Grimm – Season 2 Episode 5 – The Good Shepherd – Recap and Review
Thank Grimm It's Friday! This is a recap and review of the return of Grimm on its original night.
Oh no! It's back to the classic "meet this new monster" and "solve a case" and "here's a moral" format again.
Bud (Danny Bruno) meets up with Nick (David Giuntoli) at a bar in order to confess that he accidentally spilled the beans about Nick’s Grimm identity to Juliette in an earlier episode. Nick reacts with concern and consequently, makes a greater effort to manoeuvre around Juliette’s growing suspicions and uncertainties. The mystery Wesen who has been following Nick since last episode “Quill” reappears and quickly disappears again, but Nick senses a strange presence and decides to leave.
We are introduced to Norman, an accountant of a church who appears to represent all the tropes of the “innocent” character – polite, gentle and hardworking. He stays behind at the office to finish up some work, but is ambushed by a shadowed figure with beady red eyes and forklifted into a woodgrinder to his death. Meanwhile, a local Reverend reports that his church has been robbed. Having not discovered Norman’s body yet, the accusation is placed on Norman. All his colleagues are in disbelief that Norman could be responsible, expressing that he has never been in trouble. Eventually, Norman’s body is found, all thanks to a hip replacement that prevented him from getting completely grinded and it indicates there’s more to the issue than meets the eye.
Back to Nick and Juliette’s (Bitsie Tulloch) storyline, Juliette begins to question her obligations to the relationship. Juliette decides to go out for a drink without telling Nick, and additionally tries to seek advice and insight from friends about her previous relationship. Her friends remind her that she had rejected Nick’s marriage proposal, but they could not answer her when she asked why.
Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) discovers a similar case a few years ago where another church in Little Creek was allegedly robbed and questions the Reverend, Calvin. Nick discovers that the Reverend is in fact a Blutbad, and all the church attendees are Seelengut, a type of sheep-like creature who possesses meek and vulnerable characteristics. Nick doubts the genuineness of this relationship, but Calvin claims that he is a reformed Blutbad, and he has moved on from the expectations and norms of his kind. Nick realizes his story’s similarity to Monroe’s (Silas Weir Mitchell) life, and asks him to go undercover at the church to help him identify whether or not Calvin is authentic or not.
Monroe proceeds to attend the mourning service for Norman, and despite his attempt at a quiet entrance, his presence is strongly detected and detested by all the Seelengut. Calvin calls him out and asks the reason behind his arrival, and Monroe pretends to be a Blutbad who is shunned by society and in pursuit of acceptance and salvation. Calvin gladly extends his help, and offers a place for him to stay in the church.
Gradually, Nick and Hank begins to unravel more shiftiness within the church, as they find out that Calvin’s assistant, Megan, not only is in a relationship with Calvin, a prospect that is ridiculous to Monroe, but she additionally worked at the Little Rock Church under a different name. Megan is brought into custody to clarify about her identity change but exaggerates her meek behaviorisms and acts extremely paranoid and weak to convince Nick that she is not a legitimate suspect and is not capable of killing anybody of her own kind. Later, Megan (who’