Geekscape Recap: Grimm: “PTZD”

Another solid episode this week, Grimm fans. One that didn’t even feel like an hour (causing us to cry out when the credits rolled “but, we want more!”).

“PTZD” picks up right where last week’s episode left off, with Monroe and Hank chasing Nick’s scent through the woods, while Nick busily begins terrorizing some random family (who luckily have their address right on their mailbox, which proves helpful when Hank calls in for back-up).

The Beast Within

Hank and Monroe get there right before the Random Family Father can shoot Nick (a totally understandable response since Nick had just bashed his way through the front door). Nick’s super-senses (hinted at last week) are revealed when he catches a vase thrown at his head by Hank (in an effort to distract Nick from hurting the Random Family).

Now, what Nick was actually going to do to the family (eat them? Kill them?) isn’t clear, because last week—and later in this episode—it’s made very clear that even violent Nick was only reacting to clear threat. But a Random Family being threatened certainly raised the stakes, though, because two little girls and a mother are much more sympathetic potential victims then hardened petty criminals in a road house.

Monroe and Hank get Nick to follow them by throwing things at Nick’s head and making noise, and get him out to the barn, where they trap Nick in a stall (using the old weak-floor-in-the-hayloft-as-trap-door trick).

Renard, Juliette and Rosalee show up (Hank having called Renard once they found Nick); they calm down Random Family Father, who comes running out with his gun, and Renard and Hank began the-protect-Nick-cover-up which permeates the rest of the episode by telling Random Family Father that they were in pursuit of patient zero of the recent outbreak (the zombie thing, and good use of last season’s medical ‘explanation’),  Thomas Shirach (the identity the evil brother, Eric, had set up for Nick).

Random Family Father goes back inside after refusing to give up his gun—a plot point that never goes anywhere, despite a two-minute long conversation about it, which was slightly confusing. Usually writers don’t spend that long on an item to then have it go nowhere. Renard, Hank and Monroe go back inside the barn after telling the women to ‘stay outside.’ The blatant sexism made our eyes roll (has anyone else noticed that except for one episode with a visiting cop, and the occasional uniform, ALL the police officers in Portland are apparently men?)

Points for Trying, Guys

So the men go in just as Nick breaks free from the stall—but there’s enough time for some repartee between Renard, Hank and Monroe (leading to the best line of the night):

As Renard moves to fight Nick:

Monroe: Not like this, I tried.

They morph into their Wesen shapes. Hank shudders.

Renard: (to Hank): You okay?

Hank: Man, I wish I could do that.

Ha! Awesome. Totally unexpected but somehow perfect for Hank’s character.

The three proceed to get the crap beat out of them by Nick before Juliette—who, along with Rosalee, had come into the barn anyway—stabs him with the crazy needle of de-zombie-fication. Which has three 3-inch long needles and apparently needs to get plunged into the patient’s sternum/stomach area. Not like there’s any important organs there or anything they could puncture…

Nick reacts the way any person would react after being stabbed in the abdomen with three 3-inch needles—he flings Juliette away from him. So now there’s the ‘I hit my girlfriend’ angst we can refer to all season.

The drugs kick in and Nick goes down for the count. Point here: if they knew he was going to be zombie-crazy, why didn’t they bring tranquilizers? We asked this last week, and we ask it again: does Portland not have ANY tranq guns?

They rush Nick back to the Spice shop—noting en route that he’s very cold, and his pulse his very slow—just before the local cops show up. Monroe points out to Renard that someone needs to make sure Prince Eric gets his due.

Let’s Not Forget the Witch

Back to Europe, Stefenia and Adalind return to Stefenia’s trailer, where the gutted body of Frau Pech still lies on the floor. Stefanie instructs Adalind to place the dead flowers she collected into the now-empty body cavity. Adalind, rebellious but complying, goes to kneel when the flowers fly out and fill the body themselves. Now, says Stefenia, sew up the incision.

At the spice shop, Nick gets a second dose—lancing his spleen, this time—and starts to come to. Juliette and Rosalee act concerned; Renard goes back to the precinct; Monroe and Hank discuss what they’d do to Prince Eric if he was their brother; Nick’s flailing gets alarming and the cuff him to the bed.

In Stefenia’s trailer, Adalind has to cut the thread (so gross, covered in goopy blood thread, that we had to put a picture in) with her teeth. Steam comes out of the body—the process, whatever it is, is working faster than Stefenia thought.

Renard gets a text telling him to check the news—where the death of Eric Renard in a tragic car accident is being reported. Since the actor—James Frain—is now on Sleepy Hollow, supposedly this death is a real one.

Back at the Spice Shop, Rosalee is tending to Monroe’s wounds (their light, comfortable-couple banter makes this the second best scene of the night) while Juliette dabs Nicks brow with a cool cloth, we guess. Because an apothecary is so much more qualified to clean deep head wounds than a vet, who we can assume was at least taught how to do real stitches…

Anyway, Nick wakes up, confused, and with no memory of the night before. The gang fills him in, finishing with the small comfort of ‘at least you didn’t kill anyone.’

So, yeah, obviously, someone from his rampage is going to die soon.

More Relatives We Didn’t Know Existed

Renard calls (gets a call from?) someone we assume is related, who is on a train in Europe going on a ‘vacation’ separate from the ‘family.’ And then Wu walks in—sure enough, one of the guys in the fight just died at the hospital. Renard confirms the Thomas Shirach identity as the culprit and asks about security footage.

