is because we see something in them that we rarely see in these types of characters: fear, concern, sadness, and love and relief when they eventually find the woman they’re trying to save.
I love the character, Will Trent and the show because for the first time I’m not concerned that a cop drama is going to put the two main partners in a major relationship. (I really hope that doesn’t change!!!)
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