Coming Out GRIMM Style
3.09 “Eyes of the Beholder”
[photos: Scott Green/NBC]
The writers did a much better job of not trying to cram tons of story into one episode. On the other hand, we still didn’t get material that was shown in promos weeks ago. We were teased with the promise of Dee Wallace and Chris Mulkey portraying Monroe’s parents back in November. Now the promo promises an introduction to Rosalee’s mother. According to multiple websites we’ll first get to meet Rosalee’s mother in episode 311. Bryar Freed-Golden has been cast as Rosalee’s mother. Monroe’s parents won’t make their appearance till episode 312. So while the promo at the end of this week’s episode makes it look like we’ll meet Rosalee’s mother, it won’t happen for another two episodes.
I told you Hank wasn’t done learning Zuri the physical therapist’s story. Unfortunately it looks like this might be the last episode she will be in at least for awhile. This is one of the few places that Grimm acts like real life in acknowledging that being Wesen and letting non-Wesen know about it is not an easy thing. Interestingly Grimm treats being Wesen much like being gay and coming out. It doesn’t always go well.
This episode felt like a digestible amount of police case and main character stories. There are two storylines going on, the police case and Juliette’s friend Alicia’s bid to begin a new life. The police case is all about a witness to a gang killing. Of course it has a tie-in with our main characters. The witness is Zuri’s younger brother, Jerad, whom she is raising. It appears that there are two rival Wesen gangs, the North End Crew and the 7th Street Savages. The 7th Street Savages are from Seattle and the North End Crew run Portland.
Both storylines have a common thread of keeping the knowledge of being a Wesen from those near them. Alicia won’t admit that she’s Wesen even when Juliette tells her that she knows. Zuri and Jared keep it from everyone, probably part of trying to distance themselves from their father’s past. And in the end she can’t let Hank into her life. The fact that he knows and is okay with what she is, doesn’t make it okay with Zuri.
A young man is hanging out in a diner flirting with the waitress, Joy, who is also his girlfriend. He leaves the diner right after a large man who pays his bill with a $100 bill. Jerad sees the large man and his girlfriend being beaten by a gang of three men. Scared, Jerad flees the scene in his sister’s car. Another diner patron comes out, hears the lady’s cries for help, and mistakenly thinks that Jerad is the killer because he was fleeing the scene. With the help of a red light camera, police are able to quickly track down the suspicious car.
Hank is surprised when his physical therapist, Zuri, answers the door. Turns out they are really looking for her brother. They take him to the police station for questioning but because this involves gang members; he won’t talk. That changes when the same gang members break into their apartment. Zuri and Jerad barely escape out a window and down the fire escape. They both go with Hank to the police station and pick out the gang members from a book of mugshots. Now they have to be in police custody. They are taken to a safe house which gives Hank the perfect cover to spend time with Zuri.
They almost look like a content family, except they are confined to the house and even food has to be ordered in. It all falls apart because the gang has kidnapped Joy and they lure Jerad out to come rescue her. I am not an expert on police procedure but I really doubt that in real life police would let a family member come along to try and rescue a couple of young people from a violent gang. Correct me if I’m wrong. Please. But that didn’t seem very realistic.
Nick and Hank kill two of the three gang members and Zuri takes out the last one who has a gun trained on Jerad while in her full Wesen form. Zuri looks up, sees Hank and Nick and now knows that he’s Grimm. Nick still has his gun pointed at Zuri as Hank explains that she didn’t have a choice. I don’t know, the bad guy seemed to be a terrible shot. Jared and Joy might have been able to get away unscathed.
Nick tells Jerad and Joy that they need to talk. We don’t get to see what he’s going to try and explain and what it results in. I mean, does he sit down the young couple and explain that he’s a Grimm? Or does he tell them that Zuri just killed a man and he and Hank are going to cover it up? What is it he was about to say?
The other storyline is Juliette’s friend Alicia and her wife beating husband, Joe, who’s now stalking them. Nick confides with Juliette that Alicia is Wesen. Probably the best comedy of the episode is Juliette trying to act normal after she learns that Alicia is Wesen. She shares what she knows with Alicia and it goes over very badly. Juliette reaches out to Rosalee for guidance and learns that their little band of friends is very unusual. The next morning Alicia also learns that Nick is a Grimm. She’s in the process of running out of the house when Joe storms into the house. He attacks everyone but the one that gets the best of him is definitely Juliette.
I think that being hit in the head with a heavy skillet like that would kill most people. I guess that Wesen are different. He also learns that Nick is a Grimm. It’s a huge morning of reveals. After seeing Juliette ferociously fight Joe, Alicia lets Juliette see her in full Vulga form.
I have a quick gripe I want to air. Every drawing on this show is done by the same artist. It doesn’t matter which character is doing the drawing in the show the artwork always has the same style, same look.
My bigger gripe is the flexible morality on Grimm. If good Wesen kill bad Wesen it’s okay and Nick in particular — and sometimes Hank — turns a blind eye and even helps with the cover up. Nick only has a problem with killing someone if the person isn’t Wesen. I’m not sure if this is part of being a Grimm or just Nick. But when Nick’s mother was in town, she didn’t have a problem with killing any Wesen that got in her way, either. So maybe it’s a Grimm thing and that’s the explanation for Nick’s varying sense of morality. But what about Hank? In this episode Hank pleads with Nick to let it slide that Zuri has just killed a young gang member. Maybe this is the bigger reason that Zuri tells Hank good bye. It’s not that she’s Wesen, it’s Hank’s wavering ethics.
[Official Show Site at NBC] [Previous recap: “GRIMM to the Touch”
