Grimm

Grimm

Episode 20: Kiss of the Muse

By: Carlos Uribe

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

Spoilers Ahoy!

This episode's Opening Quote: “Tell Me O'Muse, from whatsoever source you may know them.”-The Odyssey by Homer

This Episode's Monster(s):

Luisant-Pecheur: An otter-like creature that can hold their breath underwater for a long time. One of them tried to kill Rachel (the Musai).

Musai: An elf-like creature that can make men obsessive over her to extremely dangerous points. One of them acts as the primary antagonist of the episode.

The first season had ended with Nick trying to tell Juliette the truth about his abilities and the wessen world before she collapsed. She had thought that he was crazy but the spell Adalind cast on her sent her into a coma. When she woke up, every memory she had of Nick was altered so that he wouldn't be there. She had completely forgotten about him. It's taken a whole season but she's started to remember him in a visual and interesting manner. She's in two different places at the beginning of this episode. She has managed to control her memories to the point where she's ready to continue her relationship with Nick. At the same time, she's starting to remember what happened that night when he tried to tell her the truth. It's two moments that had been building up for the whole season only they arrive at the wrong time for Nick. He's in a tricky case with a wessen that makes it difficult for the two of them to connect. The weekly case becomes an obstacle between them but also an opportunity for Juliette to use her rediscovered knowledge about the wessen in order to save him. I've got to reiterate that the show really needs to work on pacing it's serialized narrative. It's taken a whole season for Juliette to get to the point where she was at the end of the first season. The amnesia plot was a nice way to create an obstacle between Nick and her but it also had the unfortunate side-effect of basically lasting too long. The whole visual way that the show made her face her memories was great but I think it should have been employed earlier in the season. This is because Juliette wasn't really being developed but rather catching up to where she had been. Kiss of the Muse is an episode that worked and it's overdue development of bringing Juliette up to speed on the wessen world was very welcome. Now that she knows what's up then the series can integrate her better into the Grimm world which can provide a purpose for her on the show beyond just being the girlfriend.

The weekly case this week revolved around a Musai. This is basically a wessen that looks like an elf and has the unfortunate ability of making any man she kisses obsess about her. She puts our hero in danger by kissing his hand. Nick starts to think only about her. There's a nice hint of this when the police ransack the apartment of a different character who fell under her spell and tried to kill anyone who wanted to be with her. This character was an artist and she was the subject in many of his paintings. She served as his muse. Nick couldn't help but stare at her. His thoughts about her quickly become worse as it affects his memory. He skips out having dinner with both Juliette and Monroe so that he can check up on the Musai. The two share a kiss before she learns that he's a grimm. She's scared at first but Nick has to leave when he remembers he was supposed to be at dinner with Juliette. The case develops when he's not interested in what she has to say. The show basically reveals what he's really thinking about in two ways. The first is that he keeps hearing her lines over and over again. The editors put some filter on it to make it obvious that he's only thinking about what she's saying even as Juliette tries to apologize for keeping him away. There's another moment where Juliette tries to be clear but all Nick can notice is a ghostly image of the Musai walking up to him. Nick's obsession basically makes irritable, violent, and is a huge sign that something is terribly wrong with him. He can't save the day because he's partly a victim of the Musai.

This leaves the supporting cast to try and save the day. It's up to Monroe, Hank, and Rosalee to go to the trailer to look up what the Musai is. Once they figure out what's wrong with Nick, they're shocked to learn that there is no antidote. Once Nick has been kissed, he's going to go down a path that will lead to death and destruction. He might die or kill someone else. He'll have no control over his actions. The situation gets so badly that they actually bring Renard into their group to try and figure out a way to sever the bond between the Musai and Nick. Rosalee figures out that the only way to save Nick is with the power of true love. She hypothesizes that the obsession that Nick feels might be like love but it's only an imitation. She thinks that the real deal would be enough to break him out of the curse. Only this involves having to bring Juliette into the mix. The good news is that she remembers what Nick had told her about the wessen. The bad news is that she thinks it's crazy until Monroe and Rosalee are able to convince her by claiming they believe Nick. They don't mention why they do but merely that what looks crazy at first might be the truth when you take a closer look. They're able to get Juliette to Nick right before he kills the artist. She breaks him out of the spell by having him really look at her and concentrate on her voice. It's a good scene but it could have been handled a bit better-make it more relevant to the unique Juliette-Nick relationship rather than something that could easily belong to any other couple. It felt a little bit forced because it was just so generic rather than something that truly was “them”.

Kiss of the Muse is a pretty good episode of Grimm. It might have come too late in the season because having Juliette spend so much time catching up was simply a waste when the series could have been implementing her better into the world or having her character develop. The actual development was welcome and well-executed. This show has a pretty good plot when things happen but the pacing needs to dramatically improve. The actual weekly case was strong and it was nice how it impacted the Juliette-Nick reunion but also allowed Juliette to be the story's hero. She manages to save Nick. Overall, the episode was fun and it's definably one of the stronger efforts of the season.

Other Notes:

It's nice that Hank is bad but it's sad to see he's injured.

With Juliette figuring out the truth, Wu is the only one left in the dark about the wessen world.