“So the animals debated how they might drive the robbers out, and at last settled on an idea.”
Nick, full of purification potion, is passed out on the
floor, at least he’s not flailing around and breaking things like Renard was
but he has gone a bright shade of red. Still, Juliette doesn’t understand what’s
happening and it’s all everyone can do to convince her not to call an
ambulance. Nick finally wakes up, thirsty and disorientated – and step 2 can
begin.
A potion, involving Nick’s blood (owww, that looked
real!) for Juliette and Renard to drink (eww, so unhygienic – this is 11 times
more gross when the participants don’t have fangs). And nothing happens – but hopefully
it will fix them but may need time to kick in. To which Juliette decides she’s
going to go home and wait – alone, which I really don’t blame her for.
Juliette goes home with Nick ominously stalking her – sorry,
checking on her (by following her in his car and staring at the house). Juliette
goes in, close the door – and is greeted by a massive pit consuming most of the
floor. I don’t think the gaping abyss school of decorating is going to catch
on.
The next day Monroe goes to the bank to make a deposit
when it’s robbed – by Wesen using their Woge faces as disguises, not reassuming
human faces until they’re in their getaway truck.
Meanwhile in a diner Nick tells Hank about the key and
shows him the map it produces – and that you need all 7 keys to make the full
map to find what was originally hidden. There follows much recapping to remind
everyone what’s happening – and Nick decides from now on he’s carrying the key
around his neck. Also, he’s giving Juliette her space
She’s still stuck on the edge of the abyss, unable to
leave and go outside and, rather sensibly, unwilling to go upstairs what with
the gaping hole and structural damage. There’s a window right there Juliette –
break it! An idea which seems even better when something in the abyss starts
growling. At which point she does run upstairs – only to see the staircase go
on and on infinitely into the darkness. Ok, whose bright idea was it to hire
Escher as an interior designer?
And to the bank where Nick and Hank are called in to
investigate the oddly “masked” bank robbers and Monroe tells them they weren’t
masks: they were on Skalengeck and 2 Blutbaden. And aside from the bank
robbery, they’ve also broken a major major major major Wesen law which Nick
should have details about in his trailer. To the Gimm Trailer!
There they find references to the treaty and Monroe has a
full on exposition about how fools using the woge to exploit normal people
never works out and ends up with things like the witch hunts. And as an added
irritation if they were woged they’d be unidentifiable (and not have
fingerprints apparently) making them impossible to arrest. The only clue they have
is that they seemed practiced so they probably did it before. Monroe adds that Wesen
are going to panic and start talking.
At the abyss, Juliette succeeds in dropping her phone down the great big hole.
Back to the police station for investigation, Hank and
Nick check the escape route the wesen took – Wu has found 2 previous robberies
by the gang and comments on how incredible the mask is. Then it’s time for Nick
and Renard to have a private, awkward, conversation where at least Renard can
say his feelings for Juliette are lessening and makes a plea for them to be
civil and work together.
Nick is still all spikey so Renard starts with some buttering up about how valuable Nick is and adds how much Renard has helped and protected Nick without him knowing and that together they can make history if they work together. Nick: spikey spikey, grumble growl. He confirms that Hank knows and adds that he’s leaving the key with Nick rather than give it to Adalind or his brother because he trusts Nick more – the families will stop at nothing to get the keys. Nick: spikey spikey, grumble, growl. This may take a while before they start working together openly.
Meanwhile, Monroe is investigating a Wesen dive bar where
less-than-legitimate Wesen hang out which is such a very very bad idea. And
Juliette’s still cowering on the lip of a great big pit which now not only has
growls, but electric sparklies as well.
When hank and Nick join Monroe he’s confident the Wesen
will be willing to talk because of the sheer enormity of the codex being broken
and they’re just there for back up while Monroe goes in alone – yeah this’ll
work.
Monroe is predictably inept and most of the patrons won’t talk to him – except one lady who’s happy for him to buy a drink. And the bank robbers are there, paying attention to him and confront him. Monroe flails around about the code (they don’t care), the police asking him questions , him wanting money – and it all leads to a very clumsy bar fight which Hank and Nick have to break up. Monroe subtly points out the robbers to Nick.
Nick and Hank get the IDs of them and ask if anyone wants to press charges – come down to the police station to do so. Predictably, no-one does. And they decamp to the spice shop (oh and Juliette is still cowering next to a window she still could try to break next to her sparkly, growly abyss. If this is part of the cure it has some major side effects).
At the Spice shop Rosalie praises Monroe for his rant about how the robbers are going to make things hard for all Wesen kind and Hank and Nick arrive with the identity of the 2 robbers they met: Cole and Crystal – but not the third one who slipped out and they don’t have enough evidence for an arrest. Underscoring the severity of the issue, Monroe suggests if Nick can’t find the evidence he may have to deal with the problem as a Grimm not a cop. But Nick is worried about the media attention – they’ve got to try the cop route first. They leave and Rosalie points out to Monroe that he didn’t tell them about the Wesen Council. Mornoe hopes it won’t come to that
The robbers are all happy and fun – well Cole and Crystal
are, while Gus is more concerned and is carefully planning their next robbery.
He’s more serious while Cole and Crystal think they’re untouchable.
Hank and Nick go to check out their listed address and
find an abandoned, industrial building (complete with illuminous green toxic
waste). They find a homeless man who is confused and deeply intimidated by the “monsters.”
But he has seen Gus, which gives them another name to look up.
