Portland detectives Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) and Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby) investigating more appalling developments in "Grimm."And then grinding them up. Into powder. So other creatures can use say, ground-up human gallbladder, as an aphrodisiac.
In other words, the monster of the week this time wasn't likely to arouse feelings of ambivalence in the viewer, unlike, say the pathetic mouse guy murderer of a few weeks ago. But while a similarly just-plain-evil villain made "Game Ogre" relatively monotonous, "Organ Grinder" was a solid episode.
The victims -- well, potential victims -- were a bit more fleshed-out than usual. The burgeoning bromance between Nick (David Giuntoli) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) became even cozier. And finally/at long last/it's about dang time, we saw Nick wondering if he maybe should tell his fiance about his Grimm abilities. Plus! There were a few more hints about just what Captain-Not-What-He-Seems Renard (Sasha Roiz) might be up to.
Let's recap!
The eerie tone is established from the start as two young guys are pursued in a dark, eerie forest. One is dragged away, while another falls into a river. In the daylight, we see his body floating in the fast-moving water, and then a crow lands, and picks out his eyes (mercifully, we don't get a very clear view of this). The moment is startling in its directness, but there's a horrifying beauty to the tableau that feels like something from a grim old folktale. Which, considering the source material for the episode, could hardly be more appropriate.
From this ghastly scene, we cut to Monroe's house where our favorite reformed wolf man is pouring coffee for his guest -- who else? -- Nick. After apparently not giving it a second thought since the pilot, Nick finally brings up what his Aunt Marie told him about his relationship with Juliette. Specifically, that Aunt Marie advised Nick to break up with Juliette, implying that Nick's calling as a Grimm is too dangerous to include a regular squeeze.
Shouldn't we be talking about this over beers at midnight? Monroe wonders, reasonably enough. Nick is earnestly seeking help, though, as he feels guilty about the "Game Ogre" guy busting into the house. Juliette could have been killed, he says. And that's not even mentioning his other near-misses and strange associations.
Nick wants to know how Monroe has broken the colorful news about himself -- being a blutbad and all -- to non-creatures. Hasn't come up, Monroe says, since whoever he told would probably think they were crazy or he was crazy. "Either way, it puts a strain on a relationship." There's no end to Monroe's wisdom. And it looks like he makes a darn good cup of coffee. He'd be quite a catch if it wasn't for the whole blutbad deal.
Nick is still grasping for hope and bumbles out a request for Monroe to, you know, show a little of his blutbad self to Juliette. Kind of an ice-breaker, as it were.
No, no, no, Monroe says. The vast majority of humans can't process that information. They may wrap their minds around the concept of gods, angels, demons, dinosaurs, the big bang theory and relativity, but that's because it's not right in front of them. Seeing a civilized gent like Monroe suddenly sprout fangs and fur would be a wolf of a different color, like "looking directly into the boiling core of the raw universe." That would throw a wrinkle into a normal day.
"Like I'm one to give advice," Monroe adds. "Even a normal relationship baffles me." Aw, Monroe. Can't you find yourself a nice blutbad gal? Not that she-devil old flame from earlier in the season, but another nice, cello-appreciating, coffee-making female? I wonder if there's a Match.com category for creatures.
Before Nick can beg, pretty-please-with-sprinkles-on-it for Monroe to go wolfy for Juliette, he gets a phone call. He's called out to some gorgeous location with a waterfall. The Columbia Gorge, it appears. Not so lovely is the body of the poor kid who was floating in the river and fell over the waterfall. Nick, Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Wu (Reggie Lee) note two puncture wounds below the victim's ear.
"Anybody believe in vampires?" Wu asks. Well, I think "Twilight" was filmed somewhere nearby. Crossover idea!
After the medical examiner goes over the body, the best guess is the puncture wounds come from an IV needle. Oh, and the unlucky guy drowned, and is down 7 pints of blood.
Nick and Hank figure out the victim was a street kid, which leads them to Skidmore Fountain, where Gracie and her brother Hanson (my, those initials sound familiar), are hanging out. Gracie is selling puka shell necklaces she's made. She's upset to hear one of her fellow street kids is dead. But Hanson is suspicious of the police. Nick takes pity on the teenagers' situation, and pays $20 for a puka shell necklace for Juliette. What's a little thing like narrowly avoiding death by home invasion when your boyfriend brings you home puka shell jewelry?
Nick and Hank visit the Folter Clinic, which does a busy trade in serving the health needs of street kids. They meet with the office manager, who is so non-threatening, genial and sandwich-eating that there just must be more to him than meets the eye. The head of the clinic is a rather glam doctor. Hmmm.
