Will Trent’s Erika Christensen Weighs In on Angie’s ‘Lapse in Judgment’ With Crystal — and Why She Feels ‘Oddly Hopeful’ Heading Into Season 3
Angie Polaski is under arrest… and she’s chosen to use her one phone call to post-mortem Will Trent’s Season 2 finale with TVLine.
The game-changing hour revealed that Crystal was the serial killer targeting sex offenders across Georgia. Once Angie connected the dots and confronted her, the troubled teen made a run for it, tripped, fell head first into a rock and died. Afterward, Angie filled Will and Faith in on her connection to Crystal, but stopped short of revealing that it was Crystal who killed Lenny Broussard. Will figured it out on his own, then received confirmation from Crystal’s mom.
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Afterwards, Special Agent Trent took an elevator down to APD to take the love of his life into custody for tampering with evidence, and making false statements in violation of oath of office. But before those elevator doors opened, Will imagined what life would be like if he didn’t arrest Angie — getting married, having kids, growing old together. Alas, his moral compass guided him in the opposite direction of “happily ever after.”
So, what happens next? Having already gotten co-showrunners Liz Heldens and Daniel Thomsen’s respective takes on the finale, TVLine got Erika Christensen on the line to pick her brain on Angie’s current predicament and where she goes from here.
TVLINE | It has been a few days since I watched the finale, and the line that has stuck with me is your line, “I thought you might choose me.” It cuts deep.
I think it’s just the most perfectly written line. It says so much. It’s incredibly heartbreaking, but it’s so interesting [thinking about] what it encompasses. She knew that Will was smart enough that he would eventually figure it out. But that is the choice, isn’t it? “I thought you might choose me….” I sobbed when I read it. I thought that was beautiful.
TVLINE | Your voice breaks midway through that line reading. Was that a choice you made in your performance to drive home that Angie’s heart was breaking? Or was that Erika’s heart breaking for Angie as you said those words out loud?
It’s kind of neither. But If I had to choose one of the two, it would be the former. I don’t tend to be very present as myself, and I don’t tend to be very manipulative of Angie. Liz and I played with the various tones and what Angie might be feeling. What is obvious is the betrayal and the heartbreak, but there could be [a question of] how much resignation comes through? And how much “F—k you” comes through? As heartbreaking as it was, we really enjoyed exploring that moment. It’s funny, because we were just like, “Let’s go again. Let’s see what else there is,” you know? “Let’s keep putting her in this situation, and keep seeing what happens.” I have no idea which take was which, but it’s fascinating. It makes me want to make some type of arthouse movie where we can jump-cut between different takes and determine all of the colors that are going through this person’s heart and soul in this moment.
TVLINE | How long have you known that the Lenny Broussard cover-up was going to blow-up in Angie’s face? In hindsight, it seems like those seeds were planted pretty early on….
Pretty early. It was when Crystal came back [in Episode 2]. Interestingly enough, they didn’t tell [Chapel Elizabeth Oaks, who plays Crystal]. They never told her, not until the script was about to come out for the finale. They were like, “Chapel, we need to have a meeting with you. There’s something we need to tell you. You’re a murderer.” [Laughs] Being an actress, she was thrilled.
TVLINE | Do you think Will’s decision to place Angie under arrest seals their fate as a couple?
I mean, it’s television! There’s always a way. Where there’s a Will — wink, wink — there’s a way. I feel like there must be a way back, even if it’s a long road. They seem fated for each other, especially when — there was the whole flash forward, but there were also the little flashbacks that encompassed their lives together, and their entire relationship. Seeing Young Angie come to him [in Episode 10] to help talk it through to the point where he does arrest her, I thought that was fascinating, that it was his idea of her that says keep your integrity intact on this. Actions have consequences.
TVLINE | Some of our readers have been wondering why Will was able to overlook Amanda’s lapse in judgment earlier this season, but he wasn’t able to overlook Angie’s. I hadn’t considered that, but I’m curious if you’ve got a theory there….
My first take on it is the statute of limitations of it all. Angie’s lapse in judgment was just a year ago, and it resulted in five more deaths, whereas Amanda’s thing resulted in a guilty man going to jail for the wrong reasons, and then getting out and tormenting her. Because the consequences are so dire, and so immediate, I think that’s the main difference. And in a way, if you really want to oversimplify it, you can say that Will is a masochist. [Laughs] Which I think he and Angie have both been growing out of, but that’s an element of it.
TVLINE | Prior to the finale, you said that some fans might feel vindicated, perhaps even elated, by the end of the episode. Have you gotten the sense that there’s a faction of this audience rooting for Angie’s downfall? Or perhaps a subset of the audience that feels strongly that Will and Angie should not be together?
I kind of conflate those two. The hardcore fans of Karin Slaughter’s novels know a different version of Angie and view her through that lens. I know that they’re always trying to reconcile what’s best for Will — and that’s not to say it’s all of them, but I feel if any are not rooting for them to end up together, that, I think, is the crux of why. Morally, it’s a very grey area that everyone is in this episode. In this situation, with Crystal and her victims, and Crystal being a victim, and Angie being a victim… everyone is trying to do what they think is best and justifiable for the world. It’s all so grey, and I’ve noticed that that is what a lot of the response has been. It has been a lot of, “I don’t know how to feel… I’m so overwhelmed by this… I don’t know what’s going to happen,” and I think that’s where we all are. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I don’t think Liz and Dan know what’s going to happen.
TVLINE | Will’s fantasy of what life would be like if he didn’t arrest Angie was bittersweet. Also, long! I have to imagine that took longer than anything else you shot for this finale.
Yeah, it was wild. Obviously, there were all the prosthetics. I think we dedicated a whole day just to those last couple of sequences when they’re around the dinner table with all of their family, then the final, sweet dance.
TVLINE | I did not anticipate that montage including Betty’s funeral.
First of all, I was like, “Would he fantasize that aspect of his own future?” But that’s very realistic of him. He’s a realist. And then I thought, well, that must be the moment where people are initially just in shock — I mean, my jaw dropped when I saw her little headstone — and then maybe by the end of that scene, they’re getting an inkling that this must be a dream.
TVLINE | As you said before, a bit of a masochist, that one.
Yes, exactly! He’s going to make himself deal with that, too. But how nice that they get him a puppy!
TVLINE | Before Angie puts the pieces together and realizes that Crystal is the killer, she speaks to Franklin about how her relationship with Will has finally given her a reason to stay sober — and for now, at least, that relationship is over. If Angie were to relapse, do you think it would be because of that? Or would it be the guilt she feels about Crystal that puts her over the edge?
Oh gosh. I mean, it would have to be the combination of everything at once. That entire sequence of events with Crystal and feeling so responsible… it’s just so, so sad. There’s one little moment where Angie reaches her — when she feels for her pulse and she knows that Crystal is gone and she says, “I’m sorry….” It’s like Angie is going back in time and seeing these dominoes fall and going, “I must have had a chance to stop this at some point.” I feel like that would have been hard enough to get through, but she would have given herself grace and known that it was going to be a long process. Even still, she would have had to swallow the secret [of her connection to Crystal], which would have made it real difficult. Having the secret come out, and then losing Will, is a lot. It would definitely be understandable if she were to fall off the wagon. But I don’t know the logistics of her life [in Season 3].
At this moment, I feel oddly hopeful for Angie as far as her sobriety goes because I feel like she’s such a fighter. As long as she feels like there is a shred of dignity that she can hold on to, I have hope for her. But I can completely see that resolve breaking at some point. There has to be some other precipitation now that she’s vulnerable.
TVLINE | Like Will, we know that Angie can compartmentalize trauma. Do you think that will ultimately do her some good as she attempts to, if not get over what happened with Crystal, at least be able to live with it?
I mean, the irony is that she has been channeling all her own trauma toward this life purpose of helping others in need, and that’s exactly what she has failed at so spectacularly [with Crystal]. The fact that their lives were so parallel, but they dealt so differently with that trauma… that’s a different kind of hurt. So, yes and no. Yes, she has the ability to move forward, and redirect her attention toward productive things, but I have no idea what that looks like for her [now].
TVLINE | Do you think Angie still has a future as a member of the APD or GBI? Or perhaps she’ll be forced to find work as a P.I.?
I would totally be open to that, but I don’t think that’s the way that they’re going to go. I’m kind of enjoying not knowing and not trying to make guesses. Of course, the facts of reality edge their way in and I go, well, she can’t be a convicted felon and police. That not how it works. Then she would have to be a P.I., so maybe she doesn’t get convicted? And if she doesn’t get convicted, is there some work around with the GBI? Like, they’re not a part of our show, but certainly CIA can recruit criminals.
TVLINE | Thankfully, Liz and Dan have plenty of time to figure it out — what, with the show not back until 2025.
I imagine they’re gonna do what they did between Seasons 1 and 2, which is play the real time. We last see them in May 2024; when we see them next, it will be January 2025, and we will have had these seven-and-a-half months to progress our stories.
Will Trent Season 3, which will consist of 18 episodes, will premiere on ABC in early 2025.
Will Trent Finale – Showrunners Q&A
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