“Fee fi fo fum… I smell the blood of an Englishman…”

Wow, just me, or does it feel like it has been WAY TOO LONG since the last episode of Grimm? It’s finally back! Eddie and Nick and Wu are back on my TV screen! Eddie, you guys! But I’m excited because for the return from a mini-hiatus, it was a pretty strong episode. The writers did something different with this episode that I thought was a really interesting move. They took Nick out of the forefront, and put more focus on Hank and, to a lesser degree, Eddie. It was an interesting change to the flow of things. Nick was still there to do research in AM’s journal, and his dutiful dragging of Eddie into everything, but actually spent most of the episode either elsewhere or in the hospital.  But they still didn’t address the one thing that I’m actually getting kind of impatient about. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The episode opens with a murder! But that’s not really the notable detail here, because hello it happens every episode. What’s different about this one is that it was committed by this giant of a dude who just bursts into the victim’s house, takes a bullet (but is completely unfazed), and shoves a gavel down the guy’s throat. Like one does.

Nank and cops respond… and then Renard shows up. Weird right? Mostly because Renard is there, and up until now, he’s pretty much been management down at the station. So they get all the details from the scene, including a bullet casing but no bullet, which means it hit whoever broke in, and a fingerprint on the gavel… from a man who they later find is missing a hand (which we saw the perp throw into the river). There was a lame cop joke about a literal helping hand, and I can’t even transcribe it. But they do find a woman’s watch on the severed stump. Remembering that Nick knows a “watch guy”, Nank head off to… Eddie’s house! (Recapper’s note: I almost wrote “Eddie’s Haus,” which I think would also be appropriate. I think I’ll start calling it that). Yay!

Eddie immediately identifies the type of watch and rages rather adorably over the fact that someone put glue in the movement. Before he makes a quick call to get info on service records, he tells Nick and Hank to help themselves to coffee. And then acts all strange when he accidentally says “Nick, you know where it is.” Eddie doesn’t just act strange; Nick and Hank give him suspicious looks too. I don’t get it. Are Nick and Eddie not allowed to be friends? Huh.

Anyway, while they’re getting coffee, Eddie finds out who the current owner is: Mary Robinson. If she’s the same Mary Robinson that Hank is thinking about, he knows her. He actually used to work a lot of cases with her. With that kind of foreshadowing, you can kind of guess what happens next. Nank get called to another crime scene. It’s Mary Robinson, and her tongue has been cut out and placed on a set of justice’s scales. That’s not a metaphor. It was actually a little Scales of Justice statue. The tongue on the statue? That may have actually been a metaphor, but the woman herself was the message. She and Hank played a role in getting this dude Stark locked up in prison for 5 years. And who was the judge? Why, the guy who got a mouthful of gavel! Apparently this guy Stark (who stole a guy named Jack’s gold! Ha!) broke out of custody and is in the middle of a revenge spree! And Hank is next! Renard puts Hank under protective custody.

Here we learn a couple of interesting things Stark: he has a rare disorder that basically deadens his nerve endings (which explains how he pulled the judge’s bullet out of his own shoulder with a pair of pliers), and has abnormally dense bones. Also, he stole some old dude’s car, they now if they find the car, they find Stark.

So of course Stark, who is not as dumb as one would believe given that he’s an ogre, torches the car.

In his first solo scene of the episode, Nick decides to look through AM’s trailer. Even though he hasn’t seen Stark for what he really is, Nick decides to look up some of his odd physical traits.  Since we have seen his creature face, we recognize a creature in AM’s journal. We also see a liquid in AM’s collection called “Siebarste gift,” and Nick finds a kick-ass, fancy  rifle in the weapons closet.

After this detour, Nick heads home. Juliette is on her way, so Nick starts boiling water for dinner. But then he hears a strange noise and… I may have screamed when Stark comes crashing through the window. Since he doesn’t know where Hank is, coming after Nick is his next best bet. They fight around the house a bit and Nick finally sees his creature face. Finally Juliette comes in and throws boiling water in Stark’s face, and he runs out. I really like that Stark finds doors optional.

So our boy Nick ends up in the hospital, but still somehow has his cellphone in his bed with him? Anyway, he calls Eddie. He needs his help. Again.

