"The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones."
This week's wesen of the week involves Charlie a Barbatus Ossifrage, who feels responsible to bring home food to his elderly parents. Barbatus Ossifrages are essentially the carrion birds of the Wesen family; they are attracted to scent of blood and the dying. The bodies are then crushed and the bones and other matter are sucked out. By the time a Barbatus Ossifrage is done with a body, it resembles a lump of human Playdough.
Charlie's parents are ultra creepy, so even though his mother is thankful for the food he regurgitates for them, they are hardly sympathetic creatures. For his part, Charlie is super resentful to be placed in this situation and even repeatedly apolgises to his victims, claiming that if he had any other choice, he wouldn't be doing this. Charlie even actively wishes that his parents would just die so that he can live his life.
Charlie never does get his wish because when he tries to escape from Nick and Hank, he is run over. Nick shows up at his parents to give the death notification and they all head to the morgue. Charlie's mother in particular is upset about their son's passing but that doesn't stop her or her husband from consuming their own child. I guess, waste not want not is the thinking here.
I didn't particularly find this Wesen story of the week compelling but did find it problematic in terms of its treatment of elder care and the idea that seniors are nothing but a drain, stopping the young from having their turn. Grimm simply didn't do enough to explain why Charlie's family dynamics were they way that they chose to portray. The idea of the elderly as a burden is not new but this belief is what leads to senior abuse in our society. Creepy parents needing help to obtain food which is a necessity of life is not enough to explain away Charlie's resentment, especially given that he would have to do this to eat himself. In this case, I think that Good to the Bone, simply fell short.
We don't really care about the Wesen of the week do we? What we really care about is what is going on with the meta. When Nick returns home, he and Adalind make some small talk about her work but Adalind is more interested in getting it on. Adalind says that because of the way they began, it's hard to have trust in each other and that they need to work on that. To be clear, the way this relationship began was Adalind raping Nick and becoming pregnant with Kelly. They don't get far with the lovemaking because the shadow of Adalind's Hexenbiest nature is floating in the air. Adalind decides to come clean about Renard and reveals that Diana is no longer with the Royals or the Resistance. Nick shares his suspicions that Renard is involved with Black Claw and makes Adalind promise to let him know should Renard contact her again. Adalind is concerned because she realises that Renard is trying to draw her in.
When the call does come from Renard, instead of telling Nick like she promised, Adalind gets Rosealee to babysit Kelly, so that she can meet with Renard. Adalind goes to the meeting spot and sees Renard. Renard has a few men grab Adalind and drug her. Adalind tries to fight back but is quickly overwhelmed. When Adalind regains consciousness, she sees Diana, who races towards her saying how much she missed her mother. It looks like Black Claw will now have Adalind to manipulate. Given that Nick took part in separating Diana and Adalind in the first place, I can understand her reluctance to tell him what is going on.
Eve catches wind about Diana and goes to see Rosealee. Eve tells Rosealee that Adalind is a Hexenbiest again but this not news to Rosealee, who not only reveals that she knows but that Nick does as well. Rosealee then confirms that she was the one who told Nick and not Adalind. Eve says that she threatened to hunt Adalind down until the end of time if she hurts Nick and warns Rosealee that Adalind's skill is rusty for now but will come rushing back. This meeting is enough for Rosealee to wonder how much of Juliet is still inside Eve. And so this sordid love triangle continues on but I frankly couldn't give a damn.
Hank's private life finally gets some attention this week. Hank runs into Zuri Ellis, a Yaguaraté he met and was attracted to on a previous investigation. At the time, Hank asked Zuri out but she wasn't interested in having a relationship with a human, even if said human knew all about Wesen. Now that some time has passed, Zuri has changed her mind and this time, she asks Hank over for diner. The attraction between these two is good and I hope that a relationship develops despite Nick's idea of being supportive being asking Hank if he slept with Zuri. Are they grown men in a police station or teenage boys in a locker room?
Finally, we get to Wu, who is really having some problems. When he is brushing his teeth in the morning Wu starts gagging on something. Wu pulls what seems like a pile of fur out of his throat. Later, at the station, Wu's hand starts to cramp and shift into a hairy wolf like paw. Wu stands and falls over. Hank believes that Wu's problem is low blood sugar and Wu is happy to grab that excuse rather than explain that something really bad is going on. In the big set up to trap the Barbatus Ossifrage, a dog starts barking and snarling at Wu, who promptly does a partial shift and chases after the dog. What the hell is Wu turning into? The build up on this is good and given that next week's title is called The Taming of Wu, I suppose we'll find out where this is all leading then.
I think it's weird that given everything what Wu has seen that he didn't immediately think that he should worry about being scratched by the lycanthrope. I also think it's odd that he doesn't share what is going on with him with Nick or Hank. It makes me wonder how much he actually trusts them? I know that they have given him good reason to doubt, considering that last year they allowed him to be hospitalized for mental health issues he didn't have. The point is that this is way outside of his experience and his failure to ask for help just doesn't make sense to me at this point.
