"When something itches my dear sir,
the natural tendency is to scratch"
For whatever reason, even though there are only eight episodes to go in this series, the writers cannot let go of the whole Wesen of the week thing. Come on people, you did this for six years, don't you think that the public is owed just one bloody season dedicated to the overarching meta rather than releasing it in drops and dribbles once again?
Grimm begins with a bug like creature crawling it's way out of the earth. As someone who has a phobia of every damn thing creepy and crawly, I'm a little bit uncomfortable at this point. My first response is to think that someone needs to smack it with a fly squatter or an industrial can of Raid. Unfortunately, because said bug is so huge, it's going to take a lot more than that to deal with it. Its first order of business is to kill a man who's walking his dog.
Eve spent most of the last episode in the tunnel trying to get to the bottom of the purpose of the magic stick and listening in on Nick and Adalind. Well, she's still down there. Eve regains unconsciousness after touching the magic stick. Her knuckles are bloody from making the markings all over the wall. Upstairs, Nick is in bed with his rapist and dreams of being shot.
Renard arrives home and checks on his sleeping demon child. I gotta say, I like Renard's new place. At any rate, after checking on Diana, Renard picks up her murder dolls and the stick she used to compel him to kill Boneparte. Renard wisely keeps the stick and puts back the puppets. I think it's going to take a lot more than confiscating the murder stick to stop the demon child. Renard heads to his room where Meisner is waiting for him. This time, Renard tries a new tactic and is nice to Meisner, thanking him for helping out Adalind, Diana and himself. It's not often that Renard is humble but it's not enough to appease Meisenr. In frustration, Renard marche downstairs, declaring that Meisner can have the bedroom. Rightly, Renard's first reaction is to pour himself a drink and Meinser advises that Renard should battle his demons by visiting them in hell. Meisner then multiplies and Renard is treated to several versions of Meisner dead on the ground.
The next day, Rosealee and Monroe head to the OBGYN to find out if Diana's prediction about multiple babies is true. It turns out that the demon child was right on the mark because Rosealee is having not one, not two but THREE babies. I think that this would be a call to go into panic mode but Monroe (who's super cute in this moment) tells Rosealee that they can do this. Rosealee however doesn't seem convinced.
Nick begins his morning by telling Hank about his dream. It seems that Nick believes that he should be carrying the stick with him wherever he goes. Nick compares it to how a cop feels when they are not wearing their service weapon. Hank however thinks that it's best that Nick let this go and suggests that there's a reason someone buried the stick in the first damn place. Predictably, the conversation is brought to an end when Wu calls about the dead body in the park.
It's time for Adalind to pick up the demon child from Renard's place. Diana is quick to snitch on Renard about his dreams. As Adalind and Diana are leaving, Renard appears to be thinking about asking Adalind for help with his problem with Meisner but changes his mind. Oh Renard, you need some help buddy.
Nick and Hank examine the naked dead body in the park. This provides an opportunity for the cops to snark about this absolutely being Wesen related. Their meeting of minds is called to a halt when a child falls into the hole that the insect man climbed out of the night before. Nick and Hank drag the child out of the hole and discover a skeleton in the hole.
At any rate, Mr.Bug Wesen is eating like he hasn't had food in centuries at a diner. He's clearly unaware of exactly how creepy he is because he tells his waitress about the fact that the last woman he ate wasn't as filling as he thought she would be and that he was distracted by a pretty face. After ordering a rare steak and two bloody Mary's to wash down his meal with, Mr. Bug Wesen pays for it all with the dead dude's credit care. There's a name for this.
Back at the loft, demon child continues to snitch on her daddy. Clearly no one ever told her what happens to snitches. At any rate, Diana reveals that Renard said Meisner's name a lot the night before. Meisner is familiar to Diana because he is the one who threw the king out of the helicopter when she was kidnapped. Adalind explains that Meisner was killed by some bad men, causing Diana to inquire of her daddy dearest was one of those men. Adalind is quick to attempt to change the subject. Diana expresses her desire to see Meisner again and then in the next breath, informs Adalind that Aunt Eve is here.
Adalind heads to the tunnel where she finds a very weak Eve. Adalind helps Eve out of the tunnel and onto Diana's bed. When Adalind turns her back to get a washcloth for Eve, Diana takes the opportunity to head into the tunnel herself. Noticing her daughter's absence, Adalind heads back into the tunnel where she finds Diana with her eyes all purple staring at the sigils on the wall.
Nick and Hank are at the spice shop and quickly discover that they are looking for a Ataktos Fuse, whose name in Greek translates to party animal. Apparently, the Atakos Fuse is where the Greeks got the idea for Dionysus from. It seems that an Atakos Fuse crawls out of the ground every seven years for twenty-four hours and during that time, he needs to find someone new to feed on.
