Black Claws
strive to restore what is old and lost. “Star Crossed” explored the idea of
history and ritual. The drought served as a multi-symbol, literal and
figurative. It provided a realistic backdrop for the series of ritualistic
murders in the rain-starved West Coast recently ravaged by wildfires. Farmers
struggle to provide crops. Metaphorically, the drought represents the wesen
that feel dried out and forgotten. Grimm has used Black Claws primarily as a
reflection of terrorism around the world. “Star Crossed” mixed reflections of
terrorism with reflections of a large swath of angry Americans fed up with
politicians, how the country’s been run, etc. The writing’s ambitious, complex,
and layered. Mark Holloway, the person-of-interest in the episode, told his
wayward son, who’s drawn to Black Claw by their message of taking back what is
theirs, reminds him that he’s following those that believe what is old is true
though it’s nothing but superstition. His son, Jonathan, chose Black Claw over
his father. His father represents their heritage as it is: honest,
hard-working, and free of ritualistic sacrifice. Black Claw preached the old
heritage of ritualistic sacrifice.
I don’t know
whether Grimm’s insane for dressing up its supernatural narrative as a parallel
to the contemporary ideological battle happening all over the world about
Islam, to Islamaphobia, to right-wing extremist politics, or whether I’m
reading into it too much. Black Claws is a fictional amalgamation of the
Islamic State, Al-Nusra, and Boko Haram—these terrorist groups preaching an old
extremist kind of Islam. Jonathan’s a proxy for the thousands of young men
joining ISIL every month: he’s young, uneducated, vulnerable to the ideas spoken
by a powerful orator whose power the powerlessness and spread how it was to the
world—to displace people rather than being displaced. Jonathan didn’t perform
the ritualistic murders as I predicted, but how long until he becomes an active
part of the group instead of a passive listener?
“Star Crossed”
is full of old, forgotten things. The killer left symbols on the back of the
crosses he used, marks which symbolized water, rain, and the fertile earth.
Hank and Nick traced the runes to pre-Christ history. Rosalee helped them
translate Irish, an endangered language because of British colonizers, to which
Monroe expressed his sincere admiration in discovering another amazing part of
his wife. Adalind, too, knows about rituals and uses her knowledge to help
Nick. Nick, like Monroe, is swept away by a completely new aspect of a person
he thought he knew. Science has rooted out mystical rituals as a way to bring
forth fruit into the world; however, the rain falls after Nick and Hank kill
the ritualistic serial killer (whose name I already forgot!). Nick told Hank
not to think too much into the rain fall. The viewer’s left with the image of
rain fall, of the possibility that it worked, and, actually, if the rain fall’s
a mere coincidence, Black Claw can use the rain fall as proof the old way
achieved what the new way could not. They win, either way.
Black Claw won’t
win, of course. Hadrian’s Wall will. Nick and the gang still haven’t joined.
All involved want to know more about the group, why they should trust them, and
why they should help them They missed seeing Hadrian’s Wall’s interrogation
methods. Meisner gives the suspect 7 seconds to talk. Trubel immediately says
it won’t work. Eve comes in to take away the suspect’s mouth, eyes, and ears.
They return later to hear the suspect speak. Their suspect in “Star Crossed”
gave them little. They couldn’t get a name for the dangerous Black Claw member
currently in Portland.
Monroe went
undercover in the barn where Duncan Jones—or Douglas Jones?—to learn more about
the Black Claw messaging architecture. He reported to Nick that the orator
whipped wesen into a fervor. Monroe, Rosalee, Nick, Hank, Wu, and Renard can’t
beat Black Claw alone. They’ll need Hadrian’s Wall. What’ll happen to unite the
two may be the case of the Fuilcre, or something else. Maybe Lucien takes the
last Burger King Chicken Fries of the night from Nick and Hank during a late
night stop for a snack.
So, Hadrian’s
Wall made it clear Black Claw aims to imitate Adolf Hitler, but Grimm’s going
bigger by mixing in other contemporary issues. The writers may’ve dropped the
clear parallels in future episodes. It may act as a way to communicate to the
viewer the implications of the wesen takeover. Of course, I sort of doubt it,
considering Meisner and Trubel told Nick that all the turmoil in the world
stems from Black Claw. It may be a wonderful disaster, an incoherent mess, a
coherent disappointment, or it may work really well. Greenwalt and Kouf meant
it when they promised an epic story.
Other Thoughts:
-Rosalee’s
friend from the past called. Monroe yelled at him. He hung up. I wonder if he’s
the mystery man Hadrian’s Wall wants.
-Renard
continued to sleep with the campaign manager. She complimented his posture. Her
name is Rachel Wood.
-Sean Calder
wrote the episode. Carlos Avila directed it.
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