I’m a Pretty Observant Guy
Episode 2 of Will Trent season 1 begins with a brief recollection of what happened between Paul and the alleged man that took Emma.
Paul went to the man’s house in the wee hours of the morning to confront him about allegedly taking Emma. He accidentally shot the man and then rushed to Will’s house to ask for help. He is shocked to see Angie is at Will’s house too.
Of course, Will is pissed off at what Paul has done. He asks Paul to tell him exactly what happened. Paul says that the man, Evan Bernard, Emma’s English teacher, was working with her on a school project, so they spent a lot of time together. Then all of a sudden, Emma wanted to transfer from Evan’s class. Paul also points out that Emma drastically changed after working closely with Evan. So, Paul suspected that Evan sexually abused her.
Paul goes to talk to Evan (as seen in the recollection earlier) and accidentally shoots him. Will tries to tell Paul that this may be a suspicion, but Paul is adamant that Evan did something to Emma. He further mentions that considering where he, Will, and Angie (remember Angie is still at Will’s house) came from, they know how to spot a predator. We learn that Angie also grew up in a group home with Will and Paul.
Angie arrests Paul (because he shot Evan), and they go to Evan’s house with Will. When they arrive, Will notices two pools of blood, meaning Evan moved. They immediately begin searching for Emma in Evan’s house. Will also sees a trail of blood leading back to the house, and a smudge of blood on the doorknob, confirming that Evan got up when Paul shot him and locked his door before passing out. So, he’s definitely hiding something.
Next, Angie questions Paul at the APD/GBI headquarters. She instructs him to write down everything that happened. Of course, he inquires about what they’re doing to find Emma, and Angie mentions that Will is at the hospital waiting for Evan to regain consciousness so he can question him.
Paul begins asking Angie things about the group home like if she kept in touch with anyone they grew up with in the group home and the woman who took care of them, Mrs Flannigan (who had already died). Paul also asks about Angie and Will’s relationship.
Paul completes giving his statement, and Angie realizes that Evan was on the phone when Paul went to confront him( that’s according to Paul’s statement.) Back at the Atlantic Police Department (APD), it’s clear that everyone knows what’s going on between Will and Angie. Of course, Detective Franklin asks about it, and Angie tells him she has been in an on-and-off relationship with Will for about 25 years.
Angie calls Will to tell him Paul mentioned in his statement that Evan was talking to someone on a burner phone when Paul arrived at his house. Will suspects Evan may have gone into his house to get the phone after Paul shot him, which explains the blood smear on his doorknob.
Will also thanks Angie for coming by his house the previous night, and Angie tells him that everyone at the APD knows about their secret relationship. Will then asks Angie out to dinner, to which she agrees.
Next, Detective Michael Ormewood tells Angie that there has been a homicide in Grove Park they need to investigate. And as expected, he begins teasing her about her relationship with Will.
Meanwhile, Detective Faith Mitchell arrives at the Georgia Investigation Bureau (GBI) headquarters to meet Will, only to be told by Amanda that he’s in the hospital waiting to question Evan about the incident between him and Paul (Faith didn’t know about it).
Back at the hospital, a nurse informs Will that Evan is awake. He asks about Evan’s burner phone, but the nurse mentions that she hasn’t seen it.
Will goes into Evan’s hospital room and begins questioning him about what happened between him and Paul. He also asks him about the burner phone and whether he returned to his house after being shot, both of which he denied.
It turns out Evan actually started teaching at the University but then switched to high school, which sounds suspicious to Will.
Will also asks if he does tutoring on the side, which he confirms. He also asks Evan if he ever taught Warren and if he knew Kayla Alexander, both of which Evan denies. Will also asks Evan why Emma wanted to transfer from his class and if he has ever made any sexual advances to her, which he denies. Will then asks if the police can search his house, and Evan asks for his lawyer, which causes Will to suspect him even more.
