Grimm, Season Six, Episode Three: Oh Captain, My Captain

"You will face yourself again

in a moment of terror."

This season has thus far been about Nick squaring off Renard and as we have come to discover, when Renard plays bad it's oh so good.  Also, thank you Grimm for shirtless Renard and Nick, you made this thirsty woman oh so happy.

 Shall we get to it now?

As we know, Renard managed to wriggle out of the deal he made with Nick and now he's determined to establish his power in the city. His first order of business is to make Hank and Wu hand in their resignations.  Neither Hank or Wu are pleased about this but at this point, they have little choice. Wu does however make his displeasure known and Hank has to calm Wu down when does his version of a woge.  Hank has to stop Wu because they were both standing in the middle of the precinct but seriously, admit you wanted to see Wu and Renard throw down. 

The cops all meet up at the Spice Shop which seems to have become the new bat cave. As they hash it out, it's decided that one of them has to transform into Renard to stop Renard from becoming mayor. Eve is quick to say that she cannot go through that again. In case you've forgotten, this is the same spell which ended up turning Juliet into Eve. In the end, it's Nick who volunteers for the transformation. Before Nick can change however, they need to hide the stick which brings out Nick's gollum like qualities where the stick is concerned. 

Things should all be going wonderfully for Renard but he hits a snag in his march to power. It seems that his former campaign manager was in love with Rachel.  Renard tries to argue that he was cleared of all charges but Jeremiah isn't buying what he's selling.  Jeremiah gives Renard 24 hours to pay him for his silence.  We all know instantly that this isn't going to end well for Jeremiah, who clearly has no idea who he is dealing with. 

Nick decides to give Adalind a call because for the spell to work, they are going to need a sample of Renard's hair.  Adalind is at the park with the kids and were it not for the seriousness of the situation they are in, it would all be so stunningly normal.  I'm going to say it again because it needs repeating, the writers have made Nick fall in love with his rapist. Never for a moment forget what Adalind is and what she did. 

With briefcase in hand, Renard goes to see Jeremiah.  For Jeremiah, the fact that Renard has decided to pay him off is proof of his guilt.  Renard of course has no need to worry because he has recruited Grossante  to deal with Jeremiah.  Grossante appears out of nowhere, woges and rips out Jeremiah's throat, in the process splashing Renard with Jeremiah's blood.  Renard grabs his suitcase of money and instructs Grossante to clean up the mess.  Having proved his loyalty to Renard through murder, Grossante is now in line to be the new chief. 

For some reason, it falls on Monroe to pick up what they need for the spell from Adalind.  Adalind instructs him to come to her bedroom while she pulls Renard's hair from his brush and starts to gather some clothing.  Why the hell didn't Adalind just grab what she needed and meet Monroe outside? Before Monroe can make his escape, Renard arrives home to change because he's covered in Jeremiah's blood. Adalind is forced to hide Monroe in Renard's closet which almost backfires when Renard needs to get a clean shirt.  Adalind has to think on the spur which is actually quite awkward.  If I were Renard, I would have opened the closet door because Adalind is so damn obvious.  At any rate, Adalind manages to convince Renard that he has blood in his hair and therefore should have a shower.  Monroe takes this as his cue to sneak out of the house.

At the spice shop, it's time for Nick to begin his transformation.  It's Eve who helpfully suggests that Nick just might want to take off his clothing because Renard is a much bigger man.  Thanks Eve, I think I owe you one.  Once stripped down to his skivvies, Nick inhales the potion which takes a little bit of time to work.  When Nick stands, he's been transformed into drum roll please, shirtless Renard and has woged.

Monroe flusters trying to instruct Nick on how to end the woge, thus leaving it up to Eve to interject and calm Nick the hell down. 

Now that the transformation is complete, Nick has to learn to act like Renard. I have to give props to Sasha Roiz here for completely selling this transformation. Rosealee suggests that Nick act like he's a lot more full of himself.  Nick gets to test his transformation when Hank walks in. Hank is instantly fooled when Nick demands Hank's letter of resignation. 

While Nick perfects his Renard impersonation, Adalind has been tasked to keep the real Renard at home until 7:30pm so that he can watch the news.  This is not an easy task as Renard is anxious to head back into the office and he's certain that whatever Adalind wants to talk about can wait. Adalind uses the only trump card that she has - their freaky purple eyed demon daughter. Adalind suggests that it's time to talk about Diana, who just might not be a fit for regular school given how she deals with people who cross her. 

 

While Adalind stalls the real Renard, Nick makes his way to the news station.  Live on air, Nick, who is posing as Renard, announces that he is abdicating the position of mayor because he feels he is needed by law enforcement for.  Nick then goes on to say that the manhunt for him was all an elaborate set up in order to flush out the people responsible for the massacre that Wu committed.

Renard and Adalind watch the press conference and Adalind feigns ignorance by asking Renard when he had the time to film this.  A pissed off Renard answers that it's live.  When Nick is done, Renard turns to Adalind and makes it clear that he better not find out that she had anything to do with this before storming out of the house. 

