Grimm "Wesen Nacht" Review

“Wesen Nacht” was a fine episode. The storytelling had purpose. The writers did not waste a scene. The Claws group returned to the forefront of the season. Last week’s episode showed the group had members within the healthcare industry, which added to their influence in the financial sector. While “Wesen Nacht” did not reveal new information about the group aside from their intricate planning, ability to attack, and ability to manipulate and influence other wesen, the episode showed yet again that they’re a group that won’t go down easily—unless Juliette’s there, in which case the group goes down really easy.

The final act showed the vulnerability of the gang. Nick, Hank, Wu, Renard, and Wu lacked the means to fight the Claws group. Limited ammo, backed into a group, things looked bleaked. Rosalee revealed ol’ Xavier deceived them all good. He played them. The Claws group threatened him into coercion. The enemies came from the ceiling, through the doors, but then the sounds of anguish and violence emanated from outside. Nick left the room to investigate. His friends followed. Juliette killed the last threat, emerged ever so briefly from the shadows, and disappeared. Who saw that coming?

Of course, nearly everyone watching the show guessed Juliette would return from the “dead” into a redemptive story. David Greenwalt swore Juliette died and would not return, but television writers do not kill characters in 2015. Glenn died in The Walking Dead until he didn’t. Kevin in The Leftovers died twice in less than twelve hours. Arrow brought back nearly every dead character between the end of season three and the early part of season four. The Vampire Diaries’ writers claimed that they would restore meaning to death after every significant character survived death; tts two stars, its leads, died in Thursday night’s episode. Will they return? Yes.

Trubel’s scene with Adalind tried to further mislead viewers from the thought that Juliette could return. I liked the scene very much. Adalind mostly carries Kelly around the warehouse; her and Nick act like children when one or the other needs to shower; and her reunion with Meisner last episode, which had potential for more, merely teased the audience. Adalind told Trubel about her history with Meisner. Trubel, however vaguely, told Adalind that Diana will be okay. Adalind thought Trubel returned specifically to take Juliette out. Trubel confirmed she did return to take Juliette out, but she left out a crucial detail: that her new group, the secretive government agency, so secret that the government does not know about it, wanted Juliette on their side. The threat’s so great it needs someone as recklessly powerful as Juliette. The scene’s significant for what it isn’t said, which often appears as bad writing rather than suspense, but what wasn’t said made the scene play on multiple levels which further enriched it. It’s rare Grimm’s writing has multiple things happening in a scene.

The central plot of the episode was Nick’s investigation of the Claws. Hank helped. Hank basically serves to warn wesen suspects that Nick, the grimm, would kill them if he wasn’t nice enough to bring him or her in for interrogation. The twist is the aforementioned Xavier led trap and new blonde arch-villain Billie Trump. Adalind’s a domestic ex-hexenbiest possibly in love with Nick, and Billie’s a scowling, violent badass who will kill folk. Billie’s what Adalind was. The previews for the post-hiatus run revealed more about what the bad guys want. Monroe’s explanation of “Fear what is hidden” did not touch on my idea that the wesen want to reveal themselves to the world. No one else in the scene wondered what the group wanted. Questions would’ve broken the narrative flow. Questions would’ve lessened the tension and the suspension.

Xavier’s role was problematic. Nick and Hank didn’t pursue Xavier’s escape story. Neither Monroe nor Rosalee asked him about what happened. Renard encouraged Nick and Hank to encourage Xavier to do the right thing. Rosalee asked the right questions after the guys left for the trap. Xavier cracked. Rosalee cracked his face. She saved the day. His friendship with them precluded the police officers from doing their jobs. Not once did Rosalee and Monroe interact with Xavier in the run of the series. The unseen lives of characters in a TV show could be narratively rewarding; however, the old ‘show, don’t tell’ adage applies to TV. They trusted him as a fellow small business owner and friend. Our trust in Monroe and Rosalee made us trust Xavier. We were all bitten, weren’t we? Well, I mean, it was blatantly obvious that Xavier did not escape and that he had a jawn plan.

Yes, “Wesen Nacht” was a fine episode of Grimm—the finest of this season. I want more of “Wesen Nacht” in the future, as I always do, but I expect more of the usual from Grimm in the New Year.

Other Thoughts:

-If I interviewed the actors in a Foot exclusive, I’d ask how silly they feel when they need to woge for the camera. I would’ve laughed after Sasha Roiz whipped around to scare Billie. Will Renard’s woge out on her have consequences later in the season? Wu’s reaction to Renard rocked.

-I hope I did not misunderstand, but Trubel worked with Meisner’s crew during her absence last season, correct? I missed the agency’s name each time a character mentioned it. If the Claws group has a name, I don’t know it. I’ll continue referring to them as the Claws or Claws group.

-David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf wrote the episode. I missed the name of the director. The series will return sometime in 2016. I presume Grimm returns in early January, but what the hell do I know? I run a blog with a nonsensical title. I’ll continue writing my reviews in the New Year.