“You will face yourself again
In a moment of terror.”
The worm has finally turned.
Backs against the wall, Nick and the gang are feeling the pressure of Renard’s crusade to take them all down. With few options, Nick embraces the age-old adage that ‘fortune favors the bold’ and revisits the ‘sorting hat’ transformation spell to become the one person he hates most: Captain and soon-to-be Mayor Sean Renard.
After being forced to resign by Renard, Hank and Wu head to the tunnels to meet up with Nick and Juliet. There, our Grimm breaks his daring plan to them and soon after, everyone else. As Rosalee works on the formula, Adalind is tasked with getting the Renard-specific ingredient: strands of the police captain’s hair. With only a minor hiccup during the gathering phase, Nick inhales the potion and transforms into Renard—woge abilities included.
While Nick and the gang prep for a major announcement, Renard has his own issue. Jeremiah, Rachel Woods’ co-worker confronts the captain about Rachel’s death. Turns out he saw Renard enter Rachel’s pad the same night of her death and needs some cool cash to remain silent about it. Enter Lt. Grossante. Renard tasks the officer and his potential replacement as captain to prove himself; what better way to do that than to eliminate a loose thread. We all know how it ends for Jeremiah (throat torn out), but Renard does have another brief flashback to Meisner’s demise as he watches the dying Jeremiah. Well, Captain, the night’s not going to get easier for you.
Though this season has covered a few days, a week at most, it’s felt like our white hats have been on the defensive with very few options to take. In that regard, it felt good to see Nick turn the tables on the oh so smug Renard. In one five minute news conference, he cuts Renard’s powerbase off at the knees while simultaneously clearing his own name. Yep, the man that’s had Nick on the run since the start of the season has been backed into a corner. Options limited, Renard requests a meet-and-greet with his doppelganger. Of course, we all know how that’ll end.
While not nearly as impressive as their throw down a few seasons back, the Renard vs Renard/Nick fight allows both parties to get out a bit of their pent up frustrations with one another before coming to an agreement: Renard will reinstate Nick, Hank, and Wu while Nick gives him the perfect cover for the North Precinct massacre—Bonaparte. Just like any good compromise, neither party is truly happy but it is good enough for now.
Returning to the gang, Nick gets the bad news that he can’t change back to his Grimm-ness…well, until Diana (brought to the shop by Ads) recognizes that Nick’s not her dad and blasts him through the door, triggering the spell. He’s back in his own body and Adalind couldn’t be happier. The same can’t be said for Diana…
And then there’s Renard. He returns home, tired and frustrated…only to come face-to-face with the last person he ever thought to see again.
“I tried to tell you…you choose the wrong side, Sean.”
Grimmtastic
- I knew there was no way they could keep up the cat-and-mouse game for long and thus arrived at the ideal solution: a soft reset. Don’t be fooled, the Nick/Renard battle is far from over but apart from driving Nick from Portland, this was the only way to settle things down enough to where they can throw in a few monster-of-the-week episodes (which seems to be in next week’s cards) while restarting the flame for a slow burn to the series finale.
- In that regard, both Nick and Renard have their own personal obstacles to face. For the Captain, it appears he has to shake off the memories of murdering his friend, Meisner because he is seeing the dead man with too much clarity to be a passing memory. It’s either that or Meisner is a lot more than just a resistance fighter and HW agent…
- For Nick, it’s a battle on two fronts. Putting aside his quarrel with Renard, he now has the very perceptive and dangerously powerful Diana with her eyes on him. She wants her mommy and daddy together and Nick is—in her opinion—the roadblock for that to happen. Additionally, we got to see a bit more of the Juliet side of Julieve, which begs the question: what happens if the Juliet we all know and love returns? Nothing against Adalind but her relationship with Nick seems to be one born more of wartime love than a true development of feelings. Guess we’ll find out just how things turn out over the next few months.
‘Grimm: Oh Captain My Captain’:
