‘Grimm’ Review: Painful Conflict Propels ‘The Good Soldier’

GRIMM — “The Good Soldier” Episode 311 — Pictured: Gonzalo Menendez as Manticore Creature — (Photo by: Scott Green/NBC)

Later that day at McCabe Security, Troy confronts Jim about what happened with Frankie four years ago. Troy explains how he confessed what had happened to his wife and wants to come clean to the cops too. Jim doesn’t seem too happy about that. Discussion of the case continues on at the precinct, with Nick and Hank’s entrance ending Renard’s aforementioned phone call to Meisner.  Renard informs them that guy murdered before Ron was killed with a poisoned spike.

At the Calverts’ dinner, DeEtta proves to be a real Fuchs-bitch. She is nasty about Monroe’s enthusiasm over green beans and about what he does for a living. When Monroe asks what DeEtta does for a living, she explains how she now makes false teeth in a rant that leads to a fight between the two sisters. The back-and-forth between the two of them leads to a major breakdown on Rosalee’s part. Turner does a fabulous job with these scenes. I’m really happy that she’s getting a nice juicy chunk of this episode. I kind of hate DeEtta though. Monroe comforts her and it’s a great moment for the two of them. They have a genuine chemistry that makes it incredibly easy to root for them. After Monroe successfully comforts Rosalee, they head back to the house. Rosalee’s mom is all sweetness and light, but DeEtta woges behind Monroe and threatens to kill him if he hurts her. This is the moment I think he should have mentioned he’s besties with a Grimm or, better yet, he should eventually ask Nick to get him his future sister-in-law’s head as a wedding present. I mean, she DID threaten to kill him, right?

Less adorable, however, are Troy and Betsy. Troy wrote a letter confessing all the horrible things he and the other men did to Frankie, but Betsy, in a rather shocking turn, tells him to continue hiding it.  She’s stone cold and you can tell Troy is a little frightened of his wife. He tosses the fragments of the now torn confession into the fireplace, but hears Betsy gasp. He comes running and finds her with a stab wound similar to the one Ron sported earlier. Before he can do much, he’s taken out by a giant scorpion tail too.

Back at the precinct, Nick and Hank web chat with Colonel Adam Desai, who was a figure of authority over the men attacked Frankie and were eventually murdered. He explains how awful the men were in general, before specifically mentioning Frankie’s rape. He also mentions the date of the attack—which happened to be what was stamped on that napkin in blood earlier. The Colonel gets off the camera, revealing he isn’t receiving medical treatment for cancer like he had claimed. He’s actually in the Portland Inn. The plot gets weirder and weirder. Nick and Hank assume it is Frankie, and when they reach the crime scene at the Dodge home, their suspicions are furthered when they find the pieces of Troy’s confession. When Wu calls, explaining scorpion-like venom was responsible for the previous murders and that it would take a six-foot tall scorpion to deliver that much poison, the Wesen light bulb clicks overhead for our Grimm and his partner.

In order to figure out exactly what Wesen they’re dealing with, Nick and Hank head to the trailer with Juliette in tow. After last week’s big Juliette episode, I guess they had to put the character on the back burner this week. Juliette finds a couple of possibilities in the books, until settling on the third option—the Manticore.  While Juliette figured out the Wesen, Nick pieced together the letter revealing that is in fact a confession to Frankie’s rape. Based on this evidence, they believe she’s the Manticore.

Once they make this announcement, the scene shifts to McCabe Security, where Frankie confronts Jim in the same manner as she had the others. After a brief commercial break for added tension, the confrontation is cut short by the cops. Back at the precinct, Nick and Hank grill Frankie about the murders, assuming she did them. She rejects their accusations, and when Nick uses the “I’m a Grimm” card, the situation takes quite a turn—Frankie is a Wesen, but not a Manticore. She’s actually a Steinadler.

When Frankie explains that the only person who knew her whereabouts was the Colonel, things fall into place.  They call him from the precinct, triangulating his location to the VFW, where is confronting Jim. In a tense back-and-forth, the two men reveal they were both guilty of the murders. The Colonel and Jim are both Manticores. They fight, in what has to be one of the most intense fight sequences of the whole show, until the Colonel shifts back into human form and stabs Jim in his tail. He then uses the knife to stab the Colonel, right in front of Nick and Hank. He dies and Jim is carted off.

Back at the precinct, Nick and Hank fill Frankie in on the letter and what happened at the VFW. The episode closes with her leaving. While I enjoyed the episode, I did find it a little overwhelming—and the bait and switch reveal less surprising than some previous ones this season. I’m struggling without the rape of female soldiers was handled in the context of the episode too. It wasn’t poorly presented necessarily, but it was buried. It made you question the victim more than I feel comfortable with. As far as ongoing plots go, I enjoyed Rosalee’s reconciliation with her mom. Not a fan of her sister though. I hope both make appearances in the future though. It was really great to see more of her background.