Sunday, November 3, 2013

Paragon in Parallax Grimm S3E02 PTZD

This week on Grimm we do get previouslies, the better to update you on all the conspiratorial shenanigans around this place. Sasha gets to say the "previously on" part, by which we know this is likely to be a Royals-filled ep and not particularly pleasant. Oh goodie. Most of the shots are from last ep, with a few from last season, including Frau Pech telling Chirpy about the royal baby-to-be and Adalind being coerced into signing the contract with Stefania. Also we had a pretty good idea from interviews and promos that someone was going to die at Nick's hands during his zombi rampage, and the fact that we get Guy With Knife And Head Injury in the previouslies means it's probably him. Or that he's significant in some other way, but, y'know. Probabilities and the measuring thereof is what we're all about over here.






We open not with a fairytale quote but with a quote from motherfucking Voltaire. Between this and the Aristotle in the sneak peek on Haven next week I'm strongly considering digging out all my classics and rereading them, you fuckers. The original French is pretty much exactly the English translation, "Il n'est pas plus surprenant de naître deux fois qu'une; tout est resurrection dans ce monde," though I might choose to go for "no more surprising" as opposed to the more commonly translated "not more surprising," because the former emphasizes the amazing nature of being alive at all a little more. And lord knows that on Grimm with all its weird science and dangerous beings, it's a fucking miracle that anything's survived. After a good deal of searching and a couple of misquotes in the original (if you're looking in English-only results you'll get "tout est resurrection dans la nature," which is NOT the actual quote, although the world/nature is a fairly common pair of metonymic words), I can tell you with some confidence that this is out of La Princesse de Babylone, one of Voltaire's MUCH lesser-known works. I'm being good and not linking y'all to the Google Books result, because that's entirely in French and I have other shit to do today, like finish writing these recapalypses, but suffice it to say that I have ALL of the side-eye for that brief summary. Who's the handsome unknown shepherd? Who's the princess? Is that a reference to Nick and Juliette? INQUIRING MINDS GODDAMMIT. Okay, but more seriously, this quote in particular is reminiscent of the first couple eps of last season, which saw Renard undergoing a rebirth of sorts (remember all that alchemy dissection we did? I DO, because it's what kicked off the blog proper instead of just doing this on Tumblr and in chat) and, if you will recall, the s2 opener involved a Yeats quote rather than a fairytale quote, much as we have a Voltaire quote here.


Sex and death are all we have to write about, they say. And never more true than in this episode, in so many ways.


I'll just put a pin in that and we'll go back to the woods, where in this Longest Night Ever (and you don't think that's an accident, do you? no, neither do we) zombi!Nick is looking for something and doesn't know what, and Monroe and Hank are looking for him but don't know where. In the woods, where all the things you want to avoid come out to play and hunt and stalk you (shall we point you at the pilot? I think we very well might), and this night has stretched into three episodes at this point. Season two finale, season three premiere, and this. THREE. CHUG THE BOTTLE NOW. And then go out and get a new one, you'll need it. I suspect they're mostly going for long dark night of the soul references, but it also serves that it's airing as we do the downward slide toward the longest night of the year, no matter what month it is in-show. Monroe and Hank engage in a bit of banter, mostly on Monroe's side because inappropriate humor is increasingly his fallback coping mechanism, though I do appreciate the point that it's not that easy to air-scent someone, particularly when you're crashing through the woods and kicking up all kinds of other scents. A slow and methodical job of tracking would make it easier, but also make them lose Nick. But wait! Found him, and just in time, because Renard is… calling as he comes out of some side room in the bar looking rather grim and determined himself. Pun intended. This Will Be Important Later. (Inquiring minds have a question in to Sasha about the order of shooting this ep, though given how ridiculous packed an ep it is I wouldn't be surprised if nobody but the production crew remembers.) Rosalee and Juliette join him, Rosalee staying quiet and taking in all the data and not talking until she has something useful to say. We kind of love her for that. Or overidentify with her for that, take your pick. Juliette, like you do when you're emotionally involved with the victim/perpetrator, is more vocal in her concern, but no, they can at least head in the right direction now! Oh hey there random sheriff dude. I think this is the first time they've really noted the different precincts and that Renard is technically out of his jurisdiction, though he's still got the most authority of anyone in this bar. As witnessed by the slight emphasis on "my" precinct, and oh, the surveillance feeds are down? Gee. I wonder whose fault THAT could be. It looks like his hands are out of his pockets for a change when concealing something, but there's a slight lilt up of hope on "you've got nothing" which could be mistaken for a question if you're not listening for it. And the briefest of dropped eyes on "right." They're very, very small tells, and they don't make a damn bit of sense without full context, which is why we're not yelping. Juliette just has the wide worried eyes that can be easily attributed to a civilian in the middle of that much violence rather than concern for Nick and/or general tension at working this closely with Renard, which I think are both present. There's definitely an awareness there, though Renard has on his cop mien and Juliette is far too worried about Nick to make much room for it; they're visibly tense around each other. And Rosalee remains the calm observer who appears to be checking over her shoulder that the uni bought that story as they head out. Aww, Rosalee. I love you.


Hey, it's a family of four! Coming home at night and between that and the fact that the bar was in full swing I'm guessing it's not even past midnight at this point. Maybe even earlier, since it sounds like they were out for dinner and maybe a movie and there's leftovers in the car, which is the only kind of food I can really see you accidentally leaving. Groceries not so much unless it's a milk-and-eggs type run. We're getting all this through the zombicam, which means we can't really tell what noises Nick's making, but he must be making some godawful noises because they appear to be turning in response to that rather than motion. Also, dude, you need a taser and some steadier nerves. Cue about the usual amount of civilian freakouts over a FUCKING ZOMBI DUDE approaching you like he wants to kill you, complete with serious Dutch angle and shakycam, and oh, hey, a Shining reference on top of it? Really? You guys, you shouldn't have. Though at least we only get zombi!Nick punching through the door, there's no ax and definitely no staring through the door being Jack Nicholson at anyone. Small favors, etc., which are quickly erased when daddy dearest is heard to shout about "get into the bedroom I have the gun in there." Oh, because THAT'S always what you want. I wouldn't be so irritated with him on less than a minute of screentime if they hadn't telegraphed that this is a man who is not calm under pressure and definitely not thinking straight. And he has a gun! Because anyone can have a gun! There might be some cranky rhetoric in this one, you guys, I make no apologies for my utter lack of desire for people getting to have guns without proper training. Or my belief in what proper training constitutes.




Cut to credits, which are… longer. It looks like they've added maybe half a dozen clips? The first Wesen at the beginning which looks like some kind of fuzzy Wesen in woge? Not Rosalee and not one I know off the top of my head, but mammalian. I think Nick writing down things in the trailer with the key-map-imprint next to him is new, the Hitler-Schakal shots are new, Hank running through the woods might be new, Renard's All Shall Love Me And Despair is definitely new and unwelcome, and the created-by screen is also new! All of them except the first are shots we've seen in seasons prior, but it's an interesting set of additions which serves to emphasize the worldwide conspiracy aspects of the show a little more. Yeah, we see what you guys did there. Yeah, we're looking forward to it. You fuckers. Coming back from the credits, though, we don't have immediate payoff on the conspiracy unless you mean in the form of zombi!Nick, which, yes, was a product of that. Stupid Butthead. (With all due credit to Bitsie for the new epithet.) At least now they're being somewhat smarter about it, kids in front, then mom, then dad, mother under orders to take the kids into the closet and shut the door as they shove a bookcase in front of the door to the bedroom. Sigh. One of these days it's gonna be the mother ordering the father to do that. Or the mother ordering the other mother to do that. They do seem to be going out of their way to depict this family as stereotypical and nuclear, but I'm just saying, is all. I would also like to point out that if you're untrained and have an assailant of unknown skill but a great deal of rage coming after you, you might not want to get the gun out of its safe (at least there seems to be that much) because it can be taken away. Weapons are always something that can be used against you. At least with knives you stand a good chance of injuring the other guy while he's trying to get it away from you. And this is why our homes are BOTH covered in assorted bladed items. (Well, that and they're pretty, but it's definitely why neither of us owns a gun. Insufficient training.) Nick angry! Nick smash door with shoulder! Poor Giuntoli, he griped about that hurting on Twitter last night and I do not blame him. Shouldering doors open by brute force HURTS. Fallen teddy bear, oh, it's even a dingy whiteish color, for fallen innocence, they're just pouring it on this scene. And shushing the children, not for any significant reason, it's not like zombi!Nick doesn't know they're in there, but the change from screaming to quiet is the sort of thing designed to grate on our nerves, and you can bet that the screaming was making the parents more upset. So, not for any significant protective reason, just the hope that if you hold very still and quiet the predator won't find you. No, sorry, it doesn't work that way. Freeze is a really shitty adrenaline response.


