It’s Not a “Bad Night” For Us, But GRIMM Gives One to Everyone Else

Episode 520: “Bad Night”
Written by Sean Calder
Directed by Norberto Barba 

[recap by Maia Ades]

Hold on to your TV trays, I expect the last two episodes be intense. This episode’s purpose was to set up the double episode finale. I don’t know the process that TV executives go through in deciding to air back to back episodes. I can tell you the first thought that goes through my mind, “It’s gonna be a late night.”

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This week Hank (Russell Hornsby) IS the police case. Wrap your brain around that. Really, this has never happened. It’s not a Wesen of the week police case. The Wesen is Tony who was part of Rosalee’s (Bree Turner) past. Remember when Adalind (Claire Coffee) broke all of Tony’s fingers? Well, he’s back. And chances are, he’ll be back for more. I mean, he’s not dead yet.

Plot: I’m not sure how to write this in some sort of concise way. The episode was a tight weave of several storylines. The title “Bad Night” is well used in this episode. Almost everyone has their own version of a bad night. Hank is having a good time with Zuri. Only to later find out that she is connected with Black Claw and betraying him.

Nick (David Giultoli) is distraught over his loss of both Adalind and his son. I’ll make my case one more time; why doesn’t he mention to anyone that the words on Adalind’s note disappear leaving a separate message and then those also vanish? When he leaves his “safe house” for Renard’s home only to find it completely empty, did you notice that the lights were all off till Nick entered the house and then there were lights on? The empty house adds more proof that Renard is in the Black Claw camp with his new family.

Where would Nick run to? Monroe’s (Silas Weir Mitchell) house of course! Nick has a bad habit of interrupting Rosalee and Monroe in their more amorous moments. This time they want to go with him to Hadrian’s Wall. Before they can leave, Nick has to take out the two Black Claw flunkies that were tailing Nick. He’s short on time. That’s his justification for simply shooting them in the head.

Trubel (Jacqueline Toboni) has never been one to be very emotional. Her response each time she learns of another deceased Black Claw member reflects that. She nearly gleefully says, “I’ll update the database.” She is a somewhat complicated character. She is fiercely loyal to those that have shown her kindness and compassion. The flip side of that coin is she has little emotion for her quarry or enemies.

We’re seeing a bit more humanity in Eve (Bitsie Tuloch). There were a couple of times just in this episode that we saw chinks in Eve’s armor. She was broken down and trained to be more automatic than human or emotional. And just as Kammie predicted, we’re seeing a bit of a come back to the more human, more emotional part of herself. Which, if Eve can maintain control and be a focused Hexenbiest will still work. I think the problem that audiences had with Juliette was that she didn’t have enough conflict and action to hold their interest.

All of our main characters made progress in their personal stories this week. Hank learned that his love interest, Zuri was in fact working with Black Claw. Diana has reunited her family and is actively working to strengthen their bonds. Renard made his pitch to Nick to join Black Claw. Adalind let Renard know that romance is not in their near future. Trubel learned about the Splinter of Destiny and where Nick has it hidden. Wu is getting a bit of a handle on his primitive side.

What’s next? Well, we’ll find out next week. I’m sure there will be at least one big cliffhanger and maybe several. Good thing there will be another season to tell more of the stories.