This week missing homeless and runaway street kids lead Nick and Hank to a gruesome practice in the creature world.
Beware of spoilers ahead!
Two teenagers are being chased by creatures in the woods. Their escape is cut off when they reach a ledge and one of them falls into the river. The creatures are able to capture one of the guys while the other is taken away by the river’s flow. The creatures take the young man up a ramp passing other creatures tossing human bodies into a fire pit.
It’s morning and Nick is at Monroe’s house. Something is bothering Nick and Monroe knows he is reluctant to talk about what’s on his mind. Nick reveals that he wants to tell Juliet that he’s a Grimm. He’s worried about Juliet’s safety and wanted Monroe’s advice on how to tell her. Monroe tells him it’s not a good idea and most likely it will either lead Juliet to think she’s crazy for believing his story or that Nick is. Nick is adamant and asks Monroe if he would turn into a Blutbad in front of Juliet to prove neither of them is crazy. Monroe tells him that non-Grimms could see a Wesen (i.e. any Grimm creature) but only if they wanted them to (which, on a side note, Monroe tells Nick that is the reason we have fairy tales and we would have had more if it weren’t for Grimms killing them off) but still doesn’t think it’s a good idea to show Juliet.
Just then, the phone rings and it is Sgt. Wu calling Nick about a dead body that was found on the bank of the river. Nick and Hank arrive at the scene and Sgt. Wu gives them the info of what he’s found. Hank comments on the puka shell necklace that was in the teenager’s pocket. Nick comments on how bruised and pale the body looks and as he turns the head, sees two puncture marks on the side of the body’s neck.
The teenager is identified as 18 year old Steven Manford with a last known address of a P.O. Box located downtown. While they are there, they see a teen girl come in with a puka shell necklace on. Hank asks where she got the necklace and she tells them that she traded for it with a girl named Gracie.
They find Gracie and show her a picture of Steven. She becomes distraught when they tell her that he’s dead. Seeing her upset, her brother, Hanson, comes up and asks Hank and Nick what they are doing. They tell Nick that about 4-5 weeks ago, Steven had gotten a job at a ranch but didn’t know where it was located as Steven would be picked up for work. The last time they saw him was after they took him to the free clinic. As Nick and Hank are about to leave, Nick buys a puka shell necklace from Gracie and drops $20 in the basket.
The boys decide to visit the clinic where Steven was last seen and they speak to the clinic director Tom Daniels who tells them that many street kids come into his clinic. He looks up Steven’s records and sees that he was last seen 5 weeks ago for a spider bite. They ask to talk to the doctor who treated him.
Dr. Levine tells them that she treated Steven for a spider bite, gave him antibiotics, did a cursory physical exam and found him pretty healthy for someone who was living on the streets. As the detectives leave the clinic, Nick gets a phone call to investigate a motor vehicle accident.
At the scene, Nick and Hank see a human heart on the street that had fallen out of a cooler filled with ice. The car involved in the accident was not a medical vehicle but seems to have been transporting human organs and blood. As the paramedics extricate the driver, Nick sees him change into a creature before dying.
Back at the precinct, Hank finds out the driver had a phony license and that the plates on the car he was driving was stolen. His prints match those from other unsolved crimes and his phone service provider won’t give the police any records without a warrant. Hank is stumped and comments how the town is getting weirder.
Not stumped is Nick who heads to Aunt Marie’s trailer to look up the creature he saw. He finds out that he was a Geir, a creature that has an innate ability to move through trees and is considered the vilest creatures of them all. They harvest human organs while the victims are still alive seeming to take pleasure in the savage pain they cause. Wanting to know more, Nick calls Monroe up and asks what his dinner plans were.
At Monroe’s house, Nick is filling him in about the accident and what he found out about Geirs. Monroe looks a bit perturbed and asks Nick if he knew what his favorite color was. Unable to answer, Monroe goes on and complains how Nick doesn’t take any interest in him other than for creature information to help him solve a case. Nick, sensing Monroe is feeling a bit used and neglected, asks Monroe what is his favorite color but Monroe doesn’t believe Nick is being sincere. (Do Blutbads get PMS?) After a while, Monroe answers red and Nick comments how much closer he now feels to him.
Monroe tells Nick that Geirs are like herbalists. They use human organs as aphrodisiacs and for homeopathic remedies. As an example, he tells Nick that testicles have a Viagra effect on certain creatures (not that he knows from personal experience because according to him, everything works great down there!). Nick asks where would a creature buy the human organs and Monroe tells him of a place he knows (not that he’s ever been there…hm…)
The next day, Hank confirms that the blood found from the accident matches Steven. It explains why he was down the 7 pints of blood. They deduce that this is a serial crime as there are a lot of blood and body parts from a lot of different people. Nick tells Hank that someone is harvesting human organs. As they go through the files, they realize that the organs are in perfect healthy state and are probably from homeless kids and runaways.
Nick returns to the shop where Monroe bought powdered gallbladder as evidence for Nick and asks for “the catch of the day.” After the shop owner turns into a Fachsbau, he soon realizes that Nick is a Grimm. Nick asks him where he gets his supplies and the Fachsbau decides to run for it. Upon catching him (because Nick is that good!) the shop owner gives him his source. Unfortunately, the source happens to be the Geir that died in the car accident.
