Previously on Grimm: Zombies! Comma, lots of. It's Eric's fault. Oh, and Adalind really wants her powers back, and is trading her baby to the Gypsies for it.
That's it. That's the entire previouslies.
So, at a guess either we're going to revisit, in-show, why exactly there are zombies (or rather zombis) running around Portland or I'm getting spoiled by Haven's previouslies. And honestly it's probably a little bit of both. The opening quote is from a story Google tells me is called Godfather Death. I don't remember the title but I do remember a story, involving a man with a friendship with death and a penchant for herbs. The man wanders the land healing the sick, knowing that if Death stands at the head of the bed, the person will live, but... well, you see the title card quote. Apparently in lieu of comprehensive previouslies we will revisit the last five minutes or so of the last season finale! In our time, in their time we start "fifteen minutes ago" which accounts for a fair bit of travel time. Eric coming out of the hotel and Renard tailing him with this "someday I am going to kill you" look on his face. Literally, when we saw this scene, that is what I said, and I had no idea how prescient a comment that was. It's not a gloating look, either, it's a bit grim (pardon the pun), resigned, and almost sad. And very, very determined.
Over to the shipyard! Where Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette are dealing with a zombi invasion. These aren't shamblers, either, these are more like full on rage zombies, and that has the potential to get very ugly very fast. They've also become separated from Nick, because Nick is kind of a moron sometimes when it comes to tactics and thinking under fire. Not that most people aren't, but there is no in-character justification to separate from your group and go chasing after someone who's cackling and prancing like a Scooby Doo villain, especially when you know he's got a projectile vomit weapon. If he's going to dance around and entice you to follow him, just stay in one place while he dances and shoot the fucker! But no, we get interspersed clips of Nick running and chasing the Baron and getting his ass kicked, and Monroe and Juliette and Rosalee hiding in the truck. All with the requisite Evil Dead shakycam, as you do when you're shooting zombies. Seriously, Nick, you're going to keep chasing him? This is some Scooby-Doo-James-Bond villain shit. He's obviously being herded. I will say, though, that if you want an actor to do some theatrical posturing for a villain, Reg E Cathey is a very, very good choice. Sorry, guys, Nick isn't coming. Monroe quite reasonably opts to get themselves the fuck out of there, or at least drive around the container yard for a bit, because they can't exactly help Nick if they're overwhelmed by zombis as they're about to be. The only problem with driving off like that is that these zombis are people, albeit highly drugged into psychosis people, and they'll be normal humans again when they are detoxed. Albeit normal humans in need of some serious therapy. There's a limit to how much damage they can take, though, and that's something to remember inasmuch as Monroe can with this situation. Which isn't much. Five minutes "ago", which is I suppose five minutes before the end of the last episode, Eric pulls up. Ah yes, and the bad Shakespearean quotations. Nick fails his save vs Cracher-Mortel breath weapon, Nick goes down screaming. This part we didn't see, the part where Renard rolls up in his battlewagon and is remarkably sneaky for a guy the size of a tree. Especially for not being in a part of the shipyard where there are zombies to disguise the sound of his approach. 
Over with the zombis Monroe employs some physics to get rid of the ones crawling all over the car. Which is to say he accelerates and then stops the car as quickly as he can, while the zombis' brakes aren't nearly so good. Into the containers they go, and our heroes get about ten seconds' worth of breathing room before they have to tearass out of there again. Renard at least has the luxury of being able to sneak around unmolested by zombis. Gun out, too, just in case. Which still looks like a toy on him. The implication is that he's right outside of and around the corner when Eric comes into the container to gloat as we saw last season, so it's entirely possible he hears at least his brother's voice if not the specific words. Remember what I said about casting Reg E Cathey? That goes as well for Frain, though I still wish he would play something other than a smarmy nobleman. Ever. See also: Camargo, Haven, serial killers. We're now caught up with that cheesy Hamlet line and it's back over to what's left of the Scooby Gang! Who are now stuck in the mud. Crap. We have about two lines of explanation why it's a good idea to move to higher ground, most of which calls to strategy aphorisms and the whole thing makes A and I giggle. A nice, in-extremis summary of tactical decisions! Up the whatever that is (cherry picker, I think) they go, to the top of a stack of shipping containers which at least gives them a choke point from which to defend themselves from zombis, and we're back to stealth!Renard. Sneaking, sneaking. Into the shipping container where the coffin was, which we can tell by the packing peanuts all over the floor and the open hatch in the top. I continue to be impressed by Renard's sneaking abilities especially when it comes to not stepping on packing peanuts, because dude, I work with packing peanuts, and those fuckers are squeaky. He gets a glimpse of the Cracher-Mortel overseeing some folk moving contained!zombi!Nick out of there, comes around the corner and barely blinks or rolls his eyes at the altar the Baron's laid out. Which is better than I would have done, that is some eyeroll worthy shit there considering all indications are that the Baron does this for show, not out of any genuine sense of religious devotion. Out the other side of the container and in time to see them loading coffin!Nick into the black van we saw earlier and the Baron tip his hat to someone and say they'll have him in the air soon. Which means Eric is not flying with the Baron. On the one hand that makes sense in that the Baron didn't come to Portland with Eric, so they might well have different exit strategies, on the other hand Eric isn't taking personal charge of his precious cargo? That's. Interesting. Renard might be a one man army in some respects but even he isn't going to take on several well-armed guards with guns, so behind the container he stays, right up until he gets distracted by someone creaking something behind him. Zombis! Combat rounds! Renard gets initiative bonuses to actually being in his right fucking mind.