Meanwhile Jueliette’s phone rings from the depth of the abyss. With new resolve, she forces herself to walk out over the hole – floorboards swooping up to appear under her feet as she crosses. She slowly works her way across until she reaches the part o the pit where her phone fell – it fills in, her phone is there and her house turns back to normal. Rosalie, your Grimm-blood cocktail has some hellacious side-effects. It’s Nick asking if she’s ok – she says it is and thanks him for calling, relieved. I have to say she’s handling abyss hallucinations better than I would.
The Wesen robbers hit another bank – and this time they
shoot a security guard and innocent bystander.
We can assume whatever pain those victims endured is
nothing compared to what Nick will face if he eats Monroe’s truly awful
sounding breakfast (Nick’s still living with Monroe while the whole Juliette
situations sorts itself out). Monroe mentions the Wesen council to Nick – they’re
judges who can dish out the death penalty, but further exposition is not
forthcoming because Nick has a call about the bank robbery. At the scene
everything is like the last robbery – except the 2 bodies. That’s something that has worried even Gus,
though Cole and Crystal still don’t care.
Those who do care are the crowd of Wesen who have descended on the spice shop when Monroe arrives, worried what will happen when the humans realise the robbers aren’t wearing masks. The crowd doesn’t trust the police and they need the council – who Freddie (Rosalie’s brother) knew who to talk to. Rosalie assures them she does as well and clears them out.
While Hank, Nick and Renard consult together, Rosalie takes out a big chest and talks about the last time a Wesen was acting up – how her dad was the only one who wasn’t afraid and he calmly solved the problem. According to her brother, their father had a shaky alliance with the Council, he didn’t agree with them all the time but needs must. And Freddie took over and Rosalie is expected to after Freddie died. Their father once served on the council and still has contact with a member – De Groot, and she has a responsibility to call. She calls an older Dutch man to report the violation. At the same time, Renard is also sending an email to De Groot with Cole and Crystal’s pictures. And Hank and Nick have tracked the identity of Gus – who spent a year in gaol with Cole.
At the robber’s hideout, Gus is seriously worried while
Cole and Crystal are on a massive power trip. Including consciously showing the
world who they are. Gus is having none of it and tries to leave – and Cole
attacks him, savagely beating him before Crystal intervenes. Then woges and
rips Gus’s throat out.
Which is what Nick, Hank and Wu discover when checking Gus’s last known address, their hide out. They link the green slime on the body’s boots to the abandoned factory.
De Groot talks to a man about every generation needing a “reminder”
and tells him to deal with it.
To the factory with Frank and Nick advancing while
Crystal and Cole gather their money. Time for a dramatic gun fight! The bullets
run out and Nick and Cole tangle (Cole doesn’t seem to be in Nick’s league)
while Hank chases Crystal. She woges at him to intimidate him – and he punches
her, unimpressed. Both end up arrested (Cole doubly co-operative since he
realised Nick was a Grimm). Cole and Crystal both protest they can’t prove a
thing about the bank (they have you shooting fully automatic weapons at police.
Searching the building will find the big sacks of money. They have the guns
they used to shoot the people outside the last bank. They have CCTV showing
them the right build and height and with the right hair. How much more evidence
do they need? They don’t need facial ID or even DNA or finger prints at this
point! But if they did, both their NON-WOGE’d fingerprints are all over the
automatic weapons they discarded!)
Renard has a press conference about the bank robbers,
telling the media that arrests have been made. Walking through the corridors of
the police station Cole and Crystal are confident they’ll be released – and a man
walking by shoots them both, killing them before quietly surrendering.
In De Groot’s office he expresses his lack of surprise
that Blutbaden were at fault. They hired someone local to do the killing and
made sure it happened during the press conference so the lesson would be
learned. Problem solved.
That night, in bed, Juliette gets a call from an unknown
number but when she answers she only hears distorted growing like from the
abyss – and electricity sparks moving over her phone. She looks over the edge
of her bed – and her bed’s floating over another black hole.
There’s an interesting dilemma of the conflict between
being a Grimm and a cop being raised – surprisingly by Monroe which is probably
testament to the extent of Monroe’s trust and his utter fear of what could
happen with the wesen exposed
I’m a little unhappy with what has happened with Monroe – or possibly Blutbad or even Wesen in general. In season 1 Monroe ripped off someone’s arm by accident, that is how strong and vicious he was. It’s why he pursued a vegetarian diet and meditation in the first place. If Monroe is exceptional for a Blutbad, then why the fear of the bar fight? If he isn’t – how can Hank take down Crystal so earily? Even allowing Nick Grimmy abilities, it just seems that more and more being a Wesen means being someone with an odd-looking face rather than any strengths, abilities or characteristics of the animal-Wesen.
And I’m glad to see some kind of leadership body or organisation among the Wesen, it makes little sense that they wouldn’t have had something. Except – we have the Royals. And the Verrat. And the Laufer. And the Reapers. And now the Wesen Council. And they’re all just NAMES. We don’t know who has authority over what, what their remit is, what they do, where their influence is, how they interact, hierarchy, actions – they’re just names. And it’s lovely to have a world grow but we need some flesh on these bones, not more names.
Which is especially troubling after last week’s awesome
move forward. Renard talking about plots and royals and revolutions – have the
Wesen Council been raised because they’re going to add a new facet to this and
they’re going to be involved or is it yet another loose end as we descend into
monster of the week with the meta being left as a tangled, neglected ball of
threads in the background?
And Juliette is having problems AGAIN. Another new issue
to go with the amnesia, the attraction to Renard, the coma, being kidnapped – I’m
tired of her being in eternal peril from which others must save/cure/rescue
her.