Later, Nick and Juliette decide to take Hanson and Gracie to dinner. During dinner, Nick asks them if there were any other street kids that had disappeared like Steven and the teens told them that Kevin was also offered a job and disappeared. Kevin had told them that someone in a white van had offered the two boys a job. While Gracie talked, Juliet watched her closely and intuitively knew that Gracie liked Kevin and that Kevin had asked her to go with him. When dinner was over, Nick warned the kids and told them to call him if they ever saw the white van.
The next morning, Gracie is at the free clinic as she has a fever. Dr. Levine gives her some antibiotic and asks when the last time she ate was. Gracie tells her about Nick taking her and Hanson to a diner and about the conversation they had about Steven and Kevin.
The detectives update Captain Renard about the case and he decides to join them as they visit the last known location of the number they found on the dead Geir’s phone. The address leads them to a trailer. They knock on the door and identify themselves when all of a sudden, someone shoots at them from a side window. Capt. Renard, who was a short distance behind Nick and Hank, shoots the fellow dead. They all head into the trailer and towards the back, they find some sort of greenhouse. Upon further investigation, they see it’s a place where the human organs are being dried out. Not understanding what they are seeing, Nick explains that some cultures use animal organs to use as medicines and aphrodisiacs like bear gall bladders and rhino horns and this is something similar. Capt. Renard calls it cannibalism while Sgt. Wu says capitalism.
While there, the dead man’s phone rings. Nick retrieves it and dials the last number and hears that it was the free clinic calling. Nick and Hank rush over just as one of the workers is leaving. They tell her to open the clinic door as they have a warrant to search the premises. As she is fumbling with the keys, Nicks sees her turn into a Geir.
They find nothing so Nick decides to talk to the office worker who let them in. Behind closed doors, he tell her he knows what she is and she begins to tremble with fear realizing he’s a Grimm. Nick asks where are the missing kids taken and threatens her by saying he’s not asking as a cop so she should not expect him to be acting like one.
Hanson and Gracie are walking towards a place they can settle down for the night when the clinic’s manager, Tom Daniels, comes up to them asking to buy a couple puka shell necklaces. As he is talking to them, a white van pulls up and the teens are grabbed and placed inside the van.
As the kids are taken to the same place in the woods that Kevin was seen being dragged to in the beginning of the episode, Hanson removes his necklace and begins to discreetly drop puka shells along the way.
Back inside the house, Dr. Levine is in a make shift operating room and is informed by Daniels that the kids are being prepped. As the camera scans, we see Kevin, Gracie and Hanson each on a gurney ready to be operated on.
Outside, a SWAT team surrounds the area (I guess Nick’s threat was effective) and they find the white van. Nick notices the pieces of puka shells dropped along the way and they follow the path. They reach the building where the organ extractions are being done but before they can surprise the doctor and her minions, the SWAT team starts shooting in the front area. Nick and Hank break through the door and start shooting at the people inside (yeah… while the kids are semi-conscious and tied to the gurney). Nick goes after Dr. Levine but is unable to find her outside. Then he remembers. Geirs are able to move through trees and are vulture-like. As he looks up, Dr. Levine jumps down and starts trying to cause damage with her claws. Nick is able to fight her off but she gets too close to the fire pit and falls in.
As Gracie comes too, she sees Nick who tells her everything is okay. She asks Nick, “How did you find us?” and he shows her a puka shell. Hank is incredulous as he sees all the human organs inside jars and comments, “This town is definitely getting weirder.”
Back at the station, Capt. Renard sees that a package was left at his desk. As he opens it, he sees it’s a box with the Reaper symbol on it. Inside is the other ear from the reaper that he was angry at in the episode ‘Lonelyhearts.’ Renard’s phone rings and it’s a mysterious man who warns him that he needs to start controlling Nick or get rid of him. The mysterious man tells him that the world is becoming unbalanced and they are not happy. Renard challenges the man to next time send his message in person. He replies, “Next time, we will.”
Another great episode of Grimm! I really enjoyed how they took the fairy tale of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and expounded upon it by explaining the reason why the witch would eat little children (which was really never explained in the fairy tale.) The use of puka shells instead of bread crumbs to mark the way was creative as well as the use of a fire pit in place of an oven.
It looks like Nick is becoming more comfortable with his role as a Grimm but is conflicted as to how it will affect those in his life, mainly Juliet. This episode, however, hints that there may be more to Juliet than meets the eye.
Also, more questions revolve around Captain Renard from the phone call he received at the end of the episode. Is he a supposed to be a handler, an enemy or maybe a member of a third party that must oversee the balance between the Grimms and the Wesens (creatures)? What do you think?
The analogy of creatures using human organs for medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes to creatures doing the same towards humans brought light to the fight of many activists. It brings to question how different is human organ harvesting by the creatures to harvesting whale oil, shark fins, rhino tusks, elephant tusks and deer antlers to name a few for the same reason. In the Grimm world, Geirs consider humans as animals as some cultures consider animals. The comment of Sgt. Wu stating that the Geirs are practicing capitalism and not cannibalism was a dig at those who still kill animals for the purpose of selling specific parts. Beyond the entertainment factor of the show, it was surprisingly quite political.
Next week, Amy Acker (‘Angel’) will guest star as the Black Widow. And if you missed last week’s eye opening Monroe highlighted episode, you can read all about it in the ‘Grimm: Of Mice and Men’ recap.
