[Warning: The following post contains major spoilers for Will Trent’s Season 2 finale, “Do You See the Vision?”] Well. Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) has made a choice he never wanted to make. Not only does he finally realize that it wasn’t Angie (Erika Christensen) who killed her former abuser Lenny, but Crystal (Chapel Elizabeth Oaks), but he also realizes that Angie’s decision directly led Crystal to become the serial killer who left scores of bodies scattered around town as revenge for her own atrocities. Though Will and Angie are finally committed to each other—to the point where they even envision adding children to their fancy new dining room table—he decides to turn her in for her crimes… but not before he (and we, by extension) get a glimpse of the happy life the couple could have had if he had covered for her.
After a season of dealing with past demons, raising a family, and creating a happier home with Angie, here’s another trauma for our hotshot detective to deal with.
With Season 3 in the works, we tapped the show’s executive producers, Liz Heldens and Daniel T. Thomsen, to break down the heartbreaking ending and look at what to expect when the show returns to ABC midseason.
You guys did a great job here. How are you going to write yourselves into this ending?
Liz Heldens: We’ll find out on June 3. [Laughs] No, we have some ideas, but… it’s nice to be able to throw all the pieces up in the air and figure out where they’re going to land. And so I think that’s going to be a fun, challenging change for us. Right, Dan? What are you planning?
Daniel T. Thomsen: No, I mean, I think one of the things that people love about this show is how authentic it feels to what these characters are going through, and I think that this kind of big change that you have to figure out how to get through is a part of life for everyone. And so, yeah, we were excited to figure out what that looks like for her as well as him being forced to contemplate a chapter in his life without Angie.
So one of the saddest parts about it is that they start to settle down the most—at least in terms of their relationship—after Will has been dealing with his demons all season. Now that the rug has been ripped out from under them, can you talk a little bit about how you decided to do that?
Heldens: I think the idea of Crystal came about last year when we came back for Season 2 and we were trying to come up with a shape for the network. One of our writers, Kath Ligenfelter, who co-wrote the ending, was like, “Oh, she should go back and be a serial killer.” And then we were all like, “Shut up. That’s crazy.” As usual, no one had a better idea. But we really liked that Angie did something last year that she really thought was for the best, and she really thought that she didn’t allow her former foster father to take another victim’s life and ruin another person’s life, and she thought that by taking the blame for killing Lenny last year, she was making things right, and it came back to haunt her. Because I think the great thing about the way it ended is that you really get to see everyone’s point of view in the story. I think anyone can understand why Angie did what she did, and anyone can understand why Will had to do what he did. And so it seemed like a really great arc for us to pay off.
We knew where Angie was going, but did we know where Will was going?
Heldens: We didn’t know. We had some ideas, but we weren’t sure yet.
Do you think Will was really hesitant about making that decision?
Heldens: Yeah, I think he definitely was. I think he walked down the hall and got in the elevator, and I think he didn’t know what he was going to do. When he says to young Angie in his office — like, “I don’t know if I can do it” — he really didn’t know if he could do it. And I think there’s a moment where he contemplates the whole future with her if he can let this go.
Yeah, I was going to ask, is that in his head? The images… Is that his imagination as he’s walking or is that like a tease for the fans to trick us?
Heldens: I think it’s both. It’s in his head. But also, like, it could have happened, and hopefully people will watch for a little bit before they start to realize, “Oh, this isn’t actually happening.”
Will had commented to her earlier in the episode that he wanted to have a baby with her. He told her that outright.
where she feels a little safer and feels like she can handle it too because, you know, for her at that point, things with Crystal are going really well and she’s able to take on a role in Crystal’s life, like a good role model, a protector—qualities that she’s never seen in herself before. That and Will’s relationship with his uncle. He’s been able to process a terrible memory from his childhood that he feels very guilty about, and his uncle is there, and he’s very wise and compassionate, saying that it’s not Will’s fault. And I think that’s a big step for Will to realize that maybe everything that he’s assumed about himself and what he can be in this life, he starts to question. And I think he’s a character who doesn’t allow himself to have a lot of hopes and dreams. And I think this episode is about him hoping and dreaming. For Will, it’s about survival. It’s about just fitting in. But I don’t think he dares to wish for that much. And so what we liked about that kind of montage was, like I said, this is a character who doesn’t express a lot of desires and longings, like he just did, he has these big dreams and fantasies for himself. And they’re so detailed and they’re moving and he just has this incredibly rich inner life. We don’t always get to show that.
Speaking of Uncle Antonio (John Ortiz), do you think we’ll see him in the future?
Thomsen: I really hope so. [Laughs] He’s a very busy actor. We feel incredibly grateful that he was able to fit this into this season. Liz and I had this idea of like, “Holy shit, wouldn’t John Ortiz be perfect?!” And we had a Zoom call with him when he was doing, you know, Oscar promotion [for American Fiction]. And so he was on a Zoom call with us and we were like, “Oh, he would never have… He’s such a cool guy.” And we ended up having a very similar [perspective]. We were talking about this character and what he means to Will and wanting to explore Will’s Puerto Rican roots, and he was like, “Yeah, I want to do that.” So I love that story this season and I really want John back. And you know, he had a great time working on the show, I think it’s fair to say, and hopefully we can make it work.
