“My Fair Wesen” opens with a quote from the tale of the ugly duckling, and we assume that it’s about Theresa AKA Trubel. Sure enough, at the beginning of the episode she is untrained and uncouth (Eliza Dolittle-like, which ties in well with the title, and the Pygmalion mention later), shoveling Chinese food into her mouth. Yes, it was distracting, but Nick and Juliette were a little judgy about this—it’s Chinese food! If you’d never had it before you’d go overboard too (good thing it wasn’t from New York City, or she would have probably eaten the carton… no judgement).
We cut to a group of beautiful young women getting their Bling Ring on at a department store. But when they report back to the big man in charge, the look of fear in their eyes tells us that the one they left behind—the one who almost got caught—is in for a bad time. And sure enough, the master (a man of the house, surrounded by all of these women, reminiscent John Hawkes’s terrifying character in Martha Marcy May Marlene) kills the girl in gruesome face-sucking/vampire/leech-esque attack.
Like any good runaway, Trubel tries to run away when the nightmare’s start coming, and all of the niceness in Nick’s home is clearly getting to her. She cannot know whether or not to trust them, and she wants to bail. But Nick asks her to stay, then enlists Monroe and Rosalee for help in getting her to understand who she is, and how she relates and reacts to the wesen around her.
Trubel comes along to check out a crime scene, and it’s brutal. When the Lebensauger woged he punctured his victim’s whole face and sucked the blood/life out of her. Seeing this guys reminds us that it’s time to update our list of 10 Creepiest Grimm Monsters ever. While perusing the book of Grimm with Nick and Hank, Truble sees a monster she recognizes from her previous home—one that killed her foster parents. She decides to help Nick and Hank on the case, and proves to be an invaluable asset (though ever the wild card). Acting as bait, she lures in one of the wesen who’s been finding young women (or, ugly ducklings) out on the street, dressing them up (“swans”) and training them to steal. When they mess up, her creepy Lebensauger partner kills them, which is just what they are about to do to Trubel when they find out that she is a Grimm. And being the bad ass that she is, Trubel takes them both on, fending them off until Nick and Hank arrive and finish the job.
In the meantime, Adalind is rummaging through her mother’s things to find a magic book. It’s sealed shut, but eventually opens when she cuts herself and drips blood onto the pages. That’s not weird.
“My Fair Wesen” is about the danger of family. Don’t have any? You end up desperate on the street, accepting love (and violence) from strangers who are using you. Or, like Trubel, you find yourself unable to accept love, shoving Chinese food in your mouth trying to devour the greasy goodness before it gets taken away from you (because you just know it’s going to get taken away). And then there are those of us who have family, and the trauma to show for it. When Adalind has to define her relationship with her mom, she chooses to lie to the lawyer and pretend that they were a perfect mother/daughter duo. She has a moment of nostalgia, looking at an old photo, but tosses it aside (the feeling and the picture) to find something that can really help her—the book.
Stray Observations:
It needs to be said that Trubel looks just like she could be Nick’s little sister. These two are adorable together.
Someone’s got one of those special keys! C’mon, season finale!
“I’m just not used to being the hunter…”
Favorite Quote of the Episode: “You wouldn’t happen to have an extra gun, would you?” (Trubel to Nick)
Shannon M. Houston is Assistant TV Editor at Paste, and a New York-based freelance writer with probably more babies than you. You can follow her on Twitter.