Love Makes for GRIMM Hunting

Episode 117 “Love Sick”

This episode was a good follow-up to some of the previous story lines from recent episodes. I really like that things from the previous episode were continued in this one. We had a bit of flashback to give the audience a frame of reference. We learned more about what is going on. Relationships are moving along with a natural feel to them.

Spoiler Alert

Our story begins with Nick in the trailer trying to figure out the mystery of the key his Aunt Marie gave him when she was attacked by the Reaper in the pilot. This is one of our bits of flashback. We see Marie rip the chain from around her neck and give it to Nick. She warns him to guard it with his life.

This key is pivotal to the whole episode. Everyone is after the key. This key is what Renard has been working to get. But that doesn’t really explain all of his behavior. I think there must be more direct ways to seek this key. It seems to me that Renard has been in some ways grooming Nick for his role as a Grimm. Perhaps he is just a very sporting hunter and has groomed his quarry to be worthy of the hunt.

In Nick’s search for what the key opens he knocks over some ink. The key gets covered in ink and this leads to Nick discovering that the key holds a message. He does not get to work this out exactly before he is interrupted by a phone call. Juliette is calling to warn Nick that he is in danger of being late.

Nick and Juliette meet Hank and Adalind for a double date. Nick is really upset that Adalind is the object of Hank’s desire. He even confronts Adalind. The two of them are playing a dangerous game.

Captain Renard leaves the police station. On his way to his car in the parking garage a man sticks a gun to his neck. They know each other and that familiarity is not working in Renard’s favor. The gunman takes Renard to a warehouse location. They meet a man, they call cousin there.  The reason for the meeting is the key. I don’t know why it is so highly valued but they want it very badly. As a side note, the lighting in this scene is really distracting. The yellow is so prominent it looks like the actors were showered in yellow paint.

Renard kills the other two and stages the scene to make it look like the two of them shot each other. The one detail he missed was his phone, which slid under one of the vehicles.

At the restaurant, Hank finds Nick in the restroom releasing his angst and tells him they are needed at the scene of a double homicide. Hank is not nearly as happy for the interruption as Nick.

Renard goes to a house where an attractive lady answers the door. They are talking about Adalind and the task Renard has set her. Catherine, Adalind’s Mother, asks if Adalind is successful will Catherine’s debt will be paid in full. It’s not hard to figure out that both mother and daughter are attracted to Renard. They don’t address their mutual attraction to the same man. As Renard leaves Catherine asks him “What happens when you find the key?”

He replies, “Those who help will be remembered and rewarded. Those who don’t will be forgotten.” It’s interesting that he doesn’t mention any sort of punishment. Perhaps being forgotten implies punishment or perhaps it is punishment itself.

At the crime scene Nick observes Sargent Wu first take a bite out of his lip balm and later eat the whole tube, plastic case and all. Nick calls him out on it but Wu has no idea that he is eating nonfood  items. Nick spends his time at the crime scene trying to talk Hank out of his obsession with Adalind. He is very unsuccessful. Hank finds the cell phone under the vehicle at the scene.

Adalind gets home from her double date and morphs into her Hexenbiest form as another Hexenbiest enters the room. This sets up for us that Adalind’s mother, Catherine, is also a Hexenbiest. And that despite Adalind’s scary appearance and powers, she is still on guard even in her own home. Hank calls Adalind  from his car watching her apartment. He apologizes for having to end their double date early and asks if he can stop by for a bit. She puts him off saying that her Mother is visiting but she hopes to finish the double date another time. Hank can see Catherine with Adalind from the window and is glad to know she is not lying to him.

At the hospital Nick gets an update on Wu’s condition. The attending tells Nick that Wu has a condition called pica. Basically it means he eats non edible substances and items. Like the things we have been seeing him eat. She says that he will be able to leave the hospital the next day but he is going to need to get help.

