GRIMM Fights Dirty

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Episode 4:03 “The Last Fight”

[photos: Scott Green/NBC]

The fourth season is off to good start. The characters are well established and still adding more layers. Some new, interesting characters and story elements have been added. At this point you probably either like Grimm or you don’t. And it’s probably safe to say that this is what it’s going to be. This is good news for the fans. If you’re not a fan, well… you’re probably not watching.

Most of this episode was about the police case. Full disclosure, I don’t like boxing. I’ve never understood a sport for which the whole purpose is for one person to bash another. Hence, I don’t know much about boxing or the whole culture in boxing gyms. I won’t be commenting on that, because I can’t. The police case is all about boxing and some unusual motivational practices used to get a Wesen boxer ready for the ring.

Clay, a young Heftigauroch, a bull-like Wesen is an up and coming boxer. The Heftigauroch have a natural ability to fight but will only do so if violently provoked. Stan, a Schinderdiv Wesen, is Clay’s agent. I don’t know what kind of Wesen he is. When woged he has four tusks around his mouth. Stan pays guys to come in right before Clay’s bouts and beat him to bring out the fight in him. Abe, another Heftigauroch Wesen, tries to turn a blind eye to what’s going on.

One of the thugs hired to provoke Clay, Bobby, suffers a broken jaw when Clay Woges. Bobby tries to get more money out of Stan but ends up being killed for his trouble. It’s Bobby’s death that brings Nick and Hank to investigate the boxing ring and specifically Clay, Abe and Stan. They immediately suspect Wesen are involved because of the four puncture wounds on Bobby’s chest. Without Nick’s Grimm ability to see Wesen they again bring in Trubel. And again, this does not end well. Stan attacks Nick, Hank and Trubel in full woge. Nick is in dire danger of being fatally punctured by Stan’s tusks when Trubel jumps on Stans back and in the struggle ends up breaking Stan’s neck. Nick quickly says he’ll take responsibility for Stan’s death.  An exhausted Nick says to Hank that they can’t keep doing this.

If you recall, last week I said that Octo Head would not be followed after he was placed in jail, and I was right. He was not to be seen this week.  Because there is quite a bit of story for our main characters, the police case felt a bit short-changed. It might have been a more interesting case if it had been given two weeks and not squeezed into one. I think many, if not most of the police cases would be more interesting if they were given more time to play out. If the police case of the week was the only story the show was following, one episode might be enough. But there are several story elements from the core characters that we follow for the whole season. It means that there’s less time to solve the case and learn about the Wesen. These are usually new and unique creatures. It would make interesting story-telling to learn more about each one.

Sean Renard’s mother, Elizabeth, makes Adalind look like a junior Hexenbiest. This may be unpopular, but I like having her go up against Adalind. Some of the bits of Monroe clumsily interacting with Elizabeth were a bit over the top but, it was still good to see the lighter side of Monroe.

I knew that Chavez was not a by-the-book FBI agent. To the best of my knowledge, kidnapping a suspect to interrogate them is not standard FBI practice. I’ll make a prediction here. I think that she’s trying to recruit Trubel to work for the Royals. I also think that Trubel will take the bait. She’s young, and she so wants to belong somewhere.

On a technical note, Chavez looked much better this week when she woged. The bird special effect was more believable and less like a masquerade bird mask. I am surprised that Grimm changed her Wesen look from one week to the next. I think this means we’ll be seeing a lot more of her.

There are several parts of the Adalind storyline that don’t make sense. Or maybe I’m just not seeing it. I don’t know how long she has been in the dungeon cell, but we’re to believe that she hasn’t eaten or had any water. She has no water, facilities, bed or anything else in the cell. We saw that Viktor has cameras on Adalind. I would think she’d know that she was being watched. So, when she follows the taunting voice and gets out of the cell you just know she was being watched. If this is not a trap that she just walked into, I’ll be very surprised.

My favorite things: 1.) Monroe has been given some of his humor back. It’s great to see him making little comedic comments. In the pilot episode he was my favorite character. The scene with he and Nick in Monroe’s VW driving through the woods and Monroe sticking his head out the window to track the scent of another Blutbad’s trail was priceless. Over time he was given less and less comedic moments. 2.) Everything with Elizabeth. She is able to strike a delicate balance between compassionate, scary, and beautiful.

The confrontation with Wu is coming. I think the time that everyone can continue to keep him in the dark is coming to an end.

The last scene was two thugs pulling up in a vehicle outside the Spice Shop and putting on masks. I’m not sure who they’re working for. They might be in cahoots with agent Chavez. I expect next week will start with what they’re up to.

[Show site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “Octopus Head”]