Recap: Grimm, Episode 2.08 – The Other Side

“I thought of making myself a beautiful marionette. It must be wonderful, one that can dance, fence and turn somersaults.”

Grimm Episode 208

A group of friends participating in the school decathlon go out for fries and shakes after practice. They are jokingly competitive with each other and later go their separate ways. But one of them, Brandon, is attacked while walking through the park.

Grimm Episode 208

Meanwhile, Nick and Juliette are all dressed up to go to a dinner where Renard accepts an award. Wu and Hank are there too as they watch Renard give a speech. Afterwards, Nick gets the call about Brandon and since Hank didn’t bring his car, Renard offers to drive Juliette home.

Grimm Episode 208

Juliette walks to the front door and Renard watches her take the spare key from under the plant. She heads upstairs and gets in the shower. Renard sneaks into the house and up to the bedroom where he stares at her naked body through the glass. He tries controlling his urges as he takes a picture of Juliette and Nick from atop the dresser. Juliette hears something, gets out of the shower and notices the glass of the picture frame is broken, but back on the mantle.

Renard’s face is crawling. Literally. Trying to hold back his wolge, he almost runs into a man walking on the street. He gets out, punches him and drives off.

Grimm Episode 208

Next morning, Nick and Hank question Brandon’s friends, including Pierce and Jenny. They don’t get anything, but meet the Decathlon coach outside the home. Turns out he’s a Lowen and is very protective of his decathlon kids. They immediately suspect him.

Apparently, the Decathlon is serious stuff. If they win at Nationals, the Ivy Leagues will come to them. At the station, Sgt. Wu introduces Nick and Hank to the new intern, Ryan. He’s a big fan of them and has been following their careers since they rescued that little girl last year (in the pilot!?). Needless to say, he’s very excited.

Over in good ol’ Vienna, Austria, Adalind just happens to run into Renard’s brother, Eric. And with talk of restoring the Royal family, betrayals and Sean Renard, he takes her to his castle. They have a drink and she has him tell her about Renard’s past. Eric explains Sean’s a “half-Royal,” the son of his father’s mistress who was a Hexenbeist. To avoid all the drama, the Hexenbeist brought Renard to Portland on one of his father’s private jets.

Grimm Episode 208

Eric then suggests they put all their clothes to the floor, quite literally. But Adalind mentioning the Grimm seems to interest him more.

Back in Portland, Monroe is still taking care of the shop himself when Renard comes in looking for something to cure obsessive behavior. Monroe ties to question him to pinpoint the ailment and says he’ll have to research it and get back to him tomorrow. Renard refuses to leave a name or number.

Jenny calls Pierce. She’s guilty over not having forced Brandon to let her give him a ride home. They agree to meet at the bleachers at school. Jenny arrives first when she hears a very Filipino “Psst!” which leads her to her death.

Same attack as Brandon. But Nick finds a watch in her hand with the engraving “To Pierce, Love Mom.”

Grimm Episode 208

Nick and Hank go to Pierce’s home where he’s shooting hoops in the driveway. The show him the watch as his mother comes outside. They both wolge, but aren’t Lowen. They head back inside. Pierce is in bed with a headache. Mom leaves hot chocolate for him which he spills onto his pillow. He takes the pillowcase to the wash and when he opens the washing machine, sees the water blood red. Mom comes to usher him upstairs. But they then get a call from Coach who says after Brandon and Jenny’s murders, he’s pulling the school out of the competition. Pierce appears devastated.

Grimm Episode 208

At Aunt Marie’s trailer, Nick finds Pierce and mother are Genio Innocuo, first found on the Galapagos Islands. Apparently, Nick’s ancestors hung out with Darwin. The Genio Innocuo are shy, intelligent, and compassionate Wesen and are not violent, which made “dispatching of them quite easy,” the journal reads.

They decide to go to Coach’s house where they find him dead, attacked the same as the other two.

Pierce calls Nick and tells him he’s scared. Mom comes in and hangs the phone up. He runs to the laundry room. Mom tells him he doesn’t understand what’s happening and she’s sorry.

Grimm Episode 208

He accuses her of the murders and to prove it, pulls the clothes out of the washing machine. But it’s actually his clothes.

Mom continues to explain, she didn’t want anyone to hurt him. If she had known it would happen like this, she never would’ve done it. She was only trying to make him better than her and to give him the traits she never had.

He suddenly wolges, not into a Genio Innocuo, but into a Lowen. He goes after Mom. Nick and Hank arrive and Nick and Pierce fight all over the living room. To Hank’s shock, he finds Nick trying to knock Pierce unconscious. They check on the Mom who tells them she made him that way. Before he was even born, she altered his genetic material to make him both a Genio Innocuo and a Lowen, but he doesn’t know and the Lowen presents itself on its own.

Grimm Episode 208

Pierce manages to sneak out and they track him down to the water tower at Montogomery Park. He’s sitting, then standing on the edge, blaming himself. He wolges into a Genio Innocuo, then into the Lowen. The Lowen says he killed just to Pierce could be the best. Regular Pierce returns and decides to jump, but Nick saves him.

Back at the station, Renard laments that Pierce, the poor kid, will have a hard time in jail, being that he’s 18.

Or not.

“You’re in my spot bitch.”

Grimm Episode 208

Some thugs want to show Pierce “who’s king of this jungle.” But, Pierce isn’t just some weak 18 year old kid. Looks like no one’s going to make him their bitch in prison, that’s for sure.

Back at the shop, Renard returns and Monroe tells him there’s a sort of “reverge Viagra” to take care of the physical effects of the ailment. But to take care of the emotional aspect, it’s more complicated. Both Renard and the object of obsession both have to go through treatment. So if Renard is willing is to bring the woman (or man!) in for consultation…

No, Renard says. Monroe, however, tells him if gone untreated, the symptoms will get worse and more dangerous. Not just for him, but for anyone standing between him and whoever he’s hung up on.

“This could get really gnarly.”

Grimm Episode 208

Episode Thoughts
Indeed! I’m actually looking forward to seeing this part of the story get gnarly. Maybe Renard’s identity will soon be revealed to Nick? It was very creepy though, that whole scene with Renard creeping on Juliette. Icky too, yes?

The case of the week was great. It seems like we haven’t seen anyone under the age of 25 of Grimm in a long time, coincidentally enough, since they “saved the little girl” last year. Speaking of, I wonder what Ryan the intern will bring.

The case was cleverly written. There were a lot of suspect possibilities, but as soon as Adalind and Eric had that talk of half-brothers then cutting straight to the scene of Pierce and his Mother, I knew he must be some kind of multi-ethic or multi-Wesen kid.

Then I thought it would turn into a story of mixed-Wesen children, which would then possibly relate to Monroe and Rosalee. But it merely turned out to be Mother messing with her unborn baby’s DNA. I guess the race episode and bi-Wesen story will be saved for another day. I also like when they feature the nice Wesen. The non-violent ones. They even make a point to give them warm eyes. It’s very cool to see that even in the Wesen world, there are those who don’t want to eat the first human they see. The prison scene was also fun, and kinda hilarious. Being a Wesen will definitely come in handy to help keep from getting backdoored, if you know what I mean.


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