‘Grimm’ Review: ‘Stories We Tell Our Young’

“We don’t believe, we only fear.”

So opens the latest episode of Grimm, “Stories We Tell Our Young.” Unlike the past couple of episodes that immersed viewers immediately in the case of the week, the latest episode begins at the precinct with Renard preparing to depart for a fake vacation to Tahiti. Nick and Hank know he’s heading off to deal with the fall-out of his brother’s assassination. Once the show sets up Renard’s storyline, we’re greeted with a family entering into a Catholic church. Because the child, Daniel, is straddling that line between adorable and creepy, the fact they’re looking to have him exorcised shouldn’t be too shocking. Of course, commercials for the episode sort of gave that away too.

Before we can pass around the customary tray of pea soup shots and holy water cocktails, things get pretty rough. Daniel seems to woge, knocking out a seminary student and killing the priest. After a title sequence and commercial break, Nick, Hank, and Wu are on the scene of the crime. The seminary student is on his way to the hospital, the priest is still dead, and the little boy is missing. Our favorite police officers throw around some theories about what happened, before Nick’s Supergrimm powers activate and he hears something neither Hank nor Wu can. A few puzzled looks are thrown about at first, but Nick quickly finds the missing little boy. At least that part of the case is solved, am I right? They creep by the priest’s dead body into the next scene.

Scott Green/NBC

At the hospital, a doctor is filling Nick and Hank in on the situation with Daniel. They quickly move onto the kid’s parents, who explain that their son behaved normally until a year ago, when he started becoming violent and not even realizing it. Visits to doctors and psychiatrists did nothing to remedy the situation. (Clearly the exorcism attempt didn’t do much either.) Nick asks about a physical change, which Daniel’s father confirms. Hank thinks the child’s status as Wesen is clear, but Nick isn’t so sure. Before cutting to a credit card commercial, we get a creepy close up of things crawling around under little Daniel’s face. Gross.

After the regularly scheduled commercial break, we’re in Vienna with Renard and Meisner. This scene basically establishes that Renard made the trip from Portland safely, but does little more than that. We’re quickly shunted back across the pond to Rosalee’s spice shop. Nick and Hank are presented with a lecture on the Wesen birds and bees by Monrosalee. The Blutbad and Fuchsbau go over all the possible combinations, but you’ll have to forgive me for losing track of the proper terminology. Wesen words are hard. When Nick and Hank get a call that the seminary student is finally awake, they depart.

The scene jumps back to Austria, where Renard and Meisner are settling into their safe house. Meisner removes a board from the wooden stairs and explains it was a trick his dad taught him before Renard’s family killed him. Ouch. Meanwhile, back in Portland, the seminary student is pouring his heart out about the Church’s stance on exorcisms and how the priest who got flung across the room and killed really wanted to help the little boy. He goes into detail about the situation that led up to the tragedy, dramatically declaring Daniel had the face of a demon. While Nick and Hank walk down the hospital hallway, a screaming nurse runs into them. Daniel went all creepy demon-face on her. Nick and Hank are soon witnesses to it themselves. The fact they’re both shocked is refreshing in a “crazy stuff happens all the time, but we’re not jaded” sort of way. They inform the boy’s doctor that she needs to stay away, but she proceeds to cop a pretty bad attitude. He has twenty-four hours and if he’s as dangerous as Nick explained, the hospital will kick him out.

And suddenly there’s Adalind! As usual, she appears later in the episode’s narrative, which often makes the character feel more plugged in than organically included. Nonetheless, it’s great seeing her—for about five seconds. She gets a call to visit the Royals and then it’s back to Portland and the spice shop. Monrosalee give a back and forth explanation of what they call Grausen. Once thought to be a mysterious not quite Wesen creature that appears to be a demonic possession, modern Wesen science now believes these individuals to suffer from a mutation. They further explain that Grimms, Royals, and Wesen united together in the 1600s and decreed that the Wesen Council would handle cases of Grausen. Rosalee, with her strong ties to the Council, feels compelled to tell them, which puts a barrier between her and Monroe. Considering how things between the two of them have been fairly uncomplicated this season, the conflict over the Grausen boy provides some much needed complexity to their relationship. It can’t all be sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.

