Something Grimm This Way Comes

Episode 3.12 “Revelation”

[photos: Scott Green/NBC]

GRIMM returned following the Winter Olympics. Was it worth the wait? Did you feel like you were gypped? I have mixed feelings about the pay off for the cliff hanger.

I’ve come to really enjoy this series. But from a critical standpoint this week’s episode was not enough. When we left our story Monroe’s parents were just about to attack Nick. Monroe was jumping in between to stop a small massacre from taking place in his living room. So this episode rightly jumps right back into that fight. It was too easy for Monroe to break up a Blutbad, Grimm fight even if they were his parents.

My problem with this whole episode is how easily things are solved. Yes, there’s some fighting. Yes, there are hurt feelings and problems to still be worked out. In the real world families and enemies that threaten the world are not so easily won over. This episode ends with everyone at the same dinner table, and that just doesn’t seem remotely plausible to me.

This week had three things going on; Monroe’s family problems, the serial killer Wildesheer, and Adalind is about-to-give-birth. Let’s take these one at a time. Monroe’s parents come to meet his blushing bride to be. Only instead of finding a good Blutbad girl they discover his intended is a Fuchsbau!

This isn’t the first time that Grimm has tackled the issue of mixed Wesen marriages. The other times that we’ve seen mixed Wesen marriages they haven’t worked out well. Usually the female is a meek form of Wesen and the relationships have turned out to be violent. There was the Lowen, lion type, husband that threw his Maushertz, mouse type, wife off the balcony. In fact Mauzhertz have been on the receiving end of more violence in mixed marriages on Grimm than other Wesen. A Louseschlange, snake type, kept his Mauzhertz girlfriend with threats of violence. There was also the Lowen that was leading a congregation of Seelenguter, sheep type, Wesen. Even Juliette’s friend who left her abusive husband was in a mixed Wesen marriage.

My point is, it’s not without precedent that Monroe’s parents have concern about a mixed Wesen marriage. And while I think Monroe and Rosalee have a good chance to make this work, he may be short sighted to not hear them out. On the other hand they didn’t give any real reasons for their reservations about their pairing.

I find it interesting how, in many ways, both Monroe and Rosalee are very traditional. Monroe holds to many of his Blutbad traditions. His knowledge of Wesen history was what got Nick though the first and most of the second season. Now in the third season Nick still comes to Monroe for help on some cases but he’s able to handle more of them on his own. Rosalee has a lineage with connections to the Wesen Council. She’s also taken over her brother’s Exotic Spice Shop. Which means she treats many Wesen ailments with age old herbal remedies. She has extensive knowledge and frequently references the shop’s ancient remedy books. All of these are instances in which they honor their Wesen traditions.

In case the shock of Rosalee being Fuchsbau isn’t enough of a shock, the next person to darken Monroe’s door is Nick. Imagine your family member is friends with the devil. Not just someone you think is bad but, the devil. How would you react? Would that be okay with you? Would you get over the shock easily? In the course of a day or so would you be willing to sit down at the same table to have supper with the devil?

Particularly in the first season I wondered what Monroe’s pay off was for helping Nick with his Wesen police cases. And this is one of the few times that Monroe has voiced that for himself. Why has he gotten caught up in this wild ride of helping Nick out in a never ending roller coaster of danger? Monroe’s father challenges him with the question. It would be interesting to see Monroe find the answer by the end of the season.

In the last episode, “The Wild Hunt”, we learned that there was this fierce Wildesheer, a Wesen that takes the scalps of the warriors he defeats in battle. He collects the scalps and then sews them into a jacket. The jacket is supposed to give him the power of each warrior he took. And guess who he’s after as the prize warrior, Nick. That’s about as much information as we get this week. Except that by the time of the big show down fight there are three of these Wildesheer. Where the other two came from, why there are three of them, we don’t know. Why are they after Nick in particular? There are other Grimms. Why is Nick so special? What do the Wildesheer have to do with Adalind’s unborn… child? I hesitate to call it a child. It seems that what ever it is, the impending birth has significance for more than just Adalind.

The climatic battle with the Wildesheer didn’t end up being as much of a show stopper as you might think. Monroe’s father shows up to take on the third Wildesheer. But it’s Nick who cuts the hair off each Wildesheer and for some reason that kills these brutish beasts. For me, the real purpose in having three of these Wildesheer was to bring in Monroe’s father. Without the third one, would they have needed his help? And fighting on the same side helps to connect him with his son and see Nick in a new light.

I’m not sure what this is that Monroe’s mother has proposed Rosalee go through to somehow make things better. But it didn’t surprise me that it was a mother that wants to smooth out family relations. She doesn’t want to lose her son even if it means defying her husband.

Last and probably not least, is the storyline of Adalind, Sean Renard, the resistance, and the Royal family. I’ll say it again. What ever it is about the Royal family that we are supposed to be wondering about has been dragged out for so long with so little information that I don’t really care anymore. I don’t know why anyone wants this coming demon child. I know why Adalind wanted to get pregnant. She used both Eric and Sean Renard to regain her Hexenbiest powers. It seems like she may have bitten off more than she can chew. While the pregnancy may have helped her become a Hexenbiest again, it has also put her in danger.

It looks like Adalind’s pregnancy will come to an end next week. We’ll see if the Wildesheer really were the warning of something worse to come.