Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Grimm, Season Five, Episode Thirteen: Silence of the Slams


With Nick and Monroe back from Germany, we get a return to the Wesen of the week.  This week's case involves luchador masks which are made from the faces of a woged Wesen.  Goyo is tired of being a loser.  The promoter doesn't see him as special at all and so instead of being celebrated, each week he is paid to lose. A luchador lives and dies by the stories he tells and now Goyo is determined to be a hero.  Goyo seeks out a new mask and balks at first when he is told that he will have to surrender half of his winnings but the desperation to be seen as great finally forces him to agree. Unfortunately for Goyo, signing away half of the money he makes is only the beginning of his sacrifices.  Benito makes Goyo sign a contract in blood. Tell me, who the hell is told that they have to sign in blood and doesn't immediately decides that this is a bad idea?

In order to create the mask, Benito attacks a fellow Wesen and cuts off his face.  This is the point when the cops are forced to investigate.

Goyo is pleased when he receives his new mask but is very cavalier when is he told by Benito that he is never to wear the mask outside of the ring. Goyo's next fight is with  El Mayordomo.   El Mayordomo is shocked that Goyo is not following the script and when he is placed into a submission role, he is forced to admit his defeat.  Goyo put on such a show that the promoter decides to take Goyo on.  An ecstatic Goyo pays Benito 50% of his take. Outside of the shop, Goyo is attacked by an angry  El Mayordomo and when it's clear that this is one street fight he isn't going to win, Goyo puts on the mask and ends up killing  El Mayordomo. I guess this answers the question of why Goyo didn't just try to win the fight on his own without paying such a hefty fee for a new mask. Clearly, he may think he is a winner but that doesn't match with his ability.  An upset Goyo, takes off his mask and hurries home.

To be clear, Goyo should have a great understanding of exactly what wearing the mask does to him at this point but when he arrives back home, does he toss the mask in the garbage like anyone sensible would? Why of course not. Goyo puts the mask back on and unfortunately, this time he cannot get it off. Predictably, the mask makes Goyo feel real rage and he smashes everything in his apartment.

With yet another dead body, Nick and Hank continue their investigation which leads them to Benito. Nick and Hank arrive at the shop to find Goyo beating up Benito.  I cannot help but see this as karma given that Benito killed someone else to make the mask and knew damn well when he sold the mask to Benito what it would do him.  Nick and Hank manage to get Goyo under control but Benito still dies.

Who does Nick call when he has a Wesen problem? Why Monroe and Rosalie of course.  With Benito dead, it's now up to Rosealee to help get the mask off of Goyo.  Rosalie pours boiling water on Goyo while saying a spell.  The mask comes off and Goyo is horrified with what he has done. Goyo ends up in a mental hospital.  I really hate the idea of woo caused mental illness, particularly when there's a link between mental illness and violence.


Well, that's it for Grimm's Wesen of the week.  With everything going on, I cannot help but wonder why it is that Grimm couldn't simply have a meta episode rather than reverting to Wesen of the week? Really, what did the story line about the luchadors really accomplish besides showing that Grimm simply loves to mine cultures of colour? It wasn't even vaguely interesting.

I'm far more interested in the fact that Nick and the Scoobies have decided that they won't tell anyone about the magical stick and this includes Adalind.  It seems that despite having feelings for her, Nick isn't taking any chances with this Grimm artifact. Adalind questions what might happen if she becomes a Hexenbiest again and Nick says that they'll deal with it, pointing out that Adalind is not who she used to be and that they have Kelly. What about what she is which is a rapist?  Yeah, they'll deal but he's still not telling her about the magical healing stick. It's worth noting that Nick doesn't even bother to ask Adalind where this is all coming from.  In terms of Adalind, I really hate that her vulnerability is so obvious.  Adalind has no way of supporting herself without Nick and she has done virtually nothing about that.  She's absolutely unrecognizable at this point.  I don't like that Nick is shacking up with his rapist but at the same time, it's only happening because Adalind has lost all of her power and is now this wilting dependent flower.

As it turns out, becoming a Hexenbiest again may not be Adalind's only problem.  Eve has been re-watching the video of Andrew's murder and she picks up on the fact that Rachel looked up in the direction that the sniper shot came from.  Eve follows Renard and Rachel to a restaurant and listens in as Rachel reveals that the plan is for Renard to run for mayor and that to be a successful candidate, he is going to need a family.  Renard is shocked to learn that Rachel knows all about Diana.  Renard is still pretty noncommittal at this point but I don't think that he is going to align himself with Black Claw.  Renard however always plays the long game and one can never be quite sure what he is up to. I really want to see Renard's plot intersect more with the other characters because he has been pushed off to the side quite a bit this season.  I want to see the group team up the way they did to rescue Monroe and bring the awesome against Black Claw.  Renard does tell Adalind that he might know a way to get Diana back and this means that at least for the purposes of getting his daughter back, he might consider a temporary alliance.  Adalind will certainly push him in this direction, particularly given how insecure she feels about her present situation and how much she misses her daughter. Either way, the end result of this will be interesting.