High school. The competitiveness of being at the top of the class can bring the beast out of any student but if that student also happens to be a Wesen, then maybe it’s not such a good thing. This week, Nick and Hank are called to the scene of a murdered high school academic decathlete while a strange attraction is brewing between two unlikely people.
“I thought of making myself a beautiful wooden marionette. It must be wonderful, one that can dance, fence, and turn somersaults”
This week’s tale comes from an old children’s favorite made popular by Disney: the story of ‘Pinocchio!’ I wonder who is pulling whose strings this week? Let’s head to the recap!
(Warning! This recap contains spoilers.)
At a high school academic decathlon trial, students are competing against each other for a spot to represent the school at the next level of competition. They are all pretty academically competitive but also good friends. After the trials, the group of kids head to a diner to get something to eat. Pierce’s mom reluctantly allows him to go.
After they finish eating, Jenny offers Pierce and Brandon a ride home but they both decide to walk instead going their separate ways. On the way home, Brandon hears a noise and stops looking to see if anyone is following him. Suddenly a Wesen jumps at him and attacks.
Nick and Juliette attend an awards ceremony honoring Captain Renard. During Renard’s speech, he catches Juliette watching him closely. Afterwards, he joins the rest of his officers for a little celebratory drink but something keeps pulling him back to looking at Juliette. Nick gets a call to check out a case and Renard offers to take Juliette home.
Hank and Nick head to the park where Brandon was attacked and killed. It obviously wasn’t a robbery as he still had his wallet.
Renard drops Juliette off home and watches as she enters the house. As Juliette undresses to take a shower, Renard sneaks into her home and heads upstairs seemingly drawn to her for some reason. As he enters the bedroom, he looks in and sees her showering. He gets a grip on himself and turns seeing a picture of Juliette and Nick on the dresser.
Juliette hears a noise and thinking it’s Nick, gets out of the shower. As she looks around the bedroom, she sees the glass of the picture of her and Nick is broken.
Renard is speeding away from the house and is trying to stay in control as his face is beginning to change. He drives erratically and almost hits a pedestrian. Renard walks out of the car and the guy thinks he’s intoxicated. He asks for Renard’s keys but Renard tells him he’s fine. When the pedestrian becomes insistent, Renard loses contro, transforms (but not fully) into a Wesen and punches him out. He changes back and gets back into his car and drives away.
The next morning, the detectives question Pierce, Higgins and Jenny (Kevin was too upset to show up). They answer the detectives’ questions and as they leave, Hank asks Nick if he could tell if any of them were a Wesen and Nick tells him no.
Just then, Don Anker, the decathlon coach, drives up and is a bit upset. He wants to make sure they find the person that killed Brandon because if he finds them first, there won’t be anything left of the guy for them to find. As he speaks, Anker turns into a Lowen and while Hank can’t see the transformation, he notices Nick’s reaction.
In Vienna, Eric (Renard’s brother) is at the opera and is hit on by Adalind. She makes a few personal comments but it’s the one about betrayal and the knowledge of his brother Sean that intrigues Eric the most. She tells him the cause of her issues with Sean is “quite Grimm.” Eric offers a shoulder to cry on and he escorts her away.
Monroe is still watching over Rosalee’s spice shot when Renard comes in looking for a potion to get rid of his attraction to Juliette. Monroe doesn’t know or recognize Renard and treats him like a regular customer. He asks him a few questions about the obsession and learns that Renard has had these feeling since the day he kissed “her.” He suggests that the cause of the obsession could be due to a potion and that he would need to research it further. He may be able to find an antidote by the next day. He asks for Renard’s number to call him when it is ready but Renard tells him he’ll just come in.
Pierce gets a call from Jenny who’s surprised that his mom is making him study. Jenny blames herself and says she needs to get some air. She asks if he’d like to meet her by the bleachers and Pierce agrees even though he has a splitting headache.
At the school, Jenny is waiting for Pierce when she hears a noise. She heads under the bleachers and gets attacked from behind.
Nick and Hank arrive at the school where Jenny’s body is found. They find a watch that belongs to Pierce in Jenny’s hand and decide to head to his home. They see Pierce shooting hoops and ask him a few questions. When Nick asks him the time, Pierce tells him he doesn’t know as he’s not wearing his watch. They show him the watch they found on Jenny and asks if it’s his just as his mom is coming out. They tell the mother and son that Jenny was murdered and Nick asks Pierce when was the last time he saw Jenny.
Pierce and his mother are both getting upset with the questioning that is going on and inadvertently change into Wesens (Genio Innocuos to be exact). When Dr. Higgins realizes that Nick sees them as they really are, she tries to protect her son. Nick assures her that he won’t harm them. She continues to proclaim Pierce’s innocence and takes him inside the house as the detectives leave.
