A GRIMM Education

Episode 3.19 “My Fair Wesen”

[photos: Scott Green/NBC]

There isn’t anything to say without giving stuff away. So, I’ll start by putting up the “spoilers” banner.

There was a police case this week, but it was really more about beginning Trubel’s education on being a Grimm. Honestly the most exciting thing about this week’s episode was the promo for the next two weeks. The promo is very exciting. Trubel is making all the expected mistakes, and that’s why I found it lacking excitement. She’s going to mention things like Wesen in company that she shouldn’t. Of course she’s gonna take dangerous risks and do the exact opposite of what Nick has told her to do. I’d like to have seen her do something completely unexpected. If her character is here for good, and I hope she is, she’s not going to get the time that Nick had to start becoming interesting. She has to be given interesting quirks that have to become integral parts of her character.

Luckily for Monroe he’d already grown on us when they started making him more normal. What made him fun and interesting were all the odd bits about him. Too much of that has been replaced by a frankly sweet, but boring relationship with Rosalee. I still remember in the pilot episode Monroe driving his VW Bug with his head out the driver window sniffing the air for the scent trail. That was fun. Now he’s doing domestic chores with Rosalee. It’s cute and we love both of them but he’s lost some of what made him special.

Juliette is placed in an awkward position. She was not eager to have Trubel stay with them. But she’s also the one to remind Nick that there is a learning curve to getting a handle on what it means to be a Grimm. Maybe — just maybe — Juliette will become as much her teacher as Nick. As Juliette can teach her how to stay in a stable household. Okay, that sounds odd even to me that I just called Nick and Juliette stable. But compared to the life that Trubel has been leading, their home life is fairly stable.

The police story involves a small band of wayward girls, young women, who pull off elaborate shoplifting choreography in high-end department stores. One of the girls is caught leaving the store, but she manages to get away at the last moment. She makes her way back to the warehouse, but now she’s a wanted criminal. The group is run by a ruthless Lebensauger, a leech type Wesen. He houses the girls in a warehouse where they live and plan the next operation. He can’t have a wanted girl in his little band so he kills her in leech style by sucking out all her blood.

Her body is found the next day in the woods by a dog, and the couple walking the dog off lead. The body was put in a plastic garment bag and buried in shallow dirt.

Nick and Hank are called to the scene and they have Trubel with them. They explain Trubel coming with them as a criminology student on a ride-along. They were all three at Monroe and Rosalee’s house giving Trubel a lesson on good Wesen. Rosalee leaves Trubel with the warning that not all Wesen are like her and Monroe. I don’t think she needs to be reminded of that. She’s been attacked by every Wesen she’s met.

The body has odd bite marks on the face. This is when Trubel mentions Wesen in front of Sgt. Wu. She’s not wrong, but she’ll have to learn more discretion. Hank scolds her for shooting off her mouth in front of Wu. In fact, Trubel gets into trouble repeatedly. She keeps on doing things her own way, which generally means illegally and dangerously.

Something that keeps happening that’s starting to bother me, is how every suspect or victim that they look up has a rap sheet on the very crime they actually did in the episode. What are the chances of that? It’s just far too convenient to be realistic.

Wu later notices Trubel in the police station. Their interaction is mostly about nightmares. Which is an odd topic for two people who’ve only just met. It makes me think that Trubel may be the key for Wu to sort out what he’s gone through. It’s been disappointing that his story hasn’t been given any time. With only two weeks left, it looks like this is a storyline that will be picked up again next season. With all the other things coming to a head, I doubt that this one will be resolved soon.

Trubel puts herself out as bait to find the other girls in the shoplifting gang. It works, but she gets a bit more than she bargained for as both Ken, the leader, and the lady who recruited her are both Lebensauger. She’s battling both of them when Nick and Hank come literally crashing in to her rescue. Not surprisingly, both of the Lebensauger are killed in the process. But, the two very scared young women are freed. We are supposed to feel that all is well that ends well.

The other storyline is Adalind and her continuing quest to be reunited with her baby. She starts by wooing Renard. He’s always hard to read. I can’t tell if he suspects what she’s up to or not. At least he gives her a place to stay and some clothes. And maybe he stays the night with her and maybe not. It’s not entirely clear what their relationship is. He is careful not to say that Diana is with Prince Victor. He says that he’s sure she’ll be taken care of. I suspect that there’s something about Hexenbiests and lying to them that is worse than lying to regular folks.

Adalind meets with her mother’s estate lawyer. There’s not much left in the estate for Adalind. The house was sold to cover back taxes. All that’s left is a storage unit with items her mother left to her. In the storage unit, Adalind finds a spell book that opens by dropping blood on it, of course. This story is just begun and will probably be part of the season finale cliffhanger.

If you missed the promos, you can catch them online. You’ll see why I said they were the most exciting part of the episode. Although I will give kudos for holding suspense with the whole Trubel in danger stuff. That worked well also.