Don’t Be GRIMM. She’s Baaaack!

Episode 506 “Wesen Nacht”

[Photos:  Scott Green/NBC]

Six episodes in and Grimm will be off till late January. That’s hardly enough time to really get the groove going. But Grimm has established a different tone this season. I’m not sure I’d say it’s much darker or edgier. I don’t think this show should go darker and edgier. Grimm has been able to build a world that has dark Wesen and friendship between different type “people”.

Kind of like if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. I’d describe the new tone by the lax way that Nick and even Renard are letting others know what they are. Remember how in past seasons Nick was careful to not let Wesen know he was a Grimm? Well, now it’s his standard routine to start his investigative interviews with, I’m a Grimm and I know you’re Wesen. How is broadcasting that he’s a Grimm a good thing for him or anyone that knows him?

Maybe Nick’s new routine of announcing he’s a Grimm is due in part to the loss of Aunt Marie’s trailer. For all the previous seasons the trailer was the standard way of solving his Wesen cases. Now he doesn’t have that resource, he uses all the finesse of a bull in a china shop.

The police case this week tied directly to the whole Wesen uprising storyline. The Occultatum Libera mounted a coordinated attack on specific Wesen addresses. Portland wasn’t the only city hit. However, in Portland they killed one shop keeper and abducted another one. Xavier is the perfect mark for the group to abduct. He wasn’t a strong or fierce Wesen. They had a picture of Monroe and probably tortured him to gain his compliance. I don’t know what sort of Wesen he was. Here’s the best image I could find of him.

True, this is a picture of a fish. But admit it, it looks a lot like Xavier when he woged.

Xavier was released by the Wesen gang and he set up the rest of the gang to walk into a trap. Only the Wesen gang got the worst of it. While our group of Nick, Hank, Wu, Renard and Monroe managed to back into an interior room in the warehouse someone or something outside the room took out nearly all their attackers.

When the noise subsides, Nick ventured out to find bodies lying around. The leader came out of the shadows and attacked Nick but just as he’s about to dispatch Nick a force sent the bad guy flying upward and crashing back down to his death. As Nick’s savior was leaving, her face appeared in a shaft of light. Nick breathed what he thought her name to be, “Juliette”.

When Grimm returns January 22, we’ll learn her name is now Eve. David Greenwalt gave his word that Juliette was dead after last season. They knew they wanted Bitsie Tulloch to return to the show. So, they came up with a sort of new character for her. The premise is that the group that Chavez (and now Trubel) works for, Hadrian’s Wall, took her, broke her down and then rebuilt her into this super Hexenbiest. What she remembers of her previous life, we will have to wait till January to find out.

Continuing the political storyline, Renard did a video spot supporting mayoral candidate, Andrew Dixon. The Andrew Dixon storyline had better payoff. They’ve been setting it up for the last few weeks. If it’s not Wesen related, I’ll be disappointed.

Another bit of story going on: Trubel and Adalind had a brief get to know you session. The words that were said may not be as important as the subtext of what’s not being said. Particularly how Adalind stumbles for words when Trubel point blank asked if she was in love with Nick. Let the record show, I don’t want them to be a romantic item. There is no basis, except for proximity, for them to become a couple. Their whole history has been about the back and forth battle they’ve had. Adalind needs something more interesting for her character to do than caring for her baby. But, not becoming gushy with Nick. Please don’t go there.

“Wesen Nacht” was all about the last few minutes of the episode in my book. This week was personal. I’ve been saying since last May that Juliette was not dead. This week proved me right. Thank you, Grimm, I’ll take that for my Christmas present.