GRIMM Is Afoot!
Welcome back to the home stretch of this fourth Grimm season. This episode gave us payoff for the cliffhangers from the mid-season break.
The police case this week was, for Grimm, fairly straightforward. Some episodes I feel slighted on the police case. It feels like the writers missed the opportunity to give us a lot more detail that would add layers to the show and our understanding of the Grimm world. Some of the Wesen stories really need more back story, but we just don’t get it. It’s rare that any of the police cases are more than a one-off. When they do last more than one episode I always feel that the audience benefits from the added information. But this week the case is the hunter and the hunted, pretty basic. With the creepy twist of using Willhara (rabbit Wesen) feet for luck with fertility.
The basis for this week’s police case is an ancient Wesen fertility tradition in which a Vulpesmyrca, some sort of fox, hunts and whacks off a Willahara’s left foot so that a couple may place it under their bed to grant them luck with fertility. The tradition is still being carried out in the Wesen community. Desperate couples pay thousands of dollars for the severed left foot of a rabbit Wesen. Unfortunately for the Willahara, this practice seems to result in their death. It’s not clear if the Wesen couples paying for the foot realize that the Willahara died for them to have the foot. Or even if they care what happened to the Wesen that lost the foot.
Some weeks the glaring inconsistency is how the police procedure is handled. This week it’s a Wesen technicality. For the past four seasons, when a Wesen dies, even if they are in full woge, they change back to human form. This week, for some reason, the Willhara’s foot remains in Wesen form. Why? And why just the foot?
Did anyone else think it just a bit too much that the Willahara that lost his foot was named Peter? Peter Rabbit; it was a bit obvious. The poor teen’s name is Peter Bennett. Bennett means “blessed” in Latin. I suppose it was part of the play on words about luck or lack thereof.
My other complaint was how easily the nurse runs to Monroe and Rosalee to help them with something that is clearly unethical and illegal. This struck me as one of those “hand of the writer” moments. It needed to happen quickly to be able to finish the episode in time. So, what would normally happen over time was condensed to end the story and save the girl.
The very best thing about this episode was the shift in the way that our main characters acted and reacted. It was significantly more realistic. Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the change. However, for audiences that have been following along this felt like an earthquake. For four seasons we’ve seen these characters act and react in ways that are not true to real human behavior. They have been convenient to move the story but not realistic. You either enjoy the show, accept that this is how people in the world of Grimm behave or it probably drives you bonkers.
The shift was most apparent between Nick and Juliette. Their exchanges about Juliette’s new powers as a Hexenbiest were the closest to how a real couple might behave that we’ve seen. Granted this isn’t a normal situation that couples deal with. But, if a couple had to deal with this they might behave like this.
I’ve heard from friends that watch the show that they don’t like the friction between Nick and Juliette in this episode. I don’t see how you can have these characters go through something like this and not have to deal with some level of friction. I would be so disappointed if the writers had waved a sugar coated wand and pretended that this was all sugar and spice and everything nice. On the other hand, considering the way they have dealt with other issues that would be disastrous to any real relationship it hits a bit hard to see Juliette being so real with Nick. It will be interesting to see if this is a continuing thing or a blip in the way she handles Nick.
And last but, definitely not least there’s the wonderful ending of Adalind paying a visit to Henrietta and learning that she is again expecting. The very idea that she doesn’t consider her fling with Nick “being with” anyone is very telling. She completely dismisses him. She is likely to rue the day that she agreed to Viktor’s condition of taking Nick’s Grimm powers. She was not reunited with Diana for her troubles and has had nothing but trouble since.
Now, there are a couple of things frustrating me. We haven’t heard mention of the keys that were so very important that people were dying for. We’ve not heard about them since Diana was born. Also the various powers and/or heightened skills that Nick was accumulating have not been seen or mentioned in ages. Remember when he was a zombie and he gained strength and endurance? Juliette woke him up because she was afraid he was dead and he was an odd shade of blue? Anyone else remember that? Then there’s Trubel and Josh. They left in the vehicle Nick and Juliette gave them to what, never reappear?
I really don’t like it when Grimm starts something and then drops it perhaps to never pick it up again. Stop that!