It's time for Bug Wesen to take on the pub crawl. Bug Wesen sends a drink to a woman at the other side of the bar and her companion take immediate offense to this. Mandy's companion tells Bug Wesen to meet him outside or be gone by the time he returns to the bar. We all know this dude is dead right? At any rate, Bug Wesen meets the dude outside and in an epic cock block moment, woges and puts one of his tentacles through dudes throat before returning to the bar and hitting hard on Mandy. Mandy is all into Bug Wesen and has no fucks to give about her now dead companion because they just met. Bug Wesen ups his game and asks Mandy to go for a walk with him.
Back at the loft, Eve is finally back to some semblance of herself. Eve explains to Adalind that she's been in the tunnel for quite some time and every time she tried to leave, her limbs would freeze up. Adalind brings up the symbols on the wall and after Eve admits to creating them, Adalind says that Diana has been making the same drawings. Adalind decides to do something long overdue and apologies to Eve for everything she's done to her. Before Eve can respond, Nick shows up, having been warned by Adalind that Eve is there. They discuss the tunnel drawings before Hank calls about the dead dude that Bug Wesen left in the alley.
Bug Wesen is busy getting his game on with his date . Bug Wesen talks about how much Portland had changed and that in 1950's there were five men to each woman. His poor unassuming date Mandy, responds that she'd settle for one good man.
At the spice shop, Monroe stares at the sketch that a police artist made of the Bug Wesen, unable to let go of the fact that he knows him from somewhere. Monroe starts to draw long hair on the sketch and when that fails adds glasses. Finally, Monroe realises that what's missing is beard. In a light bulb moment, Monroe realises that the reason the face is familiar is that it's William Stillman. William is the man who donated the land to become the park and his statue is prominently displayed in said park. Monroe is quick to realise that there's a reason Stillman donated the land.
Back to Renard, who enters Steiger's pawnshop. Renard admits to Steiger his belief that he is being haunted by a man he killed to put out out of his misery. Way to twist the facts there Renard. In payment, Renard offers him the ring his father passed down to him but Steiger smelling vulnerability, also demands his royal ring. Renard is ordered to strip down and step into a box which will supposedly pull the spirit out of him.
In the park, Bug Wesen is still doing his man on the make routine. He talks about how happy he is to be alive and his belief that most people don't appreciate what they have. Bug Man then asks Mandy for a kiss and she's happy to oblige. Bug Man then tells Mandy that they're going to be spending a lot of time together before bashing her on the head. The cops then show up on the scene and a battle ensures. Nick, Hank and Wu try but Bug Wesen seems to be too much for them. Luckily for the cops, Mandy wakes up and woges into some kind of hippopotamus Wesen and promptly bites off Bug Wesen's head. Mandy changes back and notes that Nick is the Grimm . Mandy asks what a girl has to do to find a good man in this town.
So the magic box does it's job and a mist of sorts is pulled out of Renard, only to solidify as Meisner and take over Steiger's body. Meisner then turns up the dials on the box, causing Renard to scream in pain, as the glass shatters.
When next we see Renard, he is regaining consciousness on the ground. Renard finds himself inside an empty pawn shop with a for sale sign on the door. Meisner smiles at Renard and tells him that a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
By far the most interesting part of this episode were the scenes involving Renard/Meisner and of course Adalind/Eve. As always, the Wesen of the week felt like a huge distraction and a tactic to draw out the story. With so few episodes left, all I really want is more meta. I don't need any distractions because after all of these years, we the viewing audience deserve some answers damn it.
After Renard's little incident with the pawn shop, I'm pretty sure that whatever evil he did for Black Claw was absolutely induced by magic. Something is clearly not right with him and it's time to redeem Renard and figure out what the hell is going on with him. So far, all we've seen are the ways he's being tortured and his ongoing isolation from the scoobies, who for sure would be able to figure out what is going on.
Adalind apologising to Eve is certainly long overdue. I do however think it's a bit ridiculous because Adalind is so far beyond forgiveness for the things that she's done. You don't say, hey, I'm sorry for raping your man and then stealing him from you. This is yet another attempt by the writers to push the idea that Adalind is somehow a good person now and has seen the error of her ways. Adalind cannot be redeemed.
I continue to love Monroe and Rosealee together. Finding out that they're having twins was absolutely wonderful. More than anyone, I really think that these two deserve a happy ending, even if I don't want to picture what their babies will woge into. Seeing Monroe being supportive and assert that they'll make it through this is a quick reminder that they don't have kids yet. Those three kids are going to outnumber them and run them ragged but yeah, stay positive. It's enough to make me wish for a spin off of Monroe and Rosealee raising those babies because hilarity will ensue.
Finally, as far as the case of the week, I'm of mixed opinion. They played off Mandy like a fat girl desperate for love. Sure it was subtle at times but so easy to pick up on. If that were not enough, they had a fat girl turn into a hippo. Let me say that again. They had a fat girl woge into a FUCKING HIPPO. It's fat shaming at it's finest. Do better Grimm.
