Grimm season 4 episode 17 review: Hibernaculum

Grimm gets seriously weird amid all the soap storylines and moping this week...

This review contains spoilers.

4.17 Hibernaculum

On reflection, Hibernaculum could be classed as one of the stranger episodes, even for a show based on fairytales.

In the most part I’m referring to a scene where Nick, Hank, Monroe and Wu accidentally wake a pile of hibernating snake people, dressed only in their skivvies. They are then chased by the angry horde and trapped in a barn, a la a PG version of The Walking Dead. It was just… weird.

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The Wesen in the spotlight this week are Varme Tyv (“heat thief”), cold-blooded creatures that need human heat to survive. Unfortunately this kills the human providing the warmth, drawing the attention of local law enforcement.

Perhaps the writers were inspired by the success of Frozen, but the plot lacked any feeling of real menace. It did however provide Wu some pithy wordplay on being “frozen stiff”. Also the gang trying to dislodge their perp from the pile of sleeping bodies did resemble a form of human Jenga, so there’s that…

Speaking of cold-bloodied, the episode opens with lonely Nick, eating a microwave meal for one, staring dejectedly into the middle distance.

Den of Geek’s readers have made it known they’re no fans of Grimm’s current ‘soap opera’ storylines. And Juliette really seems to have morphed into a daytime soap super bitch.

She decides to revisit the Renard obsession storyline from season two and seduce the Captain, just because it will hurt Adalind. And uncharacteristically, Renard goes along with it, with not a second thought to Nick. He even tells Juliette where Adalind is staying in Portland so she can exact revenge on her nemesis.

It’s obvious that his encounter last week with Prince Kenneth left Renard with a bruised body and ego. But is wounded pride really enough to sleep with his friend and ally’s (ex) girlfriend? Either way, it’s going to hit the fan when Nick finds out. Maybe the writers will go full Jeremy Kyle and decide to make Juliette pregnant by Renard?

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Renard is battling still with bleeding bullet wounds, compounded this week with a decidedly cheap-looking and silly vision of his bedroom morphing into blue skies and a pair of devil’s hands reaching out to grab him. Did I mention this week was all a bit odd?

Over in one of downtown Portland’s five-star hotels, Kenneth thinks Juliette’s transformation might be useful in his quest to find Kelly Burkhardt and Diana. He also sees right through Adalind’s games, and neatly squashes her hysteria at nearly being squashed herself.

Over at Monroe and Rosalee’s house, our favourite Blutbad is struggling with his own flashbacks to his capture by the Wesenrein. It was genuinely moving to see him upset at the thought of what he could have lost, but Rosalee was on hand to comfort him with hugs ad soothing, clock-based metaphors.

But Monrosalee’s week only gets more dramatic when, in a rare moment of self awareness, Juliette visits The Spice Shop for help. (Well, she had just tried to tip a gargoyle onto the head of a pregnant Hexenbiest so was perhaps feeling a little guilty.)

But her vulnerable side is soon replaced by defensive, angry Juliette when she sees Nick at the shop. She scares the beejesus out of Monroe and Rosalee by woging, and then declares they all played a part in making her a monster.

The episode ends with a flashback to the first episode when Aunt Marie warned Nick that he would have to leave Juliette, now that his vocation as a Grimm had been revealed. Yep, should have listed to Aunt Marie, Nick.

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