Meanwhile, Faith arrives at the hospital, and Will tells her that Evan Bernard is the main suspect in the Campano case. But Faith gets a call from Amanda that Abigail (Paul’s wife and Emma’s mum) got a call from Emma’s kidnapper asking for a $3 million ransom, so it can’t be Evan.
Next, Amanda, Faith, Will, and Abigail are at the GBI headquarters watching a video that the kidnapper took of Emma pleading that Abigail pays the ransom. Will immediately asks Abigail if she notices anything familiar with where Emma is being recorded, but she doesn’t.
Abigail mentions that her husband has the full ransom amount and is ready to pay, but Will and Amanda advise her against it. Will explains to Abigail that if they pay the ransom, the kidnapper will have the power to do whatever they want with Emma. Abigail asks if they have an alternative plan to get Emma, and Will points out that Evan knows more about Emma’s kidnapping than he’s saying.
Of course, Abigail is skeptical, but Will pleads with her to allow him to go to Emma’s school for investigations. Abigail agrees and gives him six hours.
In the meantime, Faith gives Will Evan’s burner phone found in the hospital, and they head out to Emma’s school.
Elsewhere, Angie and Michael are in Grove Park, and Michael is asking Angie all manner of questions about her relationship with Will, and Angie is clearly starting to get irritated.
They arrive and find the body of a young lady, Sasha, who has died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Her landlord is also there and quickly starts insinuating that she was a sex worker. Michael notices what seems to be a trail of blue hair dye coming from the deceased lady’s bathroom. Michael and Angie follow it and realize it ends at the young lady’s neighbour, Nico’s house.
Meanwhile, Will and Faith arrive at Emma’s school, and Faith tells Will to inform her about any developments in this case. Of course, she also mentions his relationship with Angie. Will tells Faith about his suspicions about Evan being the mastermind behind everything that has happened in this case.
They find several girls at a spot in the school where Kayla and Emma are being honoured. Will begins questioning a few girls about Evan and finds out Kayla was allegedly sleeping with Evan. In the first episode, Kayla was confirmed to have had sexual intercourse on the morning of her murder.
This raises more suspicions about Evan, and Will asks Faith to get DNA from Paul’s shirt when he shot Evan (Will had taken Paul’s shirt when he came to his house). The school principal comes and interrupts the questioning and asks Will and Faith to go with her.
Back at Nico’s house, Angie and Michael begin questioning the neighbour, and when they realize that Nico knows more than what they are saying, they arrest them ( Nico identifies as non-binary).
Michael and Angie take Nico to get some food when Will calls her to ask her to check on Betty (Will’s dog).
At Emma’s school, the guidance counsellor, Mary Clark, takes Will to Evan’s office. Faith tells her about rumours of Kayla having sexual intercourse with Evan, and Mary is clearly distraught by that.
As they enter Evan’s office, Faith tells Will the DNA on Evan’s blood on Paul’s shirt will be out in 48 hours, but Will isn’t having any of it. Will enters Evan’s office and begins surveying it, and Evan finds him not long after. Will decides to tell Evan that the blood on Paul’s shirt matches the semen found on Kayla when she was murdered, confirming they had intercourse. He does so, knowing that they haven’t confirmed it yet.
Surprisingly, Evan confesses, but he says he’s done nothing wrong since the age limit for legal consensual sex in Georgia is 17 years (Kayla was 17) and that Kayla wasn’t forced. But Will tells him that since he was her teacher, he was practically her guardian, so he has broken the law. Will proceeds to arrest him.
Just then, Faith comes in and tells Will the DNA on the blood on Paul’s shirt will be out in at least 24 hours (she had no idea what Will told Evan about the DNA, so Evan realizes he tricked him).
Meanwhile, the police search Evan’s house, but they find nothing out of the ordinary except a room decorated like a girl’s bedroom and a strong bleach smell, which raises more suspicions about Evan.
Angie and Nico go to Will’s house. Angie tells them about Will’s difficult childhood and how he overcame everything and became the man he is. Angie is hoping to get through to Nico and win her trust.
