Recap: GRIMM Keys in on Church and State

Episode 511 “Key Move”
Directed by Eric Laneuville
Written by Stephen Carpenter

[recap by Maia Ades]

This week Dan Handley sat in with me to record the podcast. He and I have different views which is a good thing for you as it gives you more variety of opinion.

Things are getting tighter and hitting closer to home on this episode. There are still another eleven episodes to go. This one was close to the kind of cliffhanger that we’ve seen as finales of past seasons.

Most of this episode is setting up even more excitement for next week. I think fans will be pleased with what’s to come. But, we’re not there yet. Let’s visit what happened in this episode.

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There are two main storylines going on. One is the crusade that Nick (David Giultoli) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) are on and the other is what Marwan, the creepy Black Claw guy, is up to.

Marwan is an assassin sent by Black Claw to, as it turns out, take out mayoral candidate Andrew Dixon. But up till the point that he pulls the trigger it looks like he’s there to take out Sean Renard (Sasha Roiz). This part of the episode prompted Dan and me to examine the “Why Portland?” question. Why is Black Claw so interested in and active in Portland? If there is some particular reason, the writers need to let the audience in on it. Because it’s becoming a larger and larger glaring question.

Nick and Monroe off on their own bro-road trip is a nice addition to their friendship. Too much of the time their friendship has been based on being in mortal danger together. This was a nice change, sort of. I mean, the first church they go into a mouse Wesen woges in front of Nick and freaks out that he’s a Grimm. Given the history of Grimms that’s probably not without reason. But, as Dan pointed out, Monroe might have been able to help out by woging himself. In any case, Monroe didn’t and the rest of that story will be saved for next week.

The episode ends with a thrilling cliffhanger. Nothing better than your two leads falling down a centuries old hole in the ground and not seeing if they survive. Did you feel that they found the X too easily? Or was that enough detail and work that they went through to solve the riddle of the map?

The bombshell this week was Nick and Adalind (Claire Coffee) sleeping together before he headed off for the Black Forest in Germany. Folks, it’s no secret I hate this relationship. It makes absolutely no sense. It’s out of character, it has no basis in reality. It just doesn’t work. Please, make it stop!

Claire Coffee has the acting chops to carry Adalind to new and interesting places. Why revisit basically the same role the Bitsie Tulloch portrayed as Juliette? Come on, writers, dig in into your well of creativity and give the ladies on the show more to do than being Nick or Hank’s (Russell Hornsby) love interest. I realize that I am often critical of the writing. It’s because the story begins with the writers. Grimm has made it through five seasons because it gave audiences interesting stories and compelling characters. I’m urging the writing staff to continually push themselves to create the best work they can.

Next week we will be treated to the 100th episode of Grimm. In honor of this auspicious occasion, we’ll have a group discussion from the SciFi4Me.com world headquarters. I look forward to sharing this with all the Grimmsters.

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