Ramon Rodriguez says solving corruption case will feel ‘right again’

(Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Will Trent Season 3 Episode 2, “Sunny-Side Up.”)

The two-part opening arrangement for Will Trent Season 3 came to a happy-ish ends Tuesday (January 14) episode.

Follow events of the premierewhich saw the killing of a police officer ready to cooperate with a DA investigation and the eventual abduction of gang leader Raphael’s daughter Sunny, Will (Ramón Rodríguez) and faith (Iantha Richardson) put aside their beef to work together on the case.

After finding Sunny’s caretaker murdered, they learn that she was abducted by one of Raphael’s rivals, a gang leader, and soon learn that he has also been murdered. Amanda (Sonja Sohn) suspects that someone connected to the police would be the only one brave enough to take him out, and she’s right.

After the GBI has arrested a low level (and low level intelligence) the operator of the car theft ring connected to the police killing, they are able to connect with Sunny directly through her specialized gaming device and learn that she has been taken to a police safe house. Marion (Gina Rodriguez) identifies Sunny’s captor as another cop at the deadly party, and Amanda tells her how to escape her captor’s car. As he tries to chase the girl, he warns someone on the phone that if he goes down, so will they. Things quickly escalate into a firefight where Will takes a bullet to the chest (but isn’t badly hurt thanks to his vest) and the cop is arrested… and quickly killed while in custody. Will soon connects the dots and realizes that it is the mayor himself who is at the top of this criminal enterprise and she is arrested.

For Will, it’s a bit of a full-circle moment, as he’s been largely vilified by other police for turning in officers in the past, and it helps him feel better about returning to duty again after his extended escape .

As Ramón Rodríguez told TV Insider, “Obviously, a big part of his purpose as to why he does what he does is to take on corruption and criminal activity… He didn’t have anyone to really protect him and help him as a kid. And then I think that serves a real purpose for him now in life. And then when he sees or finds out that the mayor is corrupt and what the mayor is involved in, it’s a big deal and I think it marks a big box for him. I think it serves the purpose of his working life.”

In fact, when Raphael says at the end of the case that he hopes Will will return to Tennessee now that the case (for which Raphael himself called Will back in) is resolved, he declines, boldly saying, “I think, ​​I’m going to stick around for a while, and that’s Special Agent Will Trent.”

Of that statement, Rodríguez explained: “At the end of Episode 2, we kind of see him put that suit back on, and something about it feels right again. And I think he realizes that’s what he has to do – at least for now.”

That doesn’t mean there aren’t still plenty of complications ahead in the new season. Rodríguez warned that when it comes to Will’s relationships — “with Amanda or with Faith and even with Angie and Betty” — there will be “friction” that plays out throughout the new season, “where relationships fall in and out of his lives and works and does not work.”

“There will be fights and there will be other drama or it wouldn’t be a good show,” the actor and executive producer teased of what’s ahead.

Will TrentTuesdays, 8/7c, ABC