Nick, Wu and Hank's next stop is the precinct.  Wu is instructed to wait in the garage in case Renard shows up. Once in Renard's office, Hank and Nick start grabbing Renard's papers and computer. Before they can make a clean get away, a pissed off Grossante shows up demanding to know what the press announcement means for him.  Nick is forced to bumble his way through it because he doesn't know about Renard's deal with Grossante.  Once free of the office, Nick is again caught but this time by the press who want clarification on what he had to say earlier. Nick basically repeats what he said on the air and throws in a special commendation for Wu and Hank. If you're going to go there, you might as well go all the way I guess.

Outside, Wu stops Renard from entering the station because of course were he to do so, the people would see two Renards.  Nick makes his way outside and Renard is quick to confront him unhappily.  Nick hops in the back of a car and drives off with Hank and Wu, leaving Renard to answer questions from the press who followed regarding why he is wearing a different tie now.  Renard stumbles and tries to claim that it wasn't him that gave the interview and that he still intends to become mayor.

Back at the shop, they begin to unpack the items stolen from Renards office.  It's Eve who notices hat Nick has not changed back into himself.  Nick says that he feels fine except for the bit of pain he felt in Renards office. It seems that the pain Nick felt was the spell trying to turn him back to himself. The fact that Nick still looks like Renard indicates that he may be stuck this way forever because he's a Grimm.

Renard calls and demands to talk to Nick. They agree to meet on the roof of Nick's loft. Nick sends Hank and Wu to collect Adalind and the kids for safe keeping.

The two men meet on the roof and toss aside their guns.  Both men woge and the fight is on. Adalind arrives at the spice shop and learns that Nick has been unable to return to himself. Adalind immediately puts her game face on and asks the team to talk her through what they did so she can figure out what their next play is.

On the rooftop, the two men have pummeled each other into exhaustion.  Since they are both of equal strength, no one can actually win this fight. To make things even more problematic, HW has been decimated and so has Black claw.  Seeing the senselessness of violence, they decide to talk it out instead.  Nick wants his job back and the return of Wu and Hank's jobs as well. Renard is adamant he is not taking the blame for what happened at the North Precinct. Nick suggests that they blame it on Bonaparte, and claim that Bonaparte acted with corrupt cops and that is why Renard wants to stay as captain. Nick also demands the right to raise his son and Renard demands to raise his daughter. With the children split up, the only thing up for grabs is Adalind, who it turns out Renard is content to live without.  Renard puts one final caveat, Nick is to never appear in public as him again. Nick agrees to this. Renard warns Nick that his creepy daughter loves her daddy very much, just in case Nick gets any ideas about killing him.

Nick returns to the scoobies but they aren't sure of his identity because he still looks like Renard. Eve suggests that he should be asked something only Nick would know. Adalind asks Nick where they were when they kissed for the first time.  I'm going to need the writers to stop pressing the romance between these two.  At any rate, Nick answers but Adalind won't hug him because she's creeped out by the fact that Nick still looks like Renard.

Diana wakes up and rushes to Nick's side believing that she is seeing her father. Nick decides to play the role of Renard but Diana of course knows that something isn't right. Diana puts her hand on Nick's chest and uses her power to push him across the room, announcing that Nick isn't her daddy. Adalind rushes to Nick's side as he transforms into himself.  Adalind explains to Diana that she shouldn't blame Nick and that he was stuck in Renards body.  Adalind cradles Nick but the look on Diana's face suggests that she's not at all comfortable with another man getting with her momma.

Renard returns home only to discover that he's not alone; there's a man waiting for him.  Surprise, surprise, it's Meisner, who wastes no time reminding Renard that he chose the wrong side. At this point, since Renard has been hallucinating Meisner, there's no way to no if this is another hallucination, or if Meisner managed to crawl out of the grave. With Grimm, you just never know.

Sasha Roiz has long been one of my favourites on this show. If you're a fan of his, this episode was like a gift.  I loved watching him be Nick playing Renard.  It's a sign of good acting that he was able to pull this off so flawlessly.  I really am curious where his storyline is going because his sudden shift to all around bad guy really doesn't make much sense to me.  Renard's hallucinations suggest that a lot more is going on with him than we understand but the writers haven't delved into it yet.

Clearly Grimm is building up to something. They've settled things with Black Claw somewhat and if Meisner is indeed back, things with HW will be as well.  What we are waiting to discover is what is going on with the magic stick and why exactly Nick turns into Gollum the minute he touches it.  I highly suspect that this series will end with the rest of the world becoming aware of the existence of Wesen and that the stick will play a big role in that.

I know that I'm turning into a broken record when it comes to Nick and Adalind, but I simply cannot get over watching a rape survivor in love with their rapist.  I cannot express the level of wrong that this is and I won't stop saying this as long as Grimm persists in this story line.  I am particularly unnerved that there are hints of them turning this into a love triangle as more of Juliet slips out of Eve. Eve noting this week that Nick is in love with Adalind, with a wisp of sorrow clearly suggests that Nick is going to have to deal with the two women in his life.

Finally, Nick better not close his eyes around Diana. We've already seen what she did to Renard's lover. Diana may like Nick because he is her brother's father but like all children, her goal will be for her parents to be together and form a family. Nick is clearly in the way of that and this is the first time that Diana has seen evidence of that.