Grimm’s second-to-last episode of the season took off at a fast pace, opening with the gang preparing a family dinner of sorts and discussing the final plans for the Monrosalee wedding. This scene was one of a few, fairly quiet scenes as the rest of the episode was—as the kids say—all the way turnt up. When Trubel comes downstairs for dinner, the vibe grows a little somber as the new Grimm (whom Paste caught up with earlier this week) shares memories from a dark past in foster homes. But things are looking up now that she knows the monsters she’s been seeing most of her life are real, and she’s not alone. We cut to a hotel scene featuring our buddy from last week—old dude with the key (Porter). He’s trying to get his son Josh to make contact with Nick, but the son has no clue about wesens or Grimms. Here we see the notion of family gets played with a bit. He is the son of Porter, but he cannot receive this inheritance his father is lugging around because he is not of that world.
At work, Nick and Hank are covering up for Trubel, and we can’t help but feel like it’s all going to backfire on them. The two girls she saved in last week’s episode have described her in their police reports, and even though she appears to have left no trace of herself, we suspect Trubel won’t get away scott-free.
As it turns out, old man Porter is in his last days and he desperately needs to pass this trunk on to Nick. He’s also a Grimm, which is just nuts because three Grimms?! We think, at first, that maybe the trunk is his inheritance, and it quickly gets passed over to Trubel. Nick’s away and she steps in with a sort of Grimm pinch-hit move. But poor Josh! He’s just a regular guy, and he has no idea what’s going on and what he’s up against. He leads the same guys who attacked him in the hotel room at the beginning of the episode (the Verrat) right back to his father when one of them calls, claiming to be a cop looking to help. (Clearly, Josh has never seen Compliance, or he would have known to never, ever, ever trust a phone “cop.”) When Nick finally gets to the hospital after Trubel calls him, he learns from Porter that his inheritance is this key. Of course Porter begins to die just as he’s reaching for the key (this moment was a bit cliché for my tastes), the Verrat show up, one of them guns his truck headed straight for Hank, and ish starts to go down in a real way. Nick, Hank, and Trubel take down the crew and it’s a pretty awesome fight scene. Trubel looks dope—taking down the bad guys in tight, black skinny jeans and a leather jacket. Depending on how you spent your time in the late ‘90s, that fashionable beat-down probably gave you a little Buffy/Faith vibe.
Porter passes away in the hospital, but the gang finds the key and realize it’s connected to this Black Forest map Monroe had inherited. This tells them pretty much nothing, other than that something important is connected to some other important stuff. Good to know.
The ending of the episode is also pretty awesome. Adalind performs the coolest magic trick ever (and teaches us about the origin of the pointy witch hat, as Claire Coffee promised she would), and “becomes” Juliette. Nothing good can come of this, and these days leading up to the big finale promise to be long and arduous. Seriously. What is Adalind up to? We assume that she’s out to find the truth about her baby, but this is just madness!
If I had to critique this excellent, high-octane episode, I’d argue for a more complicated version of our dear Trubel. Jacqueline Toboni’s character shows so much promise, but there are some clichés at work here. Every time she references her foster home, we see the camera pan over the faces of the other characters who immediately become sympathetic. One just hopes that she doesn’t become a trope—the former foster kid, with difficulty adapting, and accepting love and.or shopping sprees (this critique coming from a former foster kid, with occasional difficulty adapting and accepting love, but never a shopping spree—holler at me, Juliette).
But ultimatly, you just love Trubel. She uses the phone at the nurse’s desk in the hospital without asking. It honestly does not get much more gangsta than this.
Stray Observations:
We at Paste do not condone sexism of any sort… and at the same time… it needs to be said that Renard should probably take his shirt off more. #SorryNotSorry
Rosalee’s pre-wedding meltdown was adorable—why couldn’t that old lady just take the damn herbs?!
Adalind woguing and creating that super-creepy blood key to break into Nick’s house? Positively rad.
Favorite Quote of the Episode: “If I didn’t know you better, I’d be in love with you.” (Renard to Adalind)
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.