Grimm review – 2×18: ‘Ring Of Fire’

After a few weeks off the air, Grimm is back and tackling two of its female centric storylines: Juliette’s (Bitsie Tulloch) return from amnesia-ville and the bun in Adalind’s (Claire Coffee) oven.

Let’s bitch it out…

In truth the majority of the episode concerns a case of the week that Nick (David Giuntoli) must tackle sans partner (have a great Hawaiian vacation Hank!). It’s a relatively interesting case about a volcanic demi-god named Volcanalis, a creature who lives around volcanoes and kills folks who take rocks from them. It’s not the worst case, but it clearly has no bearing on anything moving forward. Aside from allowing Renard (Sasha Roiz) to get in on the action – read a little Latin, spray a little liquid nitrogen – it’s more or less business as usual. So let’s skip ahead.

Which leaves the two B-stories to discuss and in terms of the developments of S2, they’re far more substantial. As always, I’ll be interested to hear if other viewers are excited by what appears to be resolution to the Juliette drama. I’m still not quite sure how Pilar (Bertila Damas) from 2×09 ‘La Llorona’ knows how to help her solve her amnesia problems, but Juliette eventually learns to embrace her past by living out a single memory of her many, many innocuous interactions with Nick.

While Pilar’s advice is a little too ‘New Age Matrix-y’ for my tastes, I really liked that of all the memories that the writers could have chosen, we get to see the start of Juliette’s life with Nick in their current home. It’s an understandably safe narrative choice, but in many ways it reintroduces the relationship to us (and Juliette) and cleans the slate. By episode’s end Juliette has returned to a place where she’s ready to love Nick again – hence the symbolic return of their cutesy couple picture and her re-imagining of his marriage proposal. Guess that Juliette and Nick are back on the road to reconciliation.

On a less romantic note, we have Adalind’s adventures in Vienna. After what amounts to a cameo appearance in ‘One Angry Fuchsbau’, Adalind takes a side-trip into TLC territory with a visit to a Gypsy camp. There she has to undergo a humiliating (and painful looking) procedure courtesy of Gypsy Queen Stefania Vaduva Popescua (a slightly slumming Shohreh Aghashloo) to prove her unborn child is of royal blood. It’s all a prelude to a financial negotiation that gives us some pretty telling insight into the world of the royal Wesen: a male heir is worth more than a female heir (to the tune of $250,000). Perhaps not surprisingly Adalind isn’t interested in money, though – as we’ve long suspected her payday is her powers and she wants them back.

What’s more interesting about this storyline is that there is a demand for a royal child. As usual, the details of the Wesen world, including its hierarchy and the structure of the Royal family, are the most interesting part of the show. Hopefully as Adalind’s pregnancy develops we’ll continue to get tidbits into this aspect of the Wesen world, though it’s unclear how much more we’ll see since Eric (James Frain), Renard’s brother, is already en route to Portland. Presumably Adalind will reappear before the season’s up to deliver a few more bombshells.

Other Observations:

• It’s nice to see Bud (Danny Bruno) return for these last few episodes. There hasn’t been a great deal of character development with him over the last two seasons, but he brings a smile to my face each time he shows up (if only because he’s so clueless)
• Good to know that Juliette had time to fix everything in the house that she destroyed in 2×13 ‘Face Off’ when she was under the love spell and shot the place up. Perhaps this is a minor continuity error?
• The CGI is always touch and go on this series, and this episode is no different. Volcanalis is fairly well done, but when he’s frozen his CGI eyes look terrible. How can this show be so inconsistent?!
• Finally, were there budgetary concerns in this episode? Both Russell Hornsby and Bree Turner sit this one out. Something tells me that Grimm is saving up the pennies in anticipation of the final four episodes

Best Lines:

• Bud (to Silas Weir Mitchell’s Monroe, after Nick gets upset by Juliette): “But you know, Nick, he’s a sensitive Grimm.”
• Nick (when he sees Marcus, the bull): “Oh great, what are you?”
• Stefania (when Adalind tries to take a swig of liquor): “No! What kind of mother are you?”
• Renard (when Nick indicates that the suspect is Wesen): “Who isn’t these days?”
• Monroe (complaining about the trailer): “If we’re going to be spending this much time here, you should at least invest in a decent sofa and an espresso machine.”

What did you think of Juliette and Adalind’s storylines: were they worth the wait? Do you take issue with the series’ touch and go CGI effects? Any predictions on what’s next for Juliette and Nick? And what do you think Hank did on his vacation? Hit the comments below

Grimm moves to its new Tuesday at 10pm EST timeslot on April 30th on NBC