Will Trent season 2 episode 3 “You Don’t Have to Understand” broke the show’s record with 11.23 million viewers in 35 days.
The episode scored a 1.63 rating among adults 18-49, its highest since season 1. Will Trent struggles with personal trauma while investigating murders, leading to a record-breaking ratings success.
Will Trent season 2 episode 3 “You Don’t Have to Understand” followed parallel investigations between the APD and GBI, and achieved a high ratings record. The show’s second season kicked off with a two-part premiere in February 2024, when Will Trent season 2, episode 1, picked up six months after the events of the season 1 finale. It saw the shocking introduction and untimely death of Cricket Watson (Susan Kelechi Watson), Will’s (Ramón Rodríguez) love interest. Life dealt Will another shock, one that he’ll have to deal with for the rest of the season.
Season 2, episode 2 picks up right where it left off, as Will tries to figure out who killed Cricket with a bomb before any more innocent people die. While these two episodes of Will Trent season 2 will undoubtedly be important in season 3, season 2, episode 3, “You Don’t Have to Understand” takes a step back. After two episodes of extremely personal events happening to Will, episode 3 returns to the “crime of the week” narrative style that the procedural TV show is known for. However, the events of the episode still affect Will in a lasting way.
The first episode of Will Trent season 2, episode 3, begins with a woman, Isabella Altman (Kaitlyn Bausch), entering an abandoned mall, apparently to meet someone. When she tries to open the door, the doorknob breaks. As she looks at the sharp mechanisms inside the broken doorknob, a black plastic bag falls around her head and her scream is cut off by a flash of black. The next day, Will and his boss Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) go to the mall to investigate. There, they find a man dead with the doorknob stuck in his back.
Jason Ensler directed Will Trent season 2, episode 3. Will’s partner, Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson), was there, and while Amanda went to talk to Councilman Victor Carrie (Ricardo Chavira), who was hanging around outside, Faith and Will stumbled upon another body. Although he had no ID or keys, he was holding a wallet containing a bottle of folic acid pills. Will also found evidence that a woman was there and that she was likely the target of a murder. Faith also learned from the bottle of folic acid that she was pregnant.