During the commercial break, Rosalee reports the Grausen. The Wesen Council sends their emissary to deal with. Meanwhile, Nick and Juliette are cuddled up and bonding over old Grimm entries on the Grausen. They stop at a recent entry, which suggests the Grimm thought it was actually a disease—not a Wesen, demon, or mutation. Once again, Juliette’s skills as a vet are proving quite useful and they brainstorm some theories about what the Grausen really is.

Scott Green/NBC

In Austria, Renard and Meisner are sleeping tight in their beds at the safe house, when they hear a noise. After exchanging meaningful eye contact, the camera pulls away and you see Wesen with guns coming down the stairs shooting. They hit neither man, since they were noisy, and they manage to trip down the stairs when their feet don’t find the missing board from earlier. Renard proceeds to snap the neck of one of the attempted assassins while Meisner slams the other guy into the brick wall. Not gonna lie, I kind of love Renard pulling the bad ass card.

As we leap back and forth across the continents, Nick and Juliette arrive at the hospital to question Daniel’s parents about his health based on the new Grausen theory. Unfortunately, the parental units are frustrated and, to be honest, annoying. The mom tries to help, but the dad is absolutely insufferable. It’s normal to be aggravated with the day players, right? Back at Casa Grimm, Nick notices Juliette putting her shoes in a drawer, which confuses both of them, but leads nowhere in particular. However, they quickly get back to theorizing Daniel’s condition, which Juliette now thinks is a parasite of some kind.

Late at night at Monrosalee’s, the emissary from the Wesen Council shows up. The divide between the two is subtle, but there, as Monroe rushes to inform Nick of the news. Nick isn’t upset at them and he doesn’t want Monroe to risk both his and Rosalee’s lives by participating any further. The emissary gets there, but Daniel has already gone home with his parents. Nick and Juliette aren’t happy about this, but they rush over and check in on them. Unfortunately, the Wesen Council guy followed them and sneaks in through Daniel’s window. He woges, which causes Daniel to do whatever a Grausen does and deck the grown man. There’s a brief fight and then a chase follows: Grimm after Wesen after Grausen. Nick beats up the Wesen and leaves Hank to watch him.

Daniel, cold and disoriented, wanders through the woods to a fort he and his dad made before collapsing on the ground. Nick tries to use his hearing powers, but he loses him. Fortunately, they manage to find him, but he’s freezing. Although they initially plan on bringing him back inside to warm him up, they wait and he gets cold enough for gross yellow stuff to ooze out of his nose and ears. The parasite is dead. They take a sample and rush Daniel back inside to warm him up.

Oh hey, it’s five seconds of Adalind again! And what sounds like the disembodied voice of Alexis Denisof! And then a few more moments with Renard and Meisner! Then it’s back to Portland and the Wesen Council guy in the precinct. Nick explains that young Daniel has been cured of his condition. The emissary challenges Nick’s authority, but Nick brushes him off and then, to the guy’s surprise, lets him go. He ends up back at the Council rather quickly and reports his findings. Meanwhile, in what might be my favorite scene of the episode, Nick is adding his story to the Grimm tomes—with a little spelling help from Juliette. Loved it!

Although I enjoyed the episode and appreciated several moments here and there, I have to say, this one wasn’t my favorite of the show’s third season so far. It was a good episode, but it was no “A Dish Best Served Cold” or “El Cucuy,” as far as “week to week” episodes go.  Next week is a double serving of the show and I’m pretty sure this week’s episode won’t be weighing too heavily on my mind by then. I will say that I wish they would get back to that whole death state thing. It’s been a few episodes since it was mentioned and I’m hoping for some more info on that. Also, I’m hoping for some further developments with Monrosalee. She still needs more development, especially after the rift that divided her from Monroe this episode.

Here’s to the double feature next week!