After introducing GBI special agent Will Trent in the pilot episode last week, “Will Trent” is out with its second episode. Here, the detective gets more clues as to who the perpetrator might be behind the kidnapping of Emma and tries his best to prepare a case. Along with this, the new episode also features a race against time to save Emma, as her location is finally found out and she remains trapped in a dangerous situation.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Will Trent’ Episode 2: Recap And Ending
“Will Trent” Episode 2 begins right where episode 1 left off, with Paul Campano arriving at Will’s house late at night, claiming to have accidentally shot the man he believed had kidnapped Emma. Upon further questioning, Paul reveals that his daughter’s English teacher, Evan Bernard, was supposedly involved in her kidnapping. Paul had gone to confront Evan at his house in a drunken state, and in the heat of the moment, he had shot the man. According to the father, Emma had been spending long hours at Evan Bernard’s office and had then requested to be transferred to a different class, suggesting that something might have happened between her and Bernard. Will and Angie Polaski, who were at his house at the time, took Paul under custody and visited Evan’s house to find out that the English teacher had taken the painful effort to carry himself to the front door of his house to lock it up after he was shot in the front yard. This further suggested that Bernard desperately wanted to hide something inside the house. Paul had also said that the man was talking on a phone when he had visited, making it clear to Will that Bernard was using a burner cell phone. After the teacher is admitted to a hospital and recovers from the gunshot wound, Will Trent goes to question him, and this conversation makes Bernard appear even more suspicious. The man claims that Emma had transferred out of his class because she could not cope with the pressure and denies knowing the other murdered friend, Kayla, personally. When Will brings up Warren, the young man who had kidnapped Emma first and had then shot himself dead in the first episode, Bernard denies knowing him either and tries to avoid the discussion.
The hospital also finds Bernard’s burner phone hidden in his pillow soon after, and Will is now sure that the man is definitely the main perpetrator. However, around the very same time, Abigail Campano, Emma’s mother, reports to the GBI that she has received a call for ransom. In a video sent to her, Emma appeared scared, but she was not hurt. She was held against her will at some house, and the kidnappers had demanded $ 3 million in exchange for her freedom. Abigail was ready to pay this money to get her daughter back, claiming that her billionaire father would definitely help her out, but the detectives asked her not to. Will asks for six hours to carry out a more intense investigation before Abigail pays the money. But this new revelation also means that either Bernard is not involved with the crime, for he is in the hospital and therefore under surveillance, or that he has an accomplice who made this call. Along with his new partner, Faith, Will goes to the high school where Emma and Kayla were students, in search of some more information on Evan Bernard. Although none of the students they informally speak with reveal anything incriminating about Bernard’s character, the two detectives do eventually find what they are looking for. The English teacher was apparently in a relationship with his student, Kayla.
The school authorities soon stepped in to make their investigation formal, and the detectives made acquaintance with the guidance counselor, Mary Clark. When asked about Bernard’s scandalous relationship with a student, Mary denied knowing anything about it. Will now pushes to prove this relationship and finds an easy avenue to do so. Kayla’s dead body had revealed that she had had consensual sex on the morning of her death, and this DNA was already being tested. When Paul had shot Bernard, the latter’s blood had spattered all across his shirt, and Will had sent in the shirt for examination to see if the two DNA samples matched. However, the only problem was that Will knew that he didn’t have enough time to spare for the DNA results to come in. Meeting with Evan Bernard at the school, as the man had been released from the hospital, Will lied to him that the DNA samples had matched and had revealed that the teacher was indeed romantically involved with his student. Knowing that his secret is out, Bernard defends himself, saying that he has not done anything wrong since the legal age of consent in Georgia is seventeen. However, the school’s rules do prohibit any teacher from having such an affair with a student, and Will’s crafty decision to lie does work out. Will and Faith immediately take Evan Bernard into custody, and he is put behind bars while further investigation takes place.
With a warrant to search the teacher’s house, the two detectives reach the place and find that it has been very carefully bleached clean. Only one room had been kept in its original form, and it bore signs of Bernard’s perverse sexual choices, suggesting that he was into pedophilia. Frustrated about the lack of any more leads, Will tells Abigail to pay the ransom money to the kidnappers so that they can track the location where the money reaches. In the meantime, he also tells Faith to go through the records at Warren’s studio and see if any new information can be found. Under the guidance of the GBI, Abigail pays off the ransom and also makes a video pleading with the kidnappers to return her daughter. They immediately find the location that the kidnapper is at, but by the time they reach the place, it has been abandoned. At the same time, Will receives a call from Faith informing him that a group of students, including Kayla and Emma, had recorded a song for their school graduation at Warren’s studio and that counselor Mary Clark had been their chaperone. This now meant that Mary had somehow known about Warren, and she had taken the girls there. Believing he could find more information at Mary’s house, Will goes there alone and meets with the woman. But what he stumbles upon is much bigger than his expectations. The pattern on the wallpaper in Mary’s house matches exactly with that of the place where Emma had been kept hostage, and the video of her had been shot. Will tries to think of how to take the woman in for questioning, when Mary pulls out her gun and threatens the detective. Faith has to intervene, and her taser gun brings Mary down, probably also saving Will from fatal injury.
