Episode Title: “PTZD“
Writers: Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt
Director: Eric Laneuville
Previously on “Grimm:”
Episode 3.01 “The Ungrateful Dead”
Zombie Nick’s (David Giuntoli) reign of terror continues as Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) attempt to capture their good friend while he tries to kill them. Meanwhile in Europe, Stefania (Shohreh Aghdashloo) has more gross rituals for Adalind (Claire Coffee) to perform involving Frau Pech’s dead and decomposing body.
As the chase continues, Hank and Monroe lead Nick into a barn and are able to trap him, allowing Rosalee (Bree Turner) to administer the antidote. But the damage is already done. Aside from trying to kill his friends, Zombie Nick also terrorizes a family inside their own home. But the worst part of it all comes when one of the bar patrons he tangled with dies in the hospital.
He may have killed someone but the way Nick’s friends see it, he wasn’t himself and can’t really be held responsible. But with the evidence piling up, it’s only a matter of time before a pair of Renard’s detectives figure out that “Thomas Shirach” is one of their own.
To everyone’s frustration, Renard (Sasha Roiz) is incredibly chill about the whole situation. Both Hank and Monroe are itching to get at Eric, who masterminded the whole mess but unbeknownst to them, Renard’s already handled his devious half-brother. He gets a text telling him it’s “done” and to check out a news report about Eric’s death in a car explosion. Later, Renard gets a call from his mother, who sounds an awful lot like Adalind’s taskmaster, Stefania. Like Renard, she’s glad to learn of Eric’s death. And yet somehow, I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him.
With the detectives starting to ask questions about what happened, the gang decides they’ve got to keep their story straight. Everyone’s on board with keeping Nick out of jail, except, of course, Nick. When the detectives stop to question Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) about what went down, Nick learns about the dead bar patron. He insists on turning himself in, even though he wasn’t quite himself when he attacked the patrons. He won’t listen to Juliette or Hank but when Renard shows him the video from the bar, Nick realizes he was acting in self-defense, even if he was a zombie with super-human strength and cat-like reflexes.
A murder wrap isn’t Nick’s only problem. As he sleeps, Juliette notices Nick’s body turn cold and his pulse drop, causing him to appear dead. Nick doesn’t seem too concerned but whatever the Baron did to him, it’s apparently not out of his system just yet.
As Nick recovers, Renard goes about destroying evidence while over in Europe, Adalind is becoming accustomed to “the smell of death” as she’s made to do things like sew up the huge gash in Frau Pech’s bloody torso and then rip the thread with her teeth. Later, she rubs blood, presumably from Pech’s heart, on her stomach which forms a skull symbol and causes it to flatten. While the goings-on in Portland make for a fast-paced hour with several interesting developments, Adalind’s storyline remains hazy. She’s got her powers back so why is Adalind still performing never-ending and increasingly gross rituals for Stefania?
Back in Portland, it’s strange that the police aren’t wondering why a spice shop owner and veterinarian are trying to treat Shirach’s “Lazarus Syndrome,” instead of actual doctors. “Grimm” asks us to go along with its modern day fairytale, but every so often reality starts creeping in to ask these nagging questions.
There’s at least a little bit of humor in this episode, like when Hank tells a transformed Renard “I wish I could do that.” And of course, Monroe is always good for a few laughs. But the best episodes of “Grimm” are the ones that don’t take all this fairytale monster stuff so seriously, making it easier for us to focus more on the fun stuff and less on the little details.
