Grimm "Rat King" Review

The rat king story wasn’t much, was it? The community of people formed the rat king when threatened by outside aggressors. Knocking it over defeated it? NBC primarily promoted the rat king as the central story of the episode. Of course, the rat king’s barely a presence. Promoting the rat king, though, probably motivated some new viewers to watch a few minutes of “Rat King” until they realized how little “Rat King” there was, and how much of what they didn’t understand there was. Doctors and nurses first play it nice and clear and transparent with Nick before completely switching a day later? For those confused viewers, one hopes Mark Cuban’s Shark Tank sufficed as a substitute.

Trubel returned to Nick and Portland battered and bruised. She had a different name, an active passport, and multiple identification cards. Her passport showed she’d been around the world—to Malta and to Paris, among other cities I missed. Nick found plenty of money in her pocket. The expensive motorcycle she rode to him on shot darts and arrows from the back. She came from battle battle worn and battered, and Nick unknowingly put her in the care of enemies.

Yes, her care team at the hospital comprised members of the claws group rarely seen since #502. Strangely, they took care of her for the first 24 hours of care. The doctor told Nick the truth about her condition but added he needed to observe her overnight. I suspected the doctor of something. The nurse was his accomplice. Instead of immediately whisking her away to the basement of hospital where the doctor would slice her head open and not stitch it back together—yes, her care team wanted to kill Trubel—they let her rest comfortably in bed. The nurse slapped her awake to confirm her suspicions that they had a grimm. Nick even came by. The doctor told him they’d let him know when she woke. The prolonged period of rest raised Nick’s suspicions. This evil, brutal claws group looked foolish rather than threatening. A giant rat king provided a convenient distraction.

Meisner, though, that bearded badass, upon learning that Nick took Trubel to the hospital, knew she was in danger. Why Meisner sent Trubel to Nick and why he didn’t say more about why Trubel should remain away from public places where claws folk might be, ready and willing to slice Trubel’s head open and not stitch it back together, is a product of cheap writing. Poor communication between characters for the sake of dramatic action is cheap. Did Meisner hang up on Adalind because hearing her voice again made the blood rush to his heart and his heart skip a beat? I half-thought they’d passionately kiss when they saw each other. The episode ended before Nick learned all about what Meisner and Trubel have been up to while he combatted rat kings and orphaned children kidnapping Rosalee.

The scenes with Trubel showed that the claws have their, well, claws everywhere. Hospitals, financial institutions, plus those cities from around the world Trubel visited, and they’re willing to die for their cause. We knew they’d die for their cause. Remember the slightly comical death scene of the woman in #502? They’ll jump out windows and all that.

The writers chose more vagueness, though, which left “Rat King” flat. Next week’s mid-season finale, seemingly, will add definition to the global threat facing the grimm crew. The random aside of the rat king plot added a nifty surreal bizarre quality to the episode. I’d like Nick to deal with ongoing serialized stuff while investigating increasingly bizarre and fantastic crimes from the deepest recesses of fairy tale lore.

Other Thoughts:

-The mayor story’s definitely happening. I liked the sleek mayoral video parody. Renard had one scene in “Rat King.” He watched the video.

-How long before Meisner tells Adalind about Diana?

-Jeff Miller wrote the episode. David Solomon directed. Solomon directed many a Buffy episode. He’s had a hand in multiple shows run by ex-Whedonverse writers/producers.