I also take a second here to stop and appreciate the fight choreographer; Renard is using mostly defensive moves. He's not attacking for the most part, he's using grip-breaking moves and blocks and flips, nothing that will actually make him responsible for hurting the zombis when he doesn't have to. The kinds of choices a responsible leader who is trained in combat (as we've seen Renard is) would make, and being mindful that these are people not in their right minds. On top of the shipping containers Monroe and the ladies don't have that option, sadly. They have to defend themselves with whatever they have, which in this case is mostly knocking zombies off of the container pile. Normally this would kill them but-- ow. Did Renard just break the side of that crate in with his face? Ow! Renard gets in a couple more defensive moves but when two of them get their hands on his neck, that's not good. And there are more and more zombis crawling up the container stack every second, though notably Rosalee is right there with Monroe at the primary choke point. Over at the precinct, it's nice and calm and, hey! Hank's on his feet! We'll roll with it, even though he was on crutches and in a sizable cast earlier that day/last season, maybe he was coming to the end of his run of crutches, who knows. I seriously suspect, though, that that little dance and his glee of not being in a cast is at least part Russell as well as Hank. Poor guy. Wu tells him it's been pretty quiet since they got all the crazies from downtown locked up and sedated in the jail's infirmary, okay, that's not a bad place to put them. Hank's query of where the Captain is doesn't bring any surprise from Wu, so it may not be out of character for Hank to wonder that, though given what we know from last episode we can guess that Hank has more than work-related reasons for asking. And also running with the lack of surprise from Wu as well as the mild curiosity from Hank, it's also not unusual for the Captain to be working at his desk late into the night. Which we kind of knew, but it's still nice to have the confirming behavior of everyone acting as though this were a normal thing. Well, Hank will get a little work done, in this case most likely paperwork or internet-trawling legwork, and Wu is glad things have finally calmed down. No, Sgt. Wu. Things have not calmed down. They have in fact calmed up.
Or, well, Hank would get some work done except that his phone is ringing! It's Juliette! Who's chosen to call Hank as the person who knows about Wesen, who can hear things about the guy at Rosalee's shop and not be confused, and who will round up the troops faster, in all likelihood, than a call to 911 will. Not just the troops but the right troops with the right amount of force. Not that I think she had time to think through all of that, just, who's safe to explain about crazy fucking Wesen to and is a cop? Hank's safe! (And she's certainly not going to call Renard right now. They're still giving each other the wide berth of mutual embarrassment and discomfort. As you do when you were love-whammied.) Hank is also the best from the second he shows up on screen to the end of this episode. He asks her the necessary questions, where and what and where's Nick, since if there's Wesen involved Nick should most certainly be around there, and come to find out why she's calling him and not Nick! Good Hank. Badass Juliette for managing to defend her end of the cargo container with fuckall for hand-to-hand training and I will give the costuming department mad props for not putting her in ridiculously heeled boots. She's a vet, she's probably dealt with large animals at some point in her career (maybe not since vet med school, but still) and she knows from running around gravel and mud. Better Hank for not bothering with more than a single sharp moment of concern for her vanishing from the line before he calls on Wu to round up every uni available. And Wu takes charge! I love this so much for the sheer competence porn of it, even though we're not seeing the logistics take more than the initial steps we still get a clear message of readiness and ability to rally the troops. It should tell us some very bad things, however, that we're viewing this in more military and less police terminology. The siege that Renard's been under for two seasons running, and Nick in somewhat different (more direct) ways? That's coming home and affecting the people nominally under their care. And that's going to have all kinds of unpleasant consequences, both short- and long-term.
Roll credits! With, blessedly, no narration. They don't appear to have changed much? At all, I think, actually, since they settled on the ones from last season. Thank god. And we come back to the container yard with Renard's neck being wrung. Slowly. Right up until he woges out, with a look that says plain as day that he really, really didn't want to have to do this. Possibly because he has less control over himself in woge than he'd like to, but Renard's definition of control is about like our definition of a reasonable workload, so there's that to consider. That said, that was almost a Neo moment of zombis being flung off him like errant Agent Smiths, just fewer of them. On top of their container, Monroe and Rosalee are like a finely honed fighting force. Just in case we'd forgotten that they're Wesen and not just any Wesen, that's a Blutbad and a Fuchsbau up there. Fuchsbau may not be the best at fighting, but I'm sure they have similar cornered-animal instincts. Fight, fight hard, fight dirty, and worry about the consequences later. Her "yes" in reply to Monroe getting overprotective at her has more of a tone of "let me at 'em" and/or "hey, I had that" than one of relief. And this is why we love Rosalee. Juliette, for her part, does know her limitations and considering the last time she kicked zombis in the face she nearly got hauled off the top, it's not unreasonable for her to shout for help from him. For all of that, they could have shot this sequence a lot more with Monroe the big bad protector of the women, and they didn't do so until it got to the point where they needed to woge out. In case we hadn't gotten the message that it was that bad from Renard doing so, we'll have Monroe do it and then be a good Blutbad and put it away when the sirens turn up. Lights! Sirens! Zombis! Riot gear! Smart, smart cops, I love letting people be good at their jobs. Hank's plan is to bust open an empty and herd the zombis back whence they came, more or less, not that he knows that. And then they'll get the antidote down there! I love you Hank. You are still The Best. Juliette is still completely freaking out, though we love that she's doing so rationally and in the direction of a solution. Nick's still missing, Hank! They need to find him, and the thing nobody's saying is that if he were okay you'd be able to follow the sounds of an embattled Grimm kicking zombi ass. Since we have no such signs to follow, it's a safe bet that he's really not okay. Well, there's not much they can do until they can get the trio of scoobies down from the container, so stay put, hang on, and let Hank call Renard for more data. In the fond hopes that he'll have some, or at least be able to help Hank misuse police resources to find him! Renard is a little occupied and is he growling as he comes out of the fight? I think he might be. We'll be in our bunks. Renard is also immediately and duly worried about Hank, under the circumstances he damn well better be, but the real question is where is Nick. No, the other question is why is Renard taking his tie off, I'm going with because his throat fucking hurts from being nearly strangled to death and he doesn't want anything around it. Also because that tie's pretty nearly ruined. And it serves as a visual aid of Shit Just Got Real, on account of Renard mussed and sans tie is one of the surest signs of it being serious on this show. So does, for that matter, Renard immediately sharing information with Hank, even though he's right that there's no time for explanations. Okay! Locations given, the Captain will come to the rescue in his battlewagon, and Hank will punch out a zombi as an expression of sheer irritation. I cannot blame you, Hank.
