“You shall break them with a rod.”
No bullets, no Stick, and face to face with one ugly mug whose staff prevents you from touching it? Yeah, things don’t look too good for Nick and Julieve as they take on the Zerstorer who’s having a bit of fun with them. But why won’t he deliver the coup de grace? That becomes clear when some Team Grimm research reveals the Zerstorer needs the Grimm to go through a portal opened to our world to change his address.
And guess what happens?
Well, not exactly what we expected. Nick and Julieve make it through, breaking the mirror in the process. But as the gang regroups, Diana realizes two things: 1. That Julieve has left a part of herself—her Wesen self—on the other side and, 2. “He’s coming”. It’s no surprise that she’s in full-on freak-out mode but fear not, there’s a plan. Nick suggests they head to the cabin—one of the first places he’d ever worked a Grimm case—as a safe haven so to speak. Problem is, nowhere else could be called safe as the Zerstorer, in human guise, makes his way across Portland, leaving bodies in his wake as he searches for Diana, his Shaphat, as well as Kelly.
“Zerstorer Shrugged” is a typical Grimm episode, with a villain that has a single-minded focus while the team does their usual research followed by an overabundance of exposition on the mythos surrounding the Zerstorer, his staff, and his domain. One of the things Grimm does well is injecting the real life stories and myths of history with the world of Grimm. Unfortunately, this is a double-edged sword as, at times, this time of inclusion can bog down the mythos they are trying to create. It’s like throwing every fruit you have in the kitchen into a blender and tasting the results: sure, it could be fantastic but there could also be so much flavor that your taste buds are confused to the point of overload. While the lore set out for Zerstorer and his staff teeters on that edge of exposition overload, it is not without some cool moments.
The second Julieve and Nick mentioned the state of Zerstorer’s staff, the writing was on the wall about the staff’s relationship to the Stick. Turns out, to best his best possible self—Grand Ruler of All—Zerstorer needs the Stick in order to complete his staff. Now, it’s never explicitly stated if Zerstorer knows this; all we do know is that the beast from the other side is focused on finding his Shaphat Diana and her little brother Kelly and God help whoever gets in his way.
For the most part, victims of the Zerstorer’s search for his Shaphat are nothing more than red shirts; extras whose day-long work on set includes blood, screaming, and their best death pose. But as we wind down towards the end, a Terminator-esque confrontation in the police station finds Nick, Hank, and Wu, wielding assault rifles against the Zerstorer and his staff. It doesn’t turn out well for the good guys and in what has to be the most shocking moment in Grimm’s six years, both Hank and Wu are skewered by the Zerstorer. That’s right folks, two of the show’s biggest tables are killed by a villain who doesn’t so much as break a sweat, swatting our heroes like flies. Even Nick is helpless to stand in the Zerstorer’s way.
One more week. One more week for Team Grimm to band together and defeat the greatest enemy they’ve ever known. It’s not looking good for the white hats but they have to prevail: good always conquers evil, right?
Right?
Grimmtastic
- R.I.P. Hank and Wu. As I am not one to scour the web for show spoilers, witnessing Hank and Wu’s death was a complete surprise to me though, to be honest, it was somewhat anticlimactic. The action in this particular scene was okay—Hank going Rambo on Zerstorer was pretty cool—but Wu’s death was a shoulder shrugger. He woged, charged and was then run through by the staff. Sadly, this should have been an emotional-charged moment but something about the setup and abrupt ending limited the emotional impact of losing two staple characters in such a brutal way.
- Welcome back, Trubel! We knew she was fighting the good fight against Black Claw—who is no more—but her addition to the team, especially in light of the first bullet point and Julieve’s apparent loss of her Hexenbiest side, may be integral in next week’s series finale. Right now that may not seem to be the case, considering no one has been able to lay a hand on Zerstorer but, like I said, we have to see the good guys win, right? Right?!
