IT'S A TRAP! Or it's just his mom. Too soon to tell...

“It shall not be death, but a sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall.”

Well, there we have it. Not only is the princess/Juliette all weird Wesen-coma-y (or IS she?!), but we also have to hibernate through the summer so Season 2 of Grimm gets here faster! Because, shit, y’all. These writers sure know how to push all the right buttons. The two producers I got to speak to earlier this season, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf wrote this episode. I was really, really, really hoping it was going to be the “Dirty Dozen” episode they promised, but alas. BUT, it was still a significant episode, and I’ll tell you why.

First of all = Season finale. And they ended it with a pretty decent cliffhanger. The episode-titular (hehe titular) “Woman in Black” who was following Akira Kimora around – and ultimately killed him – turned out to be Nick’s mom. Or is she?! I don’t know. For now, let’s go with, yes. So, she supposedly died 18 years ago, but didn’t, and now she’s here to… help Nick? Presumably, but that’s what next season is for! (I mean, currently, I do have doubts as to whether she IS his mom…) This was an interesting turn for at least two reasons: 1) AK was set up as the baddie a few episodes ago, and he was just a device. I know this happens in TV a lot, but it just felt cool here. He showed up, Wesenness blazing, scary weird snowflake Aegishjalmur tattoo on his face (like the Viking version of a teardrop tat, I guess), all killing people and tying up Renard, to just have the WIB stab him. I mean… THAT was easy, no? 2) Nick’s mom isn’t dead. So… is she a Grimm? Is she higher up like Renard? Where is Nick’s dad? Was it just him in the car accident? Did she set him up? Did she sacrifice him? So many questions. I mean, Nick could have some serious mommy issues here going into Season 2.

Second reason it’s significant: there was no case in this episode. I mean, not really. Not in the conventional Grimm sense, which I think was an interesting step to take. All season long I’ve been talking about how my favorite episodes are the ones that are Nick-centric as opposed to crime-centric. The biggest crime that happened was the murder of the private investigator, but it felt different because we knew it was connected to Nick the entire time. I think this is an important step that the show is taking, and I really hope that they continue it with the next season. Another thing they did differently? Did y’all notice there was NO CHASE IN THIS EPISODE?! I know! WHAT STRANGE WORLD IS THIS?! As silly as it is sometimes, I will miss Nick’s skinny-jeans-wearing ass chasing after a perp this summer. So I hope they continue this in the next season.

Okay, but enough of speculation and fawning. Let’s recap. So, we last left off with Hank freaking the fuck out because he saw Dr. Brinkerhoff folge back into just a regular human. So, like one does with PTSD, he wakes up in the middle of the night with a nightmare. As much as he tries to hide it, Nick knows that he’s upset about it, and he confides in Eddie, who basically tells him this shit ain’t going away. In fact, most people in mental hospitals are there because their brains can’t make sense of weird shit they’ve seen. Thanks, Eddie. That was reassuring.

As they leave the coffee shop where they’re pow-wowing (hey, writers… can these two go to VooDoo Doughnut next season to hash something out? I’d really like to see someone in the background chowing down on a Cock-N-Balls. I know, I KNOW… networks and censors. But what if you shoot it artfully?), we see the aforementioned P.I. taking pictures. And he’s taking them for none other than Akira Kimora, who shows up at his hotel room, and when the P.I. asks for more money for the additional information on who might have The Three Coins, AK is all “LOL NOPE” and Wesens-out and attacks him.

But because he killed him and didn’t get info out of him, AK only has the pictures to go on, so he goes straight to Renard, kills his housekeeper and ties Renard up. Maybe some of you are all, “go on…” but, it’s no bueno. AK slaps him around, and finds out that Renard can only trace the coins as far as Farley Man-in-Black. Too bad Kimora already visited him, and he’s now likely dead. Man, the links to Nick’s parents’ murder are just trickling.

Meanwhile, Nank find the P.I.’s camera and all the crazy nasty pictures of them, Renard and Eddie, for some strange reason. Luckily, though, it leads them to Renard’s apartment where Wu went to check on him. Renard describes the guy who did it, and they know it was Kimora. So Nick goes to his favorite Wesen for help. He and Eddie scour the journals in the trailer for something, and find a notation about a Grimm capturing a Siegbarste with a sleeping toxin-filled arrow and a crossbow. Luckily Nick has BOTH in the trailer!

Now, that that’s set up, we got bigger shit going, y’all. See? Juliette’s a vet, ya know? Well, Adalind, even though – or probably BECAUSE – she doesn’t have her witchy powers anymore, she decides to bring her cat to Juliette… and have it SCRATCH her! There are two things I’m unclear of here: 1) did Adalind poison the cat so that she’d have a reason to bring her in? Or was the substance she put in the cat’s milk solely to infect Juliette? 2) Is the cat a Wesen? Because something was up with that thing’s eyes. Anyway, later, while making sexual references to Nick (which is, like, my favorite thing about these two, you guys. So kewt) suggesting maybe tonight is the night she lets him go all the way, she tells him about the scratch and he rightfully freaks the fuck out and starts rambling about how Adalind isn’t who she thinks she is, and decides that It’s Time. He takes her to the trailer and explains ALL about being a Grimm.

