Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Grimm, Season Five, Episode Nineteen: The Taming of Wu


This is the first time I'm not going to complain about the Wesen of the week thing that Grimm likes to do because for a change, this episode is all meta. WOOT! For me, this is Grimm at it's best.  I'm so excited, I hardly know where to start.

In Lycanthropia, Wu was scratched by a lycanthrope and he dismissed it as nothing. Since then, he has been having what he believes to be vivid dreams; however they clearly aren't dreams.  Wu has begun to suspect that there's something really wrong with him. When he cuts his hand and it turns into a wolf like paw, Wu (who should have dealt with this the minute he saw the original scratch) decides to go and see Rosealee and Monroe.  Wu doesn't make it the spice shop because he has a run in with Theo, a criminal he has arrested on several occasions.  It seems that Theo has been staking out Wu's apartment for the entire day.  After luring Theo into an alley way, Wu confronts him and threatens to impound his truck.  This is enough for Theo to woge and the fight is on.  When we next see Wu, he is covered in blood and has no idea how he got that way.

Hank and Nick get called to investigate the body and of course it's Theo's. When they get a call from Rosealee about Wu's failure to appear, they decide to head to his apartment.  A shocked Wu relates what happened and he admits that he fears that he might have killed Theo after Theo woged.  That's enough for Nick and Hank to decide that there's not need to arrest Wu because he acted in self defense.  Given the shape of Theo's body however, they all decide a visit to see the Spice Shop is absolutely necessary.

At the shop, Rosealee gives Wu a memory potion to take and he woges (that's what I'm calling it for now) and Monroe films it.  It seems that though Wu is changing into a wolf like creature he's not actually a Wesen.  Unfortunately, Rosealee and Monroe don't have any real answers for Wu and so he decides to stay with them for the night to give them time figure out exactly what is going on and if he can be cured.

Adalind finally get to meet Diana, who is even creepier that I thought she would be.  Diana is all smiles as she tells her mother how much she missed her and the two embrace.  Diana is not satisfied with just seeing Adalind, she want Adalind to go with her and Renard.  Her parents try to explain that Adalind has something she needs to do first and Diana brings out the woo woo, scaring the ever loving shit out of her parents.  Renard fails to calm his daughter and Adalind barely manages to do so. Renard escorts Diana out of the room.

Renard meets with Conrad and suggests that he bring Nick around to the idea of joining Black Claw. Renard doesn't warm to the idea and so Conrad suggests that it would be good for Adalind to decide to join Black Claw and leave Nick.  Conrad goes as far as to threaten Adalind's life if she doesn't make the right choice and Renard counters, suggesting that Conrad not say anything like that around his powerful daughter.  This is the most quiet rebuttal and really pissed me off.  Renard and Adalind were never close and their intimacy amounted to a one night stand; however, Adalind is still the mother of his child and Renard should have stepped up more, especially given that he is at least partially responsible for Adalind being separated from Diana in the first place. Perhaps if Diana had been with her mother, she wouldn't be such a powerful but creepy kid.


When next we see Adalind, she is sleeping in bed when Diana appears to her, asking Adalind to come to her.  Adalind climbs out of bed and Diana disappears.  When Adalind gets out of bed, she sees Nick feeding Kelly and claims that she simply panicked because Kelly wasn't in his pram.  The two head back to bed and Adalind decides that it's time to tell Nick that she is a Hexenbiest again. When Nick is nonplussed, Adalind realises that he already knew.  Nick explains what losing mommy Grimm felt like and says that he would never do that to Kelly and that he would never hurt Adalind.  Adalind apologises and explains that she was just afraid, adding that she would hurt Nick either. The two hug it out.

The next day, Adalind gets a call from Conrad who makes it clear that she needs to leave Nick, otherwise both Kelly and Nick will be in danger.  When Nick returns home that night he finds both Adalind and baby Kelly gone and a note which reads,"“I’m doing something I have to do. I don’t expect you to ever understand, but it’s the only way to protect my children. And I don’t expect you to believe this, but I love you. I’m sorry." After a few moments, many words on the letter disappear and Adalind's real message becomes visible, "I have to protect you."  Wow, it looks like they really are going to redeem Adalind but that being said, had she told Nick what was going on in the first place, she might not have had to make that decision.

Black Claw is escalating it's tactics. They've managed to get Diana away from Hadrian's Wall and use her against both Renard and Adalind.  Theo, the man who attacked Wu was Black Claw.  And we learn that Zuri, the woman Hank has been dating is also a member of Black Claw. Damn it. Why couldn't they just have had Hank have a life outside of solving Wessen of the week cases?  Zuri is constantly asking what Nick knows and if he approves, so hopefully, Hank will figure it out before the shit gets real. It seems that Black Claw is doing it's best to isolate Nick to force him to join them.

Truble is back, hell yeah! She first shows up to save Meisner's ass when he is attacked and quickly joins the hunt for Diana.  Hadrian's Wall knows that Black Claw is planning something major.  When Diana reaches out to Eve because of the whole body shift thing between her and Adalind, they realise that Diana is looking for her mother which means that Adalind has probably been compromised.  Eve promises Nick that she will do her best to ensure that no harm comes to Kelly.  Yeah, Eve cares more about Nick than she cares to admit.

Renard has always sort of existed in a grey area.  He's never really been completely honest with Nick, and keeps a lot of things to himself.  At this point, it's a toss up as to whether or not being mayor and getting his daughter back will be enough to get Renard to toss Nick aside.  There's a part of me that wants very much to believe that Renard is playing the long game and that the strategy will reveal itself later.  Renard and Nick on opposite sides doesn't bode well for Renard and Grimm would not be the same without the occasional shirtless Renard.

Diana is creepy as shit and though I know we are dealing with a little girl, a part of me just wants to say, "kill it, kill it with fire".  I don't think that Black Claw really understands what they have in her. Adalind barely managed to calm the creepy lavender glowing eyed kid.  All kids throw temper tantrums and so I couldn't help but wonder how she'll react when they tell her that she cannot have ice cream or that she has to wash behind her ears? Somehow I don't see Diana making it out of this alive given just how dangerous she is.

Now that we have had The Taming of Wu, they better no toss the problem on the sidelines to deal with Nick's issues.  Wu has been long overdue for some attention.  Given the fact that Wu so calmly took the news that he was no longer fully human, this doesn't bode well for how his story line will be handled. Why the hell wasn't he freaking out? I want to see how he struggles with the fact that he killed someone.  Wu may be full of snark but I've always had the sense that he's an honourable man. I think that what happened to Theo, will continue to haunt him though it was self defense.