Episode Title: “Mommy Dearest”
Writer: Brenna Kouf
Director: Norberto Barba
Previously on “Grimm”:
Finally, we get the Wu-centric episode where Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) let their right-hand man in on Portland’s worst kept secret. Oh wait, that didn’t happen.
Well, it still might. There’s no way Nick and Hank are going to let Sgt. Wu (Reggie Lee) slowly lose his mind in a mental hospital after his encounter with a Wesen. Add to that the fact that having Wu in the know would make their jobs a lot easier. Hopefully, the detectives will let the Klaustreich out of the bag, soon.
“Mommy Dearest” focuses on Wu’s attempt to protect his childhood friend and mother-to-be, Dana from a Wesen known as an Aswang. As far as Wu knows, the creature is just a product of Filipino folklore (which this episode is actually based on). But when Dana is attacked by someone, or something, that targets her unborn child, he starts wondering if the Aswang aren’t just a legend.
Dana and her baby are fine, but she can’t remember exactly what happened. Meanwhile, her husband Sam starts acting strange, making Wu suspicious. Of course, it could be the fact that Wu’s had a life-long crush on Dana that leads him to target Sam.
At least that’s what Wu says when he finally tells Nick and Hank about his crazy theory. Having already paid a trip to Aunt Marie’s trailer with Rosalee (Bitsie Tulloch) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), the detectives know there’s nothing crazy about Wu’s theory. But what to do about it?
Hank is all for telling Wu the truth, which would explain every single crazy case he’s worked on for the past two and half seasons. It’s much better to “hear it before seeing it” is Hank’s reasoning but Nick doesn’t want to expose Wu to the wacky world of Wesen. And no surprise, Monroe is also against it, on the grounds that Aswang aren’t a very good “gateway Wesen.” They’re definitely one of the nastier kind.
Unfortunately, Wu does see something he can’t explain, when Sam’s mom climbs up a tree and into Dana and Sam’s house. According to his mother, Lani the eldest child in an Aswang family is supposed to sacrifice their first-born to keep his mother alive. Sam tried with the first attack on his wife but couldn’t go through with it and tells Lani he won’t try again.
That’s when mom takes matters into her own hands and attempts to dine on her daughter-in-law’s fetus. Lucky for Dana, Wu comes to her rescue but isn’t prepared for what he’s about to see when Lani transforms into the hideous Aswang. After casing Lani’s hotel room, Nick and Hank arrive at the house just in time to shoot her in the head before she can kill Wu. But unfortunately the damage is done, as Wu keeps insisting what he saw was real.
“Mommy Dearest” ends with Wu still in the psych ward where Nick and Hank pay him a visit, not to let him know what he saw was real but instead to tell him he’s a hero. It’s not especially comforting, especially when Wu is still having visions of the Aswang about to attack him.
But it’s not just Wu and the fetus-devouring Aswang that the title of this episode refers to. In a secluded cabin in the Swiss Alps, Meisner delivers Adalind’s (Claire Coffee) baby girl. Renard (Sasha Roiz) seems pleasantly surprised by the news when he gets the call but we’ll see just how happy he is to be a father when he meets his demonic daughter. As for Wu, this episode gives us something to look forward to. Hank and Juliet had some interesting reactions when they were let in on the secret but the writers may have left the best for last with the not easily phased sergeant.
