Courtesy of NBC
Grimm returns from hiatus to ask a very important question: “where is Monroe?”
Let’s bitch it out…
For its first new episode of the year, Grimm delivers one of its trademark drawn-out season premieres. In this case ‘Wesenrein’ dedicates nearly its entire run-time to a single evening as Monroe’s (Silas Weir Mitchell) abduction affects everyone.
The action very quickly settles into three principal storylines:
- Monroe’s imprisonment: He’s moved from a house to an abandoned factory and spends the rest of the episode being mocked/abused by the petulant brother of Charlie, the Wesenrein “Grandmaster”. A lot of this feels like filler, including the emotionally manipulative addition of another Wesen victim. Terry seemingly exists solely to reinforce that these guys are bad, as well as pass off his wedding ring so that our heartstrings are plucked. Then die a horrible death (of course).
- The case: Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) open the episode by coming clean to Wu (Reggie Lee), who basically shrugs at the news that his friends have been lying to him for years (um, WTF?). When news of Monroe’s situation comes in via Rosalee (Bree Turner), they all – including Renard (Sasha Roiz) – saddle up for some light detective work. I emphasize “light” because they barely get anything done until near the end of the hour when they piece together a connection between their colleague Acker (Will Rothhaar) and the Grandmaster. Even at that point, they’re barely closing in on Monroe by the time he’s being escorted into the woods for some The Following-style cult action featuring dorks in hoods and masks.
- Ladies in waiting: As the boys hit the trailer, the jail and the interrogation room, Rosalee and Juliet (Bitsie Tulloch) hang out among the throw pillows. The latter is rightfully freaking out over her new Hexenbiest look (plus all of those broken mirrors? That’s a lot of bad luck). Unfortunately these scenes are complete filler, despite Turner’s ability to wring some genuine emotion out of Rosalee’s distress. In fact the only remotely interesting part of the domestic scenes is Juliet’s nightmare when she turns on a whiny and belligerent Rosalee and rips out her larynx. It’s surprisingly well done, even if it is incredibly obvious from the moment it begins.
And that’s basically it! When you boil it down, it’s a pretty lightweight episode. Aside from a random quickie scene with Viktor (Alexis Denisof) and Adalind (Claire Coffee) where they make vacation plans to visit Portland, ‘Wesenreid’ feels like the show spinning its wheels to stretch 20 minutes worth of show into 42.
I’ve missed the series, but not episodes like this.
Best Lines:
- Wu (after Sasha Roiz’ Renard asks him questions about his new knowledge): “Are you?” Renard: “You don’t wanna go there.” Wu: “Yeah, right…”
Your turn: do you agree that this mid-season premiere stretched things out too much? Is there any real fear that Monroe will be harmed? Did you feel for Rosalee? Were you surprised by the nightmare? More surprised by how well Wu took the news? Sound off below.
Grimm airs Fridays at 9pm EST on NBC
I like this show but I’m having a problem feeling anything like fear for Juliet right now since there is an obvious solution to her problem. The blood of the Grimm took away Adalines powers and made her human, the whole reason for the baby and getting her powers back story arc, so couldn’t they do the same for Juliet? Unless I missed something, which is entirely possible.
Personally I’m kind of hoping that Juliette ends up keeping her newfound powers because it makes her more interesting and enables her to get more involved in the Grimm world that everyone else is in
But according to mythology, you are right. We’ll have to see if the writers have kept tabs on that