Every now and then, characters need to die in TV shows. No actor always gets to tell the full story that they want, as the overall arc has always been leading to a certain narrative. However, a death needs to mean something overall, and I’m not sure Will Trent’s decision to kill off an OG character is the right one.
At the end of Will Trent Season 4 Episode 15, Amanda and Will went off on the hunt to take down a cult that was following the ways of serial killer James Ulster. Will didn’t know what Amanda was doing, though, and Amanda also had no idea that Will was in touch with one of the cult members. So, when Will got a message to say there was a gift for him, he wasn’t expecting to find Amanda dead in the street.
Yes, Amanda Wagner Is Dead on Will Trent
Sadly, this has happened. Sonja Sohn, who has been around from the very beginning of the show, has been written out of Will Trent. Despite surviving the shooting at the end of Season 3, Amanda has been killed off without fanfare or really any honor.
Her death doesn’t quite make sense when you consider that. Why keep Amanda alive after the way Will Trent Season 3 ended just to kill her off 15 episodes later?
I could see it if there was always a lead-up to this, but this just feels like it was done for shock. Yes, it’s going to impact everybody at the GBI and the APD, but that doesn’t mean that it was the right thing to do. This series didn’t need a shake-up of the cast. It’s not like it was getting stale!
And why did the Black woman in a position of authority have to be the one to be killed off? Are we even going to see that again? Probably not.
The Threat of a Stereotypical Storyline During Will Trent Season 5
What this death does is open up the boss chair at the GBI, and that’s going to be someone who won’t look out for Will or understand all of his nuances. Now, that wouldn’t usually be a bad thing, but there’s a huge risk of Will Trent creating stereotypical storylines that aren’t needed.
We’ve seen when new bosses come in, and they immediately make changes to suit their wishes. They don’t pay attention to how the team works well together or how they bounce ideas around. These bosses want to make their mark, and then they end up making a huge mistake that they need to change later on — and that’s if they’re willing to admit they were wrong.
Will is also likely to spiral from this loss. We’ve seen him do it before with much less. We’ve seen how Ulster’s death deeply affected him, giving us a much darker storyline than seasons in the past. Do we really need more of that for him right now? Hasn’t he been through enough for a short period of time?
Hopefully, it can mean that he turns to his biological dad more, as I think that the growing relationship with Caleb and the rest of the family started out beautifully. However, Will isn’t someone who can lean on other people, and there’s really only one person who will be able to get through to him, and that’s Angie!
What I do hope to see is that the show takes some time for the characters to grieve this loss, and not just Will. Faith, Angie, Ormestead, and even Nico need to be given the time to deal with the loss that they’ll feel, so that we can have a reset on Will Trent Season 5.
Will Trent still has three episodes of Season 4 to go, and they’ll air Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.
