Grimm review – 2×22: ‘Goodnight, Sweet Grimm’

The second half of Grimm‘s second season finale is a complete barn-burner as significant developments occur on nearly all story fronts. Plus: the showrunners mock our pain!

Let’s bitch it out…Well…it’s suddenly looking like it will be a long summer, doesn’t it? After the season ends on a massive cliffhanger, I know I’ll be counting the days until S3 premieres in the fall.

Grimm got an early start to capitalize on the Olympics last summer before NBC bounced the show all over the schedule, including an extended break over the holidays. This inevitably impacted the narrative momentum of the show and made things feel drawn-out, especially the Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) amnesia storyline.

Thankfully if Grimm knows how to do one thing well, it’s season finales. Last year the finale introduced Nick’s (David Giuntoli) mother, and while this finale doesn’t have the same sense of familial urgency, it certainly ups the ante in terms of dramatic impact. Ultimately Nick ends up in an extremely dangerous position as a prisoner of Baron Samedi (Reg E. Cathey) and Prince Eric (James Frain, rocking quite the ‘fro). It’s a great extension of last week’s episode that builds on Baron Samedi’s plan to goo up random people and build a zombie-esque army.

‘Goodnight, Sweet Grimm’ marks the fruition of this plan as Baron sets not one, but two traps: the first leads our crew to the abandoned trainyard where the horde is unleashed. This effectively separates the group. Juliette, Rosalee (Bree Turner) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) sprint back to the car while Nick, in one of his least astute performances as a detective, falls right into the second trap: a comatose state in a coffin.

I’ll freely admit that I had completely forgotten all about the pesky death certificate and body transportation documents, which is either a testament to my stupidity, or a reflection of just how briskly this episode moved. Let’s face it: the cliffhanger has been sitting right under our nose for the last two episodes and yet I’m willing to bet few people put it together until we see the documents in the coffin.

Good on you, Grimm – you got me there!

Other Observations:

• Anyone else do a bit of a fist pump when Juliette refuses to stay at home? I was honestly really worried it would mean she would be the one poisoned by Baron Samedi (admittedly that fear diminished as soon as Rosalee whipped up an antidote). But how exciting is it now that we have another person who can get involved in these cases? I’ve always hated how long supernatural shows take to bring the secondary characters into the fold so it’s nice that everyone (except Reggie Lee’s Sgt. Wu) is in on the secret
  
• With that said, I honestly thought Nick was going to punch Juliette when she asked the car repairman what kind of Wesen he is. Nick’s expression said it all: “Somebody shut this bitch up!”
• Are we really meant to believe that Rosalee and Monroe hadn’t had sex before now?! Umm…methinks that they would have gotten rather frisky when she returned from her “aunts” house
• As much as I love the cliffhanger (and the apology from the showrunners for doing that to us), I’m still not entirely certain why Eric needed to travel to Portland. Is he only there to deliver a message to Renard (Sasha Roiz) and survey Nick’s body? Hopefully when S3 picks up there’ll be more sibling rivalry and a deeper explanation of the Royal background
• How hilarious is it that Hank (Russell Hornsby) misses everything because he’s off getting his cast taken off?! This has seriously been the weirdest aspect in the last few episodes!
• Finally, in the B storyline, Adalind (Claire Coffee) – everyone’s favourite Hexenbiest – is nearing full restoration. How exactly she and Stefania (Shohreh Aghashloo) know that Frau Pech (Mary McDonald-Lewis) will concoct an elixir that allows her to assume Adalind’s appearance is beyond me, but Adalind had better hope she backed the right woman. We’ve seen 24 S4 and we know what Aghashloo is capable of

Best Lines:

• Nick (when Renard mentions Eric’s mother tried to kill him and his mom): “It would make for an awkward family Christmas”
• Juliette (after Nick describes how Baron Samedi makes his zombies): “So just a normal day at the office?”
• Juliette (explaining her presence at the Spice Shop): “Learning curve.” Rosalee (shrugging): “Works for me.”

What are your thoughts on the season finale of Grimm? Did you see the cliffhanger coming? Will Juliette, Rosalee and Monroe team up with Renard to rescue Nick? And finally, are you excited to see Adalind get her powers back? Sound off below

Grimm has finished airing its second season and will return on NBC in the fall