Things heat up when at the site of an SUV accident, the police discover the driver was transporting human organs in coolers with extra blood. As far as I know, this is not a normal thing in Portland. Nick, on the scene, sees that the dying driver is a creature. The same kind that chased the young men at the start of the episode. Nick's Grimm powers really do come in handy in his day job.
At the precinct, Nick and Hank note that they've got a victim low on blood and a dead transporter of bloody organs. Nick says maybe they should check to see if there's a connection between the two. Gee, you think?
Hank then says the smartest thing anybody has yet uttered on "Grimm." He's been at this job a while, "but it seems like this town is just getting weirder." Now there's the weird associated with the -- sigh -- "Keep Portland Weird" signs and bumper stickers (like the one included in the credits in the other Friday night filmed-in-Portland show). But what's been going on in the Rose City in "Grimm" is in a class way beyond your average wacky tattoo-pierced-person sighting.
Speaking of weirdness, Nick makes another trip to Aunt Marie's Trailer of Weird Weaponry and Expositional Library to do some homework. He reads up on "Geiers," (thank you, NBC "Grimm" Web site for the spelling), bad actors who look like vultures and get their kicks out of removing human organs while the humans are still alive, for the maximum suffering possible. Well, now I really don't like them.
Cut from Nick's icky reading material to dinner Chez Monroe. He and Nick are digging into a repast complete with glasses of white wine. While Nick goes on and on about the organs the Geiers harvest, Monroe can't help but notice something about their relationship.
"What's my favorite color?" Monroe asks, sounding like a cross between a taken-for-granted spouse and Felix Unger. Is it asking so much, really, for Nick to inquire about Monroe? Or share conversation about topics other than Nick's creature-filled work days?
Nick gives it a shot. "Well, what's your favorite color?
Monroe pauses. "You don't mean that."
Nick: "No, I really want to know."
Monroe hesitates, weighing whether Nick is actually sincere and then shyly says, "Red." It is a favorite of big bad wolves, as we know.
"I feel so much closer to you now," Nick says, with playful sarcasm.
But the Dinner with Monroe conversation takes another turn, as the blutbad shares some inside scoop. Not to be awkward or anything, but you know those myths about humans getting special, er, benefits from rare animal parts? Well, that's actually true when it comes to human parts and creatures. "Our exotic animals are you," Monroe says, continuing to note that human testicles -- not Nick's specifically, but anyway -- have a special "enhancement" effect on creatures. Not that Monroe has ever needed any such help. Of course not. He's Monroe.
Nick, however, is grossed out, but not so much that he doesn't call on Monroe for help in tracking down where such black market items are sold in Portland.
Monroe arrives at a dark, spooky storefront and asks for the "catch of the day." He and the shop owner establish their bona fides by showing their creature selves, then coming out of it. Monroe gets a bag of ground gall bladder for a cool $300, which he delivers to Nick, who promises to reimburse Monroe for the 300 smackers.
Later, Nick returns to the shop and uses his Grimm intimidation personality to get the shop owner to pony up information. It makes sense in terms of the show's development, and Nick as a character, that he would turn to his Grimm-ness as an extracurricular negotiating tactic. But how far is he willing to bend the actual law to get his way in the Grimm vs. creatures conflict?
By the time things are all over, Nick and Hank discover a yucky greenhouse full of human organs; Nick and Juliette have taken Gracie and Hanson to dinner to get more information; the bad guys kidnap Gracie and Hanson and are about to carve out their organs; Nick and Hank deduce the clinic is the source of the organ-harvesting criminal activity, and arrive at the rural organ-harvest HQ, following a bread crumbs-like trail of puka shells just in the nick of time to save Gracie and Hanson; Nick and the lady doctor have a bloody battle, which ends with her -- now in her monster form -- falling into a pit of fire.
Ah, Portland. Home sweet home.
But just when it seems like things are wrapped up, Captain-not-what-he-seems Renard is in his office, and finds a package on his desk. Inside is a miniature coffin, with a carving on top of a scythe -- sign of the Reapers of the Grimms, those mysterious folks who beat Monroe up. Renard had a bad session with a Reaper, also, which ended with Renard slicing off the guy's ear. And that's what's inside the coffin gift box -- the ear. Renard's phone rings and a foreign-accented voice asks if Renard got his present. I don't know much about those Reapers, but boy, do they have good telephone timing.
Renard and the foreign Accent Guy have a cryptic conversation. Accent Guy tells Renard he needs to control this Grimm or get rid of him, because things are getting out of balance. Renard says the Grimm -- that would be Nick, in case anybody has forgotten -- has a badge and a conscience. Well, that's your problem, says Accent Guy, and Renard says I know you are but what am I? Wait, no, he says, next time you might want to deliver your message in person. And Acccent Guy says next time we will. Ominousness ensues.
"Grimm" viewers? What did you think of "Organ Grinder"? Feel free to share comments.
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