Grimm season 6 episode 11 review: Where The Wild Things Were

This review contains spoilers.

6.11 Where The Wild Things Were

This week we finally get to see what’s on through the looking glass when Nick follows Eve through the mirror’s portal in search of the sinister skeleton face guy that’s been stalking her from the ‘other place’.

The other place turns out to be a medieval forest – likely the Black Forest – that’s inhabited by “wild things”; rampaging Wesen who hunt German-speaking humans like prey. It’s explained as a parallel universe, with Renard’s know-it-all contact, Dasha using the concept of Schrodinger’s Cat to explain how the two dimensions can exist simultaneously.

They make contact with Dasha through Renard. With Nick and Eve both missing and the gang running short of options, they decide to bring the Captain back into the fold, believing one of his numerous shady associates could help them unravel the mystery of the stick, the symbols and the ‘other place’ through the mirror. Our heroes rightly remain cautious, as Monroe logically points out Renard’s history of back-stabbing – both figuratively and literally – but decide it’s worth the risk. However, that doesn’t stop Monroe going full Alpha in Nick absence, providing Renard with an obvious veiled threat to “watch his step” when entering the tunnel for the first time.

But with the series finale in sight, the writers have left just enough time for the Renard’s redemption, as he places the welfare of his daughter over his own self-interest or anger toward the group. And Renard is right to be worried about Diana’s involvement in the mystery; it transpires the creepy skull creature is a Zerstörer – German for Destroyer – and is likened to a devil, or Satan himself. According to Dasha, the Zerstörer seeks a child bride in Diana. This easily makes the creature the worst kind of evil Nick and the gang have ever had to face, in keeping with the upcoming season finale. The only question, perhaps, is if there is enough time left in the next two episodes to establish a real sense of evil, and to generate real moments of fear for our heroes, (and the viewer)?

The other thing to note is that Nick and Eve finally have ‘the talk’, where Eve says she has completely moved on from her previous life with Nick, and Juliette is effectively dead. She doesn’t blame him, in fact she says she has a “strength and purpose she never had before”, which of course, is accurate. Drippy Juliette would never have tortured a man by sealing his eyes and mouth shut.

Also, it was fun to see Renard’s reaction when the stick is revealed as the sacred artefact buried by the Grimm Crusaders in the 12^th century: “They buried a stick?” “It gets that reaction a lot,” counters Monroe.

You must wonder if the writers envisioned this being the end game when they came up with the concept of the keys, all those seasons ago. We shall likely never know…

This is the first of a two-parter, and we’re left with Nick and Eve in a face / skull-off with the Zerstörer, who seems immune to both of their powers. We can only hope that the final episodes will be based on fighting monsters, with a big action-packed finale against the devil’s dark forces. (A return by Truble to the fold would be most welcome, too.)

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