Juliette, bless her, doesn’t believe him. I mean, the way he’s rambling on and on, slightly incoherently and disjointedly even for us who know what he’s talking about, can you blame her? He tells her about being able to see things that others can’t. He very excitedly shows her the morning star, and the Siegbarstegift. He even shows her a picture of a Hexenbiest. The weird hair she found last week at the horse stables… Wesen. But she doesn’t believe him. And you guys… this was so hard to watch, but I loved it so much. When Nick tells her he has one last idea to try to prove to her, the look on her face. She loves him so much, she’s willing to try to believe him even though she’s already decided he’s nuts.

So they head to Eddie’s Haus. Nick convinces him to Blutbad-out to prove to Juliette that he’s not lying or nuts, and Eddie does… but Juliette’s already passed out. And you guys, thinking back as I’m writing this, this is actually kind of intense. Eddie, always the comic relief makes this scene kind of funny, but… man. They take her to the hospital, but have to subject her to a bunch of tests because “normally” cat scratches don’t cause this. Well, no shit. Eddie and Nick realize they need to get a hold of the cat, so they do so and bring it back to Rosalee’s apothecary shoppe (it’s so fancy!). Before the ep is over, Eddie and Rosalee do NOT manage to figure out whaddafuxup, BUT Juliette does open her GIANT BLACK DEMON EYES. WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Meanwhile, Wu, because he is awesome at his job, tracks Kimora to the hotel, but by the time he gets there AK is already gone. BUT the Woman in Black is there, and they get into a pretty badass-looking fight before she escapes and heads to Hank’s house. She escapes before Hank finds her, but it’s enough to freak him the fuck out AGAIN, so that he sits guard with a SHOTGUN on his knee. Like he’s fucking Clint Eastwood or something. Also? POOR HANK!

At this point, AK has made it to Nick’s house, but it’s cool because Nicks’ ready with his crossbow. He shoots it at AK, but misses, and they proceed to have a knockdown, drag-out fight in which they knock over ALL the things. And Nick actually starts to get the upper hand, but the Woman in Black takes this moment to jump in and kick AK’s ass even HARDER than Nick was. Man, the thing you’re looking for is always in the last place you think to look, eh? And then she just, like, fucking stabs the guy.

Oh, and then she calls Nick “Nicky” and he’s all “MOM?!”

AND SCENE!

So, we have a lot of shit to think about over the summer, eh? I mean, they left, like, every possible storyline open. When the “mom” reveal came, I can’t say that I was that surprised. When she put her hood up outside Renard’s apartment so that Nick didn’t see her, I knew something was up. And then I emoted all over Twitter about it when it turned out my tiny inkling was correct. Honestly, I think last week’s cliffhanger with Hank seeing the Wesen folge back was the bigger “OH SHIT” moment. BUT I do like that we’re leaving Hank for the summer sitting on his front porch, growing a beard and not showering, yelling at everyone to get of his lawn. Juliette’s eyes are a BFD too.

But I almost feel like these two were sort of… downplayed to make room for the mom thing, which doesn’t actually seem that shocking to me when I think about it, you know? Am I crazy here? Since it IS Nick’s show, I know why they left his cliffhanger as the last thing we see, but I’m… I’m almost more interested in the other two stories. But I guess this goes back to how this show is just one big slow burn. This cliffy could change EVERYTHING. Only time, and next season will tell. Maybe Nick wouldn’t have had to grow up parent-less (except for Aunt Marie). Maybe Aunt Marie didn’t have to die. If WIB is, indeed, his mom, she’s got some ‘splaining to do. And for that, and those other stories, I cannot wait until fall.

Random Thoughts/Quotes

• The hotel room the P.I. was in was Room 122. This was episode 122. COINCIDENCE?!
• “She’s a witch okay?!” “Does she ride a broom? Because I distinctly remember her getting into a BMW.”
• “What a pleasant surprise… I think.”
• “What did I do? I warned her!” Haha awww, Eddie.
• Adalind’s last name is Schade – “shame” Heh…
• There’s a stray cat that hangs out in my backyard sometimes… sounds just like this cat Majique. Should I be concerned?
• When Nick is fighting Kimora and AK is all “I want the coins!” and Nick is all, “I’ll give you this!” Did anyone else shout “JUDO CHOP!” at the TV when Nick hit him? Just me? Okay, then.

Alright. So. Give it to me. What did y’all think of the episode? Was it a good finale? How excited for the next season are you? Which characters would you Marry-Fuck-Kill? I think I’ll go with… Eddie, Nick and no one (wow, that’s a TV first for me). Or maybe I’ll switch the first two to Nick, then Eddie. But only if he wears that vest over a plaid shirt again. And his glasses. Wait, what? Where am I?? Comments, people! They are blogger food, and don’t you want to keep me alive until next Season?!