"I have been bent and broken,
but, I hope, into a better shape."
This episode starts off right where Wesen Nacht left off. After spying a glimpse of Juliette, Monroe, Hank, Nick and Renard rush outside only to find Juliette gone. None of the men can figure out what is going on, considering that Nick believed that Truble had killed Juliette to save his life. Nick immediately rushes off home to confront Truble and the rest decide to head back to the Spice Shop to question Xavier.
With Juliette alive this brings some problems. Yes, Juliette did some terrible things but there's a clear history between Nick and her. Juliette however no longer identifies as Juliette and has taken the name Eve because she wants to start over after whatever Meisner did to her. Juliette at this point seems to be little more than a weapon which Meisner can pull out at will to kill members of the Black Claw. She even walks willingly back into her holding cell at the end of the episode. I found it interesting that Nick was so unforgiving of Juliette, pointing out that she tried to kill him and was responsible for the death of Mommy Grimm. Nick clearly is simply unwilling to let any of this go, even though he is only alive because Juliette saved his life.
It's also worth noting that while Juliette is back and extremely strong evidenced by her killing so many Wesen, the fact that she is a weapon means that she has been depowered. For years, Juliette has existed to either support Nick, live in ignorance or be a victim. Grimm really has a problem with strong women. Look how quick they have been to try and rehabilitate Adalind, now that she is essentially powerless. Yeah, I know we got a great scene of Rosalee punching Xavier but it's clear that she is the strong one and he actually poses no threat. Then we had Truble taking on Meisner to get information for Nick. Truble managed to hold her own but she was acting to benefit Nick and not herself. It's also worth noting that Truble has been working for Meisner months and therefore not been her own agent. Truble has spent her time on the show either taking directions from Nick or Meisner. When it really matters, female characters on Grimm get benched time and time again.
Conversely, Nick is far too willing to forgive Adalind for her sins. Grimm did what I believe to be the unthinkable - this week, Nick and Adalind shared a kiss. We have been watching for the last couple episodes as these two have gotten closer and closer. Adalind may well be Kelly's mother but she is also Nick's rapist, a fact that Grimm absolutely refuses to acknowledge. At least we are probably going to have a little bit of time to deal with this horrible relationship because Adalind made it clear that if it's going to happen between the two of them, it's got to be about how they feel and not the trouble they are currently going through.
Having Adalind claim that she is sorry for everything that she has done to Nick, with the exception of the birth of Kelly, does not suddenly make her a good person. It cannot erase the fact that she is a rapist. I very much get the sense that Adalind and Nick are going to continue down the relationship road even though Meisner still day dreams about Adalind.
Things are heating up with Black Claw. Wesen no longer fear revealing themselves and have started uprising across the globe. The Wesen Council is aware of this but are still shocked when Rosealee calls to inform them about the events in Portland. As the council is deciding on what to do with Black Claw, one of the members stands and annihilates all but one council member. Now there's very little standing behind Black Claw and their mission to take over the world.
When Nick and Hank go to speak to Billie's parents, they are surprised to learn that the couple is proud of their daughter. Black Claw has been very much framed as a horrible group of Wesen. Here's the deal, I don't necessarily think that this is a fair characterization. Part of the reason that Wesen have to hide who they are in the first place is because they have a history of being slaughtered by both regular humans and Grimm. Wesen don't even have to be doing anything particularly dangerous, or threatening to end up dead, they simply have to exist. Why exactly wouldn't this group feel oppressed? Why wouldn't they make a move for freedom and to live in the light? If anything, their actions make absolute sense to me given the context of their history and their lives. They are going to have work a lot harder to make believe that Black Claw are not entitled to their rage.
So far, the only thing the characters can agree on is that they can no longer have any discussions about Black Claw in the precinct. I guess it's time to take to the mattresses so to speak. It's a reminder of exactly how organized Black Claw is. I wonder if this means that we are going to move away from Wesen of the week for a little while to focus on the meta? That would be nice because Grimm has always had trouble between balancing the meta and featuring Grimm of the week episodes.
