“How silly the frog does talk!
He can be no companion
To any human being.”

It seems like new Wesen are the order of the day as you have a panicky Juliette demanding her life back, a newer, younger and meaner Royal’s in town and a frog-princess of Wesen who’s mere touch can put the lights out of potential suitors.

The three amigos of law and Wesen

After Juliette throws a threat-laced tantrum at Renard for her current condition, we’re introduced to Bella Turner, a mountain biker who’s the eye of affection for two of her fellow riders. One of them, Zach gets more than he bargained for after checking on the lovely Bella. His concern causes her to woge into a creepy froglike creature and when he touches her skin, the results are powerful and deadly. Minutes following Nick filling Hank in on the Juliette situation, the detectives are called to Tabor Park and the most recent homicide. Digging a bit more into the victim’s life, they find Bella’s picture littering his place and it eventually leads them to a bike shop where Bella works. Her feigned shock at Zach’s death and lack of woge throws Nick for a loop but they do end up paying Monrosalee a visit to get more information on this crazy new threat. Rosalee taps the new frog Wesen—with a name that will not be attempted to be spelled on these pages—as well as a bit of a curve ball regarding her woge: it only occurs as a defensive mechanism when another person’s sexually aroused by her. Rosalee theorizes that, by combining a few anti-venom toxics into a hodgepodge serum of sorts, she may be able to neutralize the poisonous effects of Bella’s woge.

While the detectives are tracking down Bella, Renard is still working to covertly thwart the Royals from discovering baby Diana’s location. Unfortunately, Viktor’s removal from the picture is a spanner in the works, especially with the aggressive and brash Prince Kenneth is inserted to get results. And results do come quickly. Not only does he out Sam as working with Renard, he also discovers Adalind’s pregnancy and shuts down her thoughts to use Viktor as the daddy. Before killing Sam, he has the double agent set a meeting with Renard, one that devolves into some good old-fashioned fisticuffs. Though Renard biests-out, grabbing the upper hand, his phantom wounds reappear, putting him down for the count. Satisfied that Renard’s out of commission, Kenneth leaves him with a simple choice: join him or die.

Bella looks to avoid her mother’s tragic circumstance

Back to the Bella situation, the young woman gets an unlikely visitor that night at the shop in Rick. Seems like Rick’s more of an arse than originally believed when he tries forcing himself on her. The bad guy gets his just desserts, succumbing to Bella’s poisonous flesh. She calls 911 in a panic and, though she’s not around when the cops arrive, Nick and Hank make headway when they visit her apartment. There they find a picture of her and the scarred Cindy Turner, her mother. It turns out Cindy was a victim of rape 24 years prior and her attacker suffered the same fates as Zach and Rick. Sadly, we find it’s somewhat of a curse when, after Bella takes shelter at her mother’s, her grandmother—sporting the same scars as her daughter—readies to take a branding iron to Bella’s face in hopes of preventing three generations of women from being the victims of rape. Nick and Hank are able to halt Grandma Turner’s actions and offer Bella another choice. She can take Rosalee’s concoction with full disclosure being there may be unknown side effects. “I don’t care about the side effects,” she tells them, “it can’t be worse than what happens now.” Without a second thought, she downs the liquid and…

3 weeks later…

Bella’s on a date and, despite the change in her flesh due to the potion, it seems that she’s found someone who sees past it all to the true beauty.

Side Effects

  • Though it appears that Bella’s ordeal may be over, Juliette’s is just beginning. More to the point, her patience is wearing plenty thin now. Not only is she throwing threats down to Renard (after knocking on his door for help) but she shows a side of biatch-iness to Nick when she’s forced to interact with him back at the house. Are these the natural reactions of a person cracked by circumstance or more of an echo from her hexenbiest transformation?
  • It looks as if Renard’s “phantom wounds” are no longer relegated to nightmares. Out of the blue, the returned, crippling him during his fight with Prince Kenneth. The question is whether or not these episodes are merely inconveniences (though it would have been deadly if Kenneth had wished to eliminate Renard) or will it progress to something more life-threatening? Either way, Renard has to figure out a solution before these remnants of his near death become a much more visceral reminder.