None, says, Wu, the drive was destroyed.

Wu leaves and Renard pulls out a hard drive—which has the footage on it. Flashback to the night before: when Monroe and Hank went after Nick, Renard went looking for the footage, stealing it and trashing the office.

Renard watches the footage intently, then hides the drive in his desk. To use as blackmail later? We don’t know, but the sense that Renard is an ally only for as long as it is convenient for him is pretty well hinted at.

Nick is freaking out in the Spice Shop, wondering if he’s going to get caught and what defense he can use. None, the gang reasons, not without coming clean about the Wesen and being a Grimm, etc. etc.

Sidenote: Our understanding of current law is that if you can prove you were non compos mentis through no fault of your own—i.e., suffering from a severe neurotoxin injected into you against your will, or even just infected from repeated exposure—then there is no case. Plus, Nick is an outstanding cop with no record. There’s really no way a DA would pursue this case. To not at least bring this up and explain why it wouldn’t work leaves a GAPING hole in the episode, which, judging from how it ends, means Nick’s angst for the season will also have a hole in it.

Juliette takes Nick home; there’s an awkward moment when he comes onto her (“I’d rather not sleep alone,” he says, complete with a slightly-smarmy grin). Considering what they’ve just been through in the past 24 hours (not to mention ALL of last season) it felt odd and didn’t resonate with their relationship. As much as we are not fans of the way this show utilizes Juliette, her and Nick’s relationship was, at one point in season one, maybe, a really nice relationship to watch.

Hank goes back to the station and doesn’t lie to Wu, exactly, but stretches the truth pretty hard when he assures Wu Nick was at the shipyard the night before. Wu tells Hank that one of the victims from the bar died—sending Hank straight to Renard’s office. Renard and Hank agree they need a cover story that Juliette, Rosalee and Renard can tell to the detectives investigating the death.

Hank calls Juliette and tells her a man is dead—can she meet at the Spice shop? And let Nick sleep, he needs it.

So Juliette—who has medical training of a kind—leaves the man who less than eight hours was a red-eyed zombie and had two doses of a drug they weren’t sure of the effects of when it came to Grimms ALL ALONE. Not even a note of where she had gone.

Bitsie Tulloch—the actress who plays Juliette—does her best with this role but it’s just not being utilized well.

They’ll Totally Believe It

Juliette arrives at the Spice Shop and her, Hank, Renard, Monroe and Rosalee all agree to cover for Nick. No one mentions the Random Family, only the bar and the security footage there. Which means they never discuss covering for how Hank and Monroe were there, or where they took ‘Shirach.’ Now, police responded to a 911 call to the house which wasn’t immediately linked to the bar brawl but someone should put that together, right?

Anyway, cover story agreed upon, everyone goes their separate ways.

Hank and Renard go back to the precinct, where Hank figures out Renard has the security footage. Confronted, Renard insists it was to keep Nick safe.

Juliette returns home to find Nick cold, with no pulse. As she dials 911, Nick’s color returns (a nice bit of movie magic there) and he wakes up. After he calms Juliette down and agrees to go to a doctor, they both go back to sleep.

All The Fun Stuff Happens in Europe

Meanwhile, Stefenia and Adalind are having super fun times in the trailer; Stefenia cuts open Frau and a red goo oozes out; Adalind must (with her hands) fill a jar with the goo. Ew.

At the Spice Shop, the detectives show up and question Rosalee. She sticks to the story.

Adalind, back in her hotel and clean for the first time in two episodes, drops a towel (a VERY nicely placed chair covered the R-rated bits) and rubs the goo from Frau on her belly. It’s absorbed, leaving a shape of a skull on her skin. Adalind grins.

The detectives move on to Juliette—and that’s when Nick finds out one of the men he attacked has died. After they leave—Juliette sticking to the story as well—Nick insists on coming clean.

Why Juliette, who KNEW the police were coming, and had enough time to get dressed and make coffee, didn’t tell Nick or get Nick out of the house, or something, I don’t know.

Nick rushes to the precinct intent on confessing; even Hank, telling him that to confess would get all the Scooby gang in trouble, can’t stop him.

Renard receives a call from his mother, who thanks him for killing Prince Eric. O-o-o-o, what plots twists are going to come from that? Just as he hangs up, Nick comes in—apparently the two detectives on the case took longer to get back to the precinct then Nick did—and Renard shows Nick the security footage. The guy that died had come at Nick with a knife—Nick’s violence, while extreme, was somewhat mitigated by the fact that it had been provoked.

Nick, torn, finally decides to keep quiet.

All’s Well That’s Resolved by the End of The Episode?

The episode cleaned up a lot of loose threads from last season and placed some interesting new factors in play, and for the most part did it well. The angst-y acting (never the show’s strongest spot) should hopefully be on hold for a while as the show goes back to its procedural-of-the-week mode.

Next week on “A Dish Best Served Cold”  it’s blutbaden versus bauerschwein (wolves versus pigs) and it looks like Nick is forced to shoot Monroe!?! Though clever teaser editing may be all that turns out to be.

Next week’s recap will be out later in the week as well, as your friendly writer will be covering BlizzCon all weekend.

http://www.nbc.com/grimm/video/ptzd/n42591/