Ooh, he's so dreamy... I think I'll follow him--OH GOD IT'S WORKING

“Out they scampered from doors, windows, and gutters, rats of every size, all after the piper.”

Dear NBC, do not make me wait 2 weeks between episodes of Grimm ever again. Please and thank you. You guys, it feels like it’s been so long. And I don’t know if it’s because absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that, but I didn’t realize how much I missed Grimm until we had to go without a new episode. Maybe because they sensed my intense withdrawal symptoms, TPTB decided to air an episode last night (Thursday) AND another episode tonight! How lucky is that?! Be sure to check back here on Monday for my recap of that one! When I said this was my new favorite show… you guys, it just keeps getting better. Last night’s ep was a bit of a slow burn, but I think it might be my favorite episode yet.

And this one had rats. *shudder* You guys, I have A Thing™ about rodents. Just thinking about the mouse who lived in my apartment’s walls last winter… I can’t… I just threw up a little in my mouth. Though he’s gone now, I still sometimes think I hear him at night… So, it’s kind of a wonder that I loved this episode so much. But I think Grimm REALLY hit its stride here: it became less cop procedural (though there was some of that), and truly embraced the horror of its namesake source material (though it definitely still retained some comedic moments). But, really. SCARY stuff. Something about the way the gnawed-at remains of Dr. Lawson were done reminds me of Wednesday night’s American Horror Story, which I also loved (and check out Jenna’s awesome recap here!) because it was jarring, and disturbing and AWESOME. Basically, last night’s Grimmhad everything I love in a TV show. So, how about we get to recapping?

Is that a rat on the table? I think I might vom.

The episode opens on an illegal rave with DJ Retched Kat at the helm. His helmet-mask thing is all fiber optic and shit, and it’s pretty awesome. Apparently this dude is The Shit. One of the ravers texts her friend to get her butt down there, but she is currently in orchestra rehearsal. After rehearsal is over, the aforementioned Dr. Lawson (the orchestra teacher) goes out to his car in the dark parking lot, and discovers it’s FILLED WITH RATS OH GOD. The next morning, the assistant principal chick discovers his body. His flesh has been eaten away and there is bone and gore and it’s so disgusting. My notes for this scene said simply, “EW EW EW! Amazing.”

The next morning, Nick runs into the kitchen while Juliette is making smoothies (and he is very excited about them). They have some fun banter and exchange some glances and kisses, and it’s very apparently that they love each other, which is all well and good, except that this cannot turn out well. David Giuntoli and Bitsie Tulloch have such saccharine chemistry… you’re just trying to MAKE me fall in love with them, aren’t you, writers?! Anyway, their fridge is broken and they have to call a repair man, who, when he shows up later in the episode, turns out to be a creature that looks kind of like an otter, and even Nick must think he’s adorable because the entire time the man is freaking out and begging Nick not to kill him, Nick seems amused. Days later when the repair man returns to fetch his tools while Nick is out, he tells Juliette to remind Nick that he has no reason to kill him. And she gets this kind of confused/suspicious look on her face. SEE?! THAT is precisely why I’m pretty sure the whole lovely dovey stuff is just going to upset me down the line. It’s only a matter of time before she learns something she shouldn’t. What do you think are the chances she’ll learn about Nick before Hank does?

Tangential storyline aside, back to the morning after Dr. Lawson dies, Nick gets a phone call. He answers it “Yeah, Burkhardt,” but I’m going to pretend he answered it “Herr Burkhardt,” because it makes me giggle. Anyway, he and Hank head to the scene.

Hank seems to suffer from the same “hates rats, gross” syndrome that I do. Wu explains they kept the car locked so no evidence escapes. When they finally open the car door, at least a hundred rats pour out and I LOL at the man holding the net because he ain’t catching a damn one. They find cages in the bushes that lead them to Geiger Pest Control, owned by a man who lives in a van down by the river. Nank (which is my new name for Nick and Hank. It was better than Hick) go investigate after interrogating the kids in the orchestra class, and we find a very blue-eyed young man named Roddy. He’s playing violin for a bunch of rats in cages. Roddy went to their school, but he was suspended a few days before. When Nank approaches them, he’s all “you cops?” Hank replies, “Ah, we’ve been called worse.” HA!

Mr. Geiger runs up, upset, screaming that they can’t interrogate his son. Of course, Nick sees him as a rat person. Mr. G is adamant that they had nothing to do with Lawson’s death. He says the cages were stolen from him, and that it was probably some townie kids, who never let Roddy forget what his old man’s job is. Roddy knows what Nick is, and he’s convinced Nick is going to kill him, though Nick assures him otherwise. They have to detain Mr. G, but they let Roddy go because he has a solid alibi – he was DJing at an illegal rave. #revealnoonewassusprisedby

By the time they’re done with this, Harper is finished with her autopsy. Dr. Lawson, apparently, died of a heart attack. Also, she managed to snag one of the rats and autopsy it. She discovered bits of Lawson, but also fibers, which analysis shows came from an expensive German car (because of course), and a blanket, both of which are owned by one of the orchestra students, Carter Brimley, whom we see again when Roddy goes over to the orchestra girl’s house (let’s just call her FakeRachelBerry). Apparently she and Roddy used to be an item. She knows his suspension was bunk, but she didn’t say anything because the other boys are her friends. He accuses her of still loving him and kisses her and uh-oh, looks like someone went slumming.  Her mother comes running out of the house screaming and shoos him off her porch like a rat. Heh. He runs into little bitch boy Carter, and we pretty much know right there that he was behind everything.