Over at the airport we get a brief look at them starting to unload Nick from the panel van, just so we have an idea of what's happening in realtime. I think with the exception of travel time in places, most of this ep takes place in realtime, so that's appreciated. Renard pulls up in the battlewagon and apparently Hank has prioritized clearing a path for the three of them to clamber down from the container? Which actually makes sense, take away the civilians that you need to protect and at least stick them in the middle of a group of cops, that's a safe argument to use on the unis. Renard, though, wants to haul all of them out of here yes, Juliette, he will take you to Nick. Bonus points for delivering the information as succinctly as possible and taking charge while giving them reason to get in the car. Rosalee, as the one with the most experience with the Royals from the other side of that coin, is of course the one most shocked and appalled at what's going on. We take a moment to wave at Chirpy in the credits (hi Lagadec!) and move along to the transit scenes. Renard is even not missing a bit of information about what this was all about, though he doesn't really want to admit it was a coffin until prompted by Rosalee, ever the blunt one. We love you, Rosalee. You, too, are the Best this ep. Renard gets a bit of the suspicious conspiracy shot with the filming of just his eyes in the rearview mirror as he reads everyone in on what's been going on, but that seems less inclined to put him counter to everyone else in the wagon's interests and more to establish him as being The Secret Traitor to the Families. Not that there's ever been much secret about his feelings towards his family. So, yes, Nick's been zombified and Rosalee will continue the trend by pointing out, as we saw in previews, that this might not be like all the other zombis they've handled thus far. He's a Grimm. We still don't know what the fuck is meant by "not exactly normal," other than that we can safely say they're not vanilla human. We still don't know if they have a woge-face, or if they come out of some weird Wesen line, or what the fuck is going on in their history. Lineage. Both. Isn't it great? While Renard talks Hank gets on the phone and the Baron chews some more scenery. Does he need a steady diet of metal coffins or something? Best Hank is best! Words cannot express how bad an idea I think this is, but it might buy them enough time in order to catch up to the plane, and we know they have an antidote so zombifying a couple of unis wouldn't be the worst sacrifice they've had to make. So maybe not the worst idea, just the best of a lot of bad options, which is roughly what Renard's face says as he glances over at Hank a couple times. Like he wants to say something but can't think of anything more constructive than what Hank's doing so he'll shut his mouth. Smart Captain. And yes, they should have enough antidote for Nick. Maybe. Assuming it works the same on Grimms as it does on normal humans. Which they don't know and Rosalee's not pointing out again, there's no need to make Juliette any more anxious. Unfortunately, the unis trying to stop the plane from taking off goes about as poorly as we expected, officer one is slimed while the other checks inside the plane and we can all shout about how you're in a horror movie DON'T SPLIT UP all we want, they don't actually know that. Sigh. Bye, officers. Just be glad that Renard and the scooby gang are on their way to help you.
Oh, hi, that's a very dead Frau Pech. And her heart. In Stefania's hands, which will be about the only aspect of this that Stefania does herself. Maybe for the precision work required, maybe just because she wanted to rip out her old frenemy's heart herself, who the fuck knows. She calls for a box to put the heart in, like you do, and some wax to seal the box? Not gonna lie, my first thought when I saw this was that she'd put the heart in a hatbox full of dry ice, which is infinitely more hilarious than a six-sided box covered with what look like symbols meant to be magical and sealed with wax channeled through specific runners. We will note that the box has hands, eyes, and feet symbols running around the outer border, giving us some warning of what comes next, though the inner ones look like they were picked hodgepodge from the latest Silver Ravenwolf manual of spellcasting or something. Then she does say something interesting, telling Frau Pech better her heart than Stefania's, implying that whatever prejudice Stefania may have displayed towards hexenbiests in the last season it was a bit of a self-castigating prejudice as well. It also suggests that Stefania was misleading about her own heritage so Adalind wouldn't see her as a potential sacrifice for her hexen abilities, although I would imagine Adalind is smart enough not to kill the person who knows the ritual for bringing her powers back. On the other hand, I wouldn't count on it either if I were Stefania.
