Sunday, April 17, 2016

Grimm, Season Five, Episode Seventeen: Inugami



"Revenge
is the act of passion,
vengeance
is an act of justice."

For once, I'm not going to complain too much about the balance between the meta and the Wesen of the week storyline.  Le't just deal with the Wesen of the week and get it over with so we can get to the good stuff.

Brian is home alone and his parents have gone out for the night.  He is abducted by an Inugami bent on seeking justice for a family that he is honour bound to seek revenge for.  Brian and his friend Roger, were just convicted of negligent homicide in the death of their friend Kuma.  When Brian awakes, he is buried neck deep in sand.  Though Brian begs for mercy, the Inugami cuts off his head and tosses it under a bridge.

The cops investigate and Brian's parents lead them to Kuma's parents because his father had threatened Brian when he only received five years probation for his role in Kuma's death. Nick takes note of the ceremonial swords on Jin's walls as Jin explains that he doesn't believe that his son's death was an accident.  The cops head back to the precinct. 

Denis (Brian's dad) decides that he is going to get to the bottom of the death of his son and pays Kuma's parents a visit.  Fortunately for Brian, his wife had called to warn Nick and he and Hank rush to the Akagis. Jin woges and knocks out Denis and when Nick and Hank arrive, they find Denis on the ground unconscious. Back at the station, Denis explains that he was attacked by some sort of animal which gets Nick and Hank's spidey sense tingling.  Nick and Hank then talk with Jin, his wife Madoka, and their lawyer Takeshi.  It turns out that Akagis have a good alibi for the time of Brian's death. 

Nick and Hank decide to talk to Roger and his mother.  Roger reveals that when the gun went off, Kuma woged and both he and Brian saw it.  Roger's mother is convinced that what they saw was influenced by drugs.  Hank and Nick however know better and decide to head back to Jin and Madoka's place to talk off the record. When Nick reveals that he is a Grimm, Madoka and Jin woge in a panic, afraid for their lives. They talk about Brian's death and Jin reveals that a ghost dog - Inugami must have done it.  They narrow it down to Takeshi, because Madoka's father once saved his life, thus putting him into an honour debt with the Akagi family.  

Jin, Hank and Nick head to Roger's home and there they find Roger's mother unconscious.  They decide to head back to where Brian was taken and it's Jin who finds Takeshi standing over top of Roger, who is buried up to his neck in sand.  Jin tries to absolve Takeshi of his responsibility for vengeance but Takeshi will not be swayed.  Desperate, Jin throws himself between Takeshi and Roger, only to be roughly pushed aside and informed that while Takeshi can't kill him, Takeshi will not allow Jin to stop him.  Enter Nick and a fight breaks out between him and Takeshi. It's Hank who brings the fight to an end by pulling his service weapon.  

This is yet another episode of Grimm which involves mining of cultures of colour for woo woo.  It wouldn't be as offensive if Grimm would ever get around to paying more attention to the characters of colour they do have.  Hank is Nick's sidekick and Wu seems to exist for snark.  This episode is appropriation but what I've come to expect from Grimm

On to the stuff that we care about.

Eve goes to see Nick to talk about what she learned about Renard, after spending time with Rachel. Eve admits to sleeping with raping  Rachel, explaining that she didn't know that Renard and Rachel had that kind of relationship.  As a parting shot, Eve reveals that the suppressant which was given to Adalind will stop working eventually and that Adalind will become a Hexenbiest again. Nick heads to see Monroe and Rosealee, and Rosealee drops the big secret about Adalind being a Hexenbiest again.  This really shouldn't have come as a surprise to Nick, given that Adalind has been dropping hints about the potential of this forever. Rosealee explains that Adalind had promised to tell Nick and didn't do so because she is scared.  It's a valid position given that Grimm have historically killed Wesen and that Adalind is particularly vulnerable because she is dependent upon Nick.  The fact that they have a child together and that Nick was at least in part responsible for her separation from Diana also presents a problem.  Adalind has no reason to believe that Nick will share parenting with her. As a group they decide to keep Adalind out of the loop until they figure out whether or not she can be trusted.  

Adalind tells Nick that they need to talk and he gets his hopes up that she is going to finally reveal that she has become a Hexenbiest again but instead, she reveals that she is going for an interview at her old firm for a job and that she will be taking Kelly with her.  At the interview, Adalind is welcomed back because the firm can use a Hexenbiest on their side.  Adalind woges for her new boss but is clearly not happy about this, as Kelly looks up and smiles.  On a side note, the baby they got to be Kelly is cute as a button and I just want to chew on those chunky cheeks. 

While Adalind is having her interview, on Nick's instructions, Monroe and Rosealee sneak into the tunnels.  They find a skeleton attached to the walls.  That's enough for Rosealee and she decides that it's time for them to go.  When they reach the top again, they cannot leave because Adalind has returned with Kelly.  Eve arrives to threaten Adalind.  Eve reveals that she knows that Adalind is a Hexenbiest again and Adalind quickly denies it.  Eve warns Adalind that if she hurts Nick, she will hunt Adalind to the end of time.  Eve makes such a stink about the fact that she isn't Juliet anymore but her threatening Adalind makes me wonder if she will at some point stop being a Hexenbiest? Why is it that Eve cares so much about what happens to Nick, if she is a different person now? Grimm had better not turn this into a love triangle.  It's bad enough that Nick is in a relationship with his rapist. 

Wu continues to have side effects from being scratched by the Lycanthrope.  He lies in bed tossing back and forth sweating profusely.  He then wakes and goes to what should be his bathroom to find that it leads to a forest.  Wu is stunned but that doesn't stop him from running through the woods. The next morning, Wu awakes and finds himself in bed.  Wu cautiously opens his bathroom door to find that it's just a bathroom and experiences relief. What he doesn't see are the leaves lying on the ground. Yes, this means that Wu did indeed enter a forest the night before by walking through what should be his bathroom.  What the hell is going on with Wu? I am absolutely dying to know. Is he becoming a Wesen?  Whatever it is, they better not kill Wu off or I am going to throw a tantrum.

Rachel decides to surprise Renard at home.  Renard thinks it's to talk more about his run for mayor but it turns out that it's to introduce him to his long lost daughter.  This is going to be the catalyst which will probably make Adalind get into bed with Black Claw.  Renard embraces his daughter marveling at how big she has become. 

Things are building to a head on Grimm and I am starting to get excited.  There are four episodes left and I suspect that Wu will be dealt with in the episode named, The Taming of Wu. I hope that this will be used to enlarge Wu's role on Grimm because I think that his character could be so much more than the deliverer of snark.  

We must talk about Eve's supposed sex with Rachel.  This is the second incident we have seen on Grimm of rape by deception and Grimm has still failed to show this as the violation that it is. Rachel did not consent because she thought that she was having sex with Renard and not Eve. When you remove the element of consent, it's unequivocally rape.  Grimm for some reason seems to be determined to keep using this plot device without acknowledging it for what it is.  By not acknowledging rape, the writers are perpetuating rape culture and the idea that rape only happens in a dark alley and is perpetrated by a stranger.  It absolutely disgusts me and needs the strongest of condemnation.