Courtesy of NBC
Just because we’re only three episodes away from the series finale, you didn’t expect the mythology to ramp up, did you?
Let’s bitch it out…
Eviette and the Stick: The title ‘Where The Wild Things Were’ suggests that Grimm is moving not only to a new place, but also a place removed from our timeline. For the first time since the three part opener, we eschew the Wesen of the Week case to focus exclusively on the series’ ending mythology, the slowly percolating mystery about the Stick, the symbols and Skull Face. That’s right, folks – we’re finally getting to the good stuff.
Thankfully everyone quickly discovers that Eviette (Bitsie Tulloch) has disappeared into the ‘Other Place’. In no short order the entire Scooby gang is over at Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner)’s place, desperately searching for a way to reactivate the mirror. These scenes didn’t work for me for the most part because they’re so obviously the result of Grimm‘s creative team not allocating enough time for this final arc; by this I mean that the entire plan to rescue Eviette by going after her is half-cocked and underdeveloped. Nick (David Giuntoli) immediately switches into full-blown saviour mode and abandons all rational thinking without even the barest of sense of what is happening or what he might be facing; when push comes to shove, he simply uses the Stick (ie: the show’s McGuffin) and taps his way into the Other Place.
It’s simple and convoluted all at once and it doesn’t work. Arguably the best thing about these scenes is Rosalee’s stubborn refusal to let the other idiots abandon their responsibilities. Adalind (Claire Coffee) is shut down because she has two kids, Monroe can’t be lost if anything happens to Nick and poor Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Wu (Reggie Lee) aren’t even considered until later when the Scoobies realize that they’re in over their heads and need Renard (Sasha Roiz)’s connections to help out.
Courtesy of NBC
While it’s good to finally see everyone come together in unison to battle the Big Bad, it’s hard not to feel that Renard’s sudden reintroduction into the A storyline feels abrupt. It also necessitates a lot of unnecessary exposition designed to catch up delinquent viewers, which has the unfortunate effect of eating up a good quarter of the episode’s run-time. At least now we’re all on the same page about how the Keys led to the Stick and the symbols led to the prophecy. Now that the truth about Diana (Hannah R. Lloyd)’s unhappy involvement in these proceedings has been revealed, the entire cast is working collaboratively to prevent a future wherein she becomes the child-bride of a demon looking to produce 100 offspring (and thanks for that image, Grimm writers).
In the Other Place, Nick and Eviette role-play an alt-world where Wesen never wogue, humans are food sacks and Skull Face (aka Zerstorer) rules a Stonehedge-like transportation system of stone monoliths. Is this place the origin of the Wesen (sent to Earth via the mirrors) or is this simply another world? We get no answers, and barely any context outside of the fact that the humans only speak German and don’t much care for Wesen. If we’re being honest, the camp scenes are a little too Return of the Jedi Ewok village for my liking, with a bit of wacky miscommunication and a charred Blutbart on the grill.
The episode comes to a quick conclusion when Nick and Eviette finally manage to communicate their intentions to kill Zerstorer. Unsurprisingly the encounter doesn’t go quite according to plan and the episode ends with a cliffhanger as Zerstorer levels a staff of bad-juju green light at them. In terms of “come back next week” endings, it’s not bad, but it also feels a bit soon to force a major encounter considering we only just began exploring this world. Why not wait and build things up a little more, explore more than a patch of this Black Forest, or dive into the local culture? The writers’ desperation to get to the conflict is apparent, which just makes the middle stretch of middling episodes that much more aggravating.
But at least we’re finally into the good stuff, right?
Other Observations:
- For a hot minute when Dasha (Alla Korot) began speaking Russian I was sure that Renard was going to try and pull a fast one over on the crew again. I did love the side-eye everyone was giving him when he showed up at the loft, though. They’re completely right to be suspicious!
- I imagine that Nick simply didn’t want to offend his hosts, but it’s still a little odd that in chowing down on Blutbart he essentially ate Monroe, no?
- Baby Watch: Shockingly Rosalee never mentions the triplets when Monroe offers to jump through the mirror after Nick and Eviette.
- Trubel Watch: I imagine if Jacqueline Toboni makes a reappearance, it’ll be when Zerstorer makes his way Earthside in the final two episodes.
Best Lines:
- Monroe (when Adalind suggests involving Renard): “After all of the backstabbing that’s gone on – figuratively and literally?!”
- Monroe (when Diana lights up the tunnel): “Whoa” Hank: “Me, too”
That’s it for this week. What did you think of the Other Side? Did you want to spend more time exploring before the big confrontation? Are you happy that we should see an end to the exposition now that Renard is on the take? Are you icked-out by the proposition that Diana is a child-bride? Sound off below.
Grimm airs Fridays at 8pm EST on NBC.