Is GRIMM Losing Its Head?

Episode 4:21 “Headache”

[Photos: Scott Green/NBC]

Just one more episode left in this fourth season, and the storyline noose gets even tighter. There were parts of the plot that don’t quite make sense. I question how much is motivated by the characters and how much was at the behest of the writers.

Last week’s episode ended with a black screen and a gun shot. I expected it to go one of a couple ways; Juliette deliberately missed Monroe or Hank shot Juliette. Instead Hank shoved Monroe out of the way just in time to miss the bullet. I wanted to see what would have happened if Hank had shot Juliette. It would have changed the rest of this episode. Or maybe not. The plan was already in place. Would it not have happened if she’d been shot? Would Kenneth even skip a beat if she’d been taken out of the picture? I don’t know.

There wasn’t a new police case this week and that’s good. There wasn’t room for one. Last week’s case was about Jack the Ripper, and this week it was revealed that Sean Renard was also Jack. The premise was that when Sean died and his mother brought him back to life, he was dead just long enough for Jack the Ripper’s spirit to hitch a ride.

This doesn’t entirely work for me. The first couple of times that Renard blacked out he attacked men. Then he changed and started slitting women’s throats. Why would Jack the Ripper’s spirit start out by punching out a guy and lifting his wallet? Why did this evil spirit wait so long to start showing itself? There wasn’t any kind of explanation given for these discrepancies. It doesn’t make sense.

Is Jack’s spirit supposed to have hitched a ride at other times? Last week Monroe found information in one of the few surviving books that something like Jack the Ripper murders had happened a various times. Are we to believe that each of those times a Zauberbiest was brought back to life and this spirit came along?

Star Trek fans will recall that this same premise of Jack the Ripper possessing bodies appeared in 1967 the episode, “Wolf in the Fold”. Jack possessed Hengist, a resident of a pleasure planet. He was played by John Fiedler, who went on to voice Piglet for Winnie the Pooh.

The other part of this that bothered me; when the dark spirit came out of Sean’s mouth, where did it go? Did it go back where it came from or did they dispatch it for good? Wouldn’t this malevolent smokey spirit want to enter another host? If you were standing there, wouldn’t you be scared that it would pick you next?

Unfortunately, I didn’t get my wish. Henrietta is completely dead. I was hoping that she would still be on the show. She brought a different energy than the previous Hexenbiests. She was a sensual, stronger, yet quieter energy more like Sean Renard’s mother. Unless she returns as a ghost or something, that was the last we’ll see of her.

On the other hand, Trubel is back! She came back swinging; her machete, that is. I’ve been calling for her return since her departure mid-season. I enjoyed watching her grow into her character and become more comfortable with her place in the cast. Since she made her return right before the end of the season, I hope this means we’ll be seeing more of her next season.

Juliette is being set up for a redemption arc. It’s going to have to be a big arc because she’s gone so far from the nice person she was. If they don’t give her time and sufficient story to make this arc with, it won’t work. She’s done so much damage there’s a lot to come back from.While she’s in Nick’s house she keeps recalling past memories. It was those flashbacks that told me there is a redemption to come. There was almost an inkling that maybe she might be feeling a slight twinge of regret for what she’s set in motion. But, then she doesn’t do anything to stop what’s going on.

She and Kenneth defile the bed that she and Nick shared. She didn’t have to do that. It wasn’t necessary for the plan to kidnap baby Diana. She did that to send a personal message to Nick. I’m not even clear why she helped Kenneth kidnap Diana. If her goal was to hurt everyone that she blames for her becoming a Hexenbiest, this doesn’t accomplish that. It does get several people killed; neighbors and Kelly Burkhardt. It endangers Diana and probably herself. Has she thought about how she will be treated by the Royals now that they have Diana? She was a pawn in Kenneth’s plan. He doesn’t care about her.

Were you surprised how much Diana had grown? She was much bigger than I expected. She looks like she’s at least a couple of years old. Could it have been that long? Or is this the difference between real time and time in the show?

It still doesn’t make sense to me that Adalind would allow herself to be so defenseless, especially when she’s pregnant. Adalind has always looked out for her own agenda. Now she is dependent on others for her safety. She knows that Juliette wants her dead and yet she took a potion that makes her a sitting duck. None of this helps her to be reunited with Diana. All of this recent trouble started because she was frantic to get Diana back.  Now, she’s no closer to Diana, Juliette wants to kill her, she’s pregnant with a Grimm baby and she’s suppressed her own powers. I don’t like it when characters are written to do things that are out of character.

Don’t expect the Adalind and Juliette story line or any of the storylines to be resolved in the season finale. There will be some sort of epic cliffhanger. I’m actually counting on there being one. It’s become a Grimm tradition.

On a personal note; I worked on an independent movie, Matchmaker Mary in 2008. Both of the stars from that film, Dee Wallace and Jeff Fahey, have been featured on Grimm. It feels like a full circle sort of thing. All that’s left is for me to be on Grimm.

[Show site at NBC]     [Previous recap: “You Don’t Know Jack”]