Grimm season 4 episode 9 review: Wesenrein

This review contains spoilers.

4.9 Wesenrein

Hooray! This first episode of 2015 sees Grimm hit the ground running, as it picks up where it left off before the midseason break.

In the last episode back in December, we were treated to no fewer than three cliffhangers. If you’ll remember, Wu landed in jail after freaking out following yet another encounter with Wesen that he couldn’t explain; Monroe had been attacked by the Wesen hate group, Wesenrein, and Juliette was shocked (but who can tell?) when she looked in the mirror and saw a Hexenbiest gurning back at her.

In Friends terms, this episode should be known as “The One Where Wu Finds Out”. There were only so many strange deaths that Wu could roll his eyes at and then file away in the ‘Portland is Weird’ file, right?

So finally, after months of his becoming increasingly suspicious of Nick, and less certain of his own sanity, Sergeant Drew Wu is finally told the truth by Nick and Hank. They bust him out of the drunk tank with a promise of answers, leading him straight to Aunt Marie’s Airstream.

Two things to note, neither Nick nor Hank apologises for letting Wu think he was going crazy, and his subsequent spell in a mental institution. Perhaps Wu is overwhelmed by the news that the creatures only thought to inhabit fairy tales and folklore are actually real, because he reacts not with anger but a bewildered acceptance.

He is further nonplussed when he discovers Captain Renard – who spends most of the episode confidently handing out orders while looking suave – also knows about the Wesen, and Nick’s vocation.

Wu: “Are you…?”

Renard: “You don’t want to go there.”

Wu: “Okay.”

Maybe the rage will hit him after the shock wears off. Or maybe the writers will just let that one fly. But for now, Wu has been recruited to help find Monroe, who we discover has been abducted by the Wesenrein, a cross between a thinly-veiled neo-Nazi group (right down to the almost-swastika on a red flag) and a satanic cult, intent on keeping Wesen blood pure.

This is where the episode gets much darker, as we see Monroe chained up by men in masks, and can only imagine his fate. Well imagine that is, until we see what happens to a fellow prisoner at the hands of the Wesenrein – burned through a stake.

The hunt for Monroe also prompts a relapse of Nick’s PTZD – the ‘greying out’ that we saw predominantly last season. Will the show’s writers develop this further or will it be one of those intermittent plot devices, like the mystical keys?

Elsewhere Renard has delved into his little black book of Wesen underworld contacts, charging new face, Sam Damerov, to investigate the Wesenrein. Let’s hope we see more of him.

Juliette, meanwhile, is struggling with the fact she’s a Hexenbiest solo (it’s hardly been the right time to inform everyone of her new identity.) It did cause her to experience quite the savage dream sequence where she rips out poor Rosalee’s throat, as if she wasn’t having enough of a bad day with Monroe missing.

Juliette may soon have a chance to recreate that dream in her real life as we find out that Prince Viktor and Adalind are heading back to Portland in their hunt for baby Diana. As I’ve mentioned before, it would be great to bring Elizabeth Renard and Kelly Burkhardt back from their search for the child, and have the mother of royal rumbles.

This was a ‘to be continued’ episode, and with the pace of the action being so fast, it was somewhat a surprise when the credits rolled.

It’s actually great to see Wu as part of the team now that they’re bringing him in on the hunt for Monroe. The next episode will be a race against time to save our favourite Blutbad, and I for one can’t wait.

Read Christine’s review of the previous episode, Chupacabra, here.

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