Cut back over to Hank and Monroe, who've lost him by scent but found him by sound! If I wanted to go really Jungian on this we could be here all damn day and into the night, but I'll be good and just point you all at Women Who Run With The Wolves for, oh, the umpteenth time on this show. Yes, Monroe, zombi!Nick can now punch through solid wood security doors. Enjoy that thought. Please woge out? No? No. Frankly I think the masquerade matters less than saving the people right now, as zombi!Nick finally shoves his way through the door (and I really, really hope that didn't require more than one take for Giuntoli's sake, ow) and daddy dearest goes sprawling and the gun goes flying. Cue Hank! Because Hank is always and forever The Best, right down to trying to stop a Grimm in full rage with no checks on his strength. Lots of quick cuts and shakycam here, which isn't actually used that often in Grimm (though it could be) and here emphasizes the utter loss of control. At least at first the father sits back to take in what the fuck just happened, though he manages somehow, as we'll learn later, to miss the badge around Hank's neck. Dude, there's a reason he wears it there, and I will point out now that that actually speaks to a background prior to making detective in some kind of special response team, something that would require you to have hands free while showing ID/mark of authority front and center. Maybe just a beat cop in a bad part of town where he expected to have to draw his weapon on a moment's notice, but some kind of past where having ID readily available and not taking up a hand was important. And once zombi!Nick shoves the boys off him here comes the father with the gun safe! Not, as I initially thought, because he thought the gun was still in there, but because it makes a good blunt object to hit Nick upside the head with. Hey! That might be the ONE smart thing this guy does this entire fight sequence! (Okay, no, getting people to relative safety was moderately smart, I just dislike the whole "and now we will put you in a small enclosed room with insufficiently thick doors and no way out" theory. Cornering yourself: not the best tactical move! Windows would've been smarter.) Unfortunately for this guy, a zombi!Grimm is not moved by your blunt objects. He will be an irresistible force instead! I do love that Hank opts for throwing a large metal statue at Nick and then runs the fuck out of there, both because holy shit Grimm reflexes and because if it gets Nick away from the family that's all to the good. I'm not quite as enamored of the cuts back and forth between zombi!Grimm!senses cam and normal-people cam, but it does a good job of demonstrating and foreshadowing (and aftshadowing, in some ways) the way in which Nick's senses are getting fucked all to hell by having been zombied. Oh, and daddy dearest is going for the gun. The camera's focus on it as the three of them book it out of the bedroom says so. Because that cannot possibly end badly. So, Hank's plan is to lead him out the front while Monroe goes out the back and, I'm assuming, performs a flanking maneuver? That would work GREAT if this were a house they knew their way around, but it's not, and Monroe for all that he's a badass Blutbad has a) been trying to stomp on his worst urges for a number of years and b) still ain't cop trained. (I kind of hope Hank and Nick and, hell, maybe Renard not that I think he'd have the time, take Monroe out and start training him in standard crisis response techniques, because come the fuck on, you're gonna need 'em. Have needed them for awhile, in fact.) Lamp goes over! Nick goes after Monroe!


It does, however, let Hank answer his phone again, seriously, Renard, stop jostling their elbows. Though admittedly if he didn't get a response he might have some idea of how bad the situation is, I'm still going to grump about jostling the elbow of the agents on the ground a little. But it nets him an address and a hurry the fuck up and Nick did you just go straight THROUGH the back door? At least by the crashing noises that's what he did. We can tell they're out of Portland a ways, off to the east if that bar is supposed to be located approximately the same place as it appears in real life (which is to say, around Troutdale) and given where the plane presumably crashed. I'm also guessing it's off to the east because the eastern chunk of Oregon (and Washington, for that matter) tends to be somewhat more conservative than the city, as ever, and leads to things like stereotypical nuclear families who believe very strongly in the right to bear arms. Still enough of a city slicker that he's got a handgun and no visible longarms, though, which I would accept for hunting outside of the city. Oh look it's a barn. I want to know what Grimm and Haven's obsession with bars and barns is and how we make it stop, because I sweartofuckinggod I'm tired of writing that word. Those words. Both. Hank takes advantage of some breathing room to draw his weapon, with the kind of jerky motions that indicate that he's not happy about this but he's running out of options, which is, in fact, about what he says to Monroe. And his training won't be to wound Nick, either. Cops get trained in center of mass, and I could go dig up the stats about how low the accuracy percentages are even for trained professionals but I'm kind of lazy and it's irrelevant to this ep anyway. Suffice it to say it's lower than you want to think about, in crisis situations. Okay, they have a hayloft! Higher ground, that's a decent idea and one that's worked for Monroe in the past, and Hank would very much like not to have to shoot his partner, so he'll take it. And then we'll get some nice foreshadowing as Monroe nearly goes through the hayloft and they exchange the kind of look that says both "holy shit that was close" and "hey this is a crazy enough idea to work, right?" I love that over the course of last season they've built up both of Nick's partners, on the human and Wesen side, into the kind of relationship that can do that. So, yes, they grab weapons, Monroe looks like the epitome of a ridiculous farmer with that pitchfork and his Portland hipster wardrobe, and try to talk Nick down. Not, I think, with any real hope of getting through, but they need to confirm for their own peace of mind that Nick's not home and if they do end up having to shoot him/badly injure him, they'll have done it with that knowledge instead of their assumptions. They are, after all, two of the people he knows best and are thus most likely to get through to hi- oh, well, never mind that then. Through the hayloft boards he goes! That's a mighty convenient iron headboard piece of corral fencing no one saw that... there, but people keep all kinds of shit in barns that are being used for storage rather than livestock, as this one apparently is, so we'll go with it. (K: I found old Conan comics, a full standing mirror, a goddamn china cabinet, and some jade carved grapes in our barn. Also ton of birdshit. Go figure.)


Just in time for the battlewagon to pull up and dispense a Captain and a couple of scoobies! Rapid-fire exchange of information, followed by Hank trying, as calmly as he can, to explain to Juliette that Nick's not in there right now, honey, you can't talk him down like you did with the Musai, this is much, much worse. Whatever else Hank was going to say is going to have to wait until later, because here comes daddy dearest to be a FUCKING MORON. I guess we know what his adrenaline response is! Bowlegged and stiff, too, partly from being thrown across a room but also because he's MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT oh, you guys are cops? Jesus, dude, the badge is right there. He really, really is awful at processing in a crisis, worse than most of the civilians we usually see on this show, come to that. How did they get here so fast? There's an easy and politic explanation for that! Come on, you don't think you're the first place your friendly local zombified Grimm hit, do you? I mean that literally. I love how we get visual on everyone but Hank looking to Renard for an answer on "who is he?" And for as tired and beaten up as Renard is, that's some fast thinking. A massive tell in the hesitation, but this guy's probably not bright enough to pick up on it now or later, for small favors we will all be thankful. It also firmly establishes Renard as the guy who won't rat out Nick, certainly not right now and probably not ever, and lays some groundwork for the realization that yes, Renard's been doing this kind of coverup work for a long fucking time, and will continue to do so as long as circumstances warrant it. (Renard, you still need more people to help with this.) Hank, meanwhile, is watching the unpredictable civilian with the gun, because twitch. Good Hank. Best cop. We can all facepalm at the whole flaily nonsense of I won't give you my gun I will DO SOMETHING DRASTIC attitude oh wait you mean he might actually be getting out? I'm going to run away now! Admittedly back towards his family to protect them, but I have little sympathy and a lot of facedesk for civilians who think they know better than the professionals when it comes to a crisis. And a lot of sympathy for the people who have to deal with them. At least he does go away, making this much less messy, and Renard will now come over both captain and lord of the manor as he tells Juliette and Rosalee to stay back and stay ready with the antidote. Which makes sense, though they have better reflexes than most they're still untrained and someone's gotta woman the giant stabbity steampunk device. Best to have one and a backup. Okay, so the three guys go in and plan to subdue Nick somehow or another, Hank locks the door behind them which is a lot better than locking it after the Grimm's gotten out (yes, I had to), and no, Renard, you're not going to take him without the full force of woge backing you. Which is additional direct confirmation that yes, woging out does grant paranatural reflexes and strength. Yay! There's sort of a you-go-first look to Renard, partly because Monroe's not the authority figure here and partly, I suspect, because he hopes Hank's seen the one and thus won't be as freaked out if he has something familiar-but-weird to start with. They've done something with Renard's lichface this season, made it less bloody/red and raw, I think? It's interesting how the Hexen/Zauber morphs keep changing as they figure out what works best, both in test screenings (I'm guessing) and in ease of applying the SFX. Leading us to the most hilarious line of the episode, thank you Hank, we love you. We also appreciate Renard checking on the only human that he's okay with this, but we really love Hank's reaction. A lot. Oh, hey, zombi!Nick does still remember how to use tools! And is not just punching his way out of the stall. That can't be good.





Naturally he's kind enough to wait until after the commercial break to escape, though the way he's holding the shovel gives some interesting potentials about his ability to use tools and/or the ability to reason why he should. It doesn't even have to be consistent, Nick could be intermittently more and less lucid. The shakycam makes picking apart the choreography here a bit tricky, though that's definitely Renard leading the charge, and not with defensive maneuvers either. He's going straight for a one-punch knockout, which of course doesn't work. First he goes flying, then Monroe goes flying, then Hank seems to take a Grimmpunch straight to the face, which should break his nose and a good chunk of his orbital sockets if Nick's flinging full-woge'd Renard around. Monroe is only a partially good example, being more slight of body and probably lighter. Then a kick to the sternum that should crack a couple ribs and Hank's out of the fight for now, and Monroe and Renard seem to have mutually decided that going one at a time is stupid. There are reasons to tackle an opponent one at a time, the most common one as far as I can tell being that once you get into a fight it's harder to land punches to strategic places on your opposition without getting an ally by mistake. And Monroe isn't exactly trained for this shit, though obviously Renard is. Still, they're not going to take Nick down by being careful. Despite what was said earlier about woge form being better and safer to take on Nick, Hank is getting into the thick of things right with everyone else, and going by the rest of this episode he doesn't seem to have suffered significantly more for it. It's inconsistent enough to make me grumble as we watch them flail about some more in shakycam and dim lighting. Though admittedly Renard seems to be getting the worst of the thrown-through-things, what with going through a wall hard enough to skid across the floor. Ouch. Hank will now pull his gun; while Nick has shown a decent ability to recognize imminent threat from whatever cues he can pick up, tone or body posture or what have you, it's questionable whether or not he recognizes individuals. We can't get it from the Nick perspective, either, Hank's voice sounds like it's coming from underwater and there's no direct visual or audio cues to tell us whether or not he recognizes Hank. The fact that the video and audio is only slightly distorted indicates possibility, but not likelihood. At any rate, Hank does distract Nick long enough for Juliette and Rosalee to sneak up behind him with the syringe, at which point it only takes one shout for him to turn and be injected! Rosalee has to ram home the dose after Juliette gets backhanded out of the way, owies, but then it's a short stagger to lights out for our Grimm. Hank goes to see to Juliette, everyone's standing around watching to make sure Nick doesn't get up and start pounding on things again and, hilariously, Renard is the one saying 'shoot him again just to be sure.' I mean, it makes sense given the character, but it's still hilarious. Police sirens approach in the background. Police who are not on Nick's side. Oh, hey, that's why the Captain has that battlewagon. The better to store many bodies in, my dear.