Back over at the airport the poor officers are well on their way to zombifying but at least they're currently on the ground and still. Hank goes to check on them, because he is The Best and because we're about to begin a theme of Hank being the protective and kind ideal of what a cop should be while Renard is a bit overcome with royal responsibilities. Thus the just glancing at the downed cops and then stepping around them. Renard, those are your men, too, you could spare a second. But almost everyone else's attention is taken up by the plane that's taking off, specifically we have Renard and Juliette looking on in the focus of the camera with something like worry and horror, respectively. Bye bye plane! We'll be seeing you again shortly. After a short commercial break Renard has written off stopping the plane as a loss and moves back to either the car or the airport office for... something. We don't get to see what because Juliette moves to intercept him. As does Hank, a little, given that he's in mid-gesture when Juliette starts to speak, but whatever his concerns they seem to take second place to Juliette's panic. The delineations here are roughly Renard and Hank with the police reflexes and Monroe, Juliette, and Rosalee with the understandable panic and concern but not immediately thinking of the consequences and logistics to get Nick back. Renard quite rightly points out that the plane could be over international waters shortly (the term he uses is will be, more persuasive but less accurate) and therefore untouchable by all of their authority. They can't scramble jets because that only works if there's a terrorist threat, and given that they literally have no friendlies on board to broadcast otherwise, jets are more likely to shoot the entire plane down than force it to land so they can rescue someone on it. Not that anyone's saying the latter, but I'm sure as hell thinking it. Monroe leaps to the next open avenue, then, which isn't a bad thing, where is Nick being taken? Renard guesses Austria, and either way it'll be somewhere where the Family Renard can control him. It's The Slap Heard Round The Fandom! Let's all take note, guys, that Juliette when love-whammied into practically shagging Renard on the dining room table says and does nothing to him over it, but when he fails to recover Nick despite some pretty significant obstacles? Slap! Not that Renard does anything more than look mildly annoyed about the slapping, it's not as though she hasn't pistol-whipped him before too, and she's rightfully freaking out. His reply is somewhere between promise and warning, but it's another reminder that he can't just automagically stop the plane and turn it around, and we don't get to see the rest of that because Hank is answering his phone. It's Wu! Back over to the more numerous problem of all the zombis, Wu has them mostly contained and Hank tells him they'll get them some antidote. Then turns to Rosalee for the aforementioned antidote. Juliette, honey, I know you're worried about Nick, but there's maybe a hundred zombis running around who also have loved ones who are rightfully worried about them, too. Let the cops be cops. Renard does offer the comfort of a plan of action, because Renard is predisposed by his upbringing to thinking several steps ahead at any given time and on at least two or three different tracks: he'll check with the FAA about their flight plan and find out where they're going, and then they'll have the travel time to deal with the kidnappers on the ground. Eminently reasonable, and the kind of thing it would be easier to come up with when not emotionally involved with the kidnap victim. And Monroe would like to draw our attention to the cops on the ground, but as Rosalee confirms, there's not much they can do for them right now. They have to make it out of this first stage before they can antidote them, so the best they can do is get them to a place of greater safety.
Back up to the plane! Where the Baron is drinking something boozy and smoking a cigar (if that was rum I give up on everyone) and there is a pounding coming from somewhere in the plane. No points for guessing where. Allowing for travel time that's a zombi coma time that can be measured in minutes rather than hours as for the rest of humanity, implying that Grimms have, what, a faster metabolism for Wesen-based toxins? A faster metabolism in general? Implying interesting things about Grimm physiology that we don't quite have enough data to speculate on yet, We might get it when it comes time to dose him with anti-toxin, but not just yet. Oh god, you guys put the coffin in the main cabin? Without straps, securing it, a safety door, anything of the sort? You guys are fucking morons and given that this is actually you guys and Eric isn't on this plane, I have to wonder if this is Eric's way of getting rid of the Baron and tying off loose ends. Though I doubt he wanted Nick to go off quite this early. Still. This is fucking stupid, and that 'oh crap' look on the Baron's face under that attempt at calm curiosity is well deserved. You are a dumb shit, Baron, Your death sits in that coffin and he hears you.
Hey, speaking of death and resurrection, over to Adalind! Who is a bit taken aback? Grossed out? Maybe less quite specifically like either and more reacting to the sudden thrusting in her face of how much that corpse on the floor could have been her. That look on her face suggests a temporary inability to disguise how aware she is of her own powerlessness and mortality, and have I mentioned Claire Coffee acts the hell out of this role? Because she does. From wariness immediately after and at the moment of Stefania coming towards her with the knife and we can see what Adalind thinks she's going to do with it, to bravado and snark about the heart's already out of the witch. No, this is just the beginning of the what now? It sounds like she's saying contamination ritual, or to make it a little more on balance, the unpurification ritual. Oh you guys. Though that does suggest interesting things about the nature of hexenbiests, if not the existence of a light mirror to their species. If they're the impure, contaminated version, are there good witches too? Inquiring minds. Anyway, we get some standard ritual babble about know what she has seen and walk a mile in her, um, feet. To which Adalind rightfully goes 'ew!' because, ew. Not literally, though I wouldn't take Stefania's word or assumptions for granted, it's entirely possible the ritual might require skinning and wearing the hands, feet, and I got nothing on the eyeballs, but. This would be by far from the first time ritual skinning happened. Thankfully, though, no, not literally. She just has to cut off the hands and feet and gouge out the eyes. Oh, just. With a smooth-edged dagger which is all but forced into her hand. Adalind goes through "wait, really? You're being serious?" to "this is going to suck" expressions, all of which is comedy gold. Dark and bloody comedy gold. I love this entire sequence at least in part because it's exactly the kind of thing I would do. With more swearing. And a demand for a bone saw.
