Grimm season 4 episode 1 review: Thanks For The Memories

This review contains spoilers.

4.1 Thanks For The Memories

And we’re back!

After last season’s wedding-themed cliff-hanger, Grimm season 4 kicks off with Nick having lost his powers to detect Wesen and Captain Renard fighting for his life after being shot by the rogue Hundjäger, Steward.

If you remember, there was crying in the chapel at Monroe and Rosalie’s wedding as Nick realised Adalind had tricked him into bed, Juliette was – naturally – pissed about it, and to top it off, he had lost his Wesen-detection abilities.

Admittedly, first and foremost Nick has to worry about the fact there’s a decapitated fed at his house, courtesy of Trubel, but throughout the episode he doesn’t seem to display any great deal of emotion at the fact he’s no longer a Grimm.

Similarly, Juliette accepts Adalind was to blame for bedding her man, and, while she seems up for revenge – her words say this, this rather than any sort of facial expression – you get the impression she’s glad Nick is back to ‘normal’ again, and they can perhaps go back to their old life, before evil Hexenbiests came along to put you into comas and sleep with your boyfriend.

There were also a couple of new developments to note.

First is a new character, Special Agent Chavez, who in turns out to be a Steinadler (a hawk-like Wesen that first appeared in Three Coins In A Fuchsbau.) She is suspicious of Trubel – who admittedly is acting rather calmly for someone who lopped a man’s head off with a machete – and the discovery of the ancient Grimm diaries only further fuels her concerns.

Also, the discovery of the same diaries at the crime scene propels Wu back to his encounter with the Aswang, and he starts to suspect he might not be crazy after all. A frustrating conversation with Hank, who was always the most sympathetic to Wu’s plight, sees the detective fob him off before almost spilling the beans – before they’re interrupted, argh! (Incidentally Wu’s face when Trubel admits to decapitating Steward is priceless.)

There was, too, a Wesen of the week: Octo-man! Actually he is a Gedächtnis Esser (“memory eater”), an octopus-like creature that can burrow into their victim’s heads to steal their memories which can be used to take over their identities.

The creature attacks a scientist in what appears to be a case of corporate espionage. He sucks his face and steals his memories, leaving him with advanced dementia and four big holes in the back of his head. Interestingly, it’s down to Trubel now to identify the suspect as Wesen, with the storyline set to continue next week.

Renard, meanwhile, is struggling to survive the assassination attempt by Steward. The episode ends with the Captain flatlining as doctors attempt in vain to resuscitate him. This is accompanied by the appearance of another mysterious woman appears at his bedside, who is sure to make her presence know in future episodes.

So with Juliette seemingly OK with Nick has losing his powers, and Nick adopting an almost bovine detachment to the fact he’s no longer a Grimm, it remains to be seen how the relationship pans out this series – particularly now with Trubel stepping up as Portland’s only Grimm.

Read Christine’s review of the season 3 finale, Blond Ambition, here.

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