“Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman”
Or so starts this week’s Grimm after a long hiatus. So giants, eating people and possibly dodgy British accents?
So we have a bloke in his rather nice study when another not-nice man breaks through the window and starts beating him up pretty badly – and the assailant is damn tough judging by the bullet he took that didn’t phase him and the repeated blows to the head.
Very messy – and the man, judge Logan Pattinson, is found by Sergeant Wu and his partner while in his car the attacker goes all monstery patching up his wounds, taking out the bullet and throwing away a hand – as you do. In comes Nick and Hank. And because it’s a judge who died, the police chief (bad monster police chief) turns out as well. Apparently he was a good judge, we know this because we’re told so repeatedly, so I thought it worth mentioning (every character on the show did, after all).
Fingerprint on the gavel leads Hank and Chief to a man’s body with one hand and a woman’s watch. It’s beginning to look like some kind of murder trail – puzzles on puzzles! But Nick calls Eddie his Grimopedia because he is, actually, a clockmaker! Yes they are calling him for what he does rather than what he is. I think this is the first time Hank has met Eddie since Nick tried to have him arrested – Hank doesn’t remember that apparently. The time and date has been glued in place – ohhh great big clue in the chain. Eddie is just adorkably nervous. He makes this show.
The clue leads to a Mary Robinson – assistant DA who Hank knows. Next step in the chain is, yes a dead Assistant DA. It’s like a party game! But with more bodies. At the end you’ll probably find Miss Marple looking all smug. Her tongue has been cut out and put on a scale (that’s Mary Robinson’s tongue, not Miss Marple’s) which is imaginatively gruesome. But it’s Hank who figures out the clues.
The victims are the judge, jury foreman and ADA who sent a very unpleasant murderer to prison – a case that Hank worked on. And that makes Hank the next victim – and Hank very reluctantly pushed into protective custody.
And while that’s happening, Nick hits the books because his Grimmy senses be tingling – and it’s Nick’s house and Nick who is attacked by the big guy looking for Hank – and both see what the other is, Grimm and Ogre thingy! Thankfully for Nick, Juliette arrives and saves him with a pan of boiling water, driving him off and Nick gets carted to the hospital.
Meanwhile Eddie, the Grimopedia goes to visit Nick and tell him how big and bad ogres are and how impossible they are to kill unless you have special tools and weapons – of course, Nick inherited a Grimm arsenal so he has all the cool toys. Which also means Eddie gets to see the Grimm Trailer! (Doesn’t have quite the same ring as Bat Cave, does it?) Eddie totally makes this series.
With Nick in the hospital, Hank and Evil Chief plan to set a trap for the big bad, since Hank blames himself for Nick getting attacked. And Hank confesses to Nick that he and Mary Robinson suppressed evidence in the original trial of the big ogre Stark to ensure he was convicted. And Hank is now going off to fight the monster without Nick.
Big show down! Of course, Hank’s gun doesn’t do a whole lot against Stark – but Eddie is lurking in the shadows with the Grimm gun and saves the day!
Which is curious because the police department digs the bullets out of Stark’s corpse – and finds how unusual they are. I’d say this is foreshadowing for meta but I’m not getting my hopes up
I like that Hank had a greater role to play this episode, but at the same time he is the corrupt cop (yes, a black cop framing a white suspect. Uh-huh) and he is the guy who needs saving from himself/ Greater role maybe, but it’s not in a great way at all – he’s the one at fault, the one with the dodgy record that he needs saving from - and then, again, he needs saving from himself when he runs off half cocked to fight a monster he knows nothing about. Not great, not great at all. I’d actually prefer to have him let in on the big secret by this point, to be honest, so he can actually take part in the plot in a full, informed fashion
And do I have to say it again? Yes I do. This is now episode 8 of season 1 and we have no metaplot. We have the same thing every week – an interesting story, a monster of the week and, ultimately, no advancement. It amuses me but it’s not going to be compelling until I feel that each episode serves a purpose – because at the moment I think I could have missed every episode since, say, episode 4, pick it up at episode 9 and still not have missed anything important.