At Monroe’s house, Nick can’t figure out why Hank would be so smitten by Adalind. How do you tell your (police) partner he’s dating a witch? Monroe muses that Rosalie would know what to do about it. Despite the late hour, Nick tells him to call her. I really like the blossoming relationship of Rosalie and Monroe. They work together so well and really seem to be hitting it off.

Renard tampers with the cell phone evidence. Nicely deleting the only concrete evidence that ties him to the crime.

Monroe and Rosalie work out that Adalind has created a powerful potion to make Hank fall in love with her. They also conclude that the reaction they cured Wu of in the last episode must have been this very potion. Nick asks Rosalie about Wu’s strange eating habits. Rosalie explains that she didn’t cure Wu of the potion. She only cured him of his symptoms from taking the potion meant for Hank.

Renard calls Adalind and gives her the order to put their plan in action. So, Adalind calls Hank when he is at his desk and invites Hank for dinner at her home. She asks if Nick is there and the two of them have a short conversation letting Nick know that she is setting Hank up and it’s to get to him.

Nick, unaware that his Captain is the killer he’s looking for, goes to Renard and admits his frustration with the case. Renard plays it very cool and tells Nick that the families of the victims are already en route to claim the bodies. The two victims have strong political connections in Europe. Basically Nick will have to drop the case and let it go.

Our Three Musketeers, Nick, Monroe, and Rosalie cook up an antidote for Wu and Hank. Rosalie has a tool that looks like a metal beetle on the end that has to be used to deliver the antidote.

Wu is literally carpet munching when Nick knocks on the door with Rosalie and Monroe in tow to administer the antidote. There is a nice effect of Wu’s face turning a lovely shade of red while being healed. It’s nice to see Rosalie doesn’t have all the answers. She has a lot of experience and a lot of resources, especially in her late brother’s shop. And she is willing to take chances.

Nick calls Hank to find him and get the antidote to him. Hank is about to enter Adalind’s and won’t listen to Nick. The scene is set to show that Hank and Adalind have had their romantic encounter. Adalind leaves her apartment dressed for a fight. She left the door open probably to make it easier for Nick to enter.

Nick, Monroe, and Rosalie arrive with antidote and book in hand. They find Hank in Adalind’s bed unconscious. The love potion has been altered because Adalind and Hank had sex. Adalind calls Nick and sets up a meeting with him. She makes him an ultimatum, the key Nick’s Aunt left him or Hank.

Rosalie gives Nick important information on what he must do to break the spell. The only way to break the spell is with the blood of a Grimm.

Adalind and Nick have their show down in forest park. They fight, Hexenbiest to Grimm. Nick pins Adalind and kisses her. She fights back the only way she can, she bites him. Unfortunately for her this accomplishes exactly what he needs to do. His blood is in her. The Hexenbiest part of her dies. She is now a shell of her former self. She’s devastated.

Hank awakes in the awkward situation of being in Adalind’s bedroom with two other people.

Adalind goes to her Mother’s arms for comfort but finds none. Renard is there also and declares her useless. He also admits that he underestimated Nick.

Back at the trailer Nick works on making print of relief design on the key. Under his magnifying glass it is an intricate picture that looks like a map.

One of my favorite things about this show is the way the female characters are depicted. We have Juliette, who is a doctor of veterinary medicine. She is smart, strong, able to defend herself and her mate. Even as a Hexenbiest,  Adalind is sexy, strong enough to take on any threat to herself or her mission. As a lawyer she demonstrates that she is educated and capable of holding her own in a predominantly male occupation. And now Rosalie is adding her own special talents to the line up of well drawn female characters. Thank you, Grimm, for not making all the females victims or vamps.

    

As Adalind walks away from her Mother’s home and her life, I am struck by how lost she is. Adalind has nothing to lose. She is devoid of her powers and her Wessen strength. She doesn’t belong to either world now. I wonder if she might go over to the other side and join the Grimm team.

[Official Show Site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “The Thing with Feathers”]