“Cuide su rebano, nunca deje,

Su lado. Cuide su sangre,

El Chupacabra tiene hambre.”

It’s the last ‘Grimm’ before the new year and, as any mid-season finale, we’re left holding the bag as we suss out the fates of Monroe, Juliette, and the disbelieving and fractured mind of Sergeant Wu.

But first we need to rewind and jump back to the Dominican Republic where Diego and his fellow doctor friend Gabe are finishing up their tour before returning to Portland. While Monrosalee are preparing for their honeymoon, Juliette and Nick are enjoying their alone time as ‘empty nesters,’ Diego having feverish fits and, when he takes a trip outside for some fresh air, transforms into something hideous and, for two unsuspecting citizens (and one innocent dog) deadly.

The next morning Wu and the detectives are at the crime scene and the former continues to toss out less than subtle hints that something wonky has been going on in Portland for some time now. Hank and Nick, trying their best to ignore Wu’s accurate lines of thought, question a neighbor who points to the Chupacabra as the killer. Returning from his “night walk” Diego’s met by his freaked out wife and neighbor’s mauling. To glean more on the subject, Juliette and her Hispanic background is called in and she gives them the 411 on the legend. Nick also finds clues in the Grimm books on the ‘Woeldreor,’ the final condition for a Wesen affected by a disease that transforms them into feral beasts. They’re research is interrupted when Monroe calls and details the poignant message left at the shop for Rosalee, another reminder that the Wesenrein aren’t going to leave the interspecied couple alone.

That is one ugly mother of a Wesen

Speaking of alone, Wu’s not about to let things go on his hunt for the truth. He takes clues from the weirdest of cases to Renard who tries throwing him off the scent but the Captain has his own worries to deal with when a mysterious voice calls him. When he meets up with the stranger, we find it’s Tavitian, one of the Resistance leaders. He’s heard about the rumors of a golden child, so to speak, Adalind’s child. Despite Renard telling him about the mole planted in the Resistance, Tavitian’s primary goal is to find the child, an objective he all but orders Renard to help accomplish.

Returning to the unsuspecting Diego, he undergoes a second transformation at work and ends up attacking his co-worker Gabe. Lucky for Gabe, a nurse leaving the hospital drives up during the attack, distracting the feral Diego and saving both their lives. Nick’s talk with Monrosalee on the Wesenrein must wait when the detectives are called in after the hospital attack. Driven from its original prey, the Chupacabra stalks an older woman out for a walk but she makes it home in time to have her relatives drive the creature off. Still searching for another victim, it runs into Wu’s path and the sergeant chases it through the streets, running into a confused Diego but no monster.

After speaking to Gabe, Nick and Hank pay a visit to Diego’s home where they find his wife and discover they’re both Coyoto.

Nick  goes to Monrosalee for the Chupacabra cure

They give her the spiel on Diego’s sickness and run into Wu on their way out. No longer denying what he’s seen, Wu accuses Nick of knowing “what’s going on and, for some reason, you’re leaving me in the dark.” He tells them he’s walking away from his duties and it forces their hand. They are in the process of spilling the beans on everything when a scream from the house pulls them back in, just in time to find the feral Diego—who’d arrived moments earlier through the back door—attacking his wife. They’re able to restrain him and, though a freaked out Wu nearly kills Diego before he splits, Nick tap Monrosalee to find a cure for this sickness. The honeymoon-bound couple get right to it, though they only have enough ingredients for a single dose, an unimportant detail made very poignant when Diego’s wife faints and begins convulsing, infected with the disease during the earlier attack. With Monroe’s help, the two officers restrain her and, using their distraction, Diego takes the needle containing the cure and jams it into his wife’s spine, sealing his fate. Said fate is finalized when he transforms once again and goes on the attack. Face with no other choice—this transformation is of the irreversible sort—Hank puts two bullets in him, ending Diego’s misery.

Filling himself of some good and strong alcohol, Wu’s mind replays the weird and wacky things its seen over the years and it becomes too much for the drunken officer and he finds himself a place in the drunk tank. On the Monrosalee front, the couple has only survive the night before they are whisked away on their honeymoon but that plan’s crushed when, upon bringing their police guard a snack, Monroe’s conked on the head by members of the Wesenrein, taken away to Grimm knows where.

And Juliette’s headaches and nausea? It may not be a bun in her oven but something’s cooking nonetheless. A bout of vertigo in the bathroom mirror reveals her shocking change into that of a Hexenbiest, a turn of events I sure as hell didn’t see coming.

Where Do We Go from Here?

  • So Juliette’s a Wesen, Wu knows the truth and Monroe’s been taken by the Wesenrein? Those are quite a few strings left dangling as we enter into the winter hiatus. Despite Monroe being in mortal danger and Wu dealing with the certainty of things going bump in the night, the biggest takeaway is Juliette’s shocking transformation. True, we all know magic has a price (a sentiment every story reminds us, be it television, books, or movies) but Juliette a Hexenbiest? It’s out of left field though, when you think about it, it does make sense. After all, the spell did use a bit of Adalind’s essence to galvanize it. Now the question becomes whether or not this is a permanent thing or something that’ll wear off and/or has a cure that doesn’t require Nick to sacrifice his powers.
  • Speaking of powers, Renard’s babe is in high demand. Tavitian wants the child (as do Viktor and the Royals) but we’ve only been given hints of the child’s power and importance in this large scale war being waged behind the scenes of humanity’s purview. Will she be the savior to Wesen/mankind or is she a harbinger of the end? And just how cooperative will Kelly Burkhart be when people come knocking at her door demanding she give up the child? Methinks a Wesen or three will lose their head asking the question.