This week’s Grimm fractured fairy tale episode comes from the story ‘The Queen Bee.’ Not only does Nick have to solve the case of a gruesome homicide, he finds out that there’s more to being a Grimm than he realizes.
As several people board a streetcar, the camera pans down to one particular woman wearing a pair of Louboutin shoes. The people on the streetcar look around as though they are part of a big plan. A young man with a duffle bag makes eye contact with one of the passengers. Miss “Louboutin” notices the young man and begins to get anxious. Just then, the young man reaches in his duffle bag and pulls out an object. Miss “Louboutin” jumps back anticipating something sinister but all it turned out to be is a boom box. He presses play and the song ‘Y.M.C.A.’ begins to play and several of the passengers begin to dance. It’s a flash mob! Miss “Louboutin” looks relieved but is jostled around by all the people dancing and moves toward the back of the streetcar to try to get out of the way. At the next stop, everybody gets off but the driver notices someone is still there lying on the floor. As he gets closer, we see the body of Miss “Louboutin.”
Nick and Hank are called to the scene. She is identified as Serena Dunnbrook and was killed by an apparent anaphylactic shock. Sgt. Wu thinks this isn’t a homicide case, but Nick finds a puncture wound on the victim’s neck that suggests otherwise. They bring the body to be examined by the ME (medical examiner).
The ME determines the cause of death is anaphylactic shock from apitoxin poisoning (bee venom). She comments that the puncture wound that Nick discovered was from an unknown source. Something else surprising was that the victim was not allergic to apitoxin and that there were 50mg of apitoxin in her system. A bee sting contains 0.1mg. This was definitely a homicide.
Hank and Nick visit a beekeeper that was sent a sample of the apitoxin that killed Serena in hopes to identify its origin. While waiting for the beekeeper, a queen bee lands on Nick’s hand. Professor Spinelli, the beekeeper, tells him that she likes him and that it’s very unusual for a queen bee to show herself as she did. He also informs him that the apitoxin was not synthetic but was actually organic in nature. Nick finds it hard to believe that someone would harvest 50mg of bee venom from bees. Professor Spinelli goes on to say that although natural apitoxin carries geographical traits in which you can then determine the origin of the bee, the apitoxin that killed Serena has no known origin.
Nick and Hank return to the police station where several flash mob participants came in after hearing a television report requesting help with the homicide. Each participant basically tells Hank and Nick the same story. But one participant hits Nick’s profiling radar. He asks to see the tweet that announced the flash mob but Doug refuses. Nick decides to go another direction and asks him about Serena. Doug states he really didn’t notice her but Nick catches his lie. He goes to grab the phone but instead grabs Doug’s hand. Nick sees his hand morph. Hank interrupts the interrogation and motions Nick outside the room. He tells him that the tweet giving out the flash mob information came from a dummy IP address. As Hank is talking, Nick sees Doug’s face change. He looks around the station and sees another flash mob participant’s face change also. This is no ordinary homicide.
They decide to let Doug go and follow him to a paper mill. Inside the mill they see Doug talk to another person who was also part of the flash mob. As Nick and Hank watch a woman walks up to them, but they can’t see her face. It becomes apparent that there is a conspiracy going on. As they try to get a good look of the woman who joined the group, a bee lands nearby. All of the sudden a swarm begins to attack Nick and Hank. They run into a glass office to get away from the bees but they still come after them. As sudden as the bees attack, they mysteriously go away, but not before stinging Hank a dozen times. Oddly, Nick was not harmed.
Nick takes Hank home to have Juliette treat him. She teases Hank by saying that the bees came after him alone because he was their “flower”. Knowing now that this case falls within the Grimm category, Nick heads to the trailer for some research. Unbeknownst to him, a bee is watching him from the skylight. Nick sees pictures of the creature Doug turned into and finds out they are called Mellifers. He also sees a picture of the blond creature that tried to kill Aunt Marie identified as a Hexenbiest. He continues to read that Hexenbiests are natural enemies of the Mellifers and have a mark on their tongue to identify them.
