TV Recap: Will Trent — “We’re Looking for a Vampire” Sinks Its Teeth Into Obsession and Trauma
Season 4, Episode 8, “We’re Looking for a Vampire,” brings Will Trent and his newly discovered father back into each other’s orbit for a case that blurs folklore, obsession, and trauma. What begins as a bizarre “vampire” murder at a Georgia drive-in quickly spirals into a deeply personal episode—one that tests Will’s emotional stability, pushes Amanda to confront her own near-death fear, and sets Viktor the vampire enthusiast on a path toward healing. As Will and Roussard circle the truth around Avery’s death, both men are forced to face the darkness they’ve spent their lives trying to outrun.
Season 4, Episode 8: “We’re Looking for a Vampire” - Written by Britta Lundin
The episode opens with Will Trent (Ramón Rodríguez) standing beside his broken-down Porsche on the side of the road with his biological father, Caleb Roussard (Yul Vazquez). The two argue over what’s wrong with it—Will insists it’s the carburetor, while Roussard is certain it’s something else entirely. Their differences extend to Will’s car choices, too. Roussard, who now coaches his son’s little league team, notices Will has no airbags and bluntly suggests he trade the Porsche for a truck. Before Will can argue much, Roussard gets a call from his colleague Kenny (Michael Hanson). A body’s been found at a drive-in, and he invites Will to join him.
At the drive-in, Will and Roussard find a young woman, Avery (Kylin Milan), lying on the ground with her arms folded neatly over her chest like a vampire in a coffin. Kenny explains she was discovered this way, and Will immediately notices the two puncture wounds on her neck. Roussard jumps to “vampire,” but Will keeps it grounded: if anything, the victim may have been drained of blood. Fresh paint surrounds the body, and when the owner, Pam (Erin Bradley Dangar), unlocks the projection booth, her son Landon (Danny Flaherty) can’t believe something this horrific happened to Avery. Someone had tried to steal equipment before, so management had recently replaced the locks. When Landon powers on the exterior lights, Will sees the full image for the first time: the body is lying at the center of a large painted pentagram. Will explains that pentagrams aren’t connected to vampires, despite Roussard’s enthusiasm for the theory. Eduardo sends an alert that Will’s Porsche is suddenly on the move—Roussard casually reveals he called a friend with a flatbed to take it to a shop, which does nothing to improve Will’s mood.
Pam and Landon are still within earshot, so Will asks about Avery: they describe her as kind, easy to work with, and without enemies. Pam notes that Viktor, the projectionist, is a massive vampire fan, so the team heads to his house.
Will and Roussard find Viktor (Devin Druid) in full gothic attire, living in a house straight out of a 19th-century vampire novel. He’s devastated to learn Avery is dead and insists she was the only person at work who was ever consistently kind to him. He’s been into vampire lore since age twelve but swears he doesn’t drink blood. The house belonged to his great-aunt; he inherited it after his parents died. Roussard’s questions offend him, and Viktor retreats to his coffin “to rest.” Will argues with Roussard on the way out—this kid doesn’t seem capable of murder, and the pentagram doesn’t match his style.
Meanwhile, at Chandler & Ivy Boutique, Amanda Wagner (Sonja Sohn) is trying on clothes, examining the surgical scar on her torso. Tamara (Briana Watson) asks whether she wants a different color, but Amanda declines, not liking what the style reveals. Suddenly, a scream rings out. Amanda peeks out and sees the store’s security guard (Joshua Quinn) shot dead, Tamara held at gunpoint, and accomplices stealing purses from the customers. One robber spots Amanda and aims at her. Paralyzed by trauma, she flashes back to being shot. At that moment, a teenage girl (Amani Summer) emerges with headphones on, confused. The distraction snaps Amanda into action. She charges the gunman, disarms him, and manages—despite freezing moments earlier—to shoot and detain one of the robbers while the other flees.
By the time the coroner is bagging bodies, Michael Ormewood (Jake McLaughlin) and Angie Polaski (Erika Christensen) arrive. Amanda has locked herself in a dressing room, overwhelmed. Another agent tries to talk to her, but Angie intercepts him to give her space. Ormewood calmly approaches the dressing room and tells Amanda that everyone thinks she’s a hero. She says she froze—she thought she was going to die again. Ormewood reassures her that shock is normal. She saved a girl’s life. He offers oxygen, water, and his arm to help her out.