They pull out just as the ordinary cops get there with their lights and sirens, which is probably comforting to the freaked out guy and his gun but also serves to make it hard for the cops to see Renard and company leaving, human night vision being so poor that bright narrow-sourced lights actually make it more difficult to see. It's a nice division of positions, here, obviously Renard is driving and obviously Juliette is in the back with Nick, but Hank is the one who takes shotgun and that's a deliberate word choice there, and Rosalee and Monroe join Juliette in the back. And since Rosalee and Juliette are keeping an eye on Nick, they can give us a steady litany of worrying symptoms, such as thready weakening pulse and cold skin. I still wonder why Renard, who seems otherwise prepared for most eventualities, doesn't have an old blanket or emergency blanket in his battlewagon, but as we saw with Adalind in Face Off (2x13) Renard kind of has a lack of emergency blankets. Jackets will do instead! Nick-o-vision gives us intermittent sound and even more blurring, so he's definitely slipping at the very least out of consciousness, and worried Scoobies are worried. We don't get any of the eyes-in-the-rearview imagery of Renard that we did last time, possibly because his role here is more clear-cut and on the rest of the protagonists' side? Instead we get one-word one-syllable answers to Monroe demanding justice or vengeance for what's been done to Nick. Call it retribution, maybe. Either way, it seems ill-advised all around, the timing is poor and the Captain is enigmatic and pretty fucking dangerous.


As Nick closes his eyes we go to Adalind! For her awakening of sorts? That's the best I can come up with for this particular transition, something something life and death, rebirth, etc. As Adalind said a few episodes ago, one witch is dead, another one's coming back. By means of all kinds of disgusting rituals. Adalind's holding the flowers in the front of her dress and leaning back like either they stink or the pail Stefania's carrying in front of her stinks, or maybe both. Interesting aside, there are actually flowers that smell like death, decomp, etc. Fortunately they don't bloom very often, because they're fucking huge and most of them don't look like that. Stefania's cavalier attitude towards the smell is still most likely in part to yank Adalind's chain, because when you're the one with all the authority and knowledge (mostly the knowledge) why the fuck not? Also she's quite happily going over to the side table and putting things in her mouth, so at least a chunk of the rest of the attitude is because she actually is accustomed to the smell. No, on second thought, that copper cauldron looks empty, so it's probably just the flowers. Ew. Adalind's new task, and I swear this is becoming more and more like a video game quest to collect plot coupons as it goes on, is to fill the body cavity with the dead flowers and then sew her shut. O. Kay. Frau Pech has now become Frau Potpourri. Frau Pomander. I could go on. The flowers must become a part of her before they can become effective, and what? What the what? Especially given that we saw the glowy green spirits last episode, so this is... I have no idea what this is. Possibly the spirits approved the vessel and now this is acquiring the power to fill it? And this death doesn't last forever? Either that's a reference to the amount of time that can pass after which any rituals are no longer effective or Frau Pech could be resurrected somehow or another, in which case the still-beating heart just gives us oldschool World of Darkness nerds diablerie mutterings. Anyway, after a moment of Adalind looking incredibly dubious about the whole thing Stefania knocks into her so she drops her skirt/flower holder and the flowers float into the chest cavity on a nice wave of CGI magic! Which is much cleaner smelling than hexen magic. As we see from Adalind's increasingly grungy white dress thing (and that is not an accident either, let me tell you, not with this running theme of corrupting the pure going in in this ritual), hexen magic is nasty and gross and full of oozes and foul smells. Stefania seems pleased, Adalind seems pleased once she sees Stefania and realizes this is something she should be pleased about! Which also makes me wonder if Catherine never knew about this and therefore didn't tell her precious little girl, or just didn't tell her because all glory to the hexentoad power to her and none for her daughter. One final note on this increasingly caricature-like scene, we do get a couple of shots of Frau Pech from under one of the tables, an along-the-floor shot as of something small or low to the ground watching the proceedings from hiding. I think this is meant to emphasize how clandestine and base this ritual/these rituals are. I'm also not entirely sure this isn't meant to convey Frau Pech's spirit hanging around. We'll have to see in a future episode.


All right, from the belly of the beast to the belly of the Grimm and more sticking sharp things into people's bellies! Ow. And ew. They made a second dose, Rosalee hopes this works, Juliette clings to Nick's hand while Rosalee and Monroe hover and Renard fidgets in the background. I'm not kidding about the fidgeting either, there's shifting weight and scrubbing his hand over his mouth, he's staying out of the cluster of close, comfortable-with-each-other people both in the Watsonian sense because he doesn't belong with them and in the Doylist because we're separating Renard from the Scoobies (and the blocking on this is lovely, by the way, extra points for the Dutch angle loom they got on Sasha) but that doesn't mean he's any more comfortable with all of this than they are. This is also the first time we see a crack in Rosalee's calm as she admits a) that she's not sure this is even going to work and b) that if this fails, she's got nothing. Which are standard pronouncements for the last ditch solution that works because narrative says, it's more in the delivery of low-voiced, hesitant speech and choked voice. Also the swearing. Rosalee is not a person who swears often since she came into her element. Now that they've established that it's only a waiting game from here on out Renard will step into the bubble and announce that he's going back to the precinct, more, I think, so that everyone's clear on what's going on and nerves are not rattled further. Everyone is on their last nerve, and everyone is aware of that, and while Renard might normally slip out unannounced (Kiss of the Muse 2x20) that would cause a little too much upset, either because now what the hell why is the police captain gone or because nobody trusts that half-breed royal even on the protagonists' side. Hank, he said firmly albeit with some sideways wary glancing, is staying. Renard is not arguing. Rosalee and Monroe both are giving Renard looks of how they really don't trust him as he leaves. You two have very good senses of self-preservation! Monroe continues on the line of what he started in the battlewagon, which is that if Eric the Butthead were Monroe's brother, well. This isn't so surprising, nor is the fact that Monroe backs down from actually saying thoughts of bloody vengeance because now is the time to be quiet and worried, not loud and bloody; what is surprising is that Hank is right there with him. Good, solid, law and order Hank is now on the side of bloody retribution and if it's your family that's causing the problem, you should deal with it swiftly and without mercy. Or something like that, without those exact words but definitely with that implication. Monroe's known to be vicious and bloody when he absolutely has to be by pretty much everyone, the things he's not saying are very clear, which means it's really interesting that no one's considering that Renard might have felt and still feel love for his brother. There's absolutely no discussion of Renard's feelings towards his family in this conversation, Nick being the only one who saw Renard tense up and get jaw-clenched and unhappy at Eric's phone call. For all they know, this is a deep and cutting betrayal of Renard's trust and Renard may be devastated but holding it in well, and the fact that they're not discussing this or even as near as we can tell thinking about it indicates that Renard is and will remain for the foreseeable future well outside of the Scoobies' inner circle. Again, understandably so. And while I'm noting this, Nick is warming up and starting to come back to life! Sort of. Energetically. Much to everyone's alarm. Yes, let's please do handcuff him to the bed just in case. Something sturdier might be called for, too? But handcuffs are a start and more than they did with the other guy they de-zombi'd the first time.





All right, speaking of de-deadifying people, back over to Adalind and Frau Pomander and Stefania. Where Adalind has sewn Frau Potpourri up at least reasonably well and is now being ordered to cut the thread with her teeth. Excuse me, I need to use up a gallon of mouthwash. Ew. Adalind agrees with me. Adalind, I hope you appreciate that this is the closest I've come to feeling sorry for you since your mother was a total bitch. And now steam is coming out of the seeping still-open-a-bit wound and Stefania leans over like a mad scientist and says it's working faster than she thought. Whatever it is, and how does she have a basis for comparison anyway? Personal experience? Anecdotal tales in books? She thinks Frau Pomander likes Adalind, and Adalind seems to balance between rolling her eyes and looking wary of what that would mean. In-fucking-deed.


Renard has, if not taken a nap, taken the time to shower and change. His phone says it's about quarter past eleven in the morning (and November 1st for the sake of our timeline), so assuming he got to bed at somewhere around 2.30-3 in the morning after dealing with stuff in the precinct he might have gotten a whole six hours of sleep! Which is not what I'd want after that night, but busy Captain is busy, and that's just his day job. His Prince job is calling. Well, texting, with a note to say that it's done and the news is reporting it online. I consider those extra four words a victory lap at best and potentially a warning of how dangerous this alleged ally is at worst, because really. "Done" was all that was required of that text, the assassin who we assume is Meisner didn't have to be all "go look at the shiny thing I did." Still, he did, and Renard goes back the way he came so let's revise that to four hours of sleep, and into his office to check the news. That's a very generic newsfeed he's got up, and what seems to be some relatively stilted German based on the obituaries I can find online, but the voiceover is in English for those of us who don't speak it even peripherally. Though we've up to this point known them all as the family Renard and indeed the article gives Eric's last/family name as Renard, it also describes him as the crown prince of the Kronenberg family. Which is. Interesting. Kronenberg is a village in the Netherlands, a surname for a number of notable people in various areas, a family name in Holland and oh, hey. It's also a small village in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Which is awfully close to Alsace-Lorraine. Let's start with remembering that the Treaty of Westphalia, which redrew commercial, political, and religious maps, and move on to the fact that Alsace-Lorraine is the area where that fucking map depicted. You know, the one that was on Nick's key, that Monroe had a map of? I'm not going to say this is on purpose, I'm just going to think it very hard. Anyway. Okay, yes, Kronenberg appears to be the royal name, Renard appears to be the surname, and since only Eric has thus far been tied to the royal name that may mean Sean is out of the line of inheritance and, what, acknowledged but not legitimized? Difficult to say until and unless we know more about the Kronenberg line and how it relates to the Renards. Even more interesting is the fact that, contrary to prior expectations, the Royal Families whoever they are among the world of Wesen and Grimms are also known as royals within the human community. We won't bother mentioning the fact that they're probably going to avoid any currently-seated RL families, because that's not a surprise, and it helps that the Austrian nobility is a status group that no longer retains special privileges, unlike many, many other European royal families. And on the other hand, where better for the Families to hide than in plain sight? Plus they'd have to chalk all that wealth, dignity, and authority up to some kind of heritage, they're too old money otherwise. Still, it's a bit interesting to see this overlap between the worlds, which is highly indicative of one of Grimm's major themes and which Renard will spell out in small words at the end of this ep. Of course no one has yet claimed responsibility for this blatant assassination, which we will not assume to be successful until we see a fucking body and the relevant DNA results, by the way, but all of Vienna is in mourning. And Sasha still has some of the best timing and delivery with "And all of Portland isn't." The plot congeals!