Nick calls Munroe to help him and they meet at the paper mill. Munroe enlightens Nick about the Mellifers – that they are considered as a community switchboard (like a form of social media) and send out warning calls within the Grimm creature community. They head to the office of the unknown woman who met Doug earlier and find out her name is Melissa Wingcroft, owner and CEO of the paper mill. They head to her home looking for her but instead find it abandoned with a large hive in the attic.
In the morning, Hank and the police arrive at the Wingcroft home. Nick tells Hank he finally figured out how the homicide, flash mob and Wingcroft were connected. Just then, they are called to another flash mob crime scene. The victim is identified as Camilla Gottlieb and worked at the same law firm as Serena Dunnbrook. In fact, she worked with Serena on the same case that closed down the Wingcroft’s paper mill. Nick remembers that there was a third attorney on this case and calls to get her into protective custody. Her name is Adelind Schade.
When they get to the police station, Adelind is already in Capt. Renard’s office. When she turns around, Nick recognizes her as the women who tried to kill his aunt and injected him with a toxin when he tried to stop her. Shocked, Nick keeps this knowledge to himself. Later Adelind tells Renard that she’s not comfortable with Nick keeping her alive as Nick does remember her. Renard assures her that personally he won’t let anything happen to her. “Is that what you told Serena and Camilla?” she asks.
Nick makes a connection and heads back to autopsy where he asks to see the victims’ tongues. He notices that both tongues have the Hexenbiest’s mark.
Doug and his companion are picked up and brought to the station. Nick devises a plan to bring Wingcroft out of hiding. He first tricks Doug into sending her a tweet then sends in a decoy Adelind to the office hoping Wingcroft will take the bait. In the meantime, the real Adelind is holed up in a hotel. With Hank out of the room, Nick decides to confront Adelind about who she is and why she wants to harm his aunt. During the grilling, Adelind presses a button on the chair. Nick asks her why the Queen Mellifer (Wingcroft), wants her dead. Evasively, she answers back by maliciously telling him that he has no idea what he is getting in the middle of.
Wingcroft is determined to kill Adelind and sends her swarm out to find her. While making coffee, Hank notices a bee on him and tries to swat it away. He then realizes there are more and heads to where they may be coming from. When he gets to the bathroom, he sees the swarm coming in from an open window. Unable to close the window, he yells for help. Nick runs to the bathroom to help Hank when all of the sudden the swarm dissipates. They run to the front room only to find Adelind gone and a swarm of bees covering the entire window.
Nick and Hank rush out in opposite directions to try to find Adeline who took off in fear. Nick heads down to the basement where he is confronted with Wingcroft and her swarm. He aims his gun at her but she tells him the murders were done to protect him. She explains that the bee creatures are clarions and they send warning calls. She tries to convince him that they are on his side and that the lawsuit was actually a conspiracy against the Mellifers to prevent them from warning a Grimm of something bad that is coming. As she tries to get away from Nick, Wingcroft finds Adeline who was hiding. A fight ensues between the girls but Nick is unable to get involved as the swarm of bees surrounds him and block his way. Hank finds them in the basement just as Adeline sees him and begs for help. Nick is yelling for Wingcroft to back away. She turns and sees Hank’s gun drawn and is about to harm Hank when Nick shoots. Shocked and with her last dying breath, Wingcroft warns Nick that “he is coming for you. Beware, he’s close.” As she falls dead, the entire swarm of bees also falls dead.
Later that night, Nick reflects on his actions. He recalls his aunt saying that he has to hunt down the bad creatures. Did he make a mistake? What did it all mean? Nick goes to close the bedroom window and in the process, a bee lands on his hand. He looks at it with fascination just before it stings him and flies away.
More information was given about Nick’s heritage and the story arc of the big evil approaching makes this show intriguing. Part of the fun of watching this show is figuring out which fairy tale inspired the episode. I’m sure there are a few Easter eggs I missed but I did notice that Mellifer Doug’s phone was black and yellow like a bumble bee. Which ones were you able to pick up?
And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Nana Visitor (‘Torchwood: Miracle Day’, ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, ‘Battlestar Gallatica’) was a guest star in this episode playing the Meillischwuler (the Queen Bee). It was a noteworthy treat for the sci-fi fans.
If you missed last week’s episode, you can read the ‘Grimm: Bears Will Be Bears’ recap here. So what are your thoughts of GRIMM so far?
