How Does Trauma Bond Affect Character Development in ‘Will Trent’?
Will Trent’s Ramón Rodríguez has heard your concerns about Will getting back together with Angie. “Some people say these two shouldn’t be together, and some people say these two are destined to be together because of what they’ve been through,” he told TVLine.
When Agent Trent reveals more about his childhood trauma involving Sleeveless Jack in Season 2, Episode 7, it’s Detective Polaski who’s there to pick up the pieces and comfort her on-again, off-again boyfriend with a kiss. As a foster care survivor, no one understands his pain better than he does.
“They have this bond because of what they’ve been through and what they’ve been through, and how they’ve always been there for each other through it all,” Rodríguez explains in the video above. “It connects them in a really deep way… for better or worse.”
After locking lips, Will admits that they had a valid reason to break up… but he doesn’t remember what it was. In Episode 8, “we’ll see that relationship continue to evolve,” Rodríguez teases. “But the big question is: Can it evolve in a healthy way?”
Still, Will and Angie are feeling “optimistic” about the state of their relationship in Episode 8. “It feels hopeful,” the actor says. “Maybe there’s a way to work through this and maybe there’s a way that we can commit to this. I think both sides are nervous, and I think that for things to really move in a healthy direction, they both need to be fully committed. They’re at a point where they want to at least try that commitment and… make it happen.”
“In [Episode] eight, we see the culmination of the childhood trauma that Will has blocked out of his memory,” he revealed. “[It] comes together—something meaningful and instructive—and it’s very intense. And we get a reprieve, we get a moment to come up for air, but very quickly [we’re] pulled back down again with a really intense twist. I don’t know how much I can say about it, but I will say that it’s a really intense ending [to the season] that I don’t think people will see coming, and it’s a case that pays off in a really hard way.”
“There’s definitely some suspense,” he continued. “Season 2, towards the end, when we piece together this whole idea of what happened through this childhood trauma — this flashback, this memory that he blocked out — there are some things that [Will] gains, which is great, and there are some things that he loses, which is not great.”