Rather like the head wound Rosalee is disinfecting for Monroe right now. In one of their suddenly rare moments of peace, the conscious people are eating takeout and getting patched up. This also provides us with a moment of furthering the relationship between Monroe and Rosalee so they can be cute, which is a welcome breath of fresh air in between all the swearing at conspiracies. Hank doesn't have anyone to fuss over so he's thinking out loud, or possibly talking to the adorable couple. Mostly what he's thinking is what we've already learned, which is that the Royals are planning some serious shit given that they're deploying some destructive weaponry. We interrupt this independent confirmation for Nick waking up! Hey, Nick! Everyone comes to crowd around and fuss, and the Nick-o-vision gets progressively less blurry and sound-distorted! Yay! The question and answer goes, well, about as well as one can expect given that Nick is still disoriented, everyone is still shaken up, and no one wants to be the one to tell Nick "Dude, you were a zombie and went on a really destructive rampage." Predictably, Nick is incredibly sore and achey everywhere, and wants to know how he got there? We brought you a mathematician's answer. Which is probably for the best. Except, crap, now Nick's coherent enough to note that everyone looks wrecked, and asks if they were in an accident. That's one way of putting it. All right, starting from the last thing Nick remembers (and nice continuity note on the cast Hank was going to get taken off in last season finale, we forgot about that with the premiere until they mentioned it), he remembers getting separated and chasing the Baron, falling into the container and finding the Thomas Schirach passport. And then, you know, spit and zombification and Nick doesn't remember that part. Which means first everyone tries to tell it and then they pass it along in a circle until Juliette gets it! It's a nice bit of conversational blocking, but poor Juliette. Everyone pretty well tells it and handles it about as well as can be expected, Juliette uses more general words and softens her phrases to where it's clear what happened (particularly with visual aids) but it's not pushing home any of the nasty things Nick did, and Nick doesn't panic or freak out to any great extent, becoming agitated in his words and a bit in his tone but not raising his voice significantly or getting off the couch even in his pain. So far, not so bad?


Meanwhile, we have a train! If it's 11 or 12 in the morning in November, at least according to Renard's phone, in Portland, yeah, it's about night-time in most places in Europe. Evening, not middle of the night. A person reads a newspaper with the headline "Kronprinz Ermordet", Prince Murdered. Okay, Crown Prince Murdered. Again, we have Eric Renard as the Prince of the House of Kronenberg, which is interesting and apparently yes, family name and House name can be separate things at least as listed in publications. It's not the most unusual thing, although traditionally in fiction the titled name comes from the land one rules rather than the lineage one belongs to, but still. Our current theory, as best as we can untangle this mess with the information we have, is that somehow Papa Renard married into the house via a Princess of Kronenberg, and then all the Princess's male relatives mysteriously died, leaving him and his son heirs to the title. (Mysterious. That's our story and we're sticking to it.) His legitimate son, that is. We may be a generation off, but it does explain Eric's mother's shitfit over Sean's mother, why Sean has his father's name but not the royal family name, and it fits with Eric and Sean's father's displayed ambitions of ruling the world or what have you. That's our theory! We're not sticking to it as closely as we are to some, but it seems to fit the facts currently in evidence. As it turns out the person reading the newspaper is the person in front of the character we're AUGH FUCK MEISNER. Yes, it's Meisner. An actor of little to no name with considerable martial arts background and considerable ties to Germany and Europe in general, bless the imdb for giving us access to his resume and this indicates to us that his German is going to be a bitch for our unpracticed ears to pick apart. Ah well, we could use the practice. Sehr gut, we'll start with the newspaper! And pouting over the fact that they basically wrote two paragraphs of an article and then copypasted, not that we can disagree considering the thing is literally on the screen for maybe two seconds, but we're still going to pout. And then translate! The rough gist is this: After his return from the USA Eric Renard, crown prince of the royal house of Kronenberg, was killed in an explosion outside the Vienna airport. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the accident, but all of Vienna is in mourning. Around 20.00 (8pm) the limousine/black sedan went up in flames. Followed by: According to the Associated Press officials point to a possible assassination, and the Austrian military police have not yet made a determination in the case. [I think.] The Kronenberg family has not made an official statement, but the chancellor has described the death as a "shock" and "particularly in view of the fact that the Prince was only 45 years old." All of it pretty boilerplate for an official royal death by very public, very obvious assassination except HEY GUESS WHAT? CHIRPY IS OFFICIALLY THE CHANCELLOR. At least we feel pretty safe assuming that's his official title as it would allow him access to all the information he seems to have had access to, it'd be a position for a royal relative or perhaps deserving of a ring, and in the meta line of things it refers back to Renard's instruction of 'try to look shocked.' It's more the callback to the conversation than anything, and it's not even a name, but it's a hell of a lot more than we had to go on. Counterindicating this is the fact that he hasn't shown signs of personal power and authority that would lead to him being a chancellor, but we're going with this in light of available data and lack of any other evidence.





Over to the speaking parts. The first couple sentences seem pretty true to the original German and then we will be distracted with giggling that Sasha Roiz and therefore Sean Renard speaks German with a French accent. Ahem. Sorry. No, seriously, it's thick enough that at first I couldn't tell he was speaking German. (K: Hey, when I speak other languages I have a Spanish accent.) (A: And my German probably has a French or American accent, yeah. Still adorable.) Okay, so we had a ridiculously hard time getting this because German is a language made for swallowing words and phonemes and it's my fourth language and Kitty's fifth or sixth, and neither of us is what we'd call conversationally fluent in it. (Yet. Grimm just gave us more motivation to get there.) But we can establish several facts out of this, foremost among them that Meisner does stick to the formal despite the fact that for a moment we thought he'd started with informal. Even more so in German than in other European languages, the informal du is used for very close friends and family only, so if he'd used that we would have some behavioral markers for Arrogant Shit, since we damn well don't have any indicators that he and Renard are good friends. (And even family is dependent on the formality of the family, the relative ages of the speakers, pun not intended, other social markers that I'm not familiar enough with the language to note.) As it is, he's joking around with Renard in ways that are more friendly than formal, despite the choice of pronoun. Renard jokes back, a little bit, but more out of a sense of relief that it's been done, Meisner and his associates are out of the way and thus not available for questioning regardless of potential implications, and I'm intrigued by the notion that Meisner is either such a fickle ally or so obviously tied to Renard that it might be dangerous for Renard if they got caught. I think mostly the former, given the relative recency of the alliance with Meisner so far as we know, but it's worth considering the latter as well. Most of the translation is approximately correct, though there's no "I think/believe/expect" in the German in Meisner's sentence about things getting exciting as far as we can tell, which, by the way, has nuances of tense/suspense to it. Spannend, that is. Which may be an actor blooper or may be a translation blooper, impossible to say for sure. As ever with Grimm, the native speaker of a language appears to get the gist of what he's supposed to say, and proceeds to embellish it with the appropriate (or inappropriate, depending on the character) idiomatic expressions. Which we appreciate even as we're swearing at poor Puckler to a) enunciate and b) come give us a transcript of his German for comparison. The other very interesting thing is that Renard says, not extended family, but Familienkreis, family circle or possibly close family depending on context, which is an interesting difference and may indicate… so many things. Let's break it down! From the theory that Meisner is working for another Family, working for rather than part of, you didn't really think we'd forget to check for the ring, did you? (Okay, we nearly did and scrambled to hit rewind squawking obscenities all the way.) His hands are completely clean, though. Of rings, anyway. To the theory that whatever group Meisner is heading/working for, it's a group that either views itself as close like family or is, in fact, blood-related, could be either, insufficient data other than general knowledge of conspiracy cells and how they maintain loyalty. Could mean that Renard's adopted a random codeword for the sake of asking after Meisner's associates in case his phone/office is bugged/someone just so happens to walk in without knocking who speaking fluent German? Yeah, no, I don't think that was accidental choice of phrasing. Though the snark about sending him a postcard is moderately fucking hilarious, I will say that.