Inside, Pierce is on his bed when his mom checks in on him. He still has a raging headache but tells her it’s getting better. She leaves him a cup of hot cocoa and tells him to get some rest. As he drinks the cocoa, he spills some on his pillow case so he removes it and heads to the laundry room to stick it in the wash (okay, he must be a creature because I know of no human teenager who would do this!). When he lifts the washer lid, the water is all red. Dr. Higgins rushes him and tells him not to bother and leads him back towards his room.
She then gets a phone call from Anker who tells her that he’s decided to pull the school out of the competition. She tells Pierce of his decision who leaves the room upset.
Nick and Hank decide to visit Anker as they thing he might has set up Pierce. When he doesn’t answer his door, they break in. Inside his home is a mess with a blood trail leading to his dead body. Hank is shocked. If Ankers is a Lowen, who could have possibly done this to him?
Back in Vienna, Eric takes Adalind to his castle and asks how she knows Renard. She tells him he was a friend of her mother’s and she fell for his charming ways. Eric tells her about how Sean ended up in Portland. His half-brother was a result of an affair his father had with a Hexenbiest and to avoid a scandal, his mother took Sean and they flew to America. He then asks her why she’s in Vienna. Adalind tells him it’s because they have a lot in common: his brother and the Grimm. Eric is intrigued that Adalind knows this Grimm/Nick well.
As Ankers body is being taken to the ambulance, Nick receives a call from Pierce who tells him he thinks he knows who caused the murders. Dr. Higgins comes in and tells him to hang up the phone. As he tries to get away from her, she tries to explain and begins to apologize about what she did to him but he’s intent on letting his mother know that he knows she killed the students. But when he finds out it is him, he begins to go into a trance and changes into a Lowen.
Hank and Nick arrive at the Higgins’ home just in time to hear Dr. Higgins scream for her life. As they head into the house, Nick sees Dr. Higgins on the ground and is then tackled by the transformed Pierce. Nick manages to get Pierce on the ground and begins to pummel him unconscious.
Dr. Higgins sadly tells Nick that Pierce doesn’t know he killed his friends. She tells him that he’s part Lowen because she altered his genes before he was born to give him traits not normally seen in a mild but highly intelligent Genio Innocuo. He never knew he was part Lowen but that side seems to take over whenever Pierce felt threatened. Hank takes another look and Pierce is gone.
As Pierce runs away, he realizes his mouth is all bloodied. He heads to the water tower to kill himself. While he is talking to Nick, Pierce changes back between his human, Lowen and Genio Innocuo selves. The Lowen explains he’s the only one that can look out for Pierce because of the pressure his mom put on him to be the best. He continues to transform without control and just before he jumps, he tells Nick he doesn’t want to hurt anyone anymore.
As he jumps off, Nick is able to grab on to his arm, handcuff him and pull him back up.
Pierce is next seen in prison working the kitchen detail when two inmates decide to pick on him. He asks them to stop but they become more threatening telling him it’s time to show him who’s king of the joint. Pierce transforms into a Lowen and you can imagine the rest.
Renard returns to the spice shop to pick up the antidote from Monroe who explains that all that can be done is that he can take a potion to damper his arduous libido but to remove the obsession completely, the other person needs to be involved. Renard tells him that is not an option. Monroe tells him that if his condition is left untreated, he won’t be able to control his feelings and will eventually attack anyone who comes between him and his object of affection…
Episode Observations:
*Overall, this was a pretty good episode with lots of different allegories going on throughout the episode. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a bit bored of Juliette’s storyline and now that Renard is feeling that attraction that she felt for him in the last episode, hopefully things will begin to start steaming up.
* Love the fact we are getting to know more about Renard and his background! We finally have his first name – Sean. Since Renard is a Halfling, that may explain why Renard only partially transformed but it also leaves open to determine which side is he on in this Royal war involving the families. Renard obviously has his own plan but which side, if any, does it benefit? Any thoughts?
* Pierce’s Lowen side was akin to someone with a dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personality disorder) where his Lowen side only comes out when Pierce feels the need to be protected yet Pierce has no recollection of anything the Lowen does.
* Who else thinks that Dr. Higgins’ name is an homage to the musical ‘My Fair Lady?’ If you recall, it was Professor Higgins who was trying to transform Eliza from a Cockney speaking street girl to a sophisticated Londoner who knows the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane.
*So the mutual feelings of attraction between Renard and Juliette have been going on since the kiss. Tricky, tricky Adelind but we all kinda saw this one coming, right Grimmsters?
* I miss Monroe’s interaction with Nick. The two have a certain chemistry together that when they aren’t working along side each other, the episode feels a bit lacking. What do you think?
If missed the ‘The Other Side’ last night and want to watch it, we have it below for you to enjoy!
Next week is a special Halloween episode of ‘Grimm’ so it’s not one to miss! And if you missed last week’s episode, ‘The Bottle Imp,’ make sure you read the recap to get caught up.
‘Grimm: The Other Side:’
Source: NBC
