“Love looks not with the eyes, but
With the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid
Painted blind.”
If anyone was looking for a “Love Potion No. 9” type of night, you got it in this week’s Grimm. Not only is it the obligatory Valentine’s Day episode but as it turns out, it’s Monroe’s bday and what better way to celebrate than a weekend out a rustic hotel with his loving wife and mother-to-be Rosalee. And Hank. And Wu. And Nick and Adaline. And Julieve. And baby Kelly. Not quite what I’d call a romantic getaway; neither would Monroe. Only in Grimm, baby. Only in Grimm.
So as the gang hits the estate, a devilish Wesen—Cupiditas, to be specific–recognizes Nick as the cop that arrested his dad years ago. It turns out, this was in Nick’s pre-grimm days so he doesn’t recognize the kid. So what type of vengeance does this bastard Wesen have in store for the gang? Spike their champagne with his own saliva to initiate the Amor de Infierno. The spell makes its victim fall for the person whose hair they ingest from the potion. In this case we get all sorts of crazy as Nick falls for Rosalee, Monroe has eyes for Julieve, Adalind loves Monroe, and Julieve is gaga over Nick. Wu falls for Holly, a waitress at the hotel while Hank goes Gaston, unable to tear his gaze away from…himself. While the buildup for all of it is slow and uninteresting for the most part, the declarations of love and the subsequent scrap between friends is the second funniest thing in the episode and probably the only one-shot Grimm episode over the last few years that I’d have no issues watching over and over again.
The spell is broken when Rosalee, unaffected since she never drank a glass of champagne, tracks down the Cupiditas and, with the suicidal Wu’s help (‘Holly’ spurned his stalkerish advances) knocks the Wesen over a cliff, effective snapping everyone out of their love trances. Game over.
Remember when I said this was the second funniest aspect of “Blind Love”? After a few weeks in TV no-man’s-land, Lieutenant Grossante is back and wants what Renard promised him: a promotion to precinct Captain. He believes kidnapping Diana will give him the leverage to break Renard and get what he wants. He does that and Renard’s initial reaction of panic is completely justified but, after a few moments, he stops, thinks about his daughter being taken and…relaxes? Yeah, he knows she’ll be just fine and as we’re taken back to Grossante and Diana, we see why. The little Hexenbiest has quite a bit of fun tossing Grossante around like a rag doll as he screams for mercy, even calling Renard at one point to beg for help. The Captain takes his time getting there and, when he does, finds the lieutenant a shell of his former confident self. Diana’s ecstatic and wants nothing more than to continue their “play date” at which Renard promises that she can visit Grossante very, very soon.
With all the levity being tossed around, there was a singular moment of seriousness, one that lines up with a primary story arc. Julieve catches sight of a fiery head in a portal of whirling clouds and lightning in the bathroom mirror. Better yet, Nick catches a glimpse of it as well. Neither have a clue as to what it means, only vowing to keep it from the others until they get more data.
Word of advice on that end, tell everyone soon. We know how those pesky secrets have a way of screwing the pooch. Adding the Red Skull-like face in with the symbols and that March 24th warning of the End, these final few weeks of Grimm will be bringing all sorts of hellish drama.
Grimm: “Blind Love”