Faith Mitchell (Iantha Richardson) meets with medical examiner Pete Chin (Kurt Yue), with Will and Roussard listening via FaceTime. Kurt confirms the victim died from blood loss. She had an anticoagulant in her system, meaning her blood was likely drained intentionally from the neck wounds. Roussard asks if she was sedated. Kurt shows a fentanyl patch he found on her body. Faith also spots marks on Avery’s ankles—Kurt believes she was hung upside down on a hunting rack. A ticket in her pocket lists an address in the middle of nowhere for Sunday at 2 p.m., the approximate time of death. Will asks Faith to join them in person, but she insists Will and Roussard have it covered. Roussard notes the remote location will require a four-wheel-drive vehicle.
At the address, they find an old ranch house with a boar-bleeding station. An older man carrying a bucket of blood freezes when approached. He turns out to be Viktor’s father (John Ellison Conlee). He explains that Avery was helping him reconnect with Viktor, whom he hasn’t seen in years. The blood is from a boar—he’d been preparing it. His wife is dead, accidentally killed when the desperate father tried to rob a store, a crime for which he spent time in prison, leaving Viktor in his great aunt’s care, which is why Viktor considers his father “dead.” Avery had been planning to quit the drive-in and didn’t like her boss, Pam.
Walton Moreland (Zane Stephens) wakes up in a hospital with Angie and Ormewood hovering over him. He’s the injured robber from the boutique, and they’re now trying to locate his partner—the gunman who shot the security guard. Walton, heavily medicated and rambling about a date with a woman named Delphine (Rachel Walters), says she’ll be devastated if he doesn’t show tonight. Ormewood offers to get a message to her if he gives them her address.
Amanda, still rattled, washes her hands in a GBI restroom when she flashes back to the robber pointing the gun at her. Faith walks in and immediately notices her distress. Amanda admits she doesn’t have her cane and needs to sit. Faith gently helps her out into the hallway—where Bill Appleyard (Jason Davis) informs her that Internal Affairs will investigate the shooting. After he leaves, Amanda calls him a vulture.
Back at the drive-in, Will and Roussard look for Pam. Roussard chats on the phone with his baseball assistant coach Chuck, passionate and committed to his coaching duties. A “weird lady” (Healy Lange) approaches the ticket booth, asking for a matinee showing, spots Roussard in uniform, and abruptly runs. Will interprets it as a possible drug-deal code. He tries the booth windows; one slides slightly, and Roussard boosts him up. Once in, Will opens the door for him—and finds a stash of fentanyl patches. He theorizes that Avery discovered Pam’s operation and was killed for it, with Viktor framed for the murder. A gunshot tears through the booth window. Pam fires from her truck, and Will shouts for her to stop. Roussard rushes out and arrests her. In the chaos, Viktor—who was in the lot—gets shot in the arm. Will immediately calls for an ambulance.
Angie and Ormewood meet Delphine, showing her the note Walton dictated. She claims not to know anything about his partner. They’ve already recovered $80,000 worth of stolen merchandise from her apartment, so Angie pushes harder. When Delphine claims she barely knows Walton, Angie points out that she’s wearing a watch stolen in last night’s robbery. Ormewood mentions Walton has been in custody since the crime, asking if she’s dating both robbers. They inform her the partner murdered a security guard. Delphine finally offers a name—Seamus DiMario (Jesse La Flair). She doesn’t know his home address but does know he keeps belongings in a storage unit.
In the hospital, Viktor is stable, and Will and Roussard check in on him. Pam has an alibi—she was at an AA meeting at the time of the murder—so she isn’t Avery’s killer. Landon bursts in to make sure Vik is okay, then mentions film reels lying in the middle of the road. Viktor’s father arrives—Roussard listed him as next of kin. Viktor panics and runs, wanting nothing to do with him. Roussard gets a call from Cynthia about Hudson—one of his young baseball players—and Will suddenly loses control and punches him. Shocked, Roussard asks what that was for. Will doesn’t know. He apologizes—then unravels. He starts pounding on Roussard, yelling about never being coached, never having what Hudson has. “I was just a little kid getting kicked around in a dozen different homes.” Roussard had no idea Will existed back then. Now on the ground together, he teaches Will a better self-defense move—which Will immediately uses on him. They both collapse onto their backs, breathing hard. Roussard forgives him, saying he understands. “I hope one day, you’ll be able to forgive me,” Roussard tells Will. They get back up and agree to resume the case. Will recalls seeing three film cases in the booth, though Viktor had been moving just two when he was shot.