NICK ANGRY. NICK PUNCH COFFIN GOOD. BAD COFFIN BAD. (Okay, you had to know that after sitting through Twitter last night and joking around with Michael Golamco that we were going to make all the Hulk references starting now.) BARON TOO STUPID TO LIVE. I will grant him his good reflexes as far as immediately trying to spit Nick back into oblivion, I just can't fucking believe the stupidity of this entire fucking setup. Eric, you really don't hire your help for their brains, do you. We will also facepalm at the Baron turning his back on Nick. The angry, zombified Nick who wants to attack things. You could at least close the fucking coffin again, that'd give you more warning. No? No. NICK ATTACK BLOWFISH MAN. NICK NOT KNOW WHERE HOOTIE IS, BUT BLOWFISH MAN BAD MAN NICK NOT LIKE. We follow that up with a fairly standard-if-superpowered fighting on an airplane sequence, there really are only so many places you can go with that, and the poor copilot is about to get punched a lot. Baron, you're picking up a bottle? Really? I mean, I guess that's the only improvised weapon to hand, but I'd be looking around for the parachutes and getting the fuck out of there instead. All that serves to do is distract zombi!Nick into attacking the Baron, this time straight into the cockpit. With the controls. I question this somewhat, because modern planes are literally on autopilot from almost takeoff to landing, but it serves to ramp up the tension by a lot and there's really no other way to get Nick from "going to Austria" to "crash-landed somewhere in the Pacific Northwest." Not without dragging it out longer, anyway. Plane starts going down, and we pan over…
...to Austria, where Nick is not but where Adalind most certainly is. Smart to leave the eyes for last, given the fact that it's a smooth-edged dagger and no we are not getting over the stupidity of that anytime soon. It looks like it might be a ritual dagger, too, but I maintain practicality should trump. Gimme a fucking hacksaw. All of Frau Pech's requisite bits being off and the dagger being practically useless for anything else, they have further steps to take! No, there is not time to clean up first, though given that we know Adalind's going through morning sickness I can't blame her for wanting to do so. It's both in keeping with her unwillingness to get her hands dirty, literally, thinking that being a Hexenbiest is all glitter and glamour and easy spells and zaubertranks, and also in keeping with a very genuine reason not to want to smell like a slaughterhouse that anyone can appreciate. Which plays to her ability to make us feel conflicted about her character, nicely written as well as acted. So they're going for a walk in the woods and Adalind's going to get dirtier, is the implication! Which means digging. With a whatnow? A keilharker? Keil-something, keil is wedge/key in German so that makes sense. Hacke, maybe, though I swear I heard an r-sound in there, hacke is a pickax, though. No reference in the name to why it's a goddamn fucking hand, though. This is gonna be fun for everyone but Adalind! Oh, hey, they're shooting in the northern CA/southern OR forests, I know that location. Not that one specifically, but that area. I suspect the poppies are CGI, though. Adalind looks like she's trying not to hurl, Stefania looks smug and calm, and her sons continue to be boring lugs. and that disk from the center of the box looks an awful lot like a Frisbee. There will be no golden retrievers come out of nowhere to interrupt this ritual, however, and the thing is some kind of a dowsing device? Something. It's the spot where Adalind has to dig, and honey, there are at least three tests. That's Traditional. (So far I count making the bargain, ensuring Frau Pech's death, cutting off body parts, and digging, the latter two being the most immediate and therefore where I'm starting to count from.) I even believe Stefania when she says that this isn't a set of tests that she's chosen, this is the way it has to go, at least in her experience and with her knowledge. Because frankly this is a damn lot of effort on Stefania's part as well, not to mention a number of tools and artifacts being used that appear to be one-time-only types of things. That's a fair chunk in resources, I'd say at least two dots? Which gives us a good idea of how much that baby is worth. By now Adalind seems to have redirected all her annoyance at Stefania into energy to complete the ritual, an excellent and productive choice. We're definitely watching our little Hexenbiest grow up into someone aware of her power and capable of putting aside petulance and doing the hard work. And that should scare everyone, the Renards especially.
Nick has HAD IT with this motherfucking Cracher-Mortel on this motherfucking plane. Baron, you are really not doing anything to convince me you're intelligent and deserve to live. Screaming into his face to obey you because you're his master? No. Give it up. You're dead, your body just hasn't gotten the message yet. I hope the pilots survive this crash, because I have no reason to believe they're anything other than two guys doing their jobs. At worst they're employed by Eric for money, I doubt very much that they know the greater details of what's going on and the fact that they're unflapped by the weirdness happening in the cockpit has more to do with the crashing now problem.
From utter chaos to science and logic! I love everything about this. I love that we're getting Science!Girls. I love that Juliette, when presented with an immediate problem and solution, starts working that problem and hoping that other people are working the Nick problem, since she doesn't have the resources to do so. I love and hate Monroe's freaking out in the general direction of LET'S ALL GO TO AUSTRIA, because it is the opposite of helpful. State your resources available there, Monroe. State the resources available to take on an entire Royal family. At least one. But he is admittedly doing this because he's freaked out and his first instinct is to go save his friend fuck everything else, at least he doesn't cut himself on the glass jar when it shatters. Juliette is all on board with this plan even though she doesn't have the knowledge to say whether or not it's a good one. It's just, there's a plan! Some plan is better than no plan! Thank you, Rosalee, for being the voice of common sense. Nobody really wants to watch all three of you plus whoever else you rope into this plan die because you tried to take on the Renards at their home base. Because eek. Well, phone calls aside (and Monroe did you forget about the zompocalypse out there? you might want to solve one problem before trying to leave for the next one), Rosalee has another method of handling them: distraction! Also an idea, but it's one part "hey look at this shiny thing over here" to two parts "distracted by science! woman," I suspect. It's one of the standard procedural tactics: have an accident provide the solution to one of your problems! It's also not given to a cop or a Grimm or even Monroe, it's given to Rosalee, which gives me frankly all of the squee ever. Now, go open up that secret Wesen clinic in back, please. Suitably distracted and making awkwardly witty quips now, Monroe feeds the girls the straight line and they come up with the solution. Yes! A gas! No, Monroe, not smoking it, you've been living in Portland too long. Rosalee has this look on her face that says this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I love you both. Please. Wesen clinic. Any day. Right? Monroe, stop talking about things exploding. I dearly love that he's the fifth wheel right now, it's not that he's dumb but he's not this kind of smart, so he provides the comic relief while Juliette and Rosalee proceed to kick science's ass.