Angie also points out that there may be something going on between Sasha and the landlord, especially since her house was in perfect condition. Nico had earlier told Angie and Michael they were in Sasha’s apartment because they were washing their hair there. After all, their shower was broken, just like everyone else’s.
This made Nico tearfully confess that it was the landlord that killed Sasha. And that he threw something that looked like a hammer (which we assume is the murder weapon) in the trash.
Back at the APD/GBI, Will goes to the cell where Evan is and begins questioning him further. Evan decides to poke at his weakness (remember he has dyslexia), which pisses Will off. And Amanda happens to catch this interaction.
Amanda goes to talk to Will, letting him know that the six hours Abigail gave him are over, and she wants to pay the ransom, but Will adamantly disagrees. She tells him to accept Faith’s help, but he keeps quiet, so Amanda calls Faith in. Will finally caves in and asks Faith to go through the evidence they have so far in this case. He also tells Amanda to tell Abigail to pay the ransom.
Back at Nico and Sasha’s building, Angie and Michael search for the murder weapon in the dumpster. Michael apologizes for the “one night stand” they had, but Angie isn’t having any of it. Angie finally finds the hammer the landlord used to kill Sasha.
Meanwhile, at the GBI, Abigail is recording a video appealing to the kidnapper to release Emma. In the meantime, the police are using Abigail’s money to pay the ransom, and they manage to find the kidnapper’s location, so they move to arrest them. On the other side of things, the kidnapper is seen putting Emma in a car trunk and driving off.
The police arrive at the kidnapper’s location but don’t find anything. Meanwhile, the kidnapper is seen getting off the car and pushing it into what looks like a river. Luckily, the car doesn’t submerge into the river immediately.
Faith calls Will to tell him that Kayla and Emma were part of a group of girls at Warren’s recording studio, recording a song for their graduation and that Mary Clark was chaperoning them.
Will decides to visit Mary Clark at her house, while asking her questions, he recognizes the room where Emma recorded the video asking her mum to send the ransom. This confirms that Mary Clark has something to do with Emma’s kidnapping.
Will asks to go to the bathroom, but he actually wants to survey Mary’s house further. However, Mary finds him, and they begin fighting. Just as Mary is about to shoot Will, she is tazed by Faith, who barely gets there in time because Will intentionally kept her out of the loop.
Back at the GBI, Faith, and Will are questioning Mary. It turns out Mary’s parents filed a rape charge against Evan when she was in high school, but she refused to testify. Will goes to Angie (who has successfully solved Sasha’s murder) and requests her to tell Mary about her mum. It turns out Angie’s mother gave her out for sex in exchange for money when she was little. Angie’s mum then died of an overdose when she was seven.
This causes Mary to confess, saying Evan wanted her to kill Emma, but she couldn’t. So, she put her in a car trunk and pushed it into a creek. Will, the police, and Emma’s parents go there and find her.
Back at the GBI, Will tells Evan they’ve found Emma alive and that he’ll be going to jail. Will returns to his office, finds Faith, and acknowledges that she was of great help in the case. Amanda also acknowledges how well Faith and Will have worked together.
Will goes to confirm if Angie is going with him to dinner as they had agreed, but she now declines and wants a break from the relationship. She found Will’s request to use her mom to get a confession to be too much. She also introduces Nico as Betty’s (Will’s dog) new walker.
After the case, Will decides to repaint his house and Paul drops by to thank him for finding Emma. He even offers to repaint his car but Will turns him down.
The Episode Review
There are more twists and turns in this episode, which is great. It’s good to see Will warming up more to Faith too, and it’s similarly a welcome sight seeing Paul being nice to Will. As for Angie and Will’s relationship, we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.
We are only in the second episode but we can already see a pattern between them. I am not sure this is healthy for them. It is still understandable because they have been through a lot together. It is easier to be with each other because they already know each other’s lowest points. They find comfort in that they understand their shared trauma.
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Episode Rating
(3.5)