Angie and Ormewood head to Seamus’s storage unit. Angie really needs to pee while Ormewood fumbles with the keys. She leaves him alone to find a restroom. He lifts the door once it unlocks, revealing stolen jewelry and merchandise. A man bursts in, demanding to know who he is, and flips a rack to block him. Ormewood sprints after him through dark hallways. Motion-activated lights flicker on one by one. He rounds a corner just as Angie appears, gun raised. She stops Seamus in his tracks. Ormewood cuffs him—and Angie still desperately needs a bathroom.
Back at the drive-in, Will and Roussard return to the projection booth and inspect the third film reel. It’s footage of Avery working concessions—creepy, voyeuristic. Roussard leaves to follow another lead, and Will stays behind.
Roussard and Kenny rush to Viktor’s house and find him unconscious in his coffin with a fentanyl patch, leaving him unconscious. Roussard sends Kenny to the truck to grab Narcan. He returns and sprays it into Viktor’s nostrils. Viktor jolts awake, gasping.
Meanwhile, Landon runs up to the projection booth, where Will has started playing the reel. It shows Avery putting on lipstick. When she notices someone recording her, she looks uneasy. Will confronts Landon—he was obsessed with Avery, made this movie, stalked her. “She was my muse,” Landon protests. Will replies, “She didn’t want to be.” Avery became creeped out and asked not to work shifts with him anymore. That rejection was enough for Landon to kill her and frame Viktor. Police arrive and arrest him.
Viktor recovers at home, opening his curtains to let light into his home. Will stops by to check in. Viktor has removed his vampire fangs and is toning down some of the theatrics. Will asks about the coffin. Viktor explains that as a child, he was terrified of the dark, something his parents used to comfort him over. Once everyone left him, he had to face it alone. Learning to explore the darkness made him less afraid. Will calls that dangerous. Viktor gently corrects him: “It doesn’t have to be.” His father pulls up—Viktor had called him. He tells Will that his last thought before passing out was the fear of dying before ever speaking to his dad again. “That’s very brave of you,” Will says. Alone, Will examines the coffin, climbs inside, and pulls the lid shut.
Roussard walks in moments later and asks what he’s doing. Will says he’s “exploring the darkness.” He admits he’s been losing his temper more lately and apologizes again. It was easier, he says, back when he didn’t know he had a father. Now he’s seeing everything he missed out on. Roussard reassures him that he’s here for him now. He helps Will out of the coffin and tells him his car is ready—Will was right; it was the carburetor. Will asks about the dinner they were supposed to have. Roussard smiles—they can have it now.
At the station, Ormewood sits at his desk when Amanda approaches to thank him for catching the second robber. She’s relieved he’s in custody. She lingers, and he invites her to sit. She asks about his time in Afghanistan—how he processed the violence. He explains he ignored it, got angry, didn’t recognize himself. Gina found a support meeting that helped him; he wishes he’d gone sooner, maybe he could’ve saved his marriage. “Talking helps,” he tells her gently. Amanda, close to breaking, admits she thought she was dead when the gun was at her head. Ormewood corrects her: that’s not what happened. He encourages her to say it truthfully. “A child appeared… I protected her… no one else died.” He then asks, “And what happened to you?” Amanda whispers, “I lived.” She breaks down, and Ormewood quietly takes her hand.
Will Trent returns next Tuesday, March 3rd, at 8/7c on ABC with “It Was a Meat Cute.”
A witness’s shocking confession forces Ormewood, Angie and Faith to race against the clock and reinvestigate a death-row case. Meanwhile, Will and Ava’s dinner date erupts into chaos when she’s followed and accused of theft.
Songs Featured in This Episode
- “Love the One You're With” by Stephen Stills