“Under such conditions,

Whatever is evil in men’s natures

Comes to the front”

 The carnival has always been a place for misfits and outcasts. But what about Wesen? This week’s ‘Grimm’ explores a Wesen circus with the help of a very special ‘Being Human’ guest—Sam Witwer.

Ring Master Heddick is a bad, bad man…

After another successful show, Max, the main attraction is drinking,trying his best to work past his injuries when his girlfriend Jenny checks up on him. She tells the obviously troubled Max that he needs a break but he counters to the fact that they need the money. After going off on his own, he’s approached by two fans of the show and the women invite him back to their place where, despite his better judgment (and the spying eyes of the Ring Master), he goes. Of course things don’t end well as, under the insistent harassment of the inebriated women, Max goes full Blutbad woge on the two women, eliciting screams of terror and most likely, pain.

During the night of the show, Monroe and Rosalee have Nick and Juliette over for dinner. The soon-to-be newlyweds are discussing the best places to have the wedding ceremony—it has to be outside, of course—when they ask Nick and Juliette to be their Best Man and Maid of Honor, respectively. A resounding toast is given for the bride and groom but the happiness is marred by Nick’s vivid nightmares of the carnage that could ensue if the guests find out about his status as Grimm. He’s extremely torn and tells Juliette “I don’t think I can do it.”

The next day they get a call to the murder scene of the two women (with Sgt Wu back on the beat). A bit of detective work provides them with their only lead; the Carnival Metamorphosia. They pay a visit to the carnival and view the Wesen woging in action. They speak to Heddick the Ring Master after the show and he’s quite cooperative—though the detectives miss him strong arming his people. When they leave with Heddick to get a full list of the carnival employees, Jenny confronts Max about the two girls but he tells her he can’t remember a thing. When he goes for his trusty liquor, she snatches it and throws it down, breaking it. Max goes beast-mode on her and it’s not until Heddick and the others barge in to restrain him that Max gets back under control. The damage, however, has been done with Jenny harboring a giant gash in her leg, and she won’t be able to perform. Heddick is disgusted with Max’s behavior, telling the problematic Blutbad “you’ll be the ruin of us all.”

After leaving the carnival, Nick and Hank go to Rosalee and Monroe about it. The two Wesen tell them the Council has no problem with it due to the fact that it’s all billed as “magic”. There is a problem though, it’s the umkippen. In Monroe’s words, “if we force ourselves to woge over and over again, the Wesen side can take over.” The person will be a ticking time bomb. With that in mind, the detectives research any violent behaviors that have followed the circus. They do find that Max has been with the carnival for four years and, in that time frame, there have been several unsolved murders the same time the carnival’s been in town. Renard knows that’s not enough to go on thus tells his prized duo to do more research.

What Nick doesn’t know is, at Rosalee’s behest, her and Monroe pay a visit to the carnival to do their part in finding the Wesen most likely to fall under the category of umkippen. When they get there, Rosalee’s status as Fuschbau gets her drafted into the show. Unfortunately, Max watches it all from the shadows and he’s less than happy about another Fuschbau taking Jenny’s place.

In Austria, Meisner and Adalind are still trying to make their way to Zurich when they come across the beaten Sebastian. One of Viktor’s men gets the drop on Meisner but Adalind throws out some hexenbiest mojo and the gunman is forced to blow his own head off. After destroying the second car, Meisner, Adalind and the baby are ready to go but Sebastian turns down the offer to go with them. He wishes to atone for selling them out and, when Viktor and his men arrive back to the car, he’s able to kill all but Viktor before running out of bullets. He refuses to cooperate and Viktor and the Royal shoots him.

On the road towards Zurich, Renard touches base with Meisner’s progress and tells him someone’s waiting to get Adalind and the baby out of dodge. He relays the message to the new mother and when she asks if he’s coming with her, he shakes his head. “My fight is here,” he tells her, unaware of the sad look that crosses her face.

At the carnival, Rosalee’s trying to get some info from a less than excited Jenny. She asks her about the umkippen and Jenny admits that Max is the one struggling with things.

Nick and Hank arrive at the carnival, ready to take Heddick down

The show begins and Nick calls Monroe only to find out the freelance work his two Wesen friends have decided to do. Rosalee has a bit of stage gright but that’s the least of her concerns when Max goes off the deep end and starts throwing people left and right on his mission to get at Rosalee. Thankfully Monroe’s in the audience and beats back Max while Nick and Hank chase the fleeing Heddick. They lose the Ring Master in a house of mirrors but he’s not so lucky. He’s surrounded by Jenny, Damion and Ivan, who are disgusted by letting Max take the fall for his crimes. Needless to say, things don’t end well for him…

Though it doesn’t end with a conviction, Renard is satisfied enough to close the case. The carnival’s moving on with Jenny and the others focused on helping Max. They are family, after all, and family looks after each other.

Grimm Times

  • Family is something that goes beyond blood, beyond background. Family is where one finds his or her true home. For Jenny and the other carnival performers, they are a family who has finally discovered how important they are to one another and no one, not even a monster like Heddick controls what they do for one another. Conversely, Monroe—despite his Blutbad origins—has found his own family with a Fuschbau, a Grimm and two humans.
  • Thanks to Meisner (and Sebastian) Adalind is on her way out of Austria and back to the States. Not only is she getting her powers back but she’s getting the first experiences of motherhood. Though we’ve only seen her on her own for the most part, Adalind certainly looks like motherhood has changed her. No longer does she appear to be the same selfish woman craving power but as if a softer side of her has been exposed. Is this a permanent change or something temporary? Guess we’ll have to wait and see…