The missing child trope, a staple of crime procedurals, takes center stage in this week’s Will Trent. But while the frantic search for a kidnapped youngster is familiar territory, this episode sets out to explore the potential for corruption within the very institutions tasked with protecting the vulnerable. The GBI and ADA Marion Alba face mounting pressure to find the missing child, a pressure that intensifies as the investigation unearths troubling secrets within law enforcement. It’s the kind of scenario that forces difficult questions about who can be trusted when those sworn to uphold the law become suspects themselves.
The episode takes aim at the idealized image of law enforcement, suggesting that the line between justice and its opposite can be blurry. It’s a theme that resonates in our current climate of heightened scrutiny surrounding police conduct. While the show rarely shies away from the grim realities of criminal behavior, this episode seems to suggest the true danger may lurk closer to home, within the ranks of those meant to serve and protect.
For Will Trent and his team, this case becomes a test of their moral compass. They’re forced to confront the uncomfortable possibility that the very people they work alongside may be complicit in the crime they’re investigating. This episode looks to be a tense, morally ambiguous affair, where the search for a missing child becomes a search for the truth, however unsettling it may be.
Will Trent airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on ABC.