Sunday, January 8, 2017

Grimm, Season Six, Episode One: Fugitive


"Maybe this world is another planet's hell."

And thus begins Grimm's finale season.  Unlike previous seasons of Grimm which seemed to get stuck in the Wesen of the week loop a lot, slowing moving along the meta, season six is off to a bang. Hopefully, the writers will continue this pace for the season.  

It's been quite some time since the last episode and so I actually had to watch the opening sequence a few times to be able to properly place where we are on the show.  Bonaparte is dead, killed by Diana who used her daddy dearest as a weapon. Bonaparte never should have laid hands on Adalind.  Diana also took out Renard's lover by smothering her in her own sheets.  Hadrian's Wall is pretty much done in Portland, especially given the death of Misner. Nick used the stick to heal both himself and Eve/Juliet, and in her case, it seems to put her powers on the fritz.

Nick is confused by Bonaparte's death at the hands of Renard, wondering if just perhaps the captain has switched sides.  Renard doesn't move against Nick directly but instead returns to Bonapart's place and has a chat with Adalind about Daddy's little girl.  

The scoobies make their way through the catacombs looking for a way out. When they find one, Rosalee tells Monroe that she doesn't want anyone to know about her pregnancy.  They meet back up with the others and decide that instead of using the exit, they are going back for Nick.  Nick eventually meets up with the gang in the catacombs and manages to act fast enough to stop Trubel from decapitating him. 

At this point, both Renard and Adalind realise that Diana is one freaky little girl and that they need to be wary.  They both know that Black Claw is going to want someone to answer for Bonapart's death and Renard decides that this person should be Nick.  He tells Adalind that she never should have fallen in love with the Grimm. Is it me, or is Renard a touch jealous of Adalind's relationship with Nick? 

Back in the loft, Eve wants to know why she's still alive.  There's a lot of eye contact clearly meant to convey that the characters are concerned about trusting her but they explain to her about the stick which is connected to the keys.  Eve spies her horrible wig and picks it up  but doesn't put it back on, admitting that something's changed.  Please Grimm, if you must bring Juliet back, we don't need a love triangle here.  We only have thirteen episodes, so there's no room for this kind of drama. 

Thus begins the hunt for Nick.  Renard puts out a shot to kill on signt order on Nick with the local PD, after getting several search warrants for places Nick is known to frequent. At this point, I couldn't help but wonder why Renard didn't simply just tell Diana that he needs Nick taken care of? You know damn well that that lavender eyed hell child would have been more than happy to do something special for daddy. 

Thankfully the scoobies are one step ahead of Renard and have already disposed of the bodies, though not without some issues.  When Eve gets close to a body she is caught with a death grip. They went literal with this one folks.  Rosalee reads about what to do in one of her books and then cuts off the corpse's arm, thus freeing Eve.  Why did she need to read that in a book to figure out to cut off the corpse's arm? Shouldn't common sense have kicked in here? Book learning did give us one useful fact: apparently the purpose of a death grip is to drag a pure soul into hell in exchange for a bad one. Ummm, Eve a good soul?  I think not. So yes, more clues that Juliet is coming back or perhaps yet another metamorphosis.  

At the precinct, Franco warns Hank and Wu that Nick had better get gone fast.  In his office, Renard takes a call from Black Claw and he informs them about Bonaparte's death and the role Nick played. Renard is ordered to clean up the mess and reclaim Portland as quickly as possible. Renard looks down at his hand and hallucinates blood and hears Misner's voice. Clearly, Renard isn't operating on all cylinders.  Perhaps this explains his dedication to tracking Nick down rather than working with Nick to protect the hell child.   


With Renard gone and Bonaparte dead, Adalind decides to get into contact with Nick again. They actually have Nick rush to Adalind's side and the two kiss.  I am never going to get over Grimm, deciding that it's a good idea to have Nick fall in love with the woman who raped him. Nick is quick to take notice of Bonepart's ring on Adalind's finger and she confesses that Bonaparte warned something horrible would happen to her children if she took it off. It's all lovey dovey and Nick takes a few moments with Kelly before informing Adalind he's gotta go.  Adalind vows to kill Renard if he kills Nick. 

And it's telephone round robin time where the characters all have to call each other to spread the news that Nick is a wanted man.  Why is this coming as a surprise to anyone?  Eve is keeping busy examining the cloth that the stick was wrapped in. Clearly, a little obsession has begun here. 

Monroe and Rosalee are the first two to reach out for a touch of normalcy in their lives.  The two head to bed and discuss the baby and if Portland is a safe place to raise it, since everyone's favourite Half-Zauberbiest is running the show now. They don't get to muse long because they are then included in the telephone round robin and their call comes with a heads up that the cops are headed over to search the premises together. They're barely off the phone before the cops burst in. Monroe is quick to put his body between the cops and Rosalee, asking them to be gentle because his wife is pregnant.  

Next on the round robin list are Trubel and Eve, who are still at Nick's.  There's no way to escape, so they crawl back into the catacombs to wait out the cops.  This is when Eve notices symbols on the cloth which look exactly like those she saw on the corpse who had her in a death grip.  Eve tries to show Trubel but it turns out that Eve is the only one who can see the symbols. 

Renard still isn't firing on all cylinders and he has a vision of Franco bleeding from the eyes, telling him that he chose the wrong side.  

With cops closing in, Nick decides to go to Bud's shop and ask for help. Bud's nervous but he's game and so he calls Hank and Wu.  The scoobies regroup at Bud's place after shaking their tails. For now, they think they are safe but what they don't know is the fact that Renard is now focusing on Bud's because Nick called him frequently.  The crew gather up and Eve warns Nick that perhaps walking around with the stick is not a good idea, after showing him a drawing of the images she saw on the cloth.  The gang try to convince Nick that it's time to leave Portland and though he is reluctant, he eventually agrees.  Hank and Wu head back to the precinct.

Hank gets a call about a dead body and of course it turns out to be Renard's lover.  Hank is quick to comment, "When you're murdered in bed, it's usually by someone you know." Back at the station, a secretary of sorts informs Hank that Renard's fingerprints are all over the bedroom. Wu gets a phone call from Franco and a heads up that the cops are gearing up to search Bud's.  Monroe and Bud decide to take a freezer outside big enough for Nick to hide in to act as a distraction to the cops. Unfortunately, it's already too late and the cops are ready to invade. 

Yes, every single cop in Portland, is outside of Bud's shop ready for a raid.  Rosalee encourages Eve to do something about the cops amassing outside but when Eve tries to woge, she collapses to the ground apologising. Renard gives the order for the cops to advance.

With the exception of the telephone round robin which was tedious in the best of moments, this is easily the most action packed season opener Grimm has had to date. It poses several questions which should be enough to fill thirteen episodes.  Is Renard acting of his own volition? Is the stick scarier than first thought? There is after all a reason someone decided it was better to bury the damn thing. What the hell is going on with Eve?  Finally, if Daddy's little hell spawn finds out about Nick and Adalind, is she going to do away with Nick as well?