Original Air Date: 27 August 2012
Monroe: Uhh, well, Nick, when a mommy coyotl and a daddy coyotl love each other very much...
Nick: Okay.
The Story: The Old Woman in the WoodIntro: "Then she began to weep bitterly, and said, 'What can a poor girl like me do now?" Review: I was not particularly happy about how this third installment of the season turned out for two main reasons: Kelly Burkhardt didn't show up, so we have no idea why she decided to stay in town, and the Wesen world was revealed to Hank way too soon, in my opinion, and the reaction was disappointing to me.
The episode follows a family - or I guess we could call it clan - of Coyotls, which are exactly what their name says they are (and I'm a bit annoyed by the lack of imagination when it comes to naming the creatures), and a family that managed to escape the clan and their antiquated and barbaric traditions after the mother died. But now that the daughter is 17 - and of age, by Coyotl tradition, - her uncle (and mother's father) wants her back, so that she can breed more baby Coyotls. Sort of like the inbreeding happening in Hotshot between the werepanthers. So the uncle kidnaps her so that she can be put through a fertility ritual meant to mark her availability to be inseminated.
Were I an anthropologist, I would certainly have found the ritual interesting. But as a woman, let me tell you that being tied up to a pole and surrounded by the skulls of dead animals is anything but fun and games.
Unfortunately for the Coyotl pack, the girl's father is good friends with Hank, who is also Carly's godfather, and Hank has a Grimm for a partner, so figuring out what was really going on was a matter of minutes. I was quite excited by the plan that Nick and Hank made in order to save Carly and her father and by its turnout.
But I'm getting now to the part about which I am less excited - and that is Hank finding out the truth about his partner and the world he lives in. Because, in a second of stress, Carly changed right in front of him, which made Hank go all murderous and point a gun at her, leading to Nick having to reveal to him that he can see Wesen too and that he is a Grimm. So Hank is not crazy, he just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - a lot.
After Hank's initial panic reaction, he turned out to accept all this craziness without too much fuss, as opposed to Juliette, who insisted that Nick needed professional help. To be honest, I would have gone with more drama, more visits to the shrink for Hank (especially since I had a fantasy, as the episode started, that his shrink was a Wesen and he would fall for her) and a possible rift between him and Nick, just to bring some soap into this show. Plus, I think all this happened too soon.
But I'm still hoping for drama as Nick tells his partner all about Adalind - that would throw Hank in a depression for sure.
As for Juliette, Nick tries to engage her little by little, first by showing her pictures of them together and telling her all about their relationship, then bringing Monroe in in hopes of juggling her memory - but so far no luck. She remembers everything, including Monroe and how he saved her life, but she cannot remember Nick - as if Adalind's potion were designed specifically to eliminate him from Juliette's life. And what about Renard and his kiss, where does that fit in?
In hopes of getting some answers to all this, I now leave you until next week.
Grimm 2x02: The Kiss
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