Renard would, I'm sure, like to kick someone's ass, but the Pustule appears to have left the city. Time for a conference on that burner phone with the office door closed and one of those shots through the blinds for maximum conspiracy. HI CHIRPY WE MISSED YOU PLEASE DON'T DIE. Or be evil. Renard is notably not bothering with French right now, he's at a guess too pissed off and too exhausted to fully code-switch that way. Plus there's just something satisfying about ordering a hit in English. All those hard Anglo-Saxon consonants. Chirpy replies in kind, and he also looks kind of tired, his reaction times are slowed and subdued throughout this call though he is responding. Mostly with fear. Renard has no time and gives no fucks for anything except ordering what sounds like a hit on Eric. I can't think of anything else that would involve a closing of "try to look shocked." Plus we know that Meisner is a dangerous ally and someone that has been discussed with some distaste, he'd be a fitting source for a hit. Possibly killing two birds with one stone, should Meisner be caught there's troublesome ally (please say he's a priest, my history geek heart would appreciate it) dealt with and should he not be caught, well, he'll have proved his worth and also how dangerous he is. Information is good currency to be dealing in, in other words. It's also telling that Renard considers taking the Grimm (which is a distancing technique if ever I heard one) worth assassination where none of the other attempts did. Kidnapping is worse than attempted murder? Multiple attempts. It's a little terrifying, the grownup equivalent of "you took my toy and now you will PAY" because that's worse than neither of them having the toy. Which I will grant is strategically sound, but we should be concerned about potential devolution there. The poor canary doesn't appear to know what to do with Renard in a royal rage, and that's as sure a sign as any that Renard's been toning down his regalness around his ally in an attempt to ensure cooperation. Right now he wants obedience, not cooperation, and he doesn't have a whole lot of use to suggest to Chirpy as far as ways to protect himself. I'm sorry, Chirpy, but you got into a royal conspiracy. You know most of the members of your cell are dead. You really should've seen this coming, even if I think Renard's being rather callously dismissive of valid concerns for his safety. That kind of thing can turn an asset into a double agent. I also realize that there's no time for anything else, as Hank knocks on the door.
Hello, The Best! Hank delivers a rundown on the flight plan, Vienna, as expected, and a timeline for when he's expected, noon tomorrow Portland time. Which I'm sure will be important next episode, when they're sitting pretty in Austria wondering where their Grimm is. Okay! Eric is not on the plane according to the passenger list, not that that's necessarily a complete list, but the fact that the Baron is going under his own name is a pretty good indication that Eric is nowhere near this amateur hour bullshit. We may question Eric's intelligence and paternity on a regular basis, but he is smarter than that. It also lends credence to the theory that he's using this to get rid of an ally he can't readily control, along with the fact that Eric might have half a clue how the venom would affect a Grimm, since his family's employed them for centuries. Not probative, but indicative. And now that Hank's given Renard the rundown, Renard will attempt to pull royal rank on him. No, that's not going to work this time. Concern for his partner and friend overrides any inclination to let Renard "take care of" his brother, though I will grant that the whole reason Renard's being distant and Royal and not thinking about Nick is because he just ordered a hit on Eric. That kind of thing gets to a man. Still and nonetheless, Hank doesn't know that and Hank will shake Renard verbally. The Pustule may be getting dealt with, but regardless of where Nick ends up someone's still going to have to go get him. Also, Renard, your family has other members who might be just as interested in a pet Grimm traumatized by a Cracher-Mortel as Eric is. I'm just saying.
We leave Renard blinking a bit like he's just been slapped again, or like he wishes he commanded that kind of loyalty. Not the intellectual kind, which he does have from his men, but the bone-deep emotional kind. Yeah, well. I understand the desire, but when you start out keeping lots of secrets, you need to earn it. The long way around instead of the personality way around. And we come out at the crash site! There's really no reason to show us the empty coffin except for the amusement value and possibly for callback to Indiana Jones and the refridgerator of how we're not talking about it. The Baron looks pretty dead, the one pilot doesn't look much better, the other pilot did survive! Somehow. And is trying to army-crawl out of the wreckage, which is a nice trick if you can manage it with a Grimm clawing at your ankles. Fortunately for him, zombi!Nick is more focused on getting out even if it means stepping on someone than on kill ALL the things. He can hear heartbeats all the time now, too! Hmmm. That seems dubiously useful. Depends on how much he keeps when he gets de-zombi'd. On over to the other zombis, where Wu and Franco and an assortment of other officers in riot gear have what looks to be the last zombi! Yay! They look like they've just been through hell and are totally prepared to fuck someone's shit up if there turn out to be more zombis that they missed, which nearly gets Juliette shot. Good Wu. Keep those cop reflexes sharp. Bad Juliette, CALL OUT WHO YOU ARE before running up to the rightfully jumpy cops with the antidote. Jumpy, tired, cranky cops who are not in the mood to believe a bunch of civilians when they say they have the treatment and Hank sent them back. It's a good lie, but Hank would've called it in if he'd authorized this, which nobody has the energy to say outright but we're all thinking. On the plus side, nobody has the energy to really object to the plan, just give a lot of disbelieving looks to the notion of opening the container and no, nobody really wants to be the one to deal with making the racket. That's okay, Monroe will take charge! It's really telling of how exhausted they all are that they're willing to let a civilian who's admittedly not acting like much of a civilian and has a plan do some potentially dangerous work. So! Sides get banged, doors get opened, Juliette and Rosalee really look like Daphne and Velma in that shot, and our little fangirl hearts go pitterpat. I love everyone in this scooby gang. Cops hold the extras, smart plan, and everyone trades tired/worried looks until Franco says what everyone's thinking, how do they know when it's done? To possibly the funniest line this episode, from who else but Monroe. Aheh. Wu, you're really bringing the mood down, here.
