Recap: GRIMM’s Got Something in Its Chest

Episode 512 “Into the Schwarzwald”
Written by Stephen Carpenter
Directed by Norberto Barba

This was the 100th episode and it lived up to that auspicious achievement. There’s so much being set up, will fans make it through to the end of the season’s ride? I expect it’s just going to keep getting more and more exciting. Let’s dish about what happened in this one.

PROGRAMMING NOTE:
Click here for a special “100th Episode” edition of GRIMMly Speaking.

Last week the huge moment was Nick (David Giultoli) and Adalind (Claire Coffee) sleeping together. That was huge. It will or should change their dynamic totally. Of course what happened this week may throw a new wrench in the relationship.

So, what did happen this week? Nick and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) landed in the hole that they fell into last week. Because they’re so clever they figured out where the treasure was hidden, behind the glowing G of skulls. Get it? G for Grimm. That story was intercut with scenes from the shooting of mayoral candidate Andrew Dixon.

The way these two stories were told at the same time was very well done. They each had such a different feel that it could have been very awkward going between the two. The editor(s) found the right pace and places to cut between them.

Again this week, there was some great camera work. Kudos to the folks in the camera department. I especially liked the scenes with the shooting aftermath. I don’t usually like quick cuts. This time it worked to build the intensity and give the feeling of chaos. Watching those scenes you could feel the confusion and urgency. Good job.

The other side of the assassination story was Hadrian’s Wall’s involvement. They didn’t prevent the shooting but Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) manipulated a cyclist to stop Marwan and lift his phone off him. This episode made clear that there will need to be better communication between our Grimm team Hadrian’s Wall. Or maybe not. If Renard is going to resist the dark side, then yes better communication is needed. If he’s joining Black Claw then he could be some sort of a double agent.

Renard acted from emotion when he attacked Marwan. It doesn’t make sense as a police captain. Or to learn more about Black Claw. In fact I don’t understand why Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Sgt. Wu (Reggie Lee) went along with Sean Renard. Why not arrest Marwan? Why attack him and lose a Black Claw source? I’m understanding more and more why Meisner confronted Renard about how he’d messed up.

One of the two big events this week was opening the chest that Nick and Monroe somehow got through customs. It really bugged me that they could open the chest with only five of the seven keys. Why do you need even 5 of them? Maybe they could have opened it with only one or two keys. And they didn’t all turn their keys at exactly the same time. Was that important or not? I don’t know. But it did take the blood of a Grimm to break the seal on the chest. Which revealed its contents to be a cloth shrouded piece of wood.

The other biggie was Adalind getting her Hexenbiest powers back. Rosalee (Bree Turner) got an unwelcome visitor to the Spice Shop: Tony, an ex-boyfriend. He wants $5,000 from Rosalee and attacked her to make his point. Well, that’s when Adalind came in and tried to defend her. Tony thought he could take on Adalind but he wasn’t anticipating a Hexenbiest. She bent his fingers into completely unnatural positions. That was kinda cool. I’m so grateful that Adalind is getting some thing more to do. Now she can boil her own drinks. And maybe I’ll get my wish and this whole silly  Nick and Adalind business will be over.

This was a really good episode. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season. I won’t get my Renard vs. Dixon show down. But maybe there will be something else even more exciting to come.

Grimm airs Friday nights at 9/8c on NBC.