So what happens when you mix wedding nuptials, an unexpected Grimm, a mortally wounded officer, and one conniving Hexenbiest desperate to see her daughter? Well, you get the season finale of ‘Grimm’, a finale that, while leaving us Grimmsters in quite the precarious place arrives there at the expense of our, and the characters’, intelligence.

They look happy now but just wait until the incredulity ensues…

On the wedding front, the primary parties are engaged in the rehearsal dinner and, in probably the most genuine moment in the episode, the troupe comes to Nick’s defense with the justice that will be marrying the two Wesen question the best man’s choice of eye wear. After everyone chimes in on Nick’s reason behind the shades, they transition to dinner and this is where everyone gets a welcome surprise. Bart, Monroe’s dad, offers a public apology for his treatment of Rosalee and Nick, with the elder Blutbad and his wife, Alice, finally coming to terms with their son’s strange world. Back at the house, he and Monroe share a father/son moment when, again, Bart offers up a mea culpa, stating that the difficulties faced were solely his fault. The light and airy nature of the family takes an unexpected turn when DeEtta decides to continue drinking, put on her sister’s wedding dress and spill wine all over their familial heirloom. It sparks a morning rush to the store for another dress. DeEtta’s horrified at her behavior though Monroe calmly tells her that neither he nor Rosalee liked the dress. And, if I may, he’s right. It was one of the worst dresses I’ve ever seen…

Moving on…Nick and Juliette get back to their pad just before Trubel burns down the joint trying to cook breakfast for her current guardians. While she and Nick clean up the smoky mess, Juliette answers the phone and it’s none other than Adalind, fresh off her unintentionally laughable attempt at seducing Renard. According to the Hexenbiest, the Captain’s obsession for Juliette has returned full force. For reasons beyond comprehension, Juliette believes Adalind’s warning, though Nick is much more skeptical of the untrustworthy Wesen. To make matters worse, the next day Renard and Juliette have the most idiotic of conversations, believing they know what one another is talking about but are nothing more than dupes in Adalind’s game. They end the call without ever figuring out they’re being played. And, for the second time, Ads calls Juliette and the Grimm’s girlfriend nearly confides in the Hexenbiest…the same one that wanted her dead not too long ago. As it is, she worms information out of Juliette about the latter being out of the house, just what she wanted to hear.

The calm before the Wesen storm…

While Juliette’s going bonkers over what she “thinks” the Captain feels, Nick and Trubel bond as they move the trailer to an out of the way place in the forest. They share a bit more of their history and Nick admits how difficult his status of being a Grimm has been on those close to him, most notably Juliette. And then the question arrives: “If you could choose to be a Grimm or not, what would you do?” It’s a foreshadowing effort subtle in the same vein as a car full of clowns shooting off fireworks out the window would be. When they return to the house, Nick has to get ready for the wedding and tries taking care of Trubel’s culinary needs for the evening. Though she appreciates him and Juliette’s hospitality, she “just can’t keep living here.” It’s the sentiment of a girl not used to such kindness, she can’t help but feel as if she’s intruding. After their conversation, Nick moves into the bedroom to change only to be pursued by ‘Juliette’. They start kissing and things progress naturally and, laying together after the deed has been done, ‘Juliette’ high tails it out of dodge. She passes Trubel who, following her instincts that something’s not right, trails the woman who ends up getting in a car before transforming back into Adalind.

Finally, the real Juliette gets home and is distraught when she observes the ruffled bed and her negligee pooled on the floor. She interrogates Nick on the way to the church and the two reasonably intelligent people finally realize Adalind’s played them like Beethoven’s Fifth. They can’t do anything about it now and have to soldier on through the wedding, though there is a figurative cavern separating them.

Using Sergeant Wu’s recon, Renard tracks Adalind’s temporary base down and, after going through the spell book, surmises what she was trying to do. He gathers the remaining ingredients in a glass vial—I wonder what will happen to it?—before heading to see Nick. He gets Trubel instead and, after the sharing of intel, she gives him directions to the wedding. Renard steps out the door, only to be shot several times by Agent Steward. The Verrat agent chases Trubel through the house and is ready to end her but gets a bit of a surprise when, after wogeing, discovers she’s a Grimm. He tries to get away but loses his head in the process. Knowing that time is wasting away, Trubel calls an ambulance for Renard before taking his keys and speeding through winding roads to find Nick and give him the vial to drink.

While Trubel’s driving like mad to reach Nick with the concoction, Wu’s at the scene. EMT’s wheel Renard into the ambulance while the sergeant looks over the house. He finds Steward’s decapitated head and body but, more alarmingly, the Grimm books on Wesen. The horror on his face is of one reliving a nightmare…

Speaking of nightmares, the wedding is ending when Trubel bursts in. With all Wesen in full-on woge, they realize she’s a Grimm and, before she can get to Nick, they swarm her, forcing Trubel to drop the vial of fluid. It shatters on the floor but Nick wades in and, with the help of the wedding party, gets her to safety. It’s here that they discover how Nick’s been affected. “Oh my God,” Monroe says after wogeing in front of his best man, “you’re not a Grimm anymore.”

On her leave from Portland, Adalind smiles, the hopeful countenance of a woman looking to be reunited with her child.

Grimm Times

  • I don’t rage often at shows but this episode of ‘Grimm’ was the most frustrating of any televised hour in the show’s history. The ‘Adalind is Juliette’ switch, like amnesia, is a tired plot device used way too often in stories though it can work if done right. And done WITHOUT making your protagonists look like bumbling fools. Even if Adalind had sounded and acted more like Juliette—which she didn’t—there is absolutely zero chance Nick or Renard would have been fooled once they kissed the hexenbiest. Kisses are like fingerprints, no two people kiss alike and if you’ve spent years and years with someone, like Nick has with Juliette, there’s no doubt that you immediately know when the lips touching yours are someone else’s…even if she’s wearing your woman’s face.
  • But let’s be fair as the two men shouldn’t shoulder all the blame. The fact that Juliette took Adalind’s words about Renard to heart in the first place was just as ridiculous. This is a woman who 1) tried killing her and 2) wiped her memories away, not for a second would she so faithfully believe anything to come from the blond Wesen’s mouth. And yet, she did but, even more egregious than that, was her semi-confiding in Adalind during their second conversation. It, like Nick and Renard unable to realize this was not the real Juliette, was a very poor way for the writers to arrive at the end result.
  • As pissed as I am for the terrible characterizations, the end did leave quite a few things hanging in the balance. Nick’s no longer a Grimm, Adalind is on her way to Europe (who knows, she may even be pregnant), Wu’s been reintroduced to the psyche breaking images of Wesen, Nick and Juliette’s future is up in the air, and Renard’s struggling to survive being shot. It’s going to be a long 5 months to wait and see what happens though it will be a welcome hiatus. Maybe I’ll have forgiven the writers for making some of my favorite characters on television look like buffoons deserving of a laugh track.