'Will Trent' Turned in a Remarkably Good Episode of Television

There are a handful of better-than-decent broadcast network series airing right now, but no one really talks about them—mostly because they don’t feature incest, goats, or degloved feet. And fair enough, they’re not exactly thrilling to write about. But when a network show delivers a genuinely great episode of television, it deserves a little attention.

Case in point: Will Trent, a solidly crafted cop drama with a consistently strong cast, continues to deliver engaging, week-to-week stories—even if it rarely gives TV critics much to chew on. But this week’s episode? This is the one they’ll submit to the Emmys (where it will almost certainly be ignored in favor of some prestige streamer). It’s tied for the highest-rated episode on IMDb across the show’s three-season run, and it features a quietly devastating performance from series lead Ramón Rodríguez.

The plot is simple, but searing: When the episode opens, Will Trent has been detained following the accidental shooting of a 14-year-old boy. He’s nearly catatonic and refuses legal counsel. As the story unfolds, his girlfriend—a prosecutor played by Gina Rodriguez—tries to prepare him for his Internal Affairs interview.

The central question is whether the first person Trent shot had a gun, which would make the incident a “clean shoot.” But even if it’s technically justified, it doesn’t change the outcome: the bullet ricocheted and killed an innocent teenager. While Will and his partner are interrogated about the missing weapon, his ex-girlfriend and former partner, Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen), and her current partner, Michael Ormwood (Jake McLaughlin), try to track it down.

The twist isn’t procedural — it’s emotional. Will insists the perp had a gun, but he’s not focused on clearing his name. He’s consumed by guilt. He wants to confess. He’s desperate to be held accountable, not just legally but morally.

Eventually, Angie recovers the weapon, and the Internal Affairs investigator ends the questioning, declaring it a clean shoot. But instead of relief, Will breaks down. This was never about his job or his freedom; it was about the boy who died because of him. In flashbacks, we see the final moments of that boy’s life, as Trent holds him while he bleeds out. It’s brutal.

“There’s no such thing as a clean shoot,” he tells his girlfriend, who’s just grateful he won’t go to prison. Only Angie—who shows up at his door and silently holds him as he weeps—truly understands that no resolution can absolve this kind of grief.

It’s devastating television. Credit to writer Rebecca Murga and director Crystle Roberson Dorsey for crafting an episode that could easily work as a stand-alone for anyone curious about Will Trent. It’s not flashy. It’s not controversial. But it’s good TV, and sometimes, even great. It’s nearing the end of its third season on ABC, where it airs on Hulu the following day.