Back at the station we have dueling phone calls! First we get Hank on the phone, that has to be word of the plane crash both because of the timing and because of his shocked expression. Renard, meanwhile, is on the phone with someone I can only surmise is Meisner or one of his flunkies, that's the carefully controlled expression of a Prince dealing with someone he's not wholly comfortable with or who he wholly trusts. (Not that Renard wholly trusts anyone, but Chirpy comes closer than that.) Instructions that it needs to be done in Eric's car, not at the airport, and to avoid collateral damage if possible, which is a polite way of saying that he wants this to look like the targeted assassination it is, not a terrorist attack, and he would really like not to take down a bunch of civilians. Because Renard may be morally dubious at the best of times but even at the worst of times he holds life as something valuable and precious, others' as well as his own. Unfortunately any identifying data for the person on the other end of the line will be forestalled by Hank busting into the office and announcing that the plane went down. In Mount Cedera somewhere, or something that sounds similar, any locals want to help us out with a location? Meanwhile on Nick!cam everything is too loud too bright too sharp, all his senses have been turned up to 11 and with the toxins in his system he doesn't have the capability to dial it back down. So he really is the Hulk right now. Possibly Hulk have migraine, for that matter. He also, however, has somewhat human instincts of go find light, warmth, safety. These things are mutually really incompatible. Hey, there's the bar! Which is a real bar in Troutdale, which you should not look up like I just did because there's a virus on the bar's website. Just saying. It also doesn't give us a location on the Mount Cedera or whatever that Hank cites, though Troutdale isn't very far away from the Cascade Mountains. Well, this can't end well!
All quiet on the container yard front, and it is not a coincidence that the two Wesen with the best hearing have their ears pressed up listening to the de-zombi'd crowd inside. Zombis don't have a whereami code installed! They got that bit taken out. That's a good sign. The cops are nervous but trying their best to do their jobs, the people are no longer zombis and are very confused and in need of lots of counseling, and Doctor Rosalee has the right calming bedside manner and is here to help! Yay! The relief doesn't last long, though, because a lot of this ep is taken up with that glorious thing called Sharing Information. I have to say everyone's doing a good job of selling the idea that they believe Nick's dead even though we know both from seeing him up and shambling around and from the fact that he's the protagonist that no such thing is true, Bitsie in particular. And Russell, in that attempt at cold pragmatism of not knowing until they get there and trying to prevent her from finding out at the scene. No, it's not going to be better if she waits until the morgue to ID the body, she's already imagining horrible things having bullied Monroe into letting her listen. I love his pointed "we can ALL HEAR YOU, Hank, so please don't tell her Nick is dead" commentary. He's not fooling anyone, of course. Nick staggers toward the bar. Nick smash bar soon! First Renard and Hank have to get to the scene, yay both the pilots survived! Hopefully yay, anyway, it's hard to tell the extent of their injuries right now other than concussions and probably some kind of internal injury. Oh, and a body! Which is not Nick's but the Baron's. An associate of Eric's is one way to put it! One fake passport and punched-out coffin later and they reach the obvious conclusion: Nick walked away and he might be awake and infected. Well, fuck. Good cop procedure, though! Still love how smoothly they work around each other despite their lessened trust.
BAR LOUD HAVE MANY COLORS MANY NOISES NICK HAVE MIGRAINE. Also he seems to be hearing whispers that may or may not have any basis in reality. Not that we can make out what they're saying, just that they exist and this doesn't seem to be good. For anyone. It's a bar full of supposed tough guys, one of the usual sorts of places with blue collar workers and people looking to blow off a little steam. Also a zombi Grimm with no inhibitions and lots of battle reflexes. Worst combination ever? Yes, possibly. At least one person has the good sense to get the fuck out the second the fighting starts, and it's unclear what form the fighting would have taken had some moron not provoked the zombi!Grimm. But someone did, and now we have a barfight. Yay. Really, in a place like this nobody's carrying? Aside from the requisite shotgun under the bar. And the 911 call, good bartender. There's some interesting camera work, some slowed shots and some pauses in the music, which tell us that no really the only thing operating in Nick's consciousness right now is his Grimmstincts. And that at a higher level than we've ever seen before, which says some things about how much he's been holding back and restraining himself from full use of his powers. Which raises an interesting question about if Eric knew this would happen and if it was intentional, a tactic to get Nick to become a better killing machine even after he came out of the zombi state. (This theory is probably a demon. But not bunnies. No bunnies were used in the making of this recapalypse.) Though we still don't think he intended all of this to happen in or near Portland. After the ad break and back at the crash site, Monroe's tiny VW pulls up and dispenses three very worried scoobies! Including a Juliette not inclined to listen to the poor uni trying to keep her out of the active investigation area. Lucky for her, here comes a Renard wielding his authoriteh. He updates them, complete with warning that Nick might be really different, really dangerous, and she might not be able to help, with that last going unsaid as Hank updates them about the 911 call from the bar! Juliette really doesn't look like that's sunk in yet, frankly she looks like she's in shock, as well she might be after all the shit that's gone down tonight. And it's still not over.
