Grimm, Episode 81 “Double Date” Broadcast on March 27, 2015
Written by Brenna Kouf
Directed by Karen Gaviola
“Previously on Grimm,” Adalind’s shape-changes into Juliette to sleep with Nick and steal his Grimm abilities, last week’s episode revealed that Adalind is pregnant again, and Juliette confronts Nick with her new face. “Is this what you want to spend the rest of your life with? This is what’s forever.”
“One could have called that shape a woman or a boy: for it seemed neither and both.”
Captain Renard is having nightmares of when he was shot. When he wakes he finds himself covered in blood. At Nick and Juliette’s, Nick looks longingly out the window, hoping Juliette has come back home. He calls her phone but gets her message recording. “You have to call me,” he says. “We need to talk about this.” Transition to an upscale bar. A man tries to start a conversation with a woman, but she moves away. He gets up to go just as an attractive, distraught brunette sits close to him. She says her husband has left her. They begin to talk and end up going to her condo where he’s all over her. She goes into the bathroom to prepare, while he strips. Suddenly a man bursts in with a gun. “Where is she? My wife!” The lothario from the bar leaves, giving the husband all his cash. Once outside, the man realizes he dropped his phone somewhere in the bedroom. The woman he was pursuing grabs a rolling suitcase and walks out of her place–the husband nowhere in sight. She’s grabbed from behind by the disappointed lover, demanding his money and phone back. “You’re pretty brave,” she says, “when it’s just a woman.” She then woges into a hairless, smooth skinned humanoid covered in a milky gel. She grabs her accoster, rubbing her gooey forehead on the side of his face. He screams as the steaming acid begins to dissolve his flesh. Cue opening title sequence.
This week’s mystery wasn’t much of a mystery, being more of a “How are we going to catch it?” caper. I did like the bickering element involved with Linus and Stacy Balouzian. That was some fairly fun writing from Brenna Kouf and some neat direction from Karen Gaviola. Briana Lane seemed to be relishing the part of the vamp, and she was obviously the smarter one of the pair. It seemed as if Mark Famiglietti was only going to be playing the angry husband for the entire episode, but he had a really strong final scene playing against David Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby. His final moments on the screen made me almost feel sorry for him. Now that Sgt. Wu is in on the Grimm secret, Reggie Lee seems to be having a blast giving knowing nods and smiles to others. Silas Weir Mitchell gets to play a nice uncomfortable scene as Monroe is once again placed in danger by Nick. Rosalee’s final line of the episode was nicely played by Bree Turner. Claire Coffee gets an excellent scene as the reluctant mother, and her Adalind is in for dark dealings once again with the Royals. The highlight of the episode was, once again, Juliette’s story. Her entanglement with Renard is going to open up a whole new book of trouble for her, as Nick continues to pine for her. Bitsie Tulloch is running like a champ with all of Juliette’s scenes.
The good: The crossbow got used! David Giuntoli (lost), Bitsie Tulloch (confused), Silas Weir Mitchell (over his head), Reggie Lee (knowing), Claire Coffee (awkwardly expecting and scheming), Sasha Roiz (tormented), Mark Famiglietti (upset), and Briana Lane (in charge). This show has almost completed its fourth season, but this episode really stood out for outstanding use of setting. Using the natural streets and condos of Portland, I’m assuming, made this the most real episode yet. Made me want to go back to Portland and just walk around at night.
Fun lines: “I haven’t had honest in a really long time,” “Are you listening to me?!”, “Know any other Hexenbiests?”, “…Got it?”, “Oh, this can’t be good,” “Don’t we all?”, “This I wanna read,” “Cringe away,” “Please. Please. Please. I can’t go through this again,” “The world is confused,” and “Let’s not take any chances–Jumbo.”
The bad: Not much for Russell Hornsby in this episode. Why couldn’t he have gone undercover instead of Monroe? I’d like to see Hank get some more direct action in the stories. The mystery was fairly predictable.
The final line: The long story arc fares better than the mystery, but the characters make it enjoyable. Plus, the city is gorgeous in this episode. Overall grade: B
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