Pterodactyls Can Fly

**"Pterodactyls Can Fly"** is an episode of *Will Trent* that first aired on March 28, 2023. Directed by Bille Woodruff.

## Synopsis

A trailer park massacre leaves a young boy without his family; and Will, strongly opposed to leaving him, becomes his temporary guardian. Meanwhile, Faith receives a visit from her mother, and Angie spirals from incidents of her past.

## Cast

### Main cast

* Erika Christensen as Angie Polaski
* Jake McLaughlin as Michael Ormewood
* Iantha Richardson as Faith Mitchell
* Ramón Rodríguez as Will Trent
* Sonja Sohn as Amanda Wagner

### Guest cast

* LisaGay Hamilton as Evelyn Mitchell, Faith's mother
* Melanie Jeffcoat as Mrs. Elmsway
* Chapel Oaks as Crystal
* Cora Lu Tran as Nico
* Nyla Turner as Crystal's friend (no name given in this episode)
* Christina Wren as Caroline

## Plot

Previously on *Will Trent*: First a couple of things from the immediately previous episode, then a snippet from the pilot episode reminding us that Special Agent Faith Mitchell blames Special Agent Will Trent for ending her mother's career in law enforcement.

The show's title is presented as letters hanging on a clothesline.

The case is the murder of almost an entire family living in a rural county, Trent helps local deputies apprehend one of the shooters. The only survivor of the massacre seems to be a young boy, Theo Davis, who seems to be too shocked to speak.

Trent brings the boy back to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) headquarters. Child Protective Services (CPS) already have a foster home for the young boy, but, given his own experience in foster homes, Trent doubts the foster parents have been properly vetted.

So GBI Deputy Director Amanda Wagner suggests that Trent be the boy's temporary guardian. Nico brings in some fast food and Trent gets the boy to reveal some information through fast food pantomime.

Faith Mitchell is on desk duty for the time being, though Wagner does allow her to go with Trent to the hospital to interview the shooter that Trent shot. Faith's mother, Evelyn, shows up, and offers to help with the case, though neither Faith nor Trent find Evelyn's help all that helpful.

In Trent's home, Theo takes a shine to Betty, and speaks for the first time since the massacre. Theo asks Trent to tell him a bedtime story. Trent starts on a story about a brave little mouse, but Theo asks that the story be about a brave little pterodactyl instead. Trent improvises but one detail doesn't make as much sense with a pterodactyl instead of a mouse. "Pterodactyls can fly," Theo points out, prompting Trent to say the little pterodactyl has a broken wing.

Theo's mother and grandmother are located. The grandmother owns a big hardware store, Trent brings Theo and Betty to the hardware store. It turns out that the grandmother wanted custody of Theo, so she had a lot of the boy's other family killed. Theo does not want to live with his grandmother, so Trent improvises an escape for Theo and Betty.

Also, Atlanta Police Department Detective Angie Polaski continues to investigate her former foster father, suspecting the bastard is molesting his girlfriend's teenage daughter, Crystal. Polaski's partner, Detective Ormewood, goes along with Polaski's very personal investigation, but objects to Polaski giving Crystal a business card.

This soon leads to a confrontational conversation between Polaski and the unrepentant bastard, and Polaski threatens him yet again. Polaski buys drugs while ignoring a call from Will.

Also, Evelyn Mitchell confronts Wagner. Later, Evelyn comforts Faith, who is still shaken up about having had to kill a racist police officer in the previous episode.

## Tropes

* https://tropedia.fandom.com/wiki/Improvised\_Weapon: At the hardware store, Trent uses a wrench, a hook, a shovel and lastly a cordless drill to defend himself before getting a gun.
* Mini-Me: Trent dresses Theo up with a 3-piece suit much like his own.