GRIMM to the Touch

3.08 “Red Menace”

[photos: Scott Green/NBC]

It’s baaaack! Grimm‘s second half of the third season. Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday. Were you well behaved enough to avoid a visit from Krampus?

This episode had so much going on. As promised we were introduced to the Russian community in Portland. I would really appreciate it if someone from Portland would tell me what the city is really like. There are several storylines up and running this week.

This week will be hard to recap briefly. I’ll try my best to do it. A visiting Russian Wesen healer, Boris, is attacked in a storeroom of the restaurant where a party is being held in his honor. Turns out he can turn it both ways. He can heal or infect with his touch, which transmits radioactive poisoning. He’s a complicated character. It would have been nice to have him around for more episodes. Even in the time of one regular episode that had so much else going on, the writers were able to give him considerable depth. It didn’t look like he’ll be in future episodes, which is the audience’s loss. He used to be an assassin for FSB. Now he’s trying to redeem himself by giving his gift of healing to those in need. And each time he heals it weakens him.

Alex, the young man that attacked Boris, ends up back in his motel room. The special effects team seems to have had some fun with this one. The gross level was way up for this one.

Hank and Nick get involved because Alex killed a waiter at the restaurant to get his uniform and lie in wait for Boris. That leads them to question Boris, and Nick seeing him in his Wesen form. The police case would have been enough for this episode. Hank, Nick and Wu become contaminated with radiation when they investigate Alex’s motel room. Just for fun Alex is not dead and stumbles into Hank. The three police have to go through a decontamination process and enter the precinct in blue hazmat suits with music that reminds me of the Ghostbusters theme.

This story seems to end with the maid trying to poison Boris. He still won’t die and she stabs him with a pair of scissors. The two stumble out of the room and down the staircase as the police enter the scene. Olga morphs into her wild boar type Wesen and slits the maid’s throat with her tusk. Boris uses his last strength to heal her while his wife weeps. And that is why I don’t think Boris will be in further episodes.

I suspect we’ve not seen the last of Hank’s physical therapist. She seems to have a story of her own and Hank looks like he wouldn’t mind learning it.

Sean Renard has his meeting with Adalind. During which they discuss her pregnancy and Renard’s possible paternity. Oh, Adalind is a sly one. She won’t reveal who the father is. I suppose she doesn’t know that answer. Although she’s always looked like she does know. Renard makes sort of a threat, sort of an olive branch statement. He warns her that everyone will be interested in the baby but not so much in her and that she will need a friend.

I don’t understand why, with everything up in the air in Vienna, did Captain Renard come back to Portland? Except, of course, that he was going to be needed for the police case in Portland. I mean, who else were they going to get to translate Russian? And while I don’t speak or understand Russian, Sasha Roiz as Sean Renard sounded very convincing.

Another storyline begins with a frantic call from Allison, a close friend of Juliette’s. Allison leaves her husband after he’s beaten her again. She arrives to stay with Nick and Juliette. The point that no one says, is that her being there puts all of them in danger. Allison turns away from Nick and morphs into a Fuchsbau. It throws Nick off balance, giving him a fun mix up line. It looks like Nick and Juliette’s relationship is strong enough to bear the pressure of a runaway domestic violence victim house guest.

And that’s pretty much the episode. So, let’s look at parts of it in a bit more depth. There were a lot of loose ends left untied. Perhaps these will be tied up next week or in coming weeks. I’m hoping we’re not going back to the way things were in season one, because very little got resolved in season one. Probably the least consequential is whether Hank will hook up with his physical therapist, Zuri. More important is what will happen to the baby Adalind is carrying.

Will Sean Renard be able to survive the upheaval that he set in motion? And I’ll say it again, I’m not convinced that Eric Renard is dead. What part does Sean have planned for Nick and his play for power with the Royal family? Wouldn’t that be something that he should share with Nick? Sean has always held his cards very, very close to his vest. So, this is very much in character for him.

As much as I complain about the lack of mystery and suspense in Grimm, this time they did a good job of keeping Alex’s accomplice a surprise. I was sure it was Olga, Boris’s wife. So when it was finally revealed it was the maid I was actually surprised.

There’s a scene in Juliette’s vet office. She is finishing up treating a cat that’s been in another fight. The lady who is the pet owner says her husband won’t allow her to get the cat neutered. I’ve heard of men behaving like this. I don’t understand it, but I’ve heard of it. Allison is hanging out with Juliette and when the pet owner leaves they talk about neutering in general and her husband in particular. I read on another site that this conversation was about scheming to murder Joe. But I didn’t get that, I think it was about castrating Joe, not killing him.

We saw that Allison’s husband, Joe, is siting in front of Juliette and Nick’s house. We got to see him morph into some kind of Wesen. I’m not sure but my guess is it’s a badger type of Wesen. And if you kept watching long enough for the promos following the episode you saw Joe get his butt kicked by Juliette. I thought I understood the purpose of promos. I guess I don’t. Maybe someone will explain it to me. I thought it was to keep an audience’s interest in the show and get them to come back and tune in the next week. But Grimm often gives away too much.

Does anyone suspect that there is something special, unusual about Juliette? Think back on all the times she has been a fierce fighter and more than held her own against scary Wesen creatures. I like to think I’m a woman of strong character but I would most likely turn tail and run if faced with the sort of foes that Juliette has faced.

[Official Show Site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “It’s a Cold GRIMM Krampus”

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