When Mary Clark is taken into GBI custody and interrogated multiple times, the woman does not reveal anything against Bernard. The detectives found out that Mary’s parents had filed a rape case against Bernard many years ago when Mary was a student of his at the school, but it was Mary who had gotten the case dropped. Realizing that Mary was protecting the sexual predator because she wanted his attention and love, Will decides to enlist the help of his dear friend and lover, Angie. Angie had been brought to the Detective Branch of the APD and had been partnered with police detective Michael Ormewood. Together, the two of them solved a case of murder, but it was Angie’s ability to reach out to the only witness, Nico, that helped them solve the case and arrest the landlord, who had murdered a young woman. Angie now has a heartfelt conversation with Mary inside the interrogation room, with everyone else outside. This works wonders, and Mary opens up to her. She reveals that it was indeed Evan Bernard who had gotten Emma kidnapped, and Mary was the one who had been holding her hostage. Just like Will had believed it to be, Emma had been sexually approached by her English teacher, and she had rejected this and asked to be transferred to a different class. The predator Bernard was angered by this, and he decided to kidnap the girl to teach her a lesson while also making grand money in the process. Mary then also tearfully reveals that Bernard had instructed her to kill Emma after the ransom money was paid, but she ultimately could not do it. She had instead ditched her car with Emma still inside the trunk. Mary informs the detectives of the car’s location, and they rush to the scene. Emma is finally found alive and rescued from her grave ordeal. “Will Trent” episode 2 ends with Paul visiting Will’s house while the detective is busy repainting parts of it. Paul thanks the detective for his help in finding his daughter and also seems to indirectly apologize for all his ill behavior towards him in the past.
What Had Angie Said To Mary To Make Her Open Up?
The issue of violence against the young, physical as well as sexual, seems to be the underlying theme in “Will Trent,” as this is linked with almost every serious issue here. It is revealed in “Will Trent” episode 2 that Angie is not really Will’s lover per se, but the two have had an on-and-off relationship for a very long time of their lives. Angie had also grown up in the same foster home as Will and Paul. From that very young age, Angie used to protect and save Will from any harm, and their admiration for each other goes way back to that time. Even now, as an adult, Will looks up to Angie as the one who keeps him away from all his dark fears, but the woman feels differently about their relationship. She admits to Will that they can never be in a stable romantic relationship because his presence always reminds her of their difficult times.
While Will seems to ask Angie to help out with his case without too much thought, the effect that this has on Angie is tremendous. In her conversation with Mary, she has to remember and open up about the worst time of her life—her childhood years. Angie’s drug-abusive mother used to solicit her to men in exchange for money when she was merely five years old. She then found her mother overdosing in their own bathroom when she was just seven. Angie admits that she knows the helpless feeling of trying to win someone’s love even though that someone is a terrible human being. This is exactly the same situation that Mary Clark found herself in at the time. She had been approached by Evan Bernard, her English teacher at school, who had made promises of love and a life together. Being young, Mary believed that Bernard genuinely loved her, and she started being his partner and accomplice. Even now, Mary believes in Bernard’s love for her, even though she also knows that he is a pathetic human being. The issue of exploitation of the young also appears in the murder case that Angie and Ormewood solve as part of the APD. The young woman murdered was in a helpless situation after having left her parents’ home and was in agreement to sleep with the landlord in exchange for shelter. At present, she had refused to be humiliated any longer and had denied the landlord, who had then killed her in rage.
What Should We Expect Next From ‘Will Trent’ Episode 3?
Although Emma has been saved and the fact that Evan Bernard is the perpetrator is out, some questions are still unanswered. Had Kayla been killed only due to an altercation while she tried to defend her friend, or was there any other reason? Evan Bernard also keeps boasting that he will be out of prison very soon, even after Will tells him that incriminating evidence against him has been found. This probably suggests that the man has a strong influence or some plans of his own. As of now, the whole case stands with Mary Clark as a witness. If anything were to happen to her or if she were to change her mind, then that would definitely set back Will Trent’s investigation.
See More: ‘Will Trent’ Episode 3: Recap And Ending, Explained – Who Was Murdering The Men In Oakmede?
