GRIMM Takes a Slam

Episode 513: “Silence of the Slams”
Written by Stephen Carpenter
Directed by David Straiton

[recap by Maia Ades]

This episode felt like a bit of a let down after last week. Considering how much is going on for our main characters, this story didn’t move those stories forward enough.

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It’s possible that I’m asking for too much, but the last couple of episodes have been much stronger. This one was more your run of the mill Grimm episode. I think it would have benefited from taking more time with the police case. There was the potential for much more detail and history. By rushing it, Goyo’s the decent into madness is less believable.

The biggest part of the episode was a journey into the world of luchador fighters. The short version is a luchador fighter, Goyo, is tired of being paid to lose. He’s prideful and certain of his star power. Benito, a mask maker, talks to him about the masks of the star fighters who’s portraits hang on his walls. And, of course, there’s a Wesen connection.

Bennito makes Goyo sign a contract for the mask with his own blood. This is comparable to making a deal with the devil. I wonder if Benito had told him that the mask would be made from a person’s face? Or that he was going to skin the person’s face while they were still alive? If Goyo had known all that, would he still have wanted the mask? I don’t think so. Goyo was ambitious and unhappy with his lot, but he wasn’t a particularly bad person.

It’s unclear why Goyo broke the rules and wore the mask outside the ring. Was he just curious? Or was the mask exerting power of its own? Every time he put it on, there was some kind of energy or something that he got from the mask. But was it somehow interacting with him even when he wasn’t wearing it?

Unless I’m way off, the whole episode covers a week or less in time. During that short time, there were three murders surrounding the mask. The first one was the guy who forfeited his face. The second was the other Luchador that Goyo killed in a dark alley while wearing the mask. The third was Benito. Goyo was heavily under the influence of the mask by that time. He went to Benito’s to get the mask off of him. It had melded on to his head. But when he got there, he flipped out even more. The masks on the wall were talking to him and warning him not to let Benito take off the mask. By the end of the episode, Goyo is somewhere near the state that Wu (Reggie Lee) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) were at one time. Only I don’t think having a heart to heart with Nick (David Giuntoli) is going to make him all better.

Once again, Rosalee (Bree Turner) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) saved the day. This time, it was Rosalee to the rescue with her knowledge of rituals. She performed a ceremony that made the mask release Goyo’s head. The creepiest scene was the mask unwoging back to the man’s face.

A part of Nick’s duties as a Grimm that we don’t often see is adding information to the Grimm book. It was a quiet end to a loud, messy case. I wonder how they handled that in the police report?

The rest of the episode was just tiny bits of our bigger stories. The five members of our Grimm team decide that they have to keep the healing stick secret. That made sense. Lucky for them, Bud wasn’t there. That dear man is terrible at keeping secrets. We didn’t see where they hid the stick. So, they kept the secret from us as well. This set up the first time that Nick has lied to Adalind (Claire Coffee). Even his baby mamma isn’t part of the inner circle.

A small peeve: I noticed at least two times that people entered doors and didn’t close them behind them. The first was Nick coming home to his supposed safe house. The second was Goyo entering his apartment after he killed the Luchador. Like I said, it’s a small thing, but normal people close doors behind them when they enter their living space.

Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) started her own investigation of Andrew Dixon’s assassination. She found the same footage with the same physical cue from Rachel that she knew where the shooter was just before Andrew was shot. With that information, she paid a visit to Renard (Sasha Roiz). She asked just a couple of questions about why Renard was supporting Andrew’s candidacy. Later, she was eavesdropping on a restaurant meeting between Renard and Rachel.

The last thing of great importance probably was setting up some larger story. Renard called Adalind and tempts her that he may know how to get Diana back. Now, is he really calling her because of that, or is he taking up Black Claw on their offer to get him elected to Mayor of Portland? Rachel mentioned that “they”–whoever “they” are–believes he needs a family to win. She knew about Adalind and Diana. Oh, and someone needs to have a talk with Renard about taking personal responsibility when he has sex. He needed to ask Rachel is she was pregnant. This wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened. I don’t think he intended to father a child with Adalind.

My hat’s off to the camera crew again this week. They’re making great use of camera movement to convey a lot more than a static shot could. The other side to that coin is knowing when to use movement. If all the shots had that sort of feel, it would lose its impact. Good job, folks.

Will we find out Renard’s plan to find Diana next week? Will Adalind go full out Hexenbiest? Will Tony return to torment Rosalee? We’ll just have to watch to find out!

 

Grimm airs Friday nights at 9/8c on NBC.