Will Trent – Season 1 Episode 9 “Manhunt” Recap & Review

Manhunt

Episode 9 of Will Trent starts with a protest outside court as the crowd chants, “Justice for Andrew.” Andrew was a cop allegedly killed by Sam and the cops are quick to get him inside the court and away from the crowd baying for his blood. This causes them to overlook a few things and he grabs a key to open his cuffs.

Faith is also in the court; she is in the ladies’ room shooting up her insulin. Soon gunshots pierce the air and Faith tries to calm down Bonnie, the old lady with her, and leaves to check what is happening.

Elsewhere, Trent is at the supermarket Nico getting some groceries. An encounter with a fellow customer leads to Trent learning that Nico opened a social media account for Betty (Trent’s dog). However, a phone call about the shooting at the court pries him away before he can scold Nico.

Trent arrives at the court and finds Ormewood there and as usual, he is worked up to see Trent involved in his case again.  There is also another police officer, Officer O’Hara who used to be Andrew’s partner. He is eager to get Sam back in cuffs and ready to be tried.

Faith and Bonnie run into Sam in the hallway and he takes Faith hostage. By the time, Trent, and Ormewood get there, Faith and Sam are long gone. Sam has Faith driving as he holds her at gunpoint.

Faith informs him that she is diabetic and they will need to stop for medicine. Once they stop, Sam locks Faith in the boot and heads to the store. Faith manages to get out of the trunk and tries to escape but Sam stops her again.

They switch cars and the police are half an hour late to arrive on the scene. Officer O’Hara kind of takes charge of the situation and this makes Amanda antsy. She is scared Faith will get hurt in the manhunt since the cops seem trigger-happy.

Another cop who was close to Andrew is Ormewood and he wants to get Sam fast. As he and Angie do a stakeout on a different case, Angie spots her former foster father. The man was a monster who raped her but she doesn’t tell Ormewood this.

Back to Faith, Sam brings her to a friend’s house and tries to convince her that he didn’t kill  Andrew. He is hoping his friend will prove his innocence as he was his alibi at the time of the murder. They get inside the house and Sam’s friend has been shot, it seems someone got to him first. Surprisingly, it is Officer O’Hara and he opens fire and shoots Sam’s friend again, killing him instantly.

He holds Faith at gunpoint and radios the station. He identifies Faith as the shooter and claims that Faith and Sam are working together. Faith quickly takes Officer O’Hara down and wants to stay to explain what happened as she hears sirens. However, Sam convinces her that it is a bad idea and they flee the scene.

Director Armstrong threatens to take Trent off the case because he and Amanda don’t believe Faith killed Sam’s friend. According to the director, Faith and Sam have history because she arrested him once seven years ago.

In the meantime, Faith and Sam drive through the forest. Faith is now sure that Sam was framed and wants to contact Trent. They decide to work together since they are in the same boat. They stop at a convenience store and Faith sends a message to Trent through  Betty’s social media account.

Stressed out by seeing her foster father, Angie goes to an AA meeting. She is hoping she won’t go back to using and wants to feel some sense of control.

On the other hand, Ormewood and Trent visit the scene and things are not adding up based on Officer O’Hara’s statement. Officer O’Hara gets defensive as Trent asks more questions and pulls the jurisdiction card.

This leads to Ormewood and Trent getting into a fight because Ormewood wants Trent to back down. After going through the scene again, Ormewood realizes Trent was right. After getting Faith’s message, Nico calls Trent and relays it to him.

Concurrently, Sam and Faith get to a remote cabin and Faith handcuffs Sam. Sam reminds him how they first met and make casual talk. Faith decides to take a bath, it has been a long bloody day after all. Sam tries to use this opportunity to flee but fails.

Back at the station, Ormewood teams up with Trent and secretly interrogates Andrew’s wife at Trent’s house. Andrew’s wife doesn’t think Sam killed her husband. Trent learns that Officer O’Hara kept Andrew’s wife isolated and was acting strange.

It also turns out that Andrew was looking into Officer O’Hara since he suspected him of being corrupt. At the time of his death, Andrew had a file on Officer O’Hara.

After being MIA the whole day, Angie returns and asks Ormewood to run Lenny’s address into their system. Ormewood agrees to help her but doesn’t ask too many questions. She later brings Lenny in for questioning on some disorderly conduct charges. Lenny tries to apologize to Angie for raping her at 15 and getting her pregnant.

Angie doesn’t buy the apology but she can’t keep him in the cell either. As Lenny leaves the station, his new family picks him up but Angie fears for the worst when he sees that he has a stepdaughter with his new wife.

As Faith tries to find a solution, Trent recruits Ormewood to search Andrew’s old house and see if he buried the file there. They go digging and luckily find the treasure they were looking for. Before they can celebrate, Amanda calls Trent to inform him that there has been a sighting of Sam and Faith in Beacons.

Amanda wants to get there before the other cops do and go all trigger-happy on Faith and Sam. Unfortunately, Faith and Sam are unaware that the danger is looming closer to them than they thought.

By the time they notice, Officer O’Hara is outside and firing at their window. Faith tries to protect Sam and they share a kiss. Faith holds her own and kills Officer O’Hara. Things get tense when the other officers arrive but Faith and Sam surrender. Amanda also gets there and takes Faith home. Trent is also happy to have his partner back safe and alive.

As for Sam, his conviction is overturned but he broke a few laws when he escaped so he still has some legal matters to attend to.

Trent returns home and notices a bottle of nonalcoholic beer. He asks Angie if something happened but she tells him she just had a tough day.

The Episode Review

Honestly, Faith has no business flirting and kissing Sam. I found that whole situation lacking. She is playing with fire and I hope this is the last we see of them. I get that Sam is innocent but professionally, it is a wrong move to fraternize with a man she arrested.

I understand Angie’s dilemma but she should have told Trent what is going on. We all know she will do something stupid and Ormewood and Trent will have to come and clean up the mess. She is not handling this Lenny situation well, otherwise she wouldn’t have lied to Trent. But there is also the question, what would Trent have done after knowing Lenny is out?

Lastly, I am happy that Trent and Ormewood are getting along fairly better. Who knows maybe there is a chance for a bromance between them in the future!