Recap: Grimm, Episode 2.17 – “He dropped a toad… in the men’s room.”

“One Angry Fuchsbau”
“He sang a sweet song in tones so full and soft that no human ear could resist them nor fathom their origin…”

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Nick asks Monroe to bring Juliette to the trailer in the hopes that maybe her memory might not all come back. Monroe reluctantly agrees to do it.

Meanwhile, rich man Donald Nadaria is on trial for killing his wife, Catherine. Old friend, the DA, makes her opening statements. But when the defense has his turn, he’s waving around gold dust at the jury… which includes Rosalee.

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At the trailer, Juliette remembers about being there, in the rain, but not with Nick. She even remembers seeing Nick looking through books from then the trailer was still parked in their yard. She is fascinated by all the stuff she sees, from the “fairy tales” and the weapons closet as Monroe passes it off as Aunt Marie being some sort of collector.

But the amazement turns to fright when Juliette begins having simultaneous memories of Nick from that night explaining everything in the trailer. She runs out and tells Monroe they should take a break.

Monroe goes to the shop to find Rosalee feeling ill in bed. She mentions how it was weird that she had felt one way about the case then suddenly feeling the other and starting to feel sick. Monroe offers to close up for her and he heads home to find Nick reading an e-mail from mom.

She says she’s fine and that she “plans to spend the money well,” referring to the coins perhaps. Monroe then tells Nick about his day at the trailer.

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Next day, Monroe decides to sit in on the court case Rosalee is on the jury for. After the witness suddenly switches her testimony, Monroe decides to follow the defense attorney and is surprised to see a frog jump out from the stall the lawyer’s in. What he doesn’t know is the lawyer eats it after he picks it up off the floor.

Meanwhile, Renard fills Nick and Hank in about the Verrat operative he shot last week (or the other night, really). He just wants them to be on guard.

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Monroe calls Nick and Hank over to the courthouse to tell them about the lawyer.

“He dropped a toad… in the men’s room.”

Nick remembers, a Ziegevolk.

They head inside just as Wu gets up on the witness stand. Hank says no lawyer will trick him, he’s done this a million times. But… Wu’s never gone up against a Ziegevolk. Nick, Hank and Monroe clue Rosalee in later at the shop and they hurry to try and find a way to stop him for good.

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After remembering the fortune telling Mexican woman from the La Llorona case, Juliette calls her over. The woman tells her she’s standing on the border between two worlds, darkness and light. And that her journey’s just begun.

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Back at the shop, they find a way to do a “pheromone vasectomy” on Barry, the lawyer, but they need his sweat. So they have Monroe chase him and manage to get the sweat they need thanks to some big help from our favorite Eisbiber, Bud.

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Now they’ve got to inject the antidote into the frog Barry will eat before the closing arguments of the case. Nick and Hank keep him busy by pretending to follow up on the “attack” from last night, but Monroe, sneaking in to inject the antidote, finds Barry has two frogs. But he only has enough antidote for one, so he picks.

They all head to court and watch.

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Meanwhile over in Europe, Adalind reports to Eric. Negative on Renard (Sean Renard) getting the key to her. He decides maybe it’s time to let the Grimm know just who Sean Renard is and he’ll personally see to it just so he can see his good ol’ brother again.

Eric notices there’s a glow about Adalind. He glances at her stomach from time to time as she says she’s merely happy to be here with him.

Back at the courthouse, there’s mild suspense, but of course, Barry’s pheromone persuasions didn’t work this time and Rosalee, as the jury foreman, announces the guilty verdict.

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Nick, Hank, Monroe, Rosalee and Bud pop a bottle and celebrate. But someone’s just walked into the shop. Monroe goes out to see and it’s Barry. He needs help. Monroe tries to get him to leave, but Rosalee walks out, Barry recognizes her and realizes it was them. He goes at her, but Monroe woges and hurls him at the shelves. Nick and Monroe hurry out to stop Monroe, and Barry recognizes them all… including Bud who comes to see what all the commotion is about.

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Nick and Hank arrest Barry for assault and he’s taken to a cell right next to now convicted murderer Donald Nadaria. Barry wants his lawyer, but Donald says, lawyers aren’t worth a damn in the clinker as he woges, himself.

And meanwhile, Juliette continues seeing multiple Nicks around her, memories of him slowly coming back to her, but all at once.

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Episode Thoughts
Now this was a fun episode. Very, very fun. Really, nothing sinister about it. Just fun and funny.

Just like it was awesome seeing Wu get lots of screentime and be more involved with stuff, it was awesome to see out good ol’ friend Bud, not only just popping up, but also getting involved and helping out with a case.

Grimm has a really interesting knack for keeping things fun and amusing, regardless of what’s going on. Sometimes in an almost meta sort of way. For example, in this episode, Monroe’s “Really?!” when he sees the two frogs. There are a lot of moments like that on Grimm, moments that are so predictable and even kind of forced. Yet, they always point it out, like, “Yeah, we know. And we’re going to do it anyway.”

In a way, I kind of appreciate it. I mean, you find yourself saying, “Of course there’s two frogs.” or “Of course they need some ridiculous ingredient that’s impossible to get, but they’ll get it anway.” It keeps the show in line with the sort of lighter, not taking itself too seriously attitude they’ve had since the beginning.

And I think that’s an important thing for them. Supernatural certainly has both the comedy and melodrama down pat. But any Supernatural fan can tell you, there have been plenty of times where things get a little too profound than it should. That’s not to say Grimm is more of a joke or anything, just that it maintains a sort of lighter atmosphere. And that’s an important distinction to make to allow one to enjoy both shows without the need to compare.

Which I just did.

Anyway… Last week, a buddy from Bitch Stole My Remote commented on how Juliette’s story has been coming off “a little too comedic.” And I agreed and added that maybe the show wanted to balance both a lighthearted and dramatic approach to it, but not really succeeding.

This episode I think really highlighted how that’s becoming more so. Take a look at Juliette being excited and wowed by the trailer. She was really into it and acted like she thought this was strangely cool. Then things jerk back to being serious when she sees the Nicks, then calls the lady from “La Llonora,” It’s odd because while the show’s tone manages to have a good balance between the genuinely scary moments and the genuinely funny ones, with Juliette’s story, the tone has been all over the place. Are we supposed to be shocked, happy, upset, excited?

I don’t think many fans expected Juliette’s memory to be a season-long storyline. And I have no idea if there’s going to be a huge payoff to it, but the development of it over the season has been pretty spotty. I don’t have a huge issue with it, though I do wish it developed a little better seeing how big a part of the show it’s become.

But it’s alright. This was a fun, very enjoyable episode. Maybe one of the more purely enjoyable episodes they’ve done.


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