“In the morning, glad, I see
my foe outstretched beneath the tree.”
Apparently, chicks dig camo.
Well, that is according to the drunk, stereotypical hunter who, along with his buddy, runs afoul of a forest Wesen and its non-Wesen tree buddy. Grimm’s procedural story this year has followed an unfortunate pattern of mediocrity and “Tree People” does nothing to break this trend. Sure, it’s pretty cool to see a Groot-like creature lumbering around to some decent effects but action-wise, we don’t get much except Nick hammering the offending creature—known as a kinoshimobe—with an ax to the chest. Now, what “Tree People” does pretty well is give us an antagonist that is not inherently evil but whose actions are for the benefit of the planet. This isn’t the first time that Nick has been faced with that gray area type decision. Yes, as a cop, he has a duty to protect human life, something echoed by his status as a Grimm.
But who protects those Wesen that act through their biological imperatives, ones that, on the whole, is probably in the best interest in the long-run health of the world? Sadly, we’re never really given anything more than a cursory debate on this and had “Tree People” explored this area of conflict just a tad more, it would have made for a much more interesting outcome.
As far as the overall season arc goes, we do get two small nuggets that play into the coming horrors. Julieve breaks down her near-strangulation by the hand in the mirror and the gang hypothesizes that the skull man has a hankering for Eve and Nick. But the ever precocious and powerful Diana drops her intuitive knowledge about it. “It’s something that’s not real yet,” she says, further hinting that it’s from the “Other Side”. Leave it to this little girl to bring ominous tidings. Of course, Julieve, the assaulted person by the mirror man, wants to take a trip to this Other Side, not the most savvy of prospects should one wish to survive but the only way they may be able to gather more intel on what they are facing.
Meanwhile, Renard has his own conversation about what’s coming in the form of Dasha. The Russian woman—not sure if she’s Wesen, witch, studier of the Occult, etc—gives him a small tidbit of information on the symbols Diana sketched. Basically, it comes down to things being bad. Sure, that’s not going out on a limb by any stretch but it does push him to find out more and, in the long run, more than hints at the thought of the Captain and Nick working together again. Right now their relationship is frosty at best but the coming darkness is one of those things that threatens everyone; it’s not going to differentiate between Grimm and Zauerbiest. Sadly, with less than a month to go, our cast of characters don’t have much time to suss that out, cease their frosty interactions and realize that the enemy of my enemy is a handy ally to have.
Grimmtastic
- For the umpteenth time this year, it probably seems as if I’m down on Grimm. In a way I am: as I mentioned, there has been little in the way of strong storytelling this season—save for the first few episodes where it was Renard vs the White Hats. These Grimm writers have done a great job over the five-plus seasons creating monster-of-the-week episodes that were compelling and, at the same time, helped develop our characters. Not so much this year. Also, the big bad of the story hasn’t even been shown in the Grimm’s world and, with only a month left, it doesn’t give the big bad threat enough time to truly establish itself as anything more than a three-episode nuisance.
- The Kinoshimobe and Jubokko’s symbiotic relationship was a very interesting plot point. Despite my complaints about a lack of excitement, the lore behind these particular creatures makes me want to see now more than ever a Grimm compendium. Considering all the Wesen and non-Wesen creatures we’ve seen over the years, I for one would buy such a book in a heartbeat.
- Monroe is truly the only one that questions the killing of the Kinoshimobe–until Rosalee comes under fire–but it would have been much better if the situation presented was a bit less cut-and-dry. What if Rosalee had never been in danger? Also, does the Kinoshimobe understand the laws of the land? Considering the amount of hunting that goes down in the forests, it only attacks the poachers. Does that means it understands the intricacies of the rules of law as it pertains to lawful hunting versus poaching. It’s one of those little things that’s not explained and makes you go “hmmm”. One thing is certain, I’m glad that the Kinoshimobe will live to fight another day. Maybe, just maybe it will learn from its experience and realize that it should only be targeting the really bad environmental criminals…yeah, probably not.
