It's a Sheepish GRIMM

Episode 205: “The Good Shepherd”

[Photos: Scott Green/NBC]

Hank is still adjusting to being “in the loop”. Juliette is still struggling to remember her relationship with Nick. This episode lacks some of the mystery, comedy, and magical quality of other episodes. Interestingly the promos that made this week’s episode look the best appear to be in next week’s episode. Some of the material that looked interesting in the promo was not fleshed out in the actual show.

The edit on this episode was odd. It was done so that it looked like characters where places they were not. I think it was supposed to build tension. I am not sure it was successful in that attempt.

Spoiler Alert

We open with Nick meeting with Bud, the beaver creature, that Juliette questioned in the last episode. He knows that he muffed it when he let it slip that Nick is a Grimm. Nick senses that something is amiss. It’s the Nucklavee, horse creature, sent from Rome to get the key that is shadowing him.

A man, Norm, is working late in an office on his laptop. A lady stops at his office door and says goodnight. Norm leaves the office and is attacked by someone with red, glowing eyes wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The attacker attaches a large chain to one of Norm’s legs and drags him off.

Norm is lifted into the air with a crane and dropped into a grinder. The horrific part is he is alive and screaming for help all the while that he is being lifted and dropped.

Nick gets home and finds the house empty. He calls Juliette and finds her out with friends for drinks. Juliette realizes she may have crossed a line by not leaving Nick a note or otherwise letting him know where she is. Her friends are surprised that she didn’t let him know where she was going. She again hears that she and Nick were a great couple. She also learns the he purposed and that she had turned him down. Both friends are at a loss about why she didn’t accept his offer.
The next day at the precinct the Reverend Lance B. Calvin comes to report a theft from his church. He accuses the church accountant of stealing over $300,000 from the church. Norm’s car is found at the train station. In the trunk a pay stub from the mulch grinding company is found.

At the wood mulch company where Norm used to work a gruesome discovery is made in the wood grinder. Norm had a hip replacement four years earlier and the metal hip-joint did not grind up in fact it jammed the grinder.

Hank and Nick do some research and find that the church Reverend Calvin was the leader of previous to his current church also reported a large theft by the church accountant. And the money and accountant were never recovered. In another fun little twist his current assistant was married to the accountant of the first church.

They decide to surprise the Revered with news that Norm is dead and see how he reacts. It’s turns out to be a surprise for everyone. Nick discovers that the Reverend is a Blutbad and the congregation are Seelengut, sheep creatures. It’s a decidedly odd arrangement. Nick is not sure what to make of it and goes to Monroe to see if this sounds like something that could be on the up and up.

My guess is that the writers have not decided how to handle Hank’s new status. So, for the time being he is acting very wishy-washy. It’s awkward and not fitting to his overall character.

Monroe agrees to go undercover for Hank and Nick at the church. And of course this little operation has to be off the record since they would not be able to explain any of it.

Captain Renard is apparently having headaches, something to do with his pure waking kiss bestowed on Juliette.  gets the file on the Nucklavee.

The Nucklavee who is following Nick and searching for the key, breaks into Nick and Juliette’s home. In his search he rummages through their drawers. He takes out the engagement ring from Nick’s draw but puts it back.  (Set dressing department, who has only two things in a drawer? And neck ties are not stored in drawers.) In a potentially scary moment, Juliette comes home and he slips out.

Megan, the Reverend’s assistant is brought into the police station for questioning. It’s an interesting mix of what she shares and what she does not. It creates perhaps the only bit of mystery in the episode trying to figure out what she actually knows and how far she is willing to go to please Reverend Calvin. I don’t know if this was an error in the writing or something else. But in the interrogation room Megan morphs into her Seelengut form and then freaks out about Nick. Megan was in the church when the whole congregation morphed. Did the Seelengut not see Nick is a Grimm? Was the Reverend Calvin the only one to see that?

Later, Nick is at the trailer doing more research. It seems that he is developing a new skill. He is gaining a sense of when a creature is tailing him. He and the Nucklavee battle. Nick ends it dispatching the Nucklavee with a weapon out of the weapons closet in the trailer. Nick finds a drawing of the key in the Nucklavee’s pocket. Considering that the Nucklavee has been in two episodes there isn’t much to his story. I thought this would be more of a storyline. The Nucklavee hits Nick’s vehicle hard with his hoof. I think it left a nice, clear imprint. Maybe this will come back to bite Nick next episode. Or it may never be a part of any plot.

The next morning Nick and Juliette dance around the issue of their relationship and how awkward it is. They both decide that it would not be a good time for either one of them to move out. And Juliette teases him with an invitation for dinner at home. It’s the most romance between the two of them since she woke from her comma.

Also the same morning, Monroe is helping out with the church bake sale as the church begins the task of refilling their coffers. A young pregnant congregant confides in Megan that the father of he child is the Reverend Calvin. As everyone should know, there is no wrath like a woman scorned.

Renard gets the file on the Nucklavee’s body found in the river. He does not seem terribly distressed over the loss of this life.

Monroe doesn’t know it but he is being set up to take the fall for the Reverend’s murderous ways. Invited into Calvin’s office, the Reverend offers Monroe a letter opener as a present. He just wants Monroe’s finger prints to be on the item after he has killed Monroe. The attack is interrupted when the congregation, led by Megan, storm into the office. Norm’s laptop is found in Calvin’s office incriminating Calvin for Norm’s murder. The whole herd of Seelengut, minus Megan, attack Calvin. Then they turn on Monroe. Hank and Nick get there just in time to save him from the same fate as Calvin.

All 25 congregants confess to attacking the Reverend. It makes for an odd ending to the case. The loose ends are Megan and Harmony who we find in the tropics lounging and drinking tropical drinks.

There were some beautiful shots this week. The church that they used has gorgeous woodwork. I look forward to more mystery and that old world feel to the story telling that I enjoy from Grimm.

>>>>>>

[Official Show Site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “Quill”]