Grimm season 4 episode 8 review: Chupacabra

This review contains spoilers.

4.8 Chupacabra

The mid-season finale is upon us already, and could easily have the alternate title, the one where stuff happens.

There was the obligatory Wesen storyline involving the Chupacabra (or ‘goat-sucker’), a South American creature known for attacking and drinking the blood of livestock. In all honestly, the Chupacabra is only interesting really for two reasons: the beast on a killing spree in Portland is the result of an infection, rather than a malevolent nature, which is something we haven’t see before; also it’s while fighting the Chupacabra that Nick is finally forced to reveal the truth about Wesen to Wu.

Wu, whose suspicions are at a high, had already approached Captain Renard again with a dossier of strange cases handled by Nick and Hank that were closed in mysterious circumstances. But instead of Nick sitting down with Wu for a beer and cosy chat about the Wesen world, Wu is confronted but the Chupacabra in action, and it’s fair to say he doesn’t take it well.

Nick’s confirmation that what he’s witnessing is real makes little impact on Wu, who’s still haunted by his experience with the Aswang. It all results in Wu freaking out and ending up the cells himself. I hope you’re happy Nick ‘I know best’ Burkhardt.

And why would he just accept something so completely unbelievable? While the likes of Juliette and Hank appeared to take the news of a whole other fairytale world existing in parallel to our own pretty much in their stride, wouldn’t a normal person really just freak the feck out?

Speaking of freaking out, the spell Juliette took to transform her into Adalind clearly has some pretty massive side-effects. In what’s probably the biggest bombshell dropped this week, Juliette gets a long-awaited second dimension, hooray! It turns out the nausea and cramps she’s been experiencing weren’t because she’s pregnant, but she is, in fact, turning into a Hexenbiest!

This is a clever move by the writers, as Juliette often seems irrelevant to the action, unless someone needs a vet or a Spanish translation. But providing her with her own witchy powers means she can become more involved in fighting Wesen, and in the long-term, makes her more of a match for Adalind when comes to the inevitable showdown with the women who slept with her man, and put her in a coma. Revenge is a bitch, huh?

Indeed, Adalind may be returning to Portland sooner rather than later, as the last place anyone saw her baby before it was whisked away by Kelly Burkhardt.

We discover that in addition to Elizabeth Renard, and Team Vadalind, there’s a third party on the hunt for baby Diana – the Resistance. Leader of the Resistance, Tavitian, informs Renard that they want the child for their fight against the Royal family, and Renard must help them find her. As Tatvian comes to know Renard a little better he’ll find out that the Captain only does what’s in his own interest, so we’ll just sit back and watch that situation unfold.

The third cliff-hanger we’re left on is Monroe being abducted outside his house by the ancient hate group, Secundum Naturae Ordinem Wesen (SNOW, if you’re into acronyms.) You just knew something was going to go wrong as Monroe and Rosalee happily planned their honeymoon getaway.

A dead fox strung up outside the Spice Shop failed to split the couple up, and only served to enrage Monroe, who matter-of-factly tells Nick he is going to kill the men who threatened Rosalee. And yeah, he probably will.

Interestingly, it was a Portland PD cop that was supposed to be guarding the couple that betrayed them, confirming SNOW’s (for that’s what I’m now calling it) presence among the city’s establishment. So will this lead to Nick abandoning the department and going rogue?

The next episode of Grimm isn’t until January 9, 2015, but it’s going to have to face some big issues head on. How will Juliette cope with having a decayed face? Will Wu turn against Nick and Hank for lying to him? And what will the body count be when the gang realise Monroe has been taken? I for one can’t wait.

Read Christine’s review of the previous episode, The Grimm Who Stole Christmas, here.

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