Friendship as a central theme can be cliché, but, in a series rife with murder and supernatural creatures, it’s a refreshingly novel concept. This week a bounty on Monroe’s head mobilizes Nick, Hank and Angelina (Monroe’s blutbad ex-girlfriend) to protect him, regardless of the personal cost. Monroe is known for being the fiercely loyal sidekick, so watching his friends support him in kind brings heart to the dark Grimm universe.
The episode is ripe with character development, but in the interest of protecting plot twists, let’s just say that Captain Renard is at his most mysterious, Juliette is making progress, and the budding Monroe-mance is too adorable. An exchange between Hank and Monroe over drinks, however, proved to be one of the best scenes of the season. What begins as an awkward conversation about Monroe’s blutbad identity evolves into an honest dialogue about Wesen life—peppered with shape-shifting visuals by Monroe, of course. Hank’s curiosity about the Wesen world rekindles some of the original wonder surrounding the show’s creatures, which has been slowly fading since Grimm’s pilot.
Other episode highlights include Monroe’s bowtie, Rosalee and Monroe geeking over an 11-fingered musician and learning how Nick and Juliette met. An enchanting Jaime Ray Newman also reprises her role as Angelina, flawlessly balancing the blutbad’s primal energy with her human insecurities. And how funny is the name “Dragon’s Tongue”? Even with the intrigue for the royal families mounting, the Tokyo royals sound slightly ridiculous with a title like that.
Best Monroe Quote of the Night (about Wesen culture): “It can be kind of confusing for the, uh, layperson.”