Let’s just hit pause here for a minute. This is a very important point for this show, I think. We, the audience, have gone away from the who-done-it stage of our viewership. I think that’s the reservation a lot of people have about this show: that it’ll be too much of a procedural. And yes, even though Nick and Hank are still trying to unravel the details, the writers are doing a rather impressive thing here – they’re doing it in a way that allows us to see a different story. Now, you’re probably thinking “well, isn’t that the point?” YES. YES IT IS. And they are doing a wonderful job! While Nick and Hank are trying to solve the mystery, there’s no suspense for us there. We, the viewers, can focus on the little nuances of the story, the little details Eddie reveals about the creatures, the faces Juliette makes when someone says something fishy, the connection Nick is trying to make with Roddy. We now know SO MUCH MORE than any of the characters in the show now. That’s called dramatic irony, bitches. It’s big picture stuff. And it’s subtle. And that’s why I fucking love this show.

ANYWAY, so we’re just NOW getting to the Eddie Helps Solve Everything portion of the hour. He tells Nick that the rat people are called Reinigen (which, means “cleaning, to purify,” which seems off for a rat, but it also can mean “to scavenge,” and we’re back on the right track). Eddie says they’re rarely violent unless provoked. Nick begs him to go talk to Roddy, to get him to trust Nick, to tell him that he’s not like other Grimms. He’s a good kid. He just needs a notebook and some kind words of encouragement. So Eddie does. And it kind of works? He hears Roddy playing and tells him, “The real thing [talent] is an impossibility. You don’t know where it comes from or what made it, but it’s one of the mysteries of life that lifts us all out of the misery of ‘average’.” That was rather beautifully said. I love Eddie so much.

Anyway, Eddie tells Roddy not to blow his chance, but right after he leaves, Roddy gets a call that his father was injured in jail, and all hell breaks loose. Looks like he was pushed to be violent, y’all! He goes back out to his cages of rats and sets them all free. Then he leads them to a van warehouse down by the river to throw another rave. Carter, FRB, and the other two boys find out about it and decide to check it out. Roddy is there playing music and there are rats ALL over the floor. My skin is crawling. His DJ name is so apt… because *RETCH*FRB hesitates going in because she wants to know if the others had anything to do with Dr. Lawson, and when they say no, she just believes them and follows them in anyway, because she’s a follower. Like what? Like a rat trapped by the pied piper’s song. YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY.

But it turns out it was the boys’ doing and Roddy knows it. When they get inside, he sics the rats on them, but Nank arrive just in time to scare the rats away, and Roddy escapes. Nick catches up to him, but Roddy’s such a sad case, Nick doesn’t arrest him. And I’m kind of glad he doesn’t. Does this mean that Nick might have another potential ally? I hope so. 1) because Roddy is a fun character, and 2) he’s kind of dreamy.

One last small plot point that I’ll mention. In the interest of furthering a continuing plotline, we see the Hexenbiest in the bar where Hank and Wu are drinking. She thanks Hanks for saving her life again (back in ep 3), and asks him if she can buy him dinner. He consents and we see Renard watching all this from his car outside the restaurant. Like EVERYTHING is going according to plan. I don’t like this story line either, writers. I still can’t tell what he’s up to. So I’ll leave you with a few random thoughts in the…

Thought Coffer

• “Geiger” means, literally, “violinist.” GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW AND ITS ATTENTION TO DETAIL.
• The Portland PD interrogation rooms are SO much nicer than the ones in the NYC Law & Order precincts.
• Fun quote – Nick: “He got a name?” Roddy: “Why, so you can arrest him for putting on an illegal rave?” Nick: “Yeah, because that’s my dream.” Recapper’s note: I love Nick’s sarcasm/attitude. I want to meet him and steal him from Juliette. Yeah, I said it.
• Wu is just so freaking wu-tastic – Nick: “Who’s DJ Retched Kat?” Wu: “Only the most famous raver in Portland. Not that men of your age would know what I’m talking about.” Ha!
• When you’re trained to autopsy a human, does that also mean you’re qualified to autopsy a rat? This is a serious question.
• Nick tells Eddie that Roddy got accepted to the Von Hammelin Institute for music. The Pied Piper, the story on which this episode is based, is actually “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”. Von Hamelin. Hammelin. Oh, show. You so clever. :D

I think it was a particularly great and strong episode to debut on a Thursday. Hopefully this one-off will garner it a few more DESERVED viewers who will stick around for the Fridays. So what did you guys think of it? Now five episodes in, are you sticking around for more? Were you a little shocked and appalled by the graphic dead body in the car (that shit was, like, on par with some of the Walking Dead zombies!)? Leave me some comments or come chat with me on Twitter! Do it, or else I’ll sic all my Reinigen friends on you!