Recap: Grimm, Episode 3.05 – El Cucuy
“Duérmete niño, duérmete ya… Que viene el Coco y te comerá.” (“Sleep child, sleep now… Or else the Boogeyman will come and eat you.”)
Juliette wastes no time in asking Nick who “M” is and why this, she assumes, woman loves him. Nick, likewise, wastes no time explaining his mother is alive and that she is a Grimm as well. He worries she is in trouble and can’t help her.
Meanwhile, a pair of robbers has been hitting gas stations and convenience stores around Portland, leaving one young man in critical condition. The young man’s mother prays for justice and it appears her prayers are heard when a Wesen attacks the robbers and slashes their throats after their latest heist.
Nick and Hank are on the case. They talk to Mr. Martinez who called 911, but seems scared and asks if he can leave. They search their car and find the masks, guns and money which they then connect to the robbery down the street where they meet Wu.
Nick and Hank talk to a couple of witnesses from the store, but no one saw anything. They ask one guy if he’s seen any dogs in the neighborhood and he mentions a guy named Ray who has some dogs he fights on the weekends.
Nick heads home and Juliette excitedly shows him that she’s tracked the IP address of Mama Grimm’s to Visnja Gora in Slovenia.
Next day at the station, Hank tells Nick what’s he’s found out about Ray’s sketchy past and it turns out the two robber/victims are known associates.
They head over to Ray’s house to take the dogs in for tests, but Ray is not so willing to let them be taken. He looks towards a neighbor’s home where a woman hurriedly closes the curtains. Ray woges to try to and stop them from taking his dogs. He sees Nick is a Grimm, but still tries to knock ’em out only to get handcuffed instead.
David Flores, a local hothead who blames the police for increased criminal activity in the neighborhood comes by and cheers Nick and Hank on for finally arresting Ray.
Over in Austria, Adalind’s getting an ultrasound and OB/GYN thinks she hears a 2nd heartbeat, but isn’t sure there’s two babies in her belly just yet. She leaves the doctor’s office as Sebastien watches from across the street. He tells Meisner to get Adalind’s medical records, but on the down-low.
Later, Sebastien sends Renard the ultrasound video and video of Adalind leaving the clinic. He thinks, Oh shii…
Monroe’s mom calls and is surprised when Rosalee answers. Monroe takes the phone and she says she’ll call back another time. They exchange I Love Yous. Monroe and Rosalee think maybe it’s time they told their parents they are in a relationship.
Roy denies any involvement with the murders. And Wu gives them the results of the dog swabbing and it comes back negative. Nick and Hank show pictures of the dead bodies and slashed necks to Juliette and Monroe while they enjoy dinner. They say it couldn’t have been a dog or a Blutbad, so it’s probably another Wesen. Monroe and Rosalee suggest it’s a Höllentier who used to be buried with pharaohs.
“You put a pharaoh in there with him, he’ll stay forever! Just sayin’!”
Across town, a man follows a woman of the bus and attacks her until she is saved by what appears to be a Höllentier. The rapist is killed.
Nick and Hank are at the scene and realize it wasn’t Ray. David Flores is there again, like he also was at the convenience store.
Nick and Hank talk to the woman who tries to explain what she saw. She talks about thinking she was being followed by a man, then getting attacked by the rapist when the first man turned off to another road.
She then describes what she saw killed the would-be rapist and says “El Cucuy.” Do you know this El Cucuy? they ask. And she says “We all do.”
David Flores knocks on their window and laughs, someone else is doing their jobs!
At home, Nick asks Juliette if she knows El Cucuy and she says it’s kinda like the Boogeyman. Next day, they visit Pilar for more info.
She explains that she could sense it was coming. She explains when she was a child in Guadalajara, her neighborhood was being terrorized. Everyone was so scared. But she soon began hearing her neighbors calling out for El Cucuy in the night, hoping it would save them from their nightmare. Suddenly, the evil men started popping up dead on the streets until no evil men were left in the barrio.
She says her neighbor had seen El Cucuy and describes its appearance and how it hears people’s cries of sorrow. Pilar says she believes El Cucuy wanders from place to place waiting for the call of women who have suffered from evil. If enough voices cry out, they become one voice that cannot be ignored and El Cucuy is the one that answers their call.
Nick and Juliette head to the trailer to look for El Cucuy. Juliette is very excited about all the info she’s reading about, but nothing about El Cucuy. Maybe it isn’t even Wesen.
In the bad neighborhood, Roy and two friends decide to attack David Flores. Roy says this is HIS neighborhood. He sics his two friends on David and they leave him bloody on the street while the neighbors watch and can’t do anything.
At the station, Nick and Hank are filling Renard in on what they know so far and they think maybe it could be David Flores. He was a marine that served three tours in Afghanistan and was diagnosed with PTSD. Wu comes in with surveillance video of the bus the night of the attack and they see the woman and the two men, but also see Mrs. Garcia who was also at the convenience store robbery before it happened. They want to talk to her.
Meanwhile, David Flores heads home and locks his bedroom door while his mom tries to get him to calm down. He takes his uniform out of the closet and a knife, vowing to take justice into his own hands.
Nick and Hank visit Mrs. Garcia and ask if she could come to the precinct with them. She offers to make them tea and asks if she’s done anything wrong. But she cheerfully says she’ll get her coat and they can head down to the station. She’s also excited to have some handsome men visit her.
On the way, Wu calls them about Mrs. Flores calling about her son and they decide to hurry over to Roy’s home. David is already there, in full uniform and with his knife. Roy and his friends are counting their wads of cash and Roy says he’ll take care of David.
He woges and he and David fight. Nick and Hank arrive as Mrs. Garcia watches from the car. They tell Roy to get in the house as they take David to the car. But they find Mrs. Garcia is gone.
Turns out she is inside and attacking Roy. Nick rushes into the house and after Mrs. Garcia is done, she de-woges.
“Ay Chihuahua. You’re a Grimm! I had no idea!”
They take her to the station.
“You’re 77 years old!”
She giggles and asks if anyone is actually going to believe she killed all those people. She says they don’t have to worry about her anymore since her work here is done and she should be moving on. She laughs that they have no choice but to let her walk.
Nick, Hank and Renard are at a loss. Suddenly, Mrs. Garcia hears more calls for help.
Quick cut to Seattle. A man snatches her bag as she walks down the street. No problem.
Episode Thoughts
AWESOME!!!!!! Yes, this was an amazing episode. I loved it. Maybe one of the best Grimm episodes in a long time. One of the reasons is it had a great pay off and we get introduced to an awesome Wesen.
Also interesting how another one of Grimm‘s best episodes was last year’s “La Llorona.” Both “La Llorona” and “El Cucuy” are based on Hispanic legends. It seems like the Grimm Bros weren’t the only talented storytellers of things that go bump in the night, yeah? I definitely hope Grimm continues to explore other cultural legends from around the world. If they need some ideas, they should check out some Filipino legends. There are A LOT of stories they can draw from in the Philippines.
Juliette was hilarious fun this episode. And that dinner was very funny as well. Looking at gruesome crime scene photos of necks cut open is typical dinnertime conversation for the Grimm Gang. Hehe.
Anyway, awesome, awesome episode this week. Episode 4 was a great episode as well and after the break last week, I was afraid this episode might disappoint. But it was well worth the wait! Loved it!
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