We interrupt this linguistic geekery (and seriously, nuances like that are why we chew on it so much) for Wu to come deliver some bad news! It's always bad news. The guy from the barfight they were worried about, yeah, he died, this is now a murder investigation which means Renard has to have two of his men on it. Even though it's outside their jurisdiction, it started there and, of course, it has to be more of a headache for Renard. Who manages to keep his tells down to going very still for a second, seriously, he and Duke Crocker over on Haven should have a lying liars who lie-off. At least about their emotions. At any rate, this means that shit just got real. Realer, we already knew it was serious, now they're going to have to figure out how to protect Nick and what to tell him, and it's to his credit that Renard manages not to shove his hands under his desk, given that's been one of his biggest tells in seasons previous. Lucky for Renard, Nick, and the scoobies that all they have to go on is witness reports! Delivered with the resignation of "and this will be the least helpful thing in the history of ever." We all know how reliable those are, and add onto the usual rounds of trauma varying degrees of intoxication? Yeah, that won't go anywhere. And why not? Because the surveillance system was trashed! GEE I WONDER HOW THAT HAPPENED. We know Renard's tired because he looks away and blinks at all, which is like a neon sign of Not All Right In Captainland floating over his head. Names for the cops who're on the case, Holby and Bauer which latter is probably not a reference to the Bauerschwein case coming up next week. Probably. We'll give it some side-eye anyway. And with the promise to check with them later, Wu is summarily dismissed and I rather think that the "good" is actual relief that two of the less-competent detectives are on the case. Or less knowledgeable about Wesen, which amounts to the same thing in this instance. We will all spare a moment to twitch at the realization that Renard was carrying the hard drive around in his inner suitcoat pocket, not a bad location but not a good one either, though since he managed to get home and shower and change last night it's probably the best he could do on short notice. Oh, and we'll twitch over the ring they swear isn't a wedding ring, in which case what the everloving fuck is it, you guys.


Cue up the flashback after Renard plugs the hard drive into his laptop! I'm betting this is the first time he's been able to look at it, come to that, though can I also question the wisdom of doing so on what appears to be his work laptop? To say nothing of that link oh I give up. There is, admittedly, a certain point at which data security paranoia crosses the line into being way too fucking obvious that you have something to hide, and right now the likelihood is that nobody in IAB, IT, or anyone else with plausible excuses to access Renard's computer history has reason to be suspicious of his activities. That may yet change, as shit continues to go down with Nick, but right now these aren't completely insecure precautions to take. We get a really nice bit of flashback from Renard's POV, indicating that that sidelong look in the premiere was not, in fact, for show, he was taking note of the surveillance cameras, finding the office, and forming a plan. Because Renard is the coverup guy who's so used to hiding the Wesen world from the rest of humanity that it's second nature. So. Gun drawn, just in case of what we're not sure since Nick is leaving a massive trail of destruction in his wake, but given the way this night has gone it's not an unreasonable concern, shutting the door, and PULLING OUT THE GLOVES I LOVE YOU RENARD. Never stop being competent. There's some nice flavor text wandering around, don't forget to buy a raffle ticket for my granddaughter Carly, aww. Less aww considering how the poor bartender and presumed owner has been traumatized, but at least he's got family he's moderately close to? It's a hopeful sign, we'll go with that, for his recovery. I know everyone's been cracking jokes about the most dramatic way to open a computer ever, but it takes a good couple of minutes to do so subtly and with the proper tools, and that's for a trained IT professional. Plus, subtle would absolutely tip people off that someone other than Rampaging Maniac was in there doing coverup work. This? This gets Renard the drive to use as evidence later on in whatever capacity that needs to take, never turn down or trash information when you could use it, very consistent and very squee-worthy, and also gives him time to trash the room. Thoroughly. Like, oh, a rampaging zombi Grimm was in there instead of a methodical and thorough police Captain! I love you Renard. The only thing that could've gone better would've been to plant some non-bar patron, non-Nick fingerprints in there, and goddamn but I hope they didn't manage to get any prints out of there. Like off that shotgun Nick took off the bartender. Not least because cops always have to have their prints on file, so that's an easy match, but we'll worry about that later, like next episode, assuming they even remember. Sometimes they're very bad at remembering the fine forensic details on this show. The rest of the bar should be a wash for usable trace evidence, but the shotgun worries me.


Back in his office, Renard watches the footage and we see his realization that no, Nick was not in control of his actions at all. Yes, the guy with the knife was an imminent threat to his well-being. Yes, Nick used more force than he should have, but you know what? Cops who aren't Grimms or zombis do that. All the time. There's a reason it's a longstanding trope in procedurals, and it's interesting that they've chosen to invert it so firmly here. There's a sigh at the eventually-fatal blow to the head (head injuries like that ARE the kind of thing that are difficult to treat and it looked like the guy got it good in the temple, which is the weakest part of the skull) and Renard is not happy. About any of this, by the sharp motions he uses locking the drive away and shutting his laptop, and by the increased frown. Yeah. This is not good, and they're going to need to do some immediate repair work, and he's not looking forward to bringing in the scoobies on the coverup because he doesn't have a good idea yet of how good they'll be at lying to cover Nick's ass, so he could be royally fucked here. Pun intended. Him, Nick, everyone.





Despite that, he will in fact do what needs to be done. The scoobies are doing what needs to be done on their end, which is to talk down the pacing Grimm who is not happy about having beat up a) an unknown number of civilians and b) all his friends. Except Rosalee, who managed to stay out of the Grimm-on-everyone free for all, and only had regular zombis to contend with. Monroe tries to point out that nobody got hurt, which would have more weight if you didn't have that giant gash on your forehead, dude. I swear makeup for this show must go through a ton of fake blood and scab goop a season, since they've been remarkably consistent about showing people healing at semi-usual rates depending on their biology. Well, okay, he mostly scared the crap out of people! Hank cannot agree with the nobody getting hurt, not even not getting badly hurt, mainly because he knows all too well that it's not that simple. It's never that simple, and until he gets back to the precinct and gets a chance to look over the reports he doesn't know how bad it really was, just that it's worse than the others think. Juliette brings up their best point, which is that Nick was under the influence and no, this is not a voluntary under the influence and neither is it something Nick had any control over. It has no basis for comparison in normal human terms except maybe PCP/adrenaline. You may all go (re)watch Ong-Bak now, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, you're welcome. You have been educated. Hank will leap on the under the influence comment, because yes, this is way outside anything they have ready comparisons for, and Nick wants to know how to explain it. No, Monroe, not to you guys, to the cops, to the people who are getting stuck with this investigation which are patently not Nick and Hank, for a change. And stop making Nick feel worse. Juliette, being both the girlfriend and the pragmatic one who reminds you that you do, in fact, need to eat and sleep and cannot live on adrenaline and coffee alone (spoilsport), intends to drag Nick home and put him to bed, which is a suggestion everyone can agree with! Including Rosalee, who grabs hold of that suggestion less, I think, out of being the other woman and more because she knows Monroe will sit and worry at everything without any other course of action. Just in case we wanted it lampshaded harder/anviled onto our toes more, Nick comments about being glad he didn't kill anyone. Uh-huh. About that.


First we have Juliette and Nick being adorable and couple-y, aww, I missed this. A lot. Nick's so relieved to have Juliette back and to have both of them out from under the influence of assorted zaubertranks, Wesen, and other annoying paranatural things that he would like to take her to bed. I still love that they're both portrayed as having healthy sex drives, complete with the occasional inability to tell that it's not the right moment. Nick, I know you're coming down from serious adrenaline rush, and you're not exactly human in your ability to go for a long time on no sleep and insufficient food, but I wouldn't be surprised if he passed out halfway through if he tried to have sex right now. Which is not quite what Juliette says, but only because that wouldn't get past the censors. Also because that's a bit cruel right now and that's not how their relationship works, she's going to go take care of him and pace and worry and, yeah, okay, Nick can live with that. Oh honeys.


Later that morning at the precinct, Hank's finally gotten back to work and he definitely hasn't had time for more than a shower and change of clothes, poor guy. Wu comes over, places a lampshade on the desk about where's Nick, Hank is getting good at lying with the truth. Because it's true that Nick got the worst of it, in a sense, and in a sense he was giving the worst of it, too. Oh, look, it's news of the fatality! Yeah, that was never going to stay under wraps for long, and Wu's perennial job on this show is to deliver the news nobody wants to hear, aka the job of sergeants everywhere. (Though I associate that one more with the military than with LEOs, but hey. Given the assorted siege mentalities forming up around here, that's rapidly becoming as accurate as anything.) Hank is too tired not to have tells, and besides that is worse at hiding his emotions anyway, leaving a wittily annoyed Wu in his wake as he barges into Renard's office. Renard has this look about him like a) he needs more Aleve and b) he hopes this isn't about what he thinks it's about. When have they ever been that lucky. And no, Renard, fending Hank off with your vague hope that insufficient data will get him to go away won't help, though to be fair having those details would help him determine how much of a coverup he needs to engage in. He also has mathematician's answers for how they'll deal with this, since they've got him and Rosalee and Juliette at the bar, they'll be called on to answer questions as witnesses, and Hank is extremely dubious about whether or not Renard's going to throw Nick to the wolves. No, Hank, Renard's a shady fucker with moral ambiguity up to his neck, and that's a long ways, but he's not going to throw Nick under the bus for something he couldn't control and, technically, something his brother was ultimately responsible for. (No bets on whether or not some corner of Renard feels responsible as well, since it was his power games with the Pustule that escalated into this.) More to the point, they need to get their stories straight - not so straight that they sound rehearsed, but straight enough that they aren't caught out by some detail. It's a tricky tightrope to walk, and it's a damn good thing Renard and presumably to some extent Rosalee (remember, Wesen Resistance movement) have practice in this kind of thing. And ending up his little speech to Hank with how they can protect Nick as the punchline, because that is, yes, what he intends to do, which nets us a slight softening around Hank's eyes as that message sinks in. Good. You two need to work together and learn to trust each other at least some degree further than you currently are, or coverups like this are going to go very badly in the long run.


