Contributor: John Keegan
Written by David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf
Directed by Norberto Barba
Considering that the entire season has been leading to a confrontation between Nick, his Grimm status, and key figures in his professional and personal lives, it’s been an open prediction that all of it would come crashing together in the season finale. In fact, it was so telegraphed that anything less would be disappointing. So how did the writers manage to wrap up this uneven first season?
I would say they did a messy job of it. On the one hand, all of the hints that Nick would be facing down the assassin that killed his parents came to fruition, and it tied into the three coins that are coveted for their ability to grant their holder enough charisma (and arrogant self-confidence) to rule the world. It makes sense that this would also place Hank in a position where his recent sighting of Wesen would come to a head.
So why didn’t it? That was one of the big questions I was left with, and not in a good way. Nick saw just how fundamentally affected Hank was at the end of the previous episode. That should have been enough of a reason to come clean and help his friend and partner through the process of accepting the truth. If that wasn’t enough, then there was the obvious sign of his mental instability throughout this entire episode. Nick has seemed irresponsible in his refusal to explain things to Hank in the past, but this takes that problem to a completely new level.
Meanwhile, Adalind wants revenge for Nick’s role in the loss of her Wesen nature, and since she knows all about Juliette, the methodology is obvious. And since the opening quote points right to Sleeping Beauty, there’s no mystery how this is all going to play out. Setting aside that there’s not one word about what happened regarding Adalind after her move against Hank, a gaping plot hole, it seems ludicrous that Nick wouldn’t have warned Juliette about Adalind in some way or another before this point.
So it comes down to Juliette getting scratched by an ensorcelled cat, and Nick trying to explain to her why this is a major problem. My initial thought was that this would be the perfect time for Nick to take Juliette to visit Monroe and come clean about their working relationship; they still need to make up for their terrible lying around the dinner table in that previous episode. Instead, in one of the most inexplicable moves by the writers to date, they have Nick take Juliette to his aunt’s trailer first, where he proceeds to launch into one of the most awkward and maniacal explanations imaginable.
Consider if he had taken things the other way around: Juliette might have been terrified by the truth about Monroe, but she’d already been reassessing the existence of various creatures after the previous episode. Seeing Monroe would place everything else that Nick told her in context. Instead, the writers waste an amazing amount of time making Nick look crazy, so they can force him to take Juliette to Monroe when she’s most resistant. Oh, and it very predictably wastes enough time that Adalind’s spell takes hold at the least convenient moment possible. I literally groaned and facepalmed when it happened; it was that baldly telegraphed.
With both Hank and Juliette coming to a point where they need to know the truth, it might have been a much better idea to bring them together with Monroe, Rosalee, and some of the other neighborhood Wesen. That still might happen in the second season premiere, but that’s just putting off a necessary plot point even longer. It’s frustrating to think that this element of the show, which is really holding things back, could continue beyond that point.
Throughtout the episode is the appearance of the titular “woman in black”, who seems to be a more efficient Grimm than Nick, to say the least. I have to wonder if it took anyone else more than a few minutes to figure out who she had to be. Was Aunt Marie lying about Nick’s parents being dead, or was it something hidden from the rest of the Grimms? And what might have been the purpose of going underground? The second season premiere will likely tackle those questions.
Unfortunately, for me, the first season of “Grimm” ended with a whimper. By far, the worst part of the episode was Nick’s ridiculous disclosure to Juliette, but it was all a bit messy. There is still plenty of potential for the show to take things to the next level in the second season, but I’m not as confident that they are going to do it in a timely fashion.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 6/10
(Season 1 Final Average: 6.7)
