Grimm Season 6 Episode 5 Review: The Seven Year Itch

This Grimm review contains spoilers.

Grimm Season 6 Episode 5

“When something itches my dear sir, the natural tendency is to scratch.” – Dr. Brubaker, The Seven Year Itch

Over the course of six seasons, the cast of Grimm has had its share of itches that needed to be scratched. The majority of the action has taken place in tony Portland, with temporary European jaunts to hunt for treasures and rescue a hexenbiest from a foreboding castle.

What connective tissue might there be between tonight’s villainous cicada and the overall storyline? Cicadas stay underground from two to seventeen years, while the party boy Wesen emerges every seven years.

Who and what has been buried demands to be unearthed and reborn in the secular and magical worlds on the show. Nick didn’t choose to be a Grimm, no more than Rosalee and Monroe chose life as a Wesen. They’ve all had to bury dreams of a normal, human existence in exchange for a steep learning curve as supernatural crime fighters.

Human and supernatural beings alike, always want something different or more than what’s readily available. The desires change and are colored by any number of hopeful outcomes and emotions.

Nick fought his destiny, and wished for wedded bliss, children and a house in the suburbs with his ex-wife Juliette. No sooner had he been stripped of his abilities, did he itch for them to be restored. The frustrating, tingling sensation was just below the surface of his skin similar to an insect bite enticing him to scratch. The duality of alleviating and irritating the spot of an attack, or in his case, the pit of his soul. Itching can signal growth and change, and sometimes not for the best.

Juliette lost her way and gave up hope for the picket fence she wanted once. Weighed down by Nick’s integral role in combating shady or evil Wesen that happened through town, she began making irreversible, ill-formed decisions. One such misjudgment led to Nick’s mother’s head being delivered in a box.

The plus-size Wesen we’re later introduced to in the episode has had a series of bad dates. She’s burrowed inside herself, insecure, waiting not for a knight to rescue her, but to be seen and appreciated. It’s not her fault that transmitting her itch was received by a carnivorous insect.

A theme that emerged was asking for what you want or need. Whether it was fulfilled or denied, was a risk worth taking. Eve and Renard want closure to their emotional and mental dilemmas, as they’re both struggling with who and what’s real in the parallel worlds they inhabit.

Eve apologized to Adeline and Nick, knowing full well that their time together ended not just because of her previous betrayal, but with Nick’s happiness as a father. He’s moved on with Adeline, and now it’s her turn to put her house in order.

Renard doesn’t know what to believe as Meisner continues haunting him for his gracious favor of putting him out of his misery with a bullet to the head. He didn’t think about the consequences of his actions, and can’t control when and where he has to battle a ghost.

Rosalee and Monroe received confirmation of their having more than one child as Diana predicted. She’s pregnant with triplets, and will have to act accordingly to ensure their save births. How much control will they have as fellow team members moving forward?

How and why are Diana and Eve telepathically linked, but not Diana and Adeline? Eve in her former more powerful incarnation probably took parts of Diana’s mother we’re yet to know. Conventional wisdom would have us believe the bonds are mismatched.

In a surprising turn of events, the chubby woman from the bar wasn’t a pushover after all. After a sneak attack, it was revealed that she’s Wesen, and able to fend for herself. No one in Argentina need to cry for her anytime soon!