Grimm 5×03 review: ‘Lost Boys’

It’s the end of another era: Nick (David Giuntoli) has officially moved out of his home of the last six and a half years.

Let’s bitch it out…

With the trailer and Juliette gone, it seemed inevitable that Nick would follow through on Monroe’s (Silas Weir Mitchell) advice to sell the old house and start anew. The new house, inside the Imperial Paint factory, comes complete with 3 inch steel shutters for the windows, as well as a boarded up Shanghai tunnels. It has a bit of a vacant, impersonal feel to it – call it warehouse chic – but it provides the safety and security that was missing in Nick’s old house.

The idea of feeling safe and secure at home ties in nicely with the Case of the Week.  Wendy Hedley, a two year old missing person case, turns up dead after escaping from a troupe of Pan-inspired lost Wesen children who are desperate for a mother figure. After a brief interaction with Rosalee (Bree Turner) encourages them that she is a suitable replacement, Rosalee is kidnapped, prompting a Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell)-led manhunt. The scenes with Rosalee interacting with the children are interesting because they hint at a storyline the Grimm writers have danced around since the series’ resident couple got married: starting a family of their own. Rosalee is easily the warmest, most emotionally connected character on the series, so even when it is obvious that she is always plotting an escape, she’s still a totally respectable maternal figure. You can tell she would be a good mom.

Things come to a head pretty quickly – Rosalee escapes and is rescued before the end of her first night. Despite the fact that the kids are a variety of semi-dangerous Wesen, it’s clear early on that Rosalee is not in danger when she’s with them. The fact that the kids have no understanding of their true heritage and have clearly never seen an adult woge means that they are completely unprepared for Rosalee’s and Monroe’s transformation, which allows the adults to take the upper hand. The Lost Kids’ need for parental love is fixated on maternal figures, which makes it doubly ironic that the episode ends with the boys under the thumb of a shady Wesen man who recruits them into a shady operation (presumably with the rebels). I’m loving how these individual cases of the week continue to connect to the larger mythology, even if it is only tangentially!

Other Observations:

• Meisner (Damien Puckler) stops by Renard’s (Sasha Roiz) office to give him the scoop on the Royal developments, including the king’s death at the hands of Diana in the finale and Viktor’s ascension to the throne. It’s a vital update, not only because it gives us an update about an aspect of the story that will (hopefully) feed into the rest of the season, but also because it reiterates why both Adalind (Claire Coffee) and Nick are so protective about Kelly’s safety. After all, Adalind has already lost one child.
• Nick’s “my way or the highway” tone with Adalind as they tour the new digs is a little too father knows best. Methinks that he still hasn’t truly processed the fact that his love turned into a hateful bitch and nearly killed him and all of his friends. His authoritative tone is contrasted by Adalind’s meek neediness, though there’s a hint that this won’t last much longer: there’s a brief flashback to their first meeting in the pilot and though it exists primarily to suggest how far they’ve come, it also confirms her once-run status as a badass. Later Adalind runs into a former coworker, Lane (Steve West), and he encourages her to return to work at a higher salary, reminding her that she was also career-oriented and driven. It’s a nice wake-up call to Adalind, who has really become more of a passive figure over the last few years due to her involvement with the Royals. Here’s hoping that Adalind rediscovers some of her old moxie soon.
• The story that Rosalee tells the children is masterfully intercut with Monroe’s hunt for her through the woods. The tale of the Blutbot and the Grimm is clearly intended to reinforce why kids need to listen to adults, but there’s a hint of danger as Monroe literally visualizes aspects of her tale. The writers then invert our expectations that Monroe will fall into a trap by tossing Rosalee into a pit instead. Nice bait’n’switch.
• Finally, I love that despite killing off Juliette in the season finale, the show hasn’t forgotten that her absence leaves a void. Case in point: Rosalee sees the bullet hole in the Spice Shop wall and is reminded of the near-miss when Juliette nearly killed Monroe. She hesitantly even reveals that she misses pre-Hexenbiest Juliette. I personally don’t, but I love that the show remembers its history.

Best Lines:

• Rosalee (looking at the sales receipt for the Spice Shop): “Oh! I kicked major ass yesterday!”

Your turn: what did you think of how the episode came together? Did you think that Rosalee was going to adopt all of those kids? Is Nick being too authoritative? Will Adalind rediscover her mojo? Sound off below.

Grimm airs at 9pm EST on NBC