Over at the station, Wu tells Hank what Start did, which Hank feels is his responsibility. Instead of having Hank endanger himself by running after Stark, Wu suggests they set a trap with Hank as bait. I don’t like the way Renard looks at Hank as he leaves here. He seems suspicious or something. The whole Hexenbiest thing still lingers in my mind, and I can’t trust Renard. So everything he does just seems fishy to me. Which, let me take a tangent here: It’s been, like, five episodes, or something since they’ve last addressed the whole Renard is in cahoots with the Hexenbiest storyline. Why hasn’t there been anything else? It’s not like the viewers have forgotten (at least this viewer hasn’t). Are the writers just purposely letting it marinate in our brains, not letting us trust anything that Renard does, or at least making us imagine all the ulterior motives he might be having about something? I don’t like it, show. You have been excellent with your details and continuity so far. Why are you doing nothing with this storyline that you introduced in the pilot? (Note: The writers are probably planning something big, and I’m just whining like an impatient child.)

Anyway, back at the hospital, Eddie’s come for a visit. Nick describes Stark to Eddie, who immediately recognizes the traits as those of a Siegbarste (sorry, y’all. There’s no translation for this that I could find. “Sieg” means “victory,” though. What that has to do with it, I don’t know.), which is your “basic ogre.” Heh. He explains that Siegbarste are The Worst™. He cautions Nick that they’re really hard to kill. They have thick bones, thick skin, and “body odor that could stop a train.” He explains that you’d have to get really close to kill them, unless of course you have “Siegbarste gift,” which Eddie explains is poison. That’s two episodes in a row that Eddie/Nick has translated something for us! Go them! Makes writing my recaps easier. ;)

Eddie says it’s really rare, but hey, Nick’s got some! The poison calcifies the ogre’s bones, making them shatter from the inside. Also, that fancy-ass rifle? It’s for shooting ogres with bullets dipped in the poison. He asks Eddie to go get it for him, which he does. And bless Eddie, he seems like a kid in a toy store exploring that trailer. He finds the poison and the gun and prepares the bullets to bring back to Nick. And see, this is really cool. By having him get the rifle, Nick let Eddie in on all the secrets that AM has in her trailer when Eddie is basically one of the enemies. Not that there was doubt that Eddie was on Nick’s team anyway, but this really solidifies the trust, and you guys, my heart. It bursts with YAY. I really like the dynamic they have, Eddie’s willingness to help Nick. Now we just need to see Nick do a favor for Eddie!

Back at the hospital, Hank tells Nick about the roadblock, but confesses that he feels responsible because during Stark’s trial, he and Mary Robinson “misplaced” some evidence that would have gotten Stark off – even though it was bogus evidence. They couldn’t risk Stark getting off. And so Hank is going to lead Stark to the quarry instead of the roadblock, so he can take care of it himself. As Hank is leaving, Nick calls Eddie and begs him to follow Hank, which he does. He’s going to have to kill the Siegbarste himself.

Down at the quarry, Hank and Stark have a little shouting match before Stark decides to run his car into Hank. He dodges and they get into a bit of a boxing match, and ugh, just the noise that it makes when Hank punches Stark in the face. Like punching a slab of meat or something (well done, Sound Department. That’s how you did it, wasn’t it?). But Hank goes down, and Eddie finds his opening and shoots. Stark falls. And dies. Hallelujah!

But of course, because Hank is a cop, he has to call in that there’s been a shooting. The next day, Renard and Hank look at the bullets the ME pulled from Stark’s body. There are three. Two of them are about 100 years old, and are from an Elephant gun. “Who would have a gun like that?” “That is something I would very much like to know.” OH SHIT. DRAMA!

Random Thought/Quote Coffer:

• I love how when Nick calls Eddie when he’s in the hospital, Eddie is eating dinner, sipping wine and listening to light jazz. He’s so classy.
• Eddie explaining that “gift” means “poison”:  “which I always found kinda weird at Christmas.” Hee!
• “‘Okay,’ he said somewhat tenuously.” I heart you, Eddie.
• I like that when Eddies goes into AM’s trailer, he says, “Dad, I swear to god I’m doing the right thing.” It’s really telling to what kind of legacy sacrifice he’s making every time he helps Nick with one of his Grimm duties. Contrary to every tale he’d been told growing up, he recognizes the good (and the flailing for help) in Nick, and continues to help him. And I’m pretty sure they see each other as friends too. I wonder if Nick goes over there on occasions he doesn’t need Eddie’s help with a case. I love them.

So, what did you guys think of the episode? What did you think of Nick kind of sitting on the backburner this episode? What do you think the writers are cooking up for the Renard/Hexenbeist storyline? Leave your comments below or I’ll give you a gift.