Grimm "Leave It To Beavers" Review

Nick is increasingly more badass with each passing episode. "Leave it to the Beavers" had his most badass moment to date, a moment which makes him feared within the sub-world of Grimm and creature. Nick is an enigma to the many hard-to-pronounce names of the creatures in the world. The death of Aunt Marie and his succession of her in the Grimm line created a huge question mark. Perhaps crimes among creatures jumped because of their preconceived notions of this inexperienced Grimm. Nick always handled his business though. Not every case went smoothly though. The ogre destroyed him. Monroe carried his ass for weeks. Now, he's discovered more about his ancestry, his abilities, learned from his mistakes, picked himself up, and started kicking ass alone. Monroe helped Nick train in the woods in the teaser and remarked at how good Nick is with weapons and hitting his target. His adeptness with super bow-and-arrow and super baseball bat comes in handy when those brutal and cold Reapers stroll into town intent on killing the Grimm.

The Eisbibers, or beavers, were important tonight. Arnold, one of the beavers, witnessed the brutal murder of a man in a construction deal gone horribly awry. The murder is a helshleesen (positive I botched that), a troll-type figure who requires money before anyone crosses the bridge. One of the beavers makes this direct reference to the fairy tale. Sal, the killer, is a mob-type figure; he employs nasty-looking men, of the same species, and they generally rule with their fists in construction-bridge deals. Sal saw the person who witnessed the murder but couldn't kill him. Arnold isn't brave though, heck, none of the beavers are. By nature, they're a cowardly bunch. Arnold hides and none of the other beavers want to 'out' him to the world because they're afraid of the consequences. Bud wants his people to change though; his friendship with Nick, to him, is significant progress in transforming the mind frame of the Eisbibers. It's hard for anyone to change overnight.

Nick didn't change overnight. Parallels were drawn between the Eisbibers and Nick. Nick wasn't always brave or smart. The dude made mistakes, got his ass kicked, but he kept getting up and fighting. The beavers aren't blessed with those qualities. Strangely, I thought of Ned's line to little Bran in A Game of Thrones during various scenes with Bud and his Eisbiber clans: "Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" "That is the only time a man can be brave." Nick tried to instill this sense of bravery within the Eisbibers when he met with them at their lodge. Arnold stood in the back, slouched when Nick called for him to come forward, and went back into his hole; however, he overheard a conversation between Bud and the other guy whose name I missed, in which Bud says he's never been so ashamed to be a beaver as he was during the meeting. Arnold, though scared, decided to be brave. The connection to GoT isn't smooth because Arnold's a grown-up working in construction, and Bran is a child. Regardless, the essence of Ned's words translates to Grimm. Nick needed people to be brave. Arnold comes forward and identifies Sal. Overnight, he became a hero. Nick, too, as evidenced by the multitude of fruit baskets and pie delivered to his home. I really liked this story of bravery and overcoming fear.

Creatures all over Portland obviously fear Nick. I didn't mean to dismiss him as a threat in my first paragraph. Sal was one of the rare creatures who reacted in annoyance to the presence of a Grimm. One would think news would've spread throughout Portland of the Portland detective who doubles as a Grimm, but creatures still feel surprise when they see him. Sal wants to take care of the problem, so he calls for the Reapers. The Reapers kill Grimms. Monroe ran into a beating for working closely with Nick. Nick fought the two Reapers and won convincingly. The dude tapped into his supernatural ancestry and dispatched of both in less than 90 seconds; and then he sent both heads to Germany with a message, "Next time, send your best." This could be season 1's iconic moment, when Nick became a true and fearsome Grimm.

I loved the dinner scene between Nick, Juliette and Monroe. Monroe and Nick needed to make up a story about how they met and became friends without revealing the truth. Guintoli and Weir had great moments in silence as they reacted to Juliette's acceptance of their story. Hank is the odd man out still. I'd like for Hank to be integrated into the story more. Russell Horsnby is great in the role and it seems like there should be room for the Hanks and the Wus of the world when things with Renard and the Portland PD explode.

I can't write it enough times: Grimm is a really enjoyable show. I have fun watching it every week.

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