Does GRIMM Plague Ms. Maia?

Episode 204 “Quill”

[Photos: Scott Green/NBC]

This is a fun episode. Bud is such a fun character. I was glad to see him back.

Wu has more fun this week. Hank seems to be enjoying his new-found information. You can tell that he is almost giddy knowing that it’s not his mind playing tricks with him. We meet new creatures and find out that some illnesses are apparently not transferable from Wesen to non-Wesen. Unless we find out differently next week.

I enjoy looking for how they have shot around Bree Turner’s (Rosalee) pregnancy. With a few stand ins for the very physically demanding scenes and careful framing and strategic use of props it really doesn’t show.

Spoiler Alert!

The promos for this episode might have left you concerned that Rosalee was being written out of the series. Relax. She is likely to continue with the show. There are a couple of folks, Sargent Wu and Monroe, that may still become infected. Wu had red splotches on his hand and wrist after Phyllis Stanton’s body fell on him. It seems unlikely that Monroe got through all of that without even a small nick. According to the promo for next week it doesn’t look like this is part of the story line. We’ll see.

The main story line is the Yellow Plague and how gruesome its effects are. There are several sub stories that we are still following from earlier episodes.

A parks worker, Ryan Gilko,  sits at a traffic light waiting for the light to change. He’s changing the music and doesn’t see the car barreling and swerving behind to collide with his truck.
Ryan gets out of his truck to check on the other driver. Nick Stanton, the other driver, is not well. In fact he’s covered in open sores and is acting like he’s infected with rabies. Mr. Stanton attacks Ryan. Ryan says “You don’t understand”. I am not sure what he’s referring to, perhaps that he’s trying to warn Mr. Stanton about his creature self. In self-defense Ryan morphs into his porcupine Wesen.

There are several things I don’t understand in this episode. Stanton goes on a rampage in an empty office building. I don’t know why. Hank and Nick are called to the scene of the car accident. Why are they called to a car accident? I thought they were homicide detectives.

They both end up shooting Stanton in self-defense. Nick realizes that there is more going on than it looks like. Hank is processing his new knowledge. It looks like it crossed his mind whether he wants to be Nick’s police partner and subject himself to the continuing parade of the weird.

Juliette is trying hard to regain her memories of Nick and their life together. It’s not working. She calls Monroe and asks how they were. This doesn’t help her. If they had such a great romance, if they were such a good match why is he the one thing she can’t remember. Of course the reason is all the lies he’s told her to cover his identity as a Grimm. It’s his attempt to protect her but let’s be honest. It hasn’t worked very well.

Rosalee returns to her spice shop to find the toxic cat has destroyed the carrier it was in and a good bit of the store once it escaped. Rosalee finds it on the ceiling, in a nicely creepy scene. She makes a run for the door but the cat manages to escape instead of her. As she sighs with relief Monroe appears at the door. He suggests a pleasant diversion for her, a picnic.

Hank and Nick give their report to Captain Renard on the attack by and death of Nick Stanton. I thought it was standard for police involved in a shooting to be placed on paid leave pending an investigation of the shooting. But that never happens in this TV show. When they leave Renard’s office he gets a call from a cousin. The caller informs Renard that the family has sent another one to dispatch Nick. Renard asks what they are after and is told the key is object they are after. This news makes Renard’s temper flare. He declares that he won’t let that happen. A couple of things occurred to me; if push comes to shove Renard may disclose to Nick what he is and Renard probably needs the key to win his way back into the family fold. To stay on top of what the royal family is up to, Renard is employing police resources to get information.

Throughout the episode we see that the Nucklavee, a horse like creature,  is following and observing Nick. Interesting that this is the behavior Kelly used to describe the Mauvias Dentes. But the Mauvias Dentes didn’t do as much of this as I expected.

Sargent Wu is sent to the Stanton home to see if he can locate Mrs. Stanton. He arrives to find the front door unlocked. He loudly announces who he is and that he is entering the house. Some things are askew in the house. Interestingly the mess in the house doesn’t come close to what Mr. Stanton was able to make in the office building. I suspect that the production crew did not have permission to make too much mess in the house location. Anyway, Sargent Wu finds Mrs. Stanton she is very sick with the yellow plague. She attacks Wu twice coming at him with a knife and screwdriver. He is knocked to the floor  shoots her as she comes at him the second time. She falls on top of him with the knife and screwdriver landing firmly in the floor on either side of Wu’s head.

When Nick and Hank arrive at the scene they relieve Wu and take over the scene. Wu is obviously shaken by this experience. Personally it bothers me when someone can shoot someone else and is not affected by that. There are several things that we are shown but are not explained. There is some sort of medical kit on the floor near Phyllis Stanton. And Nick picks up a file with a picture of a pig with the same sores or rash that the Wesen are being afflicted with. There isn’t more information on any of these clues. I wondered if the medical kit was an attempt to cure the pigs or herself. And since she’s a Wesen why didn’t she seek a Wesen cure?

Monroe and Rosalee are now in the woods enjoying a romantic picnic for two. They are interrupted by Ryan, the parks worker, who by this point is very sick. He attacks our happy couple. They run for the car and make their getaway.

Juliette has flash back memories of Bud the repairman that fixed their fridge and then gave them a quilt and pies. She invites him over to see if he can give her more clues about what she and Nick were like as a couple. Bud is a great character. He falls over himself trying to say the right thing and not offend the “not wife” of the Grimm. But with his guard down a bit he lets slip that Nick is a Grimm. Then he tries so very hard to cover his gaffe that it’s down right comical. Again poor Juliette is left standing there with her signature confused expression.

Hank and Nick answer a call about Ryan at the park. At this point they are pretty sure that the disease is contagious to Wesen only. Nick calls Monroe to ask if there is a treatment for Fluvus Pestilentia. His call interrupts a romantic kiss between Monroe and Rosalee. Luckily for Nick and all concerned Monroe has some knowledge about the Yellow Plague. While describing the symptoms to Nick on the phone he realizes that Rosalee may also have contracted the disease. Sure enough the slight scratch that was visible in the scene when they escaped back at the park is now a yellow and red angry looking patch on her neck. Rosalee points Monroe in the right direction to the recipe for a cure in one of her books. But she is quickly incapacitated and must lie down. Again Nick saves the day. I haven’t been keeping count but Monroe has been the one to the  rescue in many of the past episodes.

Hank and Nick bring Ryan in to Rosalee’s shop to get him help. Monroe gives both Ryan and Rosalee the cure he mixed up. Then over cups of hot coffee he confides to Hank that he is the one that ran into Hank in the woods.

At the close of the episode we get another glimpse of the Nucklavee watching a romantic moment between Rosalee and Monroe from a glass skylight. This shot is the only time that I saw any thing horse like about the Nucklavee. There is a hoof visible.

Grimm takes a short break and will return on Friday, September 28. There is a lot of action in the promo for the next episode. The show’s off to a great start this season. This has become a much better show than when it started.

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[Official Show Site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “Bad Moon Rising”]