Grimm season 3 episode 19 review: Nobody Knows the Trubel I’ve Seen

There's a new Grimm in town, and Adalind might be up to her old tricks again. Here's Caroline's review of this week's Grimm...

This review contains spoilers.

3.19 Nobody Knows the Trubel I’ve Seen

Grimm does a satisfactory job of balancing two main plots this week – the obvious fallout from the last episode’s snatching baby Diana from Adalind, and the introduction of a new (and likely recurring) character.

First things first: Adalind is pissed. Well, more than pissed. She’s also desperate, heartbroken and betrayed. Her initial vulnerability – demonstrated by her increasingly desperate pleas to the gang find her child – is a complete contrast to the scheming and witchy Adalind we know and love. Despite her appeals for help, her supposed allies against the Royals all continue to lie to her “for the greater good”. (“The greater good!”) 

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Inevitably Adalind blames Renard for taking her baby and – as far as she knows – handing her over to the Viktor. Renard is feeling guilty too, as demonstrated by the episode opening with the Captain, sitting in a bar alone, brooding into his whiskey as mournful jazz plays in the background.

Even through her tears, however, Adalind has the self-awareness to advise Renard that he better help her find the child, as “one day I’ll stop crying”. The implication being no-one wants to be around when that happens. At this point I did a little cheer, as I find myself increasingly irritated with shared belief among Nick and his buddies that they know best in any given situation, as they continue to justify their actions, and the hurt that this causes. (Yes, I’m still annoyed about Wu.) Also, I’d love to see a little of kick-ass Adalind return, for pure devilment.

So hitting brick walls all over Portland, Adalind does the only thing she can think of – she throws herself at the mercy of Viktor, not realising he doesn’t have the child. Viktor the manipulator sees an opportunity to force Adalind to do his dirty work and take care of Nick once and for all, in order to be ‘reunited’ with Diana.Perhaps his guilt has made him somewhat gullible, but when Adalind fakes reconciliation with him, it seems he accepts the situation a little too quickly. But there it is, Adalind’s scheming smile of old which tells us Renard better watch his back too. In a sense it’d be a shame if we returned to the one dimensional baddie of the past, but it could be argued that a little shake-up is just what Grimm needs right now, with only a few episodes left before the season 3 finale.

Elsewhere, there’s a new Grimm in town! Except she doesn’t know she’s a Grimm. She doesn’t even know what a Grimm is. The new girl is Theresa (“They call me Trubel”) Rubel who, a streetwise young woman who has spent much of her youth in a series of care homes and mental health institutions after being plagued by visions of terrifying animal creatures.

It’s an interesting move, introducing a non-Burkhardt Grimm, an outsider who doesn’t really know anything about her own existence or her powers. It’s somewhat inevitable that Nick is going to assume the role of mentor to Trubel, unlocking the secrets of Aunt Marie’s Airstream to show her the ways of the Grimm. The next episode is called My Fair Wesen, so it’s certainly pointing to that teacher/student story.

Speaking of outsiders (do you see what I did there?) we get another appearance from C .Thomas Howell this week, who makes a failed bill to kill Renard. I would like one of these every week please, just to see the increasingly frustrated expression on Steward’s face. He’s got to know he’s outclassed by the Captain, right?

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Couple of other points to note: this week Wu was relegated to French fry expert. This is reason to like him even more.

Meanwhile we meet Viktor’s uncle – and Eric’s father – King Frederick, one of the few men capable to applying pressure to Viktor. He emphasises the special nature of baby Diana and how she must be raised a Royal, otherwise “these walls will one day fall”.

Also there were a couple of signs of potential tension between Hank and Nick as Hank begins to question his how far you can step over the lines of the law when you’re a cop. Nick taking in a known killer certainly falls into the ‘frowned upon’ category among traditional law enforcement officers.

Nevertheless, it’s now all about the Hexenbiest. Adalind has stopped crying and everyone in Portland should be very worried.

Read Christine’s review of the previous episode, The Law Of Sacrifice, here.

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