Will Trent's new love interest isn't working out

Admittedly, I knew I would struggle with the new normal going into the third season of ABC’s Will Trent, based on the novels by Karin Slaughter. After two seasons of exploring the complicated, complex, and long-standing romance between Will (Ramón Rodriguez) and Angie (Erika Christensen), this romance was doomed by Will’s actions in the second season’s jaw-dropping, yet not quite surprising cliffhanger. Then, in comes Assistant District Attorney Marion Alba (Gina Rodriguez), Will’s new love interest whose presence intensifies the divide between himself and Angie. But we’re now eight episodes in, and the romance between Will and Marion is just not working.

Despite thoroughly enjoying Will and Angie’s romance, I’ve tried to keep an open mind toward Marion, a character I probably could have liked. However, the writing has done Marion no favors, introducing us to an incredibly boring and one-note character that has failed to make any remarkable impact in her continued appearances this season. The series has tried to push nonexistent chemistry—I know, chemistry is subjective, but it’s like watching paint dry—between Will and Marion from their first interaction. And, as with many of television’s worst couples, the bulk of their romance has progressed off-screen. Considering Will has interesting and compelling relationships and dynamics with just about every other regular character on the show, it’s rather telling that this romance with Marion is falling completely flat at every opportunity.

Truthfully, I wasn’t thrilled about Gina Rodriguez joining Will Trent either, given her problematic history. After watching these episodes, I definitely don’t believe it was the right call (for unrelated reasons). The energy she’s bringing clashes with the show’s tone; Rodriguez is certainly more of a comedic force, which should be highlighted in a dramedy such as this, but somehow, there’s not an ounce of comedy in Marion’s veins. Instead, Marion’s personality is closer to Will’s more uptight (and unbearable) side. Additionally, Rodriguez is unable to play off of the others on the rare occasion Marion has interacted with anyone aside from Will thus far. Similarly, Rodriguez’s performance as a kidnapped and scared Marion trapped in the police precinct with a serial killer in “Mariachi Shelly’s Frankenstein” felt completely over-the-top and unserious. That said, perhaps it is the writing (and possibly some direction) that is leading her astray because we know Rodriguez does have the capability to offer noteworthy performances, just as she did on The CW’s late Jane the Virgin.

On the other hand, another—and by far the biggest—obstacle for Will and Marion’s romance is Angie’s continued presence as a series regular. (Let it be said that this should never change, as Angie is often the show’s best character, even if saddled with lackluster cases to solve compared to whatever Will and Faith (Iantha Richardson) are working on. Plus, the third season has seemed to acknowledge this with both Angie and Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin), slightly blurring the lines between the Atlanta PD and the GBI.) While seemingly permanently over, Will and Angie’s romantic relationship is far from resolved, which honestly makes it even more enthralling to watch due to the newfound tension between them. There’s a lot of nuance to process about what went down between them, neither side being completely right but having respectable, heartbreaking positions in the conflict.

On paper, Will did the right thing. No matter her good intentions, Angie broke the law. She covered up the murder of predator Lenny Broussard (French Stewart) after his latest victim Crystal (Chapel Oaks) stabbed him. However, it’s easy to understand why Angie did this, as Angie had been concerned about Crystal long beforehand because she experienced Lenny’s abuse firsthand while he was dating her mother years prior. Afterward, Angie tried to help Crystal process what happened and set Crystal on a healthy path forward; Angie couldn’t have predicted that Crystal would go on to become a serial killer, murdering several other men. (In fairness, those men were also predators, so was it necessarily a bad thing?) Also, Angie confronted Crystal immediately upon discovering this, so it’s not like she was turning a blind eye. Angie gave Crystal a chance to avoid letting Lenny’s abuse define her life; unfortunately, it came too late.

However, Will also handled the situation in the worst way possible. Even though it would always end with Angie’s arrest because of Will’s self-righteous and supposedly infallible pursuit of the law, he didn’t even allow Angie to explain herself and/or the situation despite their decades-long history. When he did arrest her, he chose to do so in the APD precinct in front of all of her colleagues, causing her utter humiliation. The way he decided to handle the entire situation was terrible and callous, especially to someone he claimed to want to spend the rest of his life and start a family with. Now we’re left with the aftermath, as Will and Angie begin slowly inching into each other’s life again, though feeling the rift created by everything that happened. Is it over, for real? Maybe. Hopefully not. Given that the writers seem to be teasing that Will broke the law earlier in his life and let Rafael (Antwayn Hopper) take the fall for it—making him a complete hypocrite after how he treated Angie—there might be hope… or it could cement the divide between them.

Nonetheless, whether or not there’s still a chance for Will and Angie, there’s simply no hope for Marion. The Rodriguezes have zero chemistry, and there’s nothing to root for or connect to with this romance. Marion also offers nothing to the show in general from an individual standpoint. It’s like the series doesn’t even want this relationship to stand a chance. Marion’s presence, and specifically the need to have these two constantly spilling out so-called “cute” and couple-y moments in every single goddamned interaction, is only distracting and taking time away from far more interesting characters and dynamics that Will Trent could and should be exploring in its longest season yet.