Kriti Mehrotra
As a competition series essentially entirely based on lies, skepticism, and paranoia, Netflix’s ‘The Mole‘ — a reboot of the eponymous cult-classic ABC original (2001-2008) — is simply riveting. That’s because it revolves around 12 players as they compete to earn money for the total prize pot just one will get to take home, and there’s another actively, secretly working to sabotage it all. So now that eight episodes of its debut installment have finally landed on our screens, let’s dig a little into whether real-life Thor William “Will” Richardson could be the saboteur or not, shall we?
Is Will Richardson The Mole?
The moment Will stepped into the game on the Australian terrain, he actually made it clear his strategy was to be “very dominant” in an attempt to influence group consensus in the way he desired. His goal was thus admittedly “to bank as much money as possible and to throw as many people off as possible. I want to make sure at the end of the day, some people think I am the mole.” But the most incredible part is that he managed to do so — with the help of a private mission following day one, he earned an extra $5,000 while also placing significant suspicion over his head.
However, the fact Will almost always bagged more money (or at least tried to) without any hesitation or stalling did seem to change perceptions because the mole would never do such a thing. He even proved his innate competitive nature time and time again by giving every challenge his all, with the prime examples being the Great Barrier Reef treasure hunt and the integrity mission. Not only did he not look at the dossiers containing crucial information on his fellow contenders, but he genuinely got hurt during the treasure dive and had to be ordered to stay out of the water.
Will truly couldn’t do much throughout the ensuing bank heist assignment owing to their “critical thinker” not being able to figure out the clues, yet he did make up for it in the mail delivery challenge. Yes, then his insistence on completing the mountain mission despite the rest of the group’s vote to have him sit out was strange, but his competitive-observational reasonings did make sense. He did ultimately go with the majority’s decision even though he wasn’t happy about it, later adding he also “wanted to be there to make sure the [physically demanding] challenge was finished.”
Will’s physical as well as mental dominance continued as time passed, with him seemingly doing his best to ensure they beat the mole, yet Joi Schweitzer was still rather dubious of him. She strangely never really explained her hypothesis, though, and we also can’t deny the fact it’s evident many others (including Will) often believe her to be the mole owing to her initial lack of contributions.
In other words, upon considering every aspect, we do not believe Will is the saboteur — he’s too competitive, too open, and too dedicated to each circumstance to deliberately stunt them. Nevertheless, it’s imperative to note the lifelong Nevada native is the one who’d said, “the person you least suspect is the person you should suspect the most,” so there’s a possibility we could be completely wrong.
