Grimm Episode 2.10 “The Hour of Death”
Written by: Sean Calder
Directed by: Peter Werner
Airs Friday 9.00pm EST on NBC
I’m just going to repeat a line from my review of last week’s Grimm
‘Is Ryan Smulson, the clumsy intern at the station, actually a Wesen mole?’
To which question the answer has to be DAMN I’M GOOD.
OK, Ryan was a little too obviously fresh-faced and aw-shucks to be believable (also, what police station has interns?) but still – SCORE one for me.
That said, although the storyline this week, which involved Ryan and another Grimm doing Nick’s job for him, had the benefit of giving David Giuntoli more to do, it wrapped up what was a promising new development way too quickly and neatly for me. According to Grimm lore, Hitler was a Loven and there’s a sense of balance about the discovery that those who police the Wesen possess in their ranks the equivalent of the Gestapo. I wanted that possibility to grow and perhaps to link with Renard and his estranged family of Eurotrash, who clearly believe that its American cousins need a reminder of how things used to be done in the old days.
There were all kinds of hints that this was the way the story was headed: ancient symbols, urgent phonecalls from Renard to yet another heavily accented lackey, Wesen running around in a panic and shouting about ancient texts, yet the denouement reduced all of these promising leads to a story about hero worship and wanting the inside to match the outside.
Tant pis. Still, the strain of sleeping on the couch is starting to tell on Nick, which is good because that means he’s skipping the part where he asks suspects questions and goes straight to hitting them in the face. For several shows, I’ve wanted David Giuntoli to stop taking a back seat and this week he stuck to the screen like a wet leaf, all tortured angst and suppressed rage.
He has good reason to be stressed. Last week’s show suggested Juliette was warming to him again. This week’s throws that idea in the trash. Renard makes the fateful phonecall (he uses the phone a lot) – the one where you pretend to be calling for your workmate but get his wife on the phone instead. It’s such a well worn tactic, that when Juliette accepts his suggestion of coffee, we know she’s hot for him, however innocent her expression. There were several promising advancements, of which the foremost was Renard smiles – a moment definitely worthy of a freeze frame – closely followed by handholding and then, of course The Kiss, much anticipated, but actually a letdown in the end. Either Sasha Roiz and Bitsie Tulloch have the chemistry of two breeze blocks, or the writers intend for their romance to falter.
As far as other couples go, Bree Turner is still on leave and although I like Silas Weir Mitchell a lot (although Munroe has an iPhone which is hard to forgive), I miss her serene presence. She’s a nice foil for the Blutbad. Let’s hope she reappears soon.
Plotwise, only a couple of holes this show – why is the suspect Wesen burning photos of the missing girl when he works in the same building as her and why did the pair abduct her in the first place? If anyone caught the answers to these, let me know. I’m good, but maybe not that good.
Questions for next week: Why does everyone in Portland have at least one room the colour of Nick’s kitchen? When is Hank going to get a girlfriend??
– Cath Murphy