Protecting Nick is the order of the day, this time with Juliette guarding his sleep as her phone buzzes. Hank's sending out the scooby call! And she's the last one to be called in, just in case Nick's awake again/still and he needs to scramble for a way to keep his partner out of it. Fortunately, this is not so much the case, but we cut straight from that to Monroe protesting. The blocking's changed, with Hank and Renard more on the same side, law and order but needing to protect Nick versus the Wesen who really do not give a shit although Monroe fumbles out that Nick was so far gone that he was trying to kill them, his friends and coworkers and people he knew, he wasn't in control. Yes, we know, but that's not going to fly in front of a jury. Hank's also seated, unlike Renard, which makes him the odd man out but also the one standing as the authority figure and asserting that this, here, is the plan. Rosalee wants confirmation that Renard knows what he's asking them to do and the response is damn close to admitting that he doesn't ask his subordinates to do anything he's not willing to do himself, and in this case has done previously. A lot. Heh. Thank you, Renard, for proving why you're a good leader. Bringing Juliette in shifts the blocking some more, Rosalee standing closer to Hank and Renard, moving toward their side of things, this is some really gorgeous work here both from the actors to make it look natural and from Laneuville's direction. With the women both up and standing in a semicircle with Renard as the focus, Monroe will come and join them too, though he puts the lab table in between them. And Hank stays on his stool, where he looks friendly and approachable and like a giant teddy bear. Which is, I'm told, about what Russell Hornsby is like in person, so, y'know. Play to your strengths! Quick exchange of explanations and data, Juliette duly horrified, I would just like to point out that even if she doesn't know it, Nick's killed a lot of people particularly over last season while he was having assassin problems, and no, the fact that they're all bad guys does not make him magically not a murderer prior to this. It does mean it was an unintentional death, one that could have been avoided had he not been poisoned, and someone who was technically a civilian and shouldn't have died by his hand, and that's the thing they're all focusing on. Also on the fact that the person the cops on the case are looking for is one Thomas Schirach and Renard, be a little smugger, would you, about the fact that the alias your brother created for Nick is the thing that's going to let you get him out of this. I don't think we all got it on our keyboards/remote controls/whathaveyou yet. Lots of in-the-round camera work here as they circle around the idea of lying for Nick, how they're dealing with this, Juliette brings up the very valid point of the surveillance recordings and that's one of the more blatant signs we've had of her as the SO of a cop. Rosalee is immediately and vehemently adamant that she knows how to handle this, she's on board with this all the way, not surprising given her established background. Juliette, tellingly, is the last holdout, she may not be a cop but she started dating Nick knowing he was a cop and they've built a very, very solid relationship on that knowledge, and there are a lot of personal values that that speaks to. And this is the first time those values have been placed so clearly in conflict with her loved ones. So she looks to Hank, as the other person who knows a) what values Nick holds and b) how best to thread the needle between the letter and spirit of the law in this incredibly tricky instance. No, he's not cool with it, but he's less okay with Nick going to prison for something he didn't know he was doing, and though this is definitely a case of Chosen One syndrome, there's definitely an argument to be made for not giving the Royals what they want, which is the Grimm out of the picture if he can't be controlled by them. Not that anyone's made that argument directly. Yet. Monroe, your quipping about what Nick will do is really not helpful right now, though we know it's your coping mechanism. Poor Blutbad. Renard has the answer! He's damn well not going to find out, Renard, you should know better than to say shit like that. That's on the same list as "what could possibly go wrong" and "hey dude check this out." At least he qualifies that statement, yes, they need to keep this a secret from Nick until after the investigation wraps up, I'm guessing that's his ideal target but as with all things, the ideal is so not getting hit in this show. Not in that sense, anyway. They agree as to how they need to protect Nick, they will lie to do so, and Renard takes back over and to his credit he's not coming over too Princely, here. Much more like the Captain, and much more, I think, like whoever Renard is under both of those, more relaxed and relieved that people are willing to work with him without him having to break out Presence 5. And plotting! Starting with the big three things (DRINK) they need to agree on, which are the distorted truth, Monroe you can put that lampshade on top of this bonfire we've got going here, and moving along to the details. I would love to see them plotting out the details, because I'm a nerd for conspiracy plotting like that and I'd like to see who contributes what beyond Hank's snort of rueful amusement, but I fully accept that it's not necessary to the plot. It is telling and wholly expected that Hank and Rosalee are the two who most seem to comprehend what this means as a change in the dynamics of the group, that Renard has been protecting himself and also Nick for a good long while now, keeping the masquerade, and that he intends to do so going forward as well. It may even garner him some additional trust from half of the scoobies! Too soon to say if that'll be misplaced or not, particularly with the revelations at the end of this ep. Meanwhile a sleeping Nick goes very still and pale and looks nothing so much like the the first stage of zombification. Or like the final stage of Renard's weird alchemy purification spell from last season. Can we take a moment to flail over what it says about Hexens and Zaubers that he went through a purification spell to cure someone and Adalind went through a corruption spell for her own benefit? I thought we could. Also the parallels, light to dark, at least relatively speaking. We don't have enough data on Nick yet to say what his own rebirth will entail.





On back to the precinct with Hank bugging the detectives assigned to the barfight murder for all the data he can muster, which is both useful and believable. Far more so than Renard doing the same, since he tends to wait for his cops to come to him unless it's a time-sensitive/media-sensitive case. One of them's on the phone AUGH IT'S THAT GUY FROM BURN NOTICE. Who has, besides playing an unstable assassin type there, also played a sociopathic fucker on Sons of Anarchy. I don't know what it says about him that he's turning up now as a cop on Grimm, other than Nothing Good. We'll keep an eye on him the same way we kept an eye on Chekhov's Intern last season. We'll also all laugh at the notion of Nick as big, though I can see why he'd end up that way in people's minds, David Giuntoli really isn't that much taller than I am. Taller than Kitty, but everyone's taller than Kitty. (K: I'm not small, I'm pocket-sized.) (A: Whatever you say, dear.) Unstoppable, though, yes. Oh, and they found the residents of the house, who turn out to be the Averys. Okay then! Creepy dude relays the witness statement version of what happened at the house with Renard and Nick and the scoobies, Hank manages not to give away the homeworld purely by virtue of the fact that he had to know this was coming, just not that it would happen with him sitting right there being guilty by association. And redirects them into other hard evidence, the surveillance footage that Renard dodged around answering directly at the spice shop, what about that? Well, it was trashed and someone took the files! Hank tries to muddy the waters a bit more but he knows exactly who did that, and gets that theory rejected in favor of cop banter. No, he's not staying and filling out your reports, and if it weren't for the fact that they seem to be trying to cast these guys as barely competent (when the truth is that they're just not in the know about all the relevant bits of data) I wouldn't side-eye them as jerks so hard. Well, that and the casting choices.


On over to Renard's office, which is open for the first time in an age, him with his back to the door as a way of saying "please don't interrupt me unless it's urgent," well, Hank's decided this whole thing is urgent. I can't say he's wrong. Closing the door gets a small frown from Renard, because he knows that never means anything good, and he damn well doesn't turn around from Hank's indirect accusations until he's sure he has his face under control. Have I mentioned all the competence porn this ep, the majority of it given to our dear Captain? Because it's really pretty to watch. In multiple senses. Renard's still not going to admit to anything at all, just play Socrates and twenty questions with Hank, and this serves by way of Hank sideways saying he appreciates his Captain's efforts and delivering a warning or almost a threat that the missing footage needs not to turn up. Because it is a bit suspicious to anyone not well-acquainted with Renard's information-hoarding tendencies that he's kept it rather than destroying it. Holby and Bauer pop in, Hank pops out, the door stays open this time, and these detectives whoever they've been to Renard in the past are visibly uncomfortable at having to question their boss. Yeah, well, needs must, boyos, get over it. They don't question him onscreen beyond requesting the names of the women who were with him. Renard's handwriting is sexy this is rapidly becoming unfair, okay? We do strive for some objectivity these days but this is making it awfully difficult, not least because that handwriting indicates an education that prized penmanship and our profile of Renard continues to be accurate. And we take our victory dances where we can get them.


At Juliette and Nick's that night, where Nick is either still asleep or asleep again and Juliette's sleeping for the first time in quite awhile, and we know that something Significant has to happen because those are the rules. Oh look. He's gone all ashen corpselike again. That's not good. Also cold, unresponsive, and honey, shaking him won't do any good, what about a pulse? Though I admit that being woken out of the first much-needed sleep in probably a full 24 hours, she's not precisely coherent and has no real range of experience outside of fiction with, oh, hey, my formerly-zombified boyfriend looks like a corpse again, welp, calling Rosalee the Potions Mistress! No, it's freak out, smack him to try and get him to wake up maybe not the best thing to do to a Grimm on edge (or a cop, for that matter), but this is all highlighting very nicely how freaked out and overwhelmed Juliette is. Usually she's a lot more immediately pragmatic and productive in her freakouts. Drink for the slapping, and we come back from commercial to find her grabbing the phone and calling 911, as you do when you've got a lifetime of habits to unlearn about who exactly to go to when dealing with weird freaky shit. Normally, yes, that's the cops/EMTs/firefighters, they're supposed to be equipped for this. Not the paranatural, though! Unless you're in Black Ice oops was that my outside voice? I am so getting death-glared. (K: Yes, yes you are.) Of course with the phone call comes Nick waking up and not sure what time it is and who are you calling, Juliette? Um. Well. It's good that wasn't the landline, but they still ought to have gotten who the number was registered to and been able to look up a home address, yeah? That's still a thing in these days of people going without landlines? I don't actually know, all my 911 training about yes they will still come to your home even if you misdial/hang up predates that. Momentary research indicates that they triangulate off cell tower data, at least for the locations they can do it for, which would likely include the PPB. iPhones and AT&T (assuming it's not jailbroken) are common enough that I'd be surprised if they were on the list of carriers/providers that couldn't do that, so it seems reasonable to assume that yes, they should have a middle of the night visit forthcoming. Even-to-especially learning that it's the home of one of their own. We'll pass over that even though I really am beating my head against the suspension of disbelief, that's one of the lessons that I got good and ingrained early on. Personal quirk! Moving on. The point is that Nick freaked Juliette the fuck out, he's trying to be reassuring but he doesn't have a clue what's going on and she doesn't want to be the one to tell him, though she spits it out eventually, point blank and blunt, he looked dead. Oh honeys. Both of you. Nick really doesn't want to talk about this, he doesn't want to go see a doctor, if he's being smart and aware about this at all (dubious, given what he's been through recently) he's making plans to go see Rosalee and Monroe and maybe the trailer in the morning, and can't he forestall this with a little romance? Nick. Now you're kind of being a jerk, I know you haven't gotten laid in awhile but look at how scared she is and rethink your position. Which is roughly what she says, and they end up curled up in bed where she can feel his pulse, hear his heartbeat, and generally be sure he's not corpsifying again.


