GRIMM Takes a Dip
3.04 “One Night Stand”
[photos: Scott Green/NBC]
Some late breaking news. You may have heard that in an upcoming episode we’ll be meeting Monroe’s parents. Well, they did a good job casting these two roles, Dee Wallace and Chris Mulkey are on board to fill the roles. This should be great fun. I really hope that they become recurring characters and we get to see much more than one episode with this lineup. It makes me really excited to think about the possibilities with Silas Weir Mitchell (Monroe) and Bree Turner (Rosalee) who already have nicely established characters mixing it up with these veteran actors.
We are now four episodes into this season and the format seems to have gone back to the stand alone of the first season. The actors have figured out their characters and the production value is better but, I’m still not happy. I really liked the story arc that was building in the second season. I like having storylines that continue and build on the previous week. This week, like last, has very little continuation of the story arcs from last season.
*SPOILERS*
So, did I like this episode? Yes. It did a good job of building tension and was exciting. There was still room for some romance and comedy bits for Monroe. I felt some letdown that some major storylines were left hanging. But there is still time in the season to get back to those. This may just be a break from the arc and we’ll go back to it in later episodes.
The little bit that we did get more of was Sean Renard piecing together that it may be Adalind who is carrying the royal baby. Of course, that also means he should have figured out that he could be the father. I’ve always felt that Renard has his own plans. We just don’t know what they are. He keeps his cards very close to his vest. But I don’t think it’s by chance that Renard suddenly started working with Nick instead of trying to have him killed. The way he snapped at Nick last week makes me wonder if Nick’s usefulness to Renard is coming to an end. This could make things much more complicated for Nick all over again. But this time around Nick has more information.
The Wesen of the week are Naiads. And the special effects people did a nice job of making the Naiads look magical and not too over done. It’s probably just me, I prefer the Wesen that are less gruesome and more magical. The Wesen word we’ve been introduced to thus far has a range of blood thirsty, meek or peaceful to the incredibly magical. The first season the special effects, even the fake blood were inconsistent and often not as good as they are now. Fake blood should not be pink. If you’re blood is pink you need to see a doctor soon.
The Naiad story was a bit more complicated than some of the Wesen stories. This one sort of included the classic mermaid stories of men being drawn into the water by lovely women only to find their watery grave. But the explanation of why this all happens surprised me. The male Naiads are born infertile. Naiad families are made by female Naiads mating with human men. This creates jealousy in the male Naiads and traditionally they would drown their mate’s human companion. Apparently a couple of our local Naiads are ready to start families but their arranged husbands are very traditional.
Nick and Hank come into the story because one of the two young men, Jake, is pulled out of the water by a younger sister and survives. He reports his friend, Dan, missing and when he’s later found drowned with odd scratches on his legs Nick becomes suspicious. As Hank and Nick are looking over Dan’s body, they are voicing their thoughts out loud that it looks like he was pulled down by something with claws. The officer on the scene jokingly says “What are we talking about a Loch Ness Monster?” Neither Hank or Nick responds. They just look at each other.
Hank and Nick seek out Monroe and Rosalee to try and figure out what kind of Wesen this might be. Rosalee speculates it may be the rare Naiad. Getting Monroe to the trailer with the other two guys felt a bit artificial. There wasn’t a real need for him to go. Maybe his contract stipulates how much screen time he gets.
The two traditionalist Naiad husbands are causing all sorts of trouble. First of all, they drowned Dan and attempted to drown Jake. Now their wives have been arrested for Dan’s death. They insist that the younger sister be punished for saving Jake. Then they beat up the girls’ father and he rushes to confess to save his daughters. Naiads can not be out of water for an extended period time. They will die of dehydration if kept out of water for too long. Nick and Hank use this knowledge to their advantage. They know they don’t have long but they can also push the Naiads to give them the truth with their lives on the line.
Our dynamic duo swoop in to save Elly. Hank gets to get in a good fight and Nick jumps in the water to save Elly. Only he is under water so long it raises more questions about the after effects of the zombie juice.
The episode ends with Juliette checking email and relieved to read that Nick’s doctor has given him a bill of good health. Then an email comes in Nick and she reads it as well. It’s cryptic and signed “much love, M”. Juliette is curious and a bit concerned by the email. She needn’t be. I’m pretty sure it’s from him mother. But she’s not an easy person to have back in his life.
The next episode will be November 29th. There isn’t an episode next week. Probably because it’s my birthday. Well okay… maybe that’s not the reason.
Official Show Site at NBC] [Previous recap: “GRIMM Dinner Date”]
