“Sleep is good, death is better;
But of course, the best thing
Would to have never been born at all.”
A Wesen that feeds on your sleep? Is nothing sacred anymore?!
Despite it being a shortened final season, we’re hit with another Grimm monster-of-the-week though, this time we are given a few plot point nuggets that will play dividends down the road.
But first, the not so exciting Wesen storyline.
Dan Wells, an older, down on his luck gentleman staying at the Englewood Hotel, gets a visit from one of the uglier Wesen you’ll ever see—along with some less than impressive CGI. Were it not for the aftereffects of the visitor—Dan kills a man looking to help him—said Wesen probably goes unnoticed. But Nick and Hank are soon on the case and, after digging into the hotel, recognize that this isn’t the first time strange occurrences have happened between its walls. Cutting through the muck, Monroe volunteers as bait to draw out this sleep-sucking Wesen (the Alpe) and it works; they track the Alpe down, following it through hidden tunnels between the walls and to Beverly Garwood, the hotel owner. With a Wesen of her ilk, there’s only one real ending and despite Nick’s insane suggestion of giving her an out, Beverly thinks her best bet is to attack a grimm (and his two companions). Needless to say, she won’t be bothering anyone ever again.
Now that the boring stuff’s out of the way, there were some very interesting developments on both the mysterious symbols front and Renard’s affiliation with Black Claw. Starting with the latter, the police captain gets a visit from Anselmo Baledin, the voice Renard has spoken with several times. Playing up the part of gangster, he tells Renard “I’m here to clean up your mistakes” but Renard is full of surprises. I knew he was dealing with his own issues and was in limbo as far as Black Claw went but there is no hesitation when he officially kicks Black Claw to the curb. Their response is unsurprisingly unoriginal—kill him when he gets to his car—but Renard gets help from a most unexpected place. Meisner. The figment of Renard’s imagination is much more than that, alerting the captain of the ambush and even assisting him in getting through it. His last words before disappearing—“This time you choose the right side, Sean”—begs the question: is he gone for good and, more importantly, is Renard back in step with the white hats?
Finally, we had Nick and Julieve take pictures of the symbols Julieve carved into the tunnels to Monrosalee for analysis. Monroe’s the first one to recognize something: The Pleiades, a cluster of seven stars associated with times of mourning and used often by ancient civilizations. One thing leads to another and the theory of the symbols forming some sort of ancient calendar bears great fruit when Julieve and Rosalee discover that, when aligned, the calendar points to a future date: March 24th. It doesn’t get more ominous than that…
Grimmtastic
- This was a very weak entry into the Grimm series and, to add to it, there were two mind-numbing decisions made by characters. First are the two Black Claw members who are waiting to kill Renard in the garage of the FREAKING police station where there are, oh I don’t know, lots of cops AND cameras. Sure, Meisner would have probably helped Renard spot them even if they’d been hiding behind Renard’s mulberry bush but still, not what I’d call professional assassins.
- Second was Nick’s insane decision to let Beverly Garwood go, despite knowing that some other poor individuals would be victim to her attacks and would eventually go insane. A close second is her death wish of an attack against one Grimm, a police officer with a gun, and a Blutbad. Her chances of taking them down was none and none while her chances of survival had she taken Nick’s deal was close to 100%…she chose poorly.
- I almost feel like Renard as it pertains to the whole Meisner haunting. Things appeared pretty cut-and-dry in the sense that the visions were nothing more than Renard’s guilt at betraying a man that had fought by his side for years. But then we have Meisner interacting with the world itself—temporarily blinding one of the blundering assassins—which now begs the question of what in the H-E-double hockey sticks does it all mean? Maybe we’ll get answers in the coming weeks or maybe Meisner is gone for good with his sole purpose to get Renard back onto the good guy train. I have a feeling that, when the time comes, Nick and the gang will need all the help they can get.
- Finally, that date (March 24th): it’s the premiere night for the season’s penultimate episode. Considering the series finale title (“The End”) and the foreboding hints at death throughout the first half of this season, I’d put good money that some serious business is going to hit the fan come then. Is it Black Claw? Something following the origins of the Stick or a combination of the two? Time will tell. Until then, I really would like to see the quality of Grimm pick up from here. After all, we only have a handful of episodes left before our Grimm family is gone for good. Send them out right.