From not-corpse to corpse! Very corpse. Adalind finally managed to get some sleep in, sleep for everyone this ep! Just not enough of it by any stretch of the imagination. Stefania says it's time to reap what she's sown which, we've been holding off the anthro geek on this all recapalypse but now I will just say, alright. First she buries hands, feet, eyes, and heart, all of which are symbolic and obvious, and then she seems to experience as Stefania says what the hexenbiest whose power she's riding or stealing (it's hard to say at this point) has seen and touched and experienced. It's not conventional symbolism on the face of it, the specifics are new and disgusting, but the base quality of sympathetic magic is so old and world-wide it's predictable from the moment Stefania started in on the bits Adalind has to cut off. Adalind petitions, or at least appears to be petitioning not so much the spirit of Frau Poisson as in gutted like, but the spirit of the hexenbiest within her, which goes along back to Love Sick (1x17) where Nick had to kill the hexenbiest that bespelled Hank, and we found out he was killing Adalind's inner biest rather than Adalind herself. And then she has to replace bits with flowers, sew it up, and, what, let it marinate? This is all very much resembling a twisted fairytale take on steroids of the whole, you eat your enemy to gain their strength. Not just any bits, mind, either, the core bits. Only without quite as much of the literal eating as is traditional in depictions of cannibal warrior cultures. Eating a person's heart, though, still, is supposed to be one of the most significant things one can do to a person, whether by conveying respect for the original heart owner's power or by way of delivering extra bonus damage. We're not sure what they're doing with the number of trials or how Stefania's dividing this up, but there's definitely some violent twists on some very old styles of magic going on here. And say what you will about the initial depiction of Stefania as the Queen of the Gypsies (and we have a lot to say about that and how it was presented, most of it along the lines of oh god this stereotype again?) but the trials Adalind has to go through are consistent even with a lot of the patterns they've set up their magic system within. The idea of the magical aspect of the hexenbiest as other. The idea of corruption of heart vs purity of heart as a factor in whether or not a particular spell will work. Not to mention the red goop is a nasty but apropos parallel for the white goop Renard had to swallow in The Kiss (2x02). Fortunately for Claire Coffee (we think) she doesn't have to eat it, or at least that's kind of what's implied by Stefania saying it's good for the skin. I severely worry about her saying it's good for the baby, though. Ew. And eek. And ew. Going back to the alchemical analysis I did for The Kiss, if they're keeping with these themes that tends to imply that Adalind is completing her/her baby's purification to the final rubedo stage, whereas Nick and his deathly white pallor have just completed the second step. You know, assuming they're going in order this time. Then again, the out of order for Renard last season makes sense given that a Zauber/Hexenbiest has to reject their inner nature for the purification/love spell savior thing to work.





Over for some more wholesome spellwork and apothecarying  Monroe and Rosalee are putting away the ingredients for the anti-zombie juice and noting what they're now out of as a result. Also as a result: adorable Monroe quips about zombie rampages should be a once in a generation event. So, we shouldn't invite you to the next Zombie 5k? I kid, this is adorable, and because it's so adorable it must immediately be interrupted by something unwanted. Like cops! Not the good kind, either, the kind investigating Thomas Schirach, pretty much always in the sinister side of the frame and at least one of whom is a repeat offender for playing psychopaths or at least Man Who Does Dirty Deeds. Remember what happened the last time we had one of those? ... Okay, the last time we had one of those it was Eric "Butthead" Renard, but the last time we had one of those in the police station it was Chekhov's Intern, who duly went off all over his third episode of appearance. Messily. So, yes, Detective Bauer, we will be watching you closely. Not that Rosalee is perturbed by this in the slightest. She is ready and willing to answer all their questions! A little too ready and a little too willing, not that this seems to alert our sinister detectives any. Yes, she was with the Captain, because she's versed in homeopathic medicine and the specific condition involved in the outbreak, yes she has heard of Thomas Schirach because she was told he was their Patient Zero, no, she's never seen him. Okay, to me it sounds rehearsed, but we're apparently more suspicious than a lot of people both real and fictional. It does help that every bit of this is the truth, just not the whole truth or nothing but the truth, considering that Schirach doesn't really exist.


Hey, speaking of suspicious people and their suspicions, hi Adalind! This is almost an exact mirror of the scene in The Kiss (2x02) where Renard is about to chug a jar full of gum arabic, hemlock, and sepsis bacteria just to name a few (I am so not even kidding, we looked at the ingredients list), only Adalind has no woge freakout. Come to think of it, flowers and sepsis bacteria is probably a big component of that red goop, or else related to it, it certainly looked like some form of putrefaction was taking place in Frau Pomander. But, no, as we guessed, Adalind doesn't have to drink it. Thank god. She has to, um, wear it? Yes, this calls for all manner of oh-god-ew faces as Adalind drops the towel, leaving her wearing only a strategically placed chair for a moment. Heh. Even creepier, as she rubs the lotion on her skin (shut up you knew that was coming) it absorbs into her with supernatural speed leaving a red skull behind for a moment before that, too, disappears. It's hard to say whether this just creeps her out or whether the spirit of the red skull takes control of her at this point, since all we now get is her turning around, turning out the light as she wanders back into the main room with her jar of ick. There's a bit of a smile, but given the twitching she was doing we won't venture any guesses whose smile that really is. I know I always smile over ominous sigils appearing on my skin in the blood of my enemies! It never ends poorly! O-kay then. We'll leave you to it.


Back in normal land Rosalee is calling Juliette to give her a heads up that she just had detectives at the spice shop and they're probably on their way to Juliette's right now. Not in so many words, but enough for Juliette to get the idea, to realize she's going to have to talk around Nick or otherwise deal with this because he still doesn't know that he killed a human being, and to lie calmly and with no tells to the police. Yay. Oh, hey, there's the detectives. Who have just now realized that Juliette is Nick's girlfriend, which either clarifies something for Holby or makes it more understandable, or at least doesn't strike him as out of the realm of possibility. Though we still never want to hear the words "we didn't put two and two together" come out of a cop's mouth ever again. Please don't say that. It makes me reach for the ibuprofen. They explain what they're doing there to Nick in more detail than they ordinarily would, because Nick's a cop too and even in the same division at the precinct, and therefore he and his girlfriend are in-group. To an extent. Nick has barely enough time to register that a murder happened before Juliette invites them in and sits them down for questions, though there's some nice wary/guilty/what the fuck looks she and Nick exchange as the detectives go on in, the ones that are in front of the detectives' faces are more along the lines of "you didn't tell me you might be asked to give a statement" and an apologetic look, the more telling one is the lip-bite as Juliette closes the door. I do appreciate the depiction of Nick's growth in self-control over the course of the show (though you could make an argument for shock/exhaustion as a factor here as well); there's been far, far less of us shouting NICK CONTROL YOUR FACE this episode than last season, and though we'll have to see what happens when he gets back to regular Grimm/cop duty, I suspect Giuntoli intends us to see that arc at least for the moment. Juliette's responses are more natural-sounding than Rosalee's but essentially the same story, a few more interjections and thinking sounds, she remembers Thomas Schirach as the suspect who started the bar fight rather than the Patient Zero, she says more that they were attempting to help the situation with the outbreak rather than the authoritative version Rosalee gives, which actually goes along with her profession as a vet if they look at her background that way. Meanwhile Nick seems to have developed a new and hopefully temporary reaction of going cold and corpselike when under stress. Which results in him breaking the mug in his super-strong Grimm hands! Which draws everyone's attention and at least concludes the questioning pretty quickly, but also brings him in for some teasing from the other detectives. I'd believe more that this was friendly ribbing if I trusted to the good nature of these particular detectives more. Also if "wouldn't want you to get burned" didn't sound like so much of a threat. Though I suppose it could be a sideways reference to Detective Bauer's stint on Burn Notice? Nah, probably not.


Juliette sees the cops out and no sooner does she close the door behind them than Nick is on her demanding to know why she didn't tell him he'd killed someone. Um, because he died at the hospital? I'm pretty sure the detectives said that. Because turning himself in wouldn't result in justice, he was unwillingly drugged into a state of violent reflexes, akin to forcibly ODing someone on bath salts. (Don't Google violent people on bath salts, just take our word for it.) Because she, Hank, Monroe, Rosalee, and his Captain, emphasis on that last as if to underscore the extremity of even the Captain agreeing or maybe to pull on that authority, but they all agreed on this story and they're all lying to protect him. Which means they're all in the shit if it gets out that they are lying, but apparently turning himself in to face justice means more to Nick than that? Oh Nick. This is a thing, by the way, among otherwise virtuous male protagonists, we saw it on Haven and we're seeing it now, that when they're surrounded by friends who are doing unlawful things for good reasons, suddenly decide they have to obey the letter of the law as well as or instead of the spirit, and damn the cost to their friends. I accept that Nick isn't thinking clearly because zombi not so long ago, but I really want to smack him for this. Not least because of the aforementioned many, many bad guys Nick has killed and, among other things, sent their heads back to Munich in a box, because that's a thing he does when he's in Grimm mode. Fortunately Juliette won't go chasing after him to do so, she'll enlist someone else to do the smacking for her! Hank! Because Hank is, say it with me now: The Best.


