Will Trent – Season 1 Episode 12 “Nothing Changed Except for Everything” Recap & Review

Nothing Changed Except for Everything

Episode 12 of Will Trent starts with a flashback to 1986 with a young Amanda and Evelyn working patrol. They come across the body of a lady with her lips cross stitched, dumped in an alley.

Back in the present, Ormewood is also working on a case with the same M.O. and it turns out Faith also had a similar case two weeks ago but is yet to arrest the killer. APD asked them to partner up because there is reason to believe the killings are the work of a serial killer.

In the meantime, Trent is at the hospital to pick up Angie. They discuss whether Angie is prepared for her internal review board that is taking place the next day. Angie says that she will tell the truth but Trent doesn’t believe her version of the truth.

Later at the office, Ormewood, Faith and Trent brief Amanda on the new serial case. Based on the evidence, the killer keeps the victims alive for 48 hours then kills and dumps them. Amanda is taken aback when she learns that part of the killer’s routine is to use red nail polish on his victims. After the meeting, she rushes to call Evelyn and tells her that the killer is back.

The scene cuts back to another flashback to 1986 when Amanda and Evelyn were partners. They visit the sex workers on the streets and try to give them some resources and warn them to look out for a killer on the loose. They realize that one of the ladies, Lucy, is missing.

As they talk, the local pimp, Juice, arrives and questions why the police are messing with his ladies. One of Juice’s statements leave a lingering uneasiness in Amanda and Evelyn. Back in the present, Evelyn goes through the current case files with Amanda and thinks the patterns are different.

Amanda still feels that there are some similarities and wants to check out what Juice has been up to lately. She thinks that Juice might have bragged about his killings while in prison and inspired a copycat. Evelyn asks why Amanda has not told Trent yet but Amanda says she needs to be sure first. Evelyn agrees to help her get to the bottom of it.  They go through the old files and decide to reach out to Juice’s former attorney, James.

Meanwhile, Ormewood, Trent and Faith continue their investigation and discover that the victims were orphans. One piece of evidence leads Trent to believe that the killer is possibly targeting the kids from the children’s home they grew up in.

His theory proves to be right after someone tries to attack Paul. After the attack, Paul reaches out to Trent and Angie, giving them his statement. Trent tells him that there is a killer targeting them and Paul suggests they look into one strange kid they used to live with.

Trent and Angie call Ormewood and Faith and decide not to tell Amanda what is going on. They ask Faith and Ormewood to try and locate all the kids who grew up in the foster home and talk to them.  Unfortunately, it proves hard to get all the information so Angie and Trent head to the old foster home to check if they can find the original files on the kids.

As they search for the files, Trent tries to pry the truth out of Angie but she asks him to stay out of it. They don’t find the files but notice that they are not alone in the house. The killer leaves them a small box with a picture of the kids from back in the day. Before they leave the house, Trent gets a call informing him that they found another dead body. After identifying the body, they realize that the killer has been catfishing the victims to get them to meet with him.

Amanda and Evelyn are also on a secret investigation, they can’t talk to Juice as he died. They meet with Juice’s former lawyer who still insists that Juice was innocent. They ask him to see his old notes and he promises to help them with the case. As they talk Amanda travels down memory lane and remembers finding Lucy, the sex worker they thought was taken by the killer.

Lucy is pregnant and Amanda and Evelyn want to help her. They arrange to take her to a safe place where she can take care of her baby. They plan to meet the next morning to help Lucy settle in a new place but something happens to Lucy and she never makes it.

After finding the latest victim, the ME tells Amanda what is going in and she kicks Angie off the case and sends her home. Angie is still on leave and she goes home but before she leaves, Ormewood asks her to consider getting into protective custody. Angie refuses but promises to stay at Trent’s place and make sure the alarm is on.

Amanda and Evelyn get back to their old case and go through James’ old case notes on Juice. As they work, they reminisce about the toxic work environment they experienced in the 1980’s. Faith interrupts their conversation and asks to speak to Amanda.

Unaware that  Faith is about to snitch on them, Ormewood and Trent trace the person who helped the killer send catfish messages to the victims. He is also one of the kids from the foster home. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know much about who hired him. He only remembers he was hired after the story of Trent saving Paul’s daughter (episode 1) was published.

Amanda summons Trent after Faith snitched on him. Amanda takes Trent off the case and threatens to arrest him if he continues with the case. Trent is pissed and walks out in anger and ignores Faith. On the other hand, Evelyn thinks that Amanda is making a mistake and should tell Trent the truth about what happened in 1986. It turns out that Amanda is trying to protect Trent but we are still unclear from what.

Through a flashback to 1986, we learn that Lucy made it to the meeting point but she was kidnapped before Amanda and Evelyn got there.

The next day, Angie misses her internal review board which is highly unlike her. After pondering over it the whole night, Amanda tells Trent the truth. The reality is that Lucy was Trent’s mother. The news hits Trent hard and he blames Amanda for hiding it from him all these years.

In anger, he leaves the office and heads home. He is shocked to see the state of his house and to learn that Angie was kidnapped from his home. As he searches the house, he sees the picture of Angie left by the killer. In the photo, her eyes are scratched.

The Episode Review

With only one episode left to the finale, Will Trent has managed to amp up the stakes in quite the twist. We can only expect the finale to deliver even more thrills.

I never thought much about Amanda’s and Trent’s relationship until now. It is clear there is more to the story but even so, she cares deeply for Trent. I think she sees him as a son and wants to protect him. I think she never meant to hurt him, she thought she is sparing him the pain of the truth. I hope Trent will be able to forgive and understand her.

I am scared for Angie but she is a survivor, she will get through this. I only wish she had listened to Ormewood and gone into protective custody. I worry that if Trent loses her, he will teeter on a very high emotional cliff. She has to make it not only for her sake but for his as well.