After a season that has been firing on all cylinders, Will Trent finally delivered an episode that proves even strong shows occasionally overindulge. “We’re Looking for Vampires” isn’t a disaster, but it is a reminder that tonal ambition can tip into tonal chaos when the ingredients don’t quite blend.
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The episode leans hard into the vampire aesthetic—buckets of blood, coffin gags, Viktor (Devin Druid) rising from the dead after an overdose, and a parade of tropes that feel more borrowed than reinvented. Will Trent usually excels at threading genre play with grounded emotional stakes, but here the balance becomes hard to swallow. The absurdity is sometimes fun, but often it’s just… a lot.
The writers clearly wanted to explore darkness—Will’s (Ramon Rodriquez) darkness, Viktor’s darkness, the darkness of fathers who fail their sons—but the metaphor is so on-the-nose it practically has fangs.
Will vs. Caleb
Will’s “poor orphaned me” routine with Caleb (Yul Vazquez) is reaching diminishing returns. Yes, Will has plenty to be worried about. Yes, he’s spiraling. But his ongoing hostility toward Caleb—who is genuinely trying to make amends—feels increasingly inexplicable.
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| “We’re Looking for a Vampire” – WILL TRENT. Pictured: Yul Vazquez as Sheriff Caleb Roussard, Ramon Rodriguez as Will Trent. Photo: Disney/ Matt Miller © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
Their hospital fight is the most contrived moment of the hour. Because it’s so contrived, the later reconciliation — when Caleb helps Will climb out of Viktor’s coffin after Will literally lies down to explore the darkness — feels more manipulative than cathartic. The parallels between Will and Viktor’s father-son arcs are clear, but the episode doesn’t earn the emotional payoff it’s reaching for.
A Murder Mystery Stuffed to the Gills
One thing the episode does deliver is misdirection about the killer’s identity. Viktor? Viktor’s estranged father? Pam (Erin Bradley) the drug-dealing boss? Landon the concession-stand obsessive? The script throws red herrings like it’s competing in a fish-tossing contest. It’s impressive how much plot they pack into 47 minutes, but the density comes at a cost. Sometimes the show bites off more than it can chew — and yes, it gets through it, but not gracefully. That mouthful is part of the episode’s charm and part of its frustration.
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Amanda’s Robbery: A Mixed Bag with One Standout Moment
Amanda’s (Sonja Sohn) subplot isn’t just thematically adjacent. The slow-motion gauntlet they keep running her through. is part of the show’s recurring pattern of trauma and victimization. Amanda has a colleague, Bill Appleyard (Jason Davis) gunning for her job who is constantly questioning her fitness for duty. She’s still dealing with the medical fallout from being shot, and now she’s staring down a gun in the middle of a bank robbery. At a certain point, you have to wonder if the writers are trying to tell us something. And for the record, I’d like Sonja Sohn to keep her job.
Still, the robbery gives us the episode’s emotional high point: Michael Ormewood (Jake McGlaughlin) finding her hiding in the dressing room and speaking to her with a gentleness we rarely see from him. He tells Amanda:
“Unlock the door.”
“I got you.”
“Let me help you.”
Week by week, Michael Ormewood is quietly stealing the show—and, frankly, stealing my heart. His evolution is one of the season’s most rewarding arcs.
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| “We’re Looking for a Vampire” – WILL TRENT. Pictured: Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner, Jake McGlaughlin as Michael Ormewood. Photo: Disney/Matt Miller © 2026 Disney. All rights reserved. |
In The End
“We’re Looking for Vampires” isn’t a bad episode. It’s just an overstuffed one—ambitious, messy, occasionally charming, occasionally eye-roll-inducing. The season has been so strong that a stumble stands out more sharply. But even in its misfires, the show continues to invest in character, and that’s what keeps viewers coming back.
Which plot thread did you find easiest to swallow, and which one stuck in your teeth? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Final Rating: 7/10
