GRIMM Litters Up the Place

  

Episode 4:05 “Cry Luison”

[photos: Scott Green/NBC]

This week was all about the money. The police case does involve a death, but not an intentional murder. And Wesen are only sort of involved in the death. This was kind of a holding pattern week for the main characters. Not much of their storylines were furthered. And poor Sgt. Wu, another week, another missed opportunity to bring him into the fold.

The police case really felt like an after thought this week. If it had been given maybe one more week, it could have been a really good case. But it was wrapped up so quickly that most of the facts about it were given as exposition. It was an interesting case. Four Luison, a South American wolf type of Wesen, using their ability to woge to freak out an heiress for her money.

This is the first time we’ve seen a litter of Wesen. While it’s common in many animals, it’s not so common in people. Do Wesen forms of animals that have litters, have Wesen litters? I don’t know. This litter of Luison happens to be conniving and ruthless. They are duping Ava, a beautiful young woman who has inherited her family’s import/export business worth several million. On a personal note, every time I hear the term import/export business I think of Costanza from Seinfeld.

I’m pretty sure this could have played out over two episodes. We could have gotten more background on the Luison and this couple in particular. I came up with many questions as I watched. Is Ava always sleeping with the same brother? Do they take turns? Does her husband, Gabriel, actually love her? Was this his plan all along? Or maybe his brothers coerced him into their plan. Is only Gabriel an MD? Or are all four brothers MDs?

My final question about the police case: Monroe mentions that what these four Luison were up to is completely against Wesen Council law. Ah, I’d kind of forgotten about the Wesen Council. Had you? When does the Wesen Council come into play and when is it strictly a matter for the regular police? If you recall way back, the head of the Wesen Council said he wanted Nick to be watched. We haven’t seen anything come of that, yet. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t. There are so many story elements that have not been revisited.

Yes, it’s a pet peeve of mine.

Not much moved along for any of the main characters, and I feel like they were short-changed this week. There was a lot of eavesdropping. Trubel overheard Nick and Juliette talking about trying to have a normal life. Juliette overheard Bud pleading Trubel for help with Shaw, a Klaustreich, who has threatened Nick.

Renard tells his mother, Elizabeth, that her granddaughter is with Kelly Burkhardt. He’s gives her the information fairly confident that she won’t be able to find Kelly and Diana. Okay, from all that we’ve seen of Elizabeth so far, setting her a challenge like this does not seem like a good idea to me. She’s a formidable Hexenbiest.

While I’m on the topic of Renard, does anyone think his new digs look more secure than the penthouse apartment that he moved out of? It’s gorgeous but, secure? I don’t think so. And how does he know Diana is his child? Adalind slept with both brothers. Without a paternity test, and I have no idea what that would involve in the Grimm world, I don’t see how he can be so confident.

Something to think about or a question to consider: if Nick and Juliette have to completely reverse what Adalind did to get Nick his Grimm powers back, how would the potion that Renard was trying to get to Nick have worked? There are few possibilities none of which have been given, for how or why this all this is necessary. Renard made up a special potion that didn’t require the reversal. The length of time that has passed since he made the original potion made it useless. Or, and this is what I suspect, they wanted to draw out this part of the story and maybe give Elizabeth more screen time. So, the writers came up with a long drawn out process to undo what Adalind did.

Speaking of Adalind, why oh why is she running around like a ninny poo? This is the woman who went to great, disgusting lengths to get her Hexenbiest powers back. She has plotted, manipulated her way through all three seasons and now in the fourth season she’s acting like this. I don’t buy it. There were some cool special effects;  like the talking heads in the wall. It reminded me of some sort of Alice In Wonderland story. But, none of her freak-out felt like Adalind behavior.

A throwback to last season, Josh Rolek, a son of a Grimm that passed away last year, calls Nick desperate for help. Josh is not a Grimm. He apparently has not special powers or abilities and he’s terrified of the world he’s been thrown into. Nick’s advice is to go somewhere safe. Hm, I wonder where that will be? Of course he’s going to end up in Portland. Not that Nick can help him at this point, since he doesn’t have any special abilities either. This might prove to be interesting.

My favorite parts: Trubel taking on Shaw and leaving him with a carefully placed scratch on his neck from her machete. Monroe’s surprise and delight at discovering there were four Luison and exclaiming, “That’s a litter!” Renard, taking the tough stance with Nick about working Wesen cases without being a Grimm and telling Wu…something.

Next episode it looks like Juliette will be in danger again. I wonder if she’ll reconsider helping Nick get his Grimmness back.

[Show site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “Dyin’ on a Prayer”]