We open up with a tense scene. A man has got on a crowded tram with a long, suspicious bag, a bag that looks large enough to carry big guns. It is ominous and scary… and then he unzips it – cue passengers looking on in fear… and he pulls out a stereo that begins blasting out “YMCA” and everyone begins dancing.
A note to people I may be sharing a bus with on the morning commute – if you’re going to bring a suspicious long bag – I’d much rather it be full of guns than a stereo for a sing-a-long. Despite the lack of guns, one of the passengers is left on the tram when it empties – she is dead. I know how you feel, hon. I don’t think there’s enough caffeine in the world for me to deal with that first thing in a morning.
I have to say, it’s one of the more surreal beginnings I’ve seen on Grimm – or any show for that matter.
So, Nick, Hank and Sgt Wu check the body out, take it to the pathologist (who is a new character and one I think I’m going to like) and learn she has been killed by super huge massive amounts of bee venom. If you’re like me you’re probably already wracking your brain for a fairy tale that fits.
I have to say this episode hit my spooky buttons. There’s something about the menace of a swarm of bees and how impossible it is to fight that’s really spooky –add in bees as spies and yeah my heebies are thoroughly jeebied. In fact, the spooky was well maintained throughout – the factory, the abandoned house, definitely some artful spooky going on. There was also a lot more mystery – the last 2 episodes weren’t mysteries, weren’t curious – we were introduced to the characters and the world but the protagonists and antagonists were fairly clear pretty early on. I think we can see that they were early introduction episodes and now we’re onto the more meaty ones.
And, of course, there’s also nuance. The victims are not clear cut victims and the killers are not simply monsters on a rampage. And, with the plot thickening, one of the targets is Adelaine Shade – one of the Reapers who are out to kill the Grimm and the woman who attacked his aunt.
Of course, Eddie has to be called in to be the side-kick in the know. I like Eddie, he has a perfect amount of snark. I like the fact he’s not going to be casually and tamely the servant of Nick, that he requires paying and doesn’t go along meekly. And yes, they have quality banter too
I also like the take on a social species in the modern era of twitter et al – it’s a nice lens. There’s also the conflict between his role as a Grimm and his duties as a policeman. As a policeman he has to protect an innocent woman – as a Grimm he sees the Hexenbeast who tried to kill his aunt.
And there’s something coming, big and bad in the meta-plot.
I really like the banter between nick and Hank – we don’t see them together often enough, which is a crying shame because they bounce off each other extremely well - and with Sergeant Wu on the few times we see him. I hope he lets them in on the big secret soon so they can bounce off each other more often, even though it risks side-kick and servantdom. I wish both characters had a bigger role because I love every scene they’re in.
All in all, I continue to be impressed by this series. It has a lot of nuance, a lot of layers and I'm really interested in seeing if they can maintain this
