Grimm "The Seven Year Itch" Review

The title of the episode borrows from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, which starred Marilyn Monroe in her definitive role as The Girl. The similarities between Grimm and The Seven Year Itch begin and end at the title, but the episode concerns an immortal winged Wesen who emerges from the ground every seven years for one day of hard partying before he returns to the ground with a person he can feed on over the years.

The winged Wesen is William Stillman, the founder of the park, Stillman Square, where the bodies of people he killed were discovered. Stillman’s an immortal playboy too. He’s not much more than that. He wanders Portland, eats a lot, parties, kills folk, and charms women whom he wishes to eat over a number of years. Most of the episode is about this A story. Nick and Hank hit the usual beats. Monroe and Rosalee come in halfway to provide the ‘Eureka!’ moment. The twist at the end—his intended victim bites his head off—is strange only because of the sudden tonal shift. His victim was depicted as a lonely woman, but then she bites his head off and makes a wry, almost Monroe-esque remark about how hard it is to find a good guy as if she’s bitten the heads off of many poor suitors.

Elsewhere, Nick experienced a traumatic episode from a combination of being shot and the existence of the stick. Hank and Nick discussed the stick and wondered what its purpose is, why wasn’t it destroyed, what is its true power, the symbols on the cloth, etc. Him and Eve/Juliette seem connected by the stick. The stick saved their lives. Monroe’s not linked in with whatever stick mojo’s going on between Nick and Eve, probably because the writers forgot that the stick saved him. Whatever endgame exists for the stick and the death symbols will likely connect Nick and Juliette and bring them back together.

Meisner seemed to return to a corporeal form after he hijacked the body of Renard’s friend in the shop that doubled as a supernatural lab. Meisner continued to haunt Renard, so Renard tried to free himself from his old friend’s spirit by playing a carnival game. Diana told her mother that she wanted to see Meisner. She liked him because he saved her life and “made the king fly” (how Robin Arryn of her).  Adalind reminded her that she couldn’t see Meisner on account of his being dead, but Diana insisted. The kid knows everything, so his corporeal return must be for real, unless Renard was transported to an other world. Ultimately, this arc should transform Renard and return him to the side of (relative) good in the end.

Overall, it was a typical Grimm episode. Serialized elements were sprinkled around a forgettable A story.

-->

Jeff Miller wrote the episode. Lee Rose directed.