Our poor, poor bartender is trying, not to hunt for Nick but to get the fuck out of there and is clutching the gun like it's a security blanket. Oh honey. That's not gonna work, though giving zombi!Nick the gun and backing away slowly stammering about please just take what you want? That'll buy him enough time to get the fuck out. And what's this? Oh, look, it's the requisite he's just barely aware enough to have some self-loathing for what he's doing and not enough for impulse control scene! Complete with throwing the gun at the mirror. I give Giuntoli props for the momentary look of increased awareness and humanity, but overall sigh at the theatrics of this scene, I have to say. Once again, Renard pulls up in his battlewagon, which disgorges some Scoobies as well and this time it's Hank flashing his badge and taking charge while Renard mostly seems to look exhausted and sway on his feet. The bartender is relieved! The bartender is also homicidally pissed, though I would venture to guess that he's more venting than actually homicidal. One hopes. There's some more shaky/canted/both camera work here which, at this point and with no zombis around is crossing the line into overkill, especially as it obscures the fact that the two policemen are in the lead heading for the door and Monroe is attempting to follow close behind. Renard would like to dissuade him from this course of action. Renard is failing his diplomacy check, but we do get an interesting bit of back and forth from the two Wesen for whom scent is a feature, about how Nick's smell is different. Presumably because he's zombified, it's not as though certain things we ingest enough of don't make our scents different even to weaker human senses. Juliette still insists she can help, which is less of a purely emotional reaction when you consider that she did talk him down from the Musai intoxication not too long ago. In-show not too long ago, that is. Renard would rather she wait outside until they know what they're dealing with. Good Renard. Both cops draw their guns and go in, in stance. Monroe, in keeping with his decidedly not The Protector body language throughout the entire episode, goes in hunched with little T-Rex arms. Possibly out of fear, more likely out of discomfort at this being a new and much undesired circumstance.
There's a lot of people on the ground in the bar itself. Hank continues to demonstrate his being The Best by taking some time for a few of the injured and speaking to them directly, dropping down to their level and offering the physical comfort of a brief touch. Specific details like this are why he exemplifies The Best, especially right now, and not Renard, despite our biases being large and obvious and sexy in rumpled trenchcoats; Hank is being that comforting figure of police authority that we all wish our cops to be. Coming in, reassuring that help is on the way, taking care of people who he doesn't know, who may or may not be significant to the case, it doesn't matter except that these are people who have been in danger and are still in pain, therefore he will help them in the small ways that he can. It also points up a difference they've been showing between him and Renard especially this episode, which is that Renard is concerned with Royal matters and if he protects his people, it's in a very aloof and liege lord sense. Hank is boots on the ground offering comfort and aid right there, right where it's happening, what a Good Cop should be. And, really, if Renard gets too much more cold and aloof I more than half expect Hank to call him out on it more directly than he did tonight, over Nick. For now, though, they have to find and contain Nick both for Nick's sake and for the sake of the people he might run into. Renard dispatches Hank and Monroe to do what they probably would have done without his permission anyway, track Nick down. By scent, given Monroe's ability. He'll stay and oversee the cleanup.
Speaking of messes, Adalind is fairly filthy by now. Digging holes will do that to you! And exhausted by the way she's swinging that hand-axe-thing. Stefania calls a halt to it, and I wouldn't bet that she didn't wait an inch or two deeper than the hole needed to be just to be bitchy in Adalind's direction, or because Adalind wasn't exhausted enough yet. "Thank God," Adalind says, followed by the quippy "I wouldn't," from Stefania, which is mildly hilarious but may also indicate a deeper meaning? Or are we going with a non-denominational contamination here. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen divine-demonic imagery (I'm looking at you, Potion-ed up black-smoke-bleching Renard) but we haven't exactly seen an abundance of proof that the Catholic faith of the Royals is more than ordinary faith. If that. Anyway. Stefania hands Adalind the bucket o bits and tells her to put them in the hole. O-kay? Into the hole they go, along with the heart in a not-hatbox, and Stefania tells her it must be buried with Adalind's own hands. To which Adalind responds with thank-you-captain-obvious type sarcasm, but for a second there I thought she meant to chop off Adalind's hands and stick them in the hole, too. Eugh. Stefania clearly disapproves of Adalind sassing her, but at least Adalind does as she's told. And now? Well, now they wait to see if Adalind is worthy. Or unworthy. Or something. Oh, hey, it's a blight. That would be a bad sign except with hexenbiests it seems to be opposite day, so, good sign? I'm still amused by Adalind's running commentary of how creepy this whole thing is, also because it still sounds like something I'd say. Have said, probably. And now, oh, hey, the green smoke! They let the magic smoke out of her back in the first season, now they'll put it back in! Adalind looks happy. We could be happy for her except she's the villain in the piece. (Okay, I'm a little happy for her. I'm hoping she gets to kick some royal ass this season.) And now, of course, she has to gather the dead flowers. Really? Yes, apparently, really; we're not sure what this is in aid of, it's both typical of a fairy tale task but also hugely anticlimactic after the green smoke bit. Le sigh.
Back at the Tippy Canoe (groan) several more cop cars has arrived! Renard orders the area cordoned off and ambulances to appear like a good captain, then tells Juliette and Rosalee the more personalized version: Nick is gone, they're looking for him, and they need to find him before he kills someone because there's no coming back from that. Speaking from personal experience, are we, Captain? And also mildly illogically because our introduction to Nick in the pilot episode involved him killing a guy. Who, admittedly, was trying to kill his aunt and him at the time, so probably what Renard is referring to is non-self-defense killing, rage killing, which he also might have personal experience with. Not that this explains anything specific about his character, but we find it entirely in keeping with him and his mysterious past. And still and nonetheless, dude, that is not the thing to tell an already worried Juliette to calm her down. Renard continues to excel at logistics and being badass and fail at close personal comfort. Which might, upon consideration, be a character trait of his when he's been up for almost 24 hours straight and there are Royal shenanigans causing havoc in his city. Hank and Monroe continue to track Nick through the woods, with a brief comedy moment (Lost him. .... Found him!) and some really good body language work from Silas Weir Mitchell. And then we switch to following Nick as he lurches through the woods, coming up on... a house? With some tired kids and family members and well shit. This implies nothing good.
The title cards remind us that this isn't over yet, in case we didn't already know that from the not having recovered and cured Nick. Because they are snarky fuckers like that.
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