GRIMM's Daughter Dearest
Episode 207 “The Bottle Imp”
[Photos: Scott Green/NBC]
I am a bit worried that this show may be painting itself into a corner. Once several of these storylines can be tied up where does it go? When many of the mysteries have been solved, then what? On the other hand I wouldn’t want Grimm to wander along just trying to keep itself going for the sake of putting out more episodes. A couple of shows that I think did just that are The X Files and Twin Peaks. If felt like the writers had no idea where the series was going; they just kept coming up with weird stuff and stumbling along.
This episode went back to the misdirection used in the first season. I think it worked well for the main storyline but I felt cheated with the opening.
Spoiler Alert
The opening of this episode found me again yelling at the television. I realize it doesn’t change anything but it made me feel better. For the last two weeks at least we’ve seen the promos showing Juliette gleefully saying that she remembers Nick. And here it is, we are watching it happen but then it’s yanked out from under us. Nick was dreaming the whole thing. I felt so cheated.
A young girl, April, is waiting on a porch with her backpack and stuffed toy. Her Dad, Bill Granger, arrives and she runs into his arms. It’s a heartwarming moment. But since this is Grimm, we know it won’t last. This episode used a lot of misleading shots and editing to keep the truth from the audience and give us a twist later.
Monroe opens the Exotic Spice and Tea shop. Rosalee calls him to give him a heads up on a customer that will be coming in and give him the recipe for the mixture the patient will be needing. The patient, Leroy, comes into the shop he has a balance problem and is so unstable that he distracts Monroe. Monroe accidentally picks up the wrong jar and uses that instead of the right one for the last ingredient.
Bill and April stop at a gas station. Bill gets agitated that his credit cards are declined. The gas station attendant is attacked and killed. Bill and April leave the scene. Nick and Hank arrive at the gas station. Wu gets to have some of his fun lines. They get plenty of information from the security cameras and the credit card machine.
Bill stops at a rest area. He tells April that the police will be looking for his truck. April tries to comfort her Father. They get a ride with another man in his truck. At first he doesn’t want to give Bill a ride but when he realizes he has a young girl with him he relents.
Hank and Nick arrive at Mrs. Granger’s home. They enter the home and find a trail of blood and Mrs. Granger on the floor in her bathroom. Just before she passes out she morphs into her Wesen form. Nick tells Hank and they both presume that Mr. Granger is also a Wesen. She is taken to a hospital.
Bill and April are riding in the truck with the man they talked into giving them a ride when the Amber alert for April comes on the radio. The driver becomes alarmed. Bill attacks him and takes over driving the truck. Sometime later they stop and Bill drags the man from the truck. April again gets out of the truck. Her Dad tells her that she was not to get out of the truck and they leave again.
At the police station, Wu has collected some evidence from Bill’s home including a laptop that was still on when police arrived. Wu finds a lot of information on the laptop, weapons, how to build a self composting latrine, and information on shipping containers. It looks like Bill may be planning to hole up for a long time. Also on the laptop are a couple of pictures. Wu asks for some time to see if he can use GPS information on the JPG to find out where they were taken.
Nick and Hank leave to do some research of their own. Nick takes Hank to his Aunt Marie’s trailer for the first time. This feels dangerous to me. The more people that know about Nick being a Grimm, the trailer and all his secrets, the more danger he is placing all of them in. Last week Monroe narrowly missed being killed for his relationship with Nick. Now Hank is in the know and is probably in more danger than he was just being Nick’s partner. Every person that Nick lets in to his circle the more chance he creates for a weak link. So, the two buddies are pouring over antique reference books to learn what sort of Wesen they are dealing with. Hank is both curious and a bit grossed out by the illustrations in the books. We see him leaf past the page with the Hexenbiest, the one he had his own personal encounter with. Of course he does not know Adalind was a Hexenbiest.
Adalind calls Renard while he is at work. They have a short cryptic conversation. Adalind learns that Juliette is awake. Renard learns that Adalind is still dangerous.
Back at the trailer our detectives find that the Grangers are Drang-Zom a badger like creature. Prone to violent outbursts, they hide underground when they feel threatened. Nick can’t help himself. He shows off some of the weapons in the trailer including a nifty crossbow. But what Hank spies is the elephant gun Monroe used to save Hank’s life from the Ogre. Nick comes clean and tells him it was Monroe that fired the shot. Hank is beginning to realize how long Nick has been leading this double life.
Bill has set up a comfy underground home for he and his daughter. But he was not expecting the need to move in so soon. There are supplies they are missing. He will need to go into town soon.
Rosalee calls Monroe to check on how he is handling running the shop. He is playfully reciting the ingredients for Leroy’s mixture when he realizes the mistake he made. Rosalee tells him this is bad, like an 11 on a scale of 1-10. Monroe says he’ll check on Leroy just to be sure.
It’s the next morning and Bill is preparing to leave April while he goes into town. He leaves her with his watch so she can keep track of the time he is gone. Seemingly not long after he has left the police with scent dogs locate the entrance to his underground hide out. Once inside Nick finds April. She is so glad to see him she rushes into his arms. At the police station Hank and Nick try to get more information from her. She doesn’t exactly lie, but she certainly omits information. April leaves with a Social Services lady to go stay with a foster family till her mother is out of the hospital.
Nick and Hank rush off to the hospital with information that Bill has gone there to visit his wife. They fear that he has gone to further attack her. They arrive at Mrs. Granger’s hospital room and are about to cuff Bill when the wife pleads with them to listen to the truth. And this is where we get the whole truth and learn the twist. Their daughter has begun the change, and is not in control. She attacked her mother, and the gas station attendant. Her parents can’t handle her, they fear for their own safety and others. That’s when it hits our duo that they let this girl go to a foster family that is not prepared to deal with her.
Nick and Hank rush off to the foster family but not quite in time. She has just attacked the foster Dad. In what has to be the creepiest shot of the show, April is sitting on the swing and smiles at Nick with a bloody mouth. April is in an interrogation room. Nick is watching her through one way glass. A lady enters and introduces herself. She’s Jess Riley, Monroe sent her to speak with Nick. She’s a guard at the Juvie detention. Nick explains that he is concerned that April may hurt others even confined in the juvenile detention center. Jess morphs into a Lowen and calmly says she can probably handle April.
Juliette calls Nick and asks if she should make dinner for one or two. They share a candlelight dinner and Nick talks Juliette into dancing. They are enjoying an intimate moment and kiss when Juliette is horrified to have a vision of Renard’s face in place of Nick. When Nick asks what’s wrong, Juliette simply replies, “Me”.
This episode didn’t revisit the story of Renard and Mia at all. The only nod to last week’s episode at all was Rosalee asking Monroe how he is doing since the death of Angelina. It’s an awkward moment. He sort of says the right thing but it still doesn’t feel right. We don’t see anyone dealing with any of the aftermath of what happened. And Monroe seems happy to be playing shop keeper. Nick has not faced the danger that he is placing all of his friends in. I was wrong about Rosalee going into a trap. She is taking care of her Aunt and it seems to be safe and ordinary. Next week looks like there will be more of Adalind and who knows what else.
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[Official Show Site at NBC] [Previous recap: “Over My Dead Body”]
