Episode Title: “The Show Must Go On”
Writers: Marc Gaffen and Kyle McVey
Director: Paul A. Kaufman
Previously on “Grimm:”
The carnival is in town and surprise, surprise, Wesen are the main attraction. After last week’s lesson on ancient Egypt, this episode let’s us in on the secret of carnival freak shows: some are real and the performers are Wesen forced to woge again and again for the entertainment of the masses.
It may sound like a harmless way for a Blutbad or Fuchsbau to make some easy money but as Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) explain to Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby), transforming into their beastly alter egos again and again can cause a Wesen to lose control of their “primal urges.”
Such is the case with handsome Blutbad, Max (Hey, it’s genre show vet, Sam Witwer), a performer in a freak show run by a Wesen slave driver named Hedig (Carlo Rota). In order to cope with his urges, Max has taken to the bottle and when two female audience members insist he join them for a drink, he gives in. Back at their apartment, the girls demand he show them how he pulled off his wolfman trick. Pushed to the edge, Max transforms, giving the two girls more of a scare than they bargained for. The next day, Portland PD is on the scene, after a neighbor finds the women dead in their apartment.
When Nick and Hank learn that the girls were at the carnival, they focus on Hedig and his Wesen performers, who have a habit of leaving dead bodies behind when their show leaves town. But it isn’t Nick and Hank, but Monroe and Rosalee who crack this case. Though the Council doesn’t like the idea of Wesen woging as a parlor trick, they can’t stop it. However, they do encourage those Wesen who encounter such performances to intervene. Monroe and Rosalee do just that.
The couple try talking to Hedig’s performers about the way they’re treated. In the process, Hedig’s assistant spots Rosalee and ushers her off to audition as a replacement for Max’s girlfriend, who he accidentally hurt during one of his fits. Before the show, Rosalee hears Hedig scold Max and admit to killing the girls, to keep them from calling the police. He threatens to pin the crime on Max if he doesn’t perform.
Rosalee decides to go along with the act, but when the group hits the stage, Max loses control and goes after her. Monroe, who’s in the audience, comes to her rescue just as Nick and Hank arrive. Hedig escapes and runs into a fun house where he’s confronted by Max’s girlfriend and the rest of the troupe. He tells his Wesen performers they’d be nothing without him, but his words get him fried by a fire-breathing Damonfeuer.
While Nick and Hank shut down the Wesen carnival, with some help from Monroe and Rosalee, Adalind (Claire Coffee), her newborn daughter and Meisner (Damien Puckler) are still on the run in the Swiss Alps. They hit the road in one of Viktor’s cars and Sebastian (Christian Lagadec) stays behind to deal with the Verrat. When the men return, Sebastian kills several of them but he runs out of bullets when he’s confronted by Viktor, who then kills him.
“The Show Must Go On” feels like a first season episode, with a colorful, supernatural-tinged theme and carnival setting. Thankfully, the storyline abroad is about to come home, meaning Renard’s (Sasha Roiz) long distance bill should go down significantly.
In happier news, Monroe and Rosalee’s wedding is on the horizon. When Monroe taps Nick to be his best man, he eagerly accepts. But after a nightmare about beheading Monroe’s grandmother at the ceremony, Nick has seconds thoughts. It’s surprising Monroe isn’t concerned about having a Grimm play such a prominent role in the wedding, especially after Nick’s encounter with his parents. This time around, however, it’s Nick who’s questioning whether his progressive approach to Wesen is such a good idea. He and his Wesen friends are certainly civilized but if there’s one thing we learn in this episode, it’s that some beasts can’t be tamed.
