Grimm

Grimm

Episode 3: Bad Moon Rising

By: Carlos Uribe

Grimm is a show about a man, Nick, who hunts monsters which look human.

Spoilers Ahoy!

This episode's Opening Quote*: “Then she began to weep bitterly, and said, 'What can a poor girl like me do now?”-The Old Woman in the Wood by The Brothers Grimm

This Episode's Monster(s)**: Coyotl: a coyote-like creature. It is described as a bully and they generally tend to live in close packs. They also tend to inbreed and it's implied that they gang rape their women.

There's one thing that can be said about this week's Grimm episode: it was pretty good. It's an episode that puts all of the heavy mythology and puts it into the backseat. It concentrates largely on the following three plot-lines: Juliette's memory loss, the case-of-the-week, and Hank's understanding of the Grimm world. It's an episode that is largely a standalone one. If it wasn't for the whole part about Hank discovering the truth about the wessen world, then it would be one of the many episodes where one could skipped and not worry much about missing anything. It is good to see that the show is taking the time to continue some of the serialized story, even if that stories were more psychological than advancing the main plot or the series universe. It's an episode that manages to work for largely two reasons: a good weekly case with effective villains and Hank's discovery of the truth. It suffers a bit by not having Rosalee even make a small appearance and not showing us Renard's reaction to losing Adalind's mother. While it's possible that the reaction would have been rushed to fit it into the episode, it felt a bit odd not having it.

Juliette had ended the previous episode by not recognizing Nick at all. It was assumed that she had at least some sort of amnesia. This episode clarifies her situation. She seems to have a perfect memory about people she knows, dogs she's delivered, and where she lives. The only person she can't remember is Nick. She remembers Monroe but not her boyfriend. As Monroe notes, it's entirely possible that Adalind's goal was to make Juliette completely forget about Nick. It's a bit obvious to the viewer that was Adalind's intention. She does remain missing this episode and this makes her the top suspect in her mother's murder. What makes this story interesting is that it separates Juliette and Nick. It doesn't have Juliette forget who she is. She remembers everything but her life with Nick. Juliette's inability to remember her relationship with Nick ensures that there's a strong obstacle between the two. The show will more than likely have Nick attempting to win Juliette over and in doing so might finally help do something the show hasn't been able to accomplish so far: truly establish what Juliette means to Nick. We know they were dating and he has almost proposed to her but their relationship hasn't been as fleshed out as it should have. I doubt anyone is truly worried about Nick not winning Juliette back. This is a story with a lot of stakes-but the biggest stake is if it can finally make us care about the couple. If it fails, then this will be an annoying distraction from the more interesting plots.

The case-of-the-week begins with a bright high school senior who is killing herself by taking too many AP classes. As she prepares to go to bed, she's kidnapped by her former relatives. It's revealed that she belongs to a family of Coyotls. Her father had taken her away from the pack. This has led to a big divide between the pack and her immediate family. Leaving the pack is paramount to treason. She's kidnapped not for revenge but to forcibly induce her into the pack. This means tying her up and the men having their way with her. It's completely brutal and barbaric. Leave it to the Grimm writers to come up with a completely horrific social custom and then to only make it worse. The girl isn't just about to be gang raped by a bunch of strangers but by family members. That's right: this is essentially incestuous gang rape. It's pretty obvious that the bad guys are pretty despicable. They're also pretty dangerous.

Just like how there's some good blutbads, there's some good Coyotls. The girl and her father have reformed themselves and become as normal as they can be. They share the viewer's opinion that the whole gang rape situation is wrong. The father becomes a central figure in this episode. He's written largely as a caring father but Mark Pellegrino's talent helps create dimension into the character. It's important to note his presence in the episode: he helps to humanize the Coyotls and continues the theme of reformed wessen. It also helps to tie Hank into the story. Hank is a good friend of the father and it's probably what stopped him from quitting on the spot. Hank seeing Monroe change along with the guy at the theater has caused him to have what he believes to be a psychological break-down. He has stopped believing that he's a good cop and is starting to realize that he might be a danger to himself or others.

By giving Hank a case that he can help with, the series is able to have Nick draw him into the wessen world. When Hank sees the father's girl shift into her Coyotl form, Nick finally reveals that Hank isn't alone in his craziness. Hank seems to adjust to this news rather fast, although I wouldn't be surprised if future episodes show him trying to cope with this new information-only with a firm grip on his sanity this time. Nick and Hank manage to take down the Coyotl together. The scene was pretty awesome and it helps to establish what this show will be with Hank's new-found knowledge of the Grimm world. Hank's presence in this episode does mean that Monroe has to largely sit the episode out but it's hopeful that future episodes can have all three of our main protagonists working together. This will help give all of them more screen-time but could also lead to some pretty great dialogue.

This is an episode that revealed the truth to Hank about the wessen world, established Juliette's condition, and had a pretty great weekly case. While the quote that began the episode had little to do with the actual plot's themes, did help to establish the episode's tone. This episode is nice viewing simply because of what happened to Hank, but it's a strong episode throughout. The first true weekly-case of the season (that had nothing to do with the serialized arcs) turned out to be a good one: hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

The next episode is: “Quill”, where infected wessen ruin Monroe and Rosalee's otherwise perfect picnic!