Cinderella's Revenge

Grimm, S01E20

Nick had to handle the murder of a woman named Mavis, who had been killed by a bat-like Wesen.  The suspects were the woman's family members, especially those who had asked her for money just before her death.  When one of Mavis' daughters turned up dead with her stepdaughter's godfather Spencer at the scene, Nick arrested him, despite there was no evidence to prove he had did it.  Nick finally learned that the real killer was Lucinda, the stepdaughter, from Spencer's confession at the police station.  Nick went to stop Lucinda from killing the second daughter with a Grimm weapon that Monroe brought him, but it was Spencer who finished her off.  However, Spencer took her life at the cost of his own.  Juliette also got Nick some more information about the car crash that killed his parents.  Instead of finding closure, he got the name of only still-living suspect who might be able to explain his parents' death.

The beginning of this episode was so long (aka revealing a Wesen-related murder) that I wasn't even sure I was really watching an episode of Grimm.  That actually was a good thing because I am unusually inattentive during the murder scenes.  I tend to ignore that part because it's typically short and slightly unimportant (because you know that Nick's going to be dragging his ass before he figures it out), but this time their spin on the Cinderella tale was interesting.  Especially because it was set after the couple had supposedly had their happy ending, but instead were experiencing financial trouble and had to beg the stepmother for money.  I was so invested in the strained relationship between Mavis and Lucinda's family (Arthur and Spencer) that I almost forgot about the existence of the Wesen and the Grimm world at all.  Thus, when a bat creature popped out from under Mavis' bed, I actually jumped in my seat.  I really forgot I was watching the kind of show that Grimm is. 

I, of course, thought that the Wesen that killed Mavis was Spencer for a second, but when I thought about how he was best friends with Lucinda's dad, I knew there was no way that her dad wasn't a bat too (I doubt anyone could go such a long time without knowing their best friend wasn't as human as they appeared to be).  I understand that Lucinda wanted to get her "rightful" inheiritence by getting rid of her step-family, but I don't know why it took her so long to do so.  Either Arthur must have been making such good money that she didn't feel a need to bother with them or either she just was so traumatized by her father's passing that it never crossed her mind to eliminate them until her supposedly wealthy husband looked like he was going to be penniless.  I dunno.  I just would think that after all the years of her step family's abuse, she might have used her eyeball-popping screech once or twice before Arthur came into her life.  And speaking of her husband, I feel really bad that she dropped him like a bad habit once she went on her money-grubbing murdering spree.  But I did like the idea of the Cinderella type being the villain, while the stepmother and stepsisters were the victims.  No matter what they did to Lucinda in the past, I'm sure it wasn't horrible enough to deserve a brain-splattering death.

Monroe didn't have many scenes this time, but I liked when he and Nick were in the Grimm trailer, looking for information about the bat Wesen.  It was cute how excited Monroe was to try out the device that would cancel out the bat attack.  I'm surprised that Nick was nice enough to let him do the honors of trying it out.  When it comes to using Monroe, Nick rarely gives his "servant" any perks to helping him.  I just thought that the weapon was a little cumbersome to use.  I mean, you had to put it on a stand and then crank it.  It's not something that's very mobile, that's for sure.  I couldn't see that being very useful if they had to chase Lucinda throughout the rest of the night.  Lucky for them that Spencer took care of her.

Concerning Spencer, I think he was a damn loyal friend and good godfather.  He might have been a bit of a busybody, but he kept his promise for a long time.  I mean, Arthur seemed to not know his left foot from his right without Spencer there to tell him what to do.  Maybe he was just like that since he invested his money in the wrong person, but from what was shown in the episode, he seemed like a pretty helpless guy most of the time.  Spencer was the rock that made sure Arthur gave Lucinda everything she wanted so she would fly off the handle.  He even went as so far to kill her to stop her from killing more innocent people.  It's not as if he could turn her and tell the police everything she had done--he tried to do that with Hank there and he thought he was insane.  That was a great scene, by the way.  I thought Nick would be exposed as a Grimm, but Hank didn't believe Spencer for a second.  I almost wished he had because I would love to see Nick have to explain that one.