Hank is therefore lurking and waiting in the parking lot to stop Nick from screwing everyone over with his intent to do the lawful thing. This is why D&D has two axis of alignments, folks, sometimes doing the lawful thing isn't necessarily the good thing. Hank reiterates that Nick wasn't in his right mind but this time adds on the impact of zombi!Nick trying to kill himself, Monroe, and Renard, as well as hitting Juliette. Hank knows his partner well, and he knows how this is going to affect Nick, at least by giving him pause and shaking him out of his determination. It also has the effect of pointing out to Nick that his friends have already forgiven a great deal of what he did while he was a zombi, a good deal more personal crap. Therefore the only person who's requiring that Nick turn himself in for this murder, excuse me, accidental death, is himself. As Hank says, doing it alone. Nick turns and keeps walking after a second to absorb that, Hank turns away with a physical attitude of needing to find someone to scream to over Nick's idiotic behavior.





Given what happens later, it's probably the Captain, but we don't see or hear that conversation. Instead we start with the Captain brooding through the bars on his window. Because that's always a good sign. (No, it isn't.) More thoughtful posture of brooding than his hands in the pockets staring and brooding, but still. Interestingly we have the not-a-wedding-ring-the-creators-swear prominently on display rather than the Royals ring, I don't know if that was a deliberate blocking choice to indicate some of what he's brooding over or not. There's a phone call! Is that Hank, calling to warn him? No, that's someone else, we don't get a look at the number but whatever it is, it's recognizable (by country code?) enough for him to answer it without hesitation or frown of "the hell is this?" Though his hand dives straight into his pocket as he answers and doesn't leave for the duration of the call, maybe because a number from this country code indicates conspiracy member. At which point a woman answers with "Sean. Ca va?" In pitch and strength she sounds like a match for Mia, but the accent isn't right, nor is the pitch right for Stefania, and we're out of ideas until he responds with a very "oh shit" look and "Mother?" LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, MAMAN RENARD. We have been speculating so much on this woman without much expectation that we'd ever see anything substantive about her on the show, so excuse us for a second while we pick our jaws up off the floor and stop swearing. Thank you. At the outset it's worth noting that while she addressed him in French (and informally, as you might to your son), and while we've heard him address others in French over the phone, he calls her "Mother." And not even "Mom" or "Mama/n" or any of the other potential appellations, that's very formal and very English-speaking. For a son who spent most of his formative years in Switzerland. Played by an actor who is more than capable of producing appropriate French. We get the entirety of this conversation to observe Renard's resultant "oh shit" look, it's definitely startled and definitely worried, but whether he's worried about what her call represents or worried about her interfering in something or worried about her safety, fuck if we know. He doesn't answer the how are you, which is asked with what sounds like genuine warmth, but he does essentially freeze up as we pan out to see his body posture as well, for the duration of this conversation, apart from some nervous swaying and eyes darting side to side. His whole attitude is that of an adult abruptly reduced to the emotional strength or endurance of a child, not helped by the blocking putting him in the center of the room and far back enough that he looks less imposing than usual. Still not answering the how are you, which seems like a genuine interest, and responding instead with an apology? For what? For not greeting her appropriately? An apology mostly for form's sake at a guess, for being startled even though she can't see him (hopefully) and has barely had time to hear it in his voice. And saying he didn't recognize the number, to which she replies that he's not supposed to. Oh really. Well that right there is as good as outright saying that she's hiding from him as well as everyone else. Though given that we didn't entirely expect her to be alive because of their situation, I'm not surprised. It doesn't sound like Renard thought she was dead, but up until now we'd seen no concrete evidence that she was even a part of his life any longer. Anyway, she's heard what happened to his half-brother in Vienna (note that she and the Pustule are the two who have been heard to stress the half part of that, Sean's always simply said "my brother" and none of our other protags have spared much of a thought for the family dynamics at play), and it's hard to say what Renard means with that two word answer. It doesn't sound as though he's expecting her to buy Eric's death as a tragedy, which is good considering the mothers trying to kill mothers thing, but it's also not nearly as straightforward as we might expect considering everyone in his conversation has to know that was a goddamn assassination (attempt). More to the point, a simple two word answer might be trying to conceal from Maman Renard that it was Sean's assassination, or at least he who ordered it, and why is he trying to conceal that from his mother? Just what the hell are you two playing at? If he is trying to conceal that he ordered it it doesn't work, because the very next thing she says after well-deserved (well, it was) is thank you. Thank you? Is she implying that she believes Renard did this for her, and if so does that mean she was holding something he clearly didn't value (affection comes to mind) hostage against him taking revenge for what happened to her? Is she simply praising her boy for a revenge well struck? Thank you certainly implies her drawing a connection closer between them than has been shown to this point, which would be any connection because we've not seen one to a living person at all, but why now and to what end, I've no idea. There is, though, a smile in her voice as she says it. And concluding with "let's talk soon" which clearly means we're going to see or hear from her again. Hoshit.  


Just in case all of that weren't enough chewing the data to pulp to go on, let us point out to you one further parallel to last season, this one you should all see coming, Maman Renard and Kelly Burkhardt. They don't show up at exactly the same point in the seasons, but it's close enough for hand grenades and depth charges and given that Renard seems to have believed she was out of his life altogether it's a very similar reaction, though not quite with the same strength as Nick. The difference between absent and supposed dead, after all. We're vaguely hypothesizing in the direction of Gina Serafino (remember her? family friend supposedly killed in the car crash in Rhinebeck who took Kelly's place), but we don't have any data to go on other than our guts and the narrative parallels, and until we do it's a weak hypothesis at best. Gaining credence, though! There's definitely something going on with the Rhinebeck murders, and we would not be in the least surprised to find Maman Renard at the heart of it in some shape or form. More to the point, we have unexpected and shadowy mothers coming out at a time of great turmoil for their sons, ostensibly to congratulate? protect? renew contact with? any or all of these three things with them, but also to take their sons' measure. What are their current values. What are their current weaknesses. How have they changed, can they be trusted as allies, what information have they earned the right to know. Certainly those were among Kelly Burkhardt's assessments as she met her now-adult son, and we can safely surmise that similar considerations are a factor for Maman Renard. Not least because she's a hexenbiest, let us not forget, and for all that Sean doesn't seem scared of her he certainly is well aware that she's a very dangerous woman. There are, let us say, some shades of Eleanor and Richard from Lion in Winter throughout this conversation, more the grooming the son for the kingship than the truly manipulative parts, but given all the overtones from that play we've been getting I don't think we're accidentally seeing them anymore, or if we are it's a case of similar archetypes at play and not our imaginations.


Renard never gets any time to relax, recover, or adjust down from any of his shocks. Because here comes Nick with his angry and determined face on. Renard hears he wants to do the right thing! When did you have time to hear that, Renard? Did Hank text or call and we didn't see it, or does he hear that by the "I know everything and I'm here to turn in my gun and badge" posture of the Grimm walking through the door? I wouldn't bet either way. Nick, seriously, quit sounding like a petulant teenager around your boss, it's not attractive. It's arguably his least attractive quality right now. Sigh. Renard isn't going to talk him out of it directly, he's going to start by presenting the data! This is what smart allies are made of, when you have the data you share it when the person who needs to see it comes to you to talk. The correct answer to the recognition question, Nick, is no. Not really, anyway, he might recognize his physical form but even at that angle and distance he should be able to see that there's not much Nick Burkhardt in there. By the jawclench he doesn't really register it, though admittedly Renard is busy hammering on the facts and giving Nick a name, a death, a way to grieve for what he's done without laying the blame on his shoulders directly. More to the point, the guy had a knife, and without getting too far afield let's say that even a well-trained martial artist can be easily taken down by an untrained opponent with a knife. (Play sharpie-the-gi sometime and you'll see what I mean.) So yes, Nick did what he had to do, and though he wouldn't have been in that situation under normal circumstances and thus wouldn't have been threatened in the first place, he wouldn't be here now had he not disarmed the guy and knocked him out of the fight. And Renard knows that Nick's the kind of person who needs a lot of blunt impact sense to the head, so he'll proceed! First by reminding Nick that he walks in two worlds and he'll never be able to explain this, then by pointing out that justice isn't simple. We'll leave aside the fact that Nick's guilt over this is going to do more to make him more careful with his abilities than any amount of jail time; it's kind of a given that jail is for punishment, not rehabilitation. The exceptions are still such standouts that they make big feature pieces in the news. And finally Renard lays all the cards out on the table, this was Eric Renard's plan, this was intended to destroy or control a Grimm, and how about we not give them exactly what they want, hey? In this case I think the hands in pockets tell serves two main purposes: he doesn't want to talk about ordering a hit on his brother to anyone and especially not to Nick right now, and he's trying to control the extent to which this matters to him/infuriates him. Not that the latter is well-served considering the amount of emotion in his voice. It's not even about the game, or not just about the game, and some of Renard's "this is one of my game pieces" detachment is peeling away. Some. Nick is one of his people, and on top of that this got personal when, in many respects, the Pustule tried to do to Nick what was done to Renard, only worse, as far as taking away his mind and freedom of choice. Well, worse or better, depending on how you look at it; at least Nick wasn't aware of his actions at the time. Oh. Look. It's another fucking parallel. We get a prolonged moment, almost like Nick's entering the slowed-down zombilike state again only without visual cues this time, and the Moment of Choice, and it passes. He's made his decision, at least for the moment, to keep his mouth shut while Renard looms in his office door and for all that doesn't look very relieved at all. More "well, here we fucking go again."





Next week on Grimm! A serial killer of some kind is targeting the Blutbaden? Maybe. Who the hell knows, we have a lot of dead Blutbaden and no viable suspects by that promo. So what happens? Oh, just the Jets and Sharks are back in town I mean the Bauerschwein and the Blutbaden are going at it. Goodie. 'cause what we wanted this season was more fucking callbacks. Also something about Nick shooting Monroe, no, I don't buy it either. Though I might rewatch West Side Story between now and then.

1 comment:

  1. Чудесный анализ серии!
    Спасибо за Мейснера, я не догадалась посмотреть.

    ReplyDelete