‘Will Trent’ Star Iantha Richardson on Faith’s ‘Full Circle’ Moment

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers from Season 4, Episode 13 of “Will Trent,” titled “Did I Screw This Up?”

This week’s episode of “Will Trent” puts Amanda (Sonja Sohn) in unfamiliar territory. Normally the bedrock of the GBI, Amanda finds herself in hot water when it is revealed that she loaned her gun to Casey (Janina Gavankar), only for Casey to use it to shoot her violent ex-husband after he broke into her home.

Will (Ramon Rodriguez) and Faith (Iantha Richardson) are on the case, but they are confronted with the fact that the reality of the case may not line up with Amanda’s description.

In a pivotal scene, Faith and Amanda sit in Faith’s kitchen, with Faith forcing Amanda to confront the possibility that Casey might not be completely honest with her.

“I think when Faith is working with Amanda, she has a history that she sometimes covers up for the sake of professionalism, but oftentimes it bubbles out,” Richardson told Variety. Richardson went on to say that the episode felt like a “full circle moment,” given that Faith was herself involved with bank robber Malcolm earlier in the season.

“I love the fact that we could both, character-wise, connect on our imperfections,” she said. “I think oftentimes black women, especially in the cop space, there’s a lot of perfectionism that happens. For Faith to dial in on the fact that she and Amanda have this commonality, that we both fell in love and we let it get in the way of the one thing that we do best. I thought it was just such a beautifully written, smart scene that allowed us to connect in such a beautiful way.”

Richardson contrasted that interaction with Faith’s dealings with Will. She and Will don’t have that type of familial bond, but they have each other’s backs as partners every single day.

“Although they try to be there for each other in certain moments, there’s something that just won’t let the other fully crumble in the other’s presence,” she said. “But they’re always there for each other. It’s a really beautiful, complex dynamic with two complex characters.”

The end of the episode also sees Faith make a fateful decision regarding Malcolm. Faith has been hanging onto letters that Malcolm has written her from prison, but has yet to read them. Finally, she decides to throw them in the trash and shred them rather than read them. Richardson said the decision came down to removing the “rose colored glasses” Faith had for Malcolm.

“She is very smart and practical person,” Richardson said. “I think the choice to take the glasses off is very aligned with her core values and who she is and who she knows herself to be. She’s not going to be in a relationship with an ex-con when he gets out. That’s just not…who she is. I think she’s aware that, ‘Okay this happened. I made a mistake, and that’s okay. Let’s not let it linger.’”