I must admit, though, Nick was smart to submit the Grimm weapon as evidence of Lucinda's crimes.  There would be no other way in the world that he could have logically explained the way Mavis and Tiffany were killed.  Still, is it safe to leave that kind of powerful weapon at the police station?  I kind of worry about what Renard might do with that thing.  He's no stranger to the Wesen world, so he might have a use for it one day.  Hell, Nick might have a use for it one day (who knows when another bat might cross his path?).  How smart is it to get rid of the one thing that could handle those creatures?  Even though Nick just started using the tools Marie left him, it seems that they are his best bet to effectively take care of murderous Wesen.  Yet he's just throwing them away like he has enough know-how to survive without them.  If this show was slightly more realistic, Nick would have been dead from almost every episode so far.

My biggest complaint about Nick digging into his past again was why couldn't he do the digging himself?  Why is it that Juliette is better at getting information from the police than her own cop boyfriend?  This is like the second time or so this has happened and it still puzzles me.  Either Nick is a shittier investigator than I thought or Juliette must have some past with the police that I failed to remember.  What Nick found out also had me a little confused.  I don't know why only now he found out that his parents' accident had been reclassified as a murder, but he never knew.  Granted, it happened while he was a child, but you would think once he became part of the law force that he would check into that once or twice.  It's just dumb.  Unless it just was all too painful for him to think about it again.  I could buy that if I had seen Nick agonizing about it more.  We rarely get to see Nick's emotional side, so I don't buy his internal pain at the moment.  Besides that, I'm slightly interested in the last living suspect, Akira.  I don't know what he'll be able to tell Nick, but it's curious that there is still someone around who can shed a little light into Nick's past.

This was one of the better adaptations of the fairy tales that Grimm has come up with (not the best but still good).  I almost wish that I could have seen the story before it had gotten to the point where murder was involved.  There wasn't much development this time, as far as any of the overall mysteries, but at least Nick has gotten interested in his parents' death again.  With that being explored again there's a bit of hope we might glimpse into Nick's emotional depth.  It'd be nice to see him as something more than a bumbling, lucky fool with a pretty face.

More Like A Grimm And Less Like A Cop

Grimm, S01E19

Nick started training with some of the Grimm weapons he had with Monroe's help.  Juliette invited Monroe to dinner, and Nick and he had to lie to her about their relationship.  One beaver Wesen named Arnold witnessed a murder by a troll Wesen named Sal.  Since he called 911 before he fled, Nick and Hank were able to find out his identity and address.  Nick noticed that he was friends with Bud, a beaver Wesen whom he had met a few times before.  Arnold went into hiding, but after Nick spoke to Bud and some of the other people in the beaver lodge, Arnold decided to identity Sal so they could make the arrest.  Before Nick arrested Sal, Sal hired some reapers to take care of Nick, but the reapers turned on Sal so that they could get information about Nick.  Nick was attacked by the reapers when he tried to take Arnold home and successfully killed both reapers.  With Monroe's help, Nick and he sent the heads of the reapers back to their headquarters (?) to send them a warning.

After fighting so many creatures that could have easily torn Nick to shreds (his luck to avoid injury from most fights is unbelievable--literally), Nick decided to train with some of those Grimm weapons he has had from almost the beginning.  What the hell??  What has taken him so damn long?  He is a police officer and a normal human being (to any non-Wesen), so I'll admit that if he started regularly carrying things like crossbows and axes, he would look a like a psycho.  Still, most of his battles were done somewhere private with enough time for him to grab a relevant weapon to use.  He needs to keep some of those weapons in the house (where Juliette would never look--definitely not in the sock drawer like his damn ring) and have them ready to go.  Of course, Nick has little trouble using any of the tools he practiced with in this episode.  That, despite his police background, I just find hard to swallow.  Nick looks like you could take him down by throwing a rock at him.  I wish that we could have seen him a little less "naturally skilled" at using the weapons.  He may be a Grimm, but so far he hasn't really exuded any kind of special skill, so it's strange he's that good on his basically first try.

What I did like about his training session was when Monroe attacked him and later Nick was on top of him.  After Nick scolding him for doing exactly what he needed (a sudden attack by a Wesen), Monroe asked him to get off because it was "awkward."  It actually seemed just about right to me.  I feel like there's more sexual chemistry between Monroe and Nick than there is with Juliette.

Speaking of Juliette, it's not so random that she invited Monroe to dinner.  I think it might be a little later than I would have thought if it were to thank him for saving her life.  That seems like it was ages ago.  I just think that  Nick, despite that he would have trouble explaining why he knows Monroe, shouldn't have been so resistive about the dinner.  I mean, damn.  Monroe has done a lot of free things for Nick--that selfish bastard can at least allow him one free dinner!  I won't even comment on how bad they were at keeping their lies straight, but I will say that Juliette better not be dumb enough to let their obvious secrecy slide.  What I really want to mention is that Juliette served them vegan salmon.  I'm not a vegan, so I may not just understand why that doesn't sound ridiculous, but it does to me.  I can't imagine eating artificial seafood.  Nor could I imagine serving it to guests.  What if Monroe wanted some damn meat??  I'm just saying, it's an odd choice for a first-time guest.

Onto the murder of Robert by Sal.  Sal was such a stereotypical construction guy.  He even had goons who looked like they just walked out of a bad mob movie.  Wow.  I'm still not too clear as to why Sal decided to go with reapers to get rid of Nick.  Getting rid of Nick was a good idea (if he had no idea of how weak Nick really is), but I don't see why he didn't just send one of the many trolls after him.  I was expecting that.  I wasn't expecting to see this headquarters (what is this place where these reapers are all gathered??) for the reapers who were taking requests from regular Wesen like Sal (I assume he's nothing too special).  What was even stranger was that the reapers beat the crap out of Sal from the beginning, wanting answers.  He had asked them to get rid of the Grimm, and they thought he was his friend?  Do these reapers have any kind of intel on Nick at all?  I'm wondering if the reason most reapers don't know much about Nick is because Renard is protecting him in some way.  More than the reapers' interrogation of Sal, I wanted to know why some Wesen have the means to contact reapers for hired kills (do you pay them?).  Probably a question that I will never have answered.

Nick attending the beaver lodge meeting was a little interesting.  It didn't do anything to convince the beaver community to stand with Nick.  However, they didn't want to anger him either, which was indicated by the elder (or whoever it was) requesting that Nick not cut off their heads for opposing him.  That made me laugh.  As if Nick could or would.  After that failure of a meeting, Nick told Bud that he was really courageous to approach him as he did.  Uh, I wouldn't have called Bud's actions brave or anything of the like.  He went to Nick basically groveling as if Nick would smite him if he didn't.  If Nick had punched him lightly in the arm, Bud would probably have crapped his pants.  Still, I think I like Bud and his Wesen kind.  Arnold eventually did the right thing and helped locked Sal away, and Nick was showered with gifts by all the beavers Wesen in Portland after everything was said and done.  I don't know why just putting away Sal was good enough to keep the rest of the trolls in line. Won't the others go ahead and take revenge on the beaver people?  Or did the news of Nick killing the reapers scare all the troll folk away?

I will admit that Nick's fight with the reapers was one of his best fights.  I expected Nick to get his ass kicked, but he was moving so nimbly that they didn't even seem like a problem for him.  Granted, his quick moves allowed one of them to chop off the head of the other (how convenient), but I thought for sure Nick would be in real trouble this time.  I mean, he had prepared to fight trolls!  Reapers were a wild card that should have tripped him up a little more than they did.  All complaints aside, I liked Nick escaping from near beheading and taking the heads of the reapers himself instead.  He called Monroe when the deed was done (of course--leave the dirty work to him) and told him to bring a shovel.  They both agreed that they needed to send a message to the reapers to let them know they meant business because surely more reapers would come after him.  I'm not sure that sending their heads back to the headquarters was such a great idea.  It does raise a lot of questions, though.  The most important to me is why does Monroe know where to send the box where the reapers gather?  Is this common knowledge among the Wesen?  If you know where they are, why not go to them and take them out?  However, I did see that the box looked like it was addressed to Germany (and it was airmailed, so definitely out of the USA), so I guess Nick can't just fly off somewhere and kill people as he pleases (not yet, I guess).  Also, the reapers that came for him were special "Grimm reapers."  Why are there specific reapers?  These questions hurt my head.  I feel like I need a guidebook when watching this show.

There were quite a few more questions that I didn't care to add to my list, but I still think this was a good episode because Nick started to act a little more like a Grimm.  I always thought, from the time I saw Aunt Marie fight a Wesen in the street, that Nick would be brandishing more odd, but interesting weapons to dispose of those creatures, but it's taken him to almost the end of the season to really take advantage of the supplies he had been bequeathed.  Besides Nick owning a little more of his Grimm persona, I like that the reapers are becoming more and more an important part of this whole Wesen creature world mystery.  More questions are irritating to me, but I'm intrigued enough by the reapers that I'll see if this show can enlighten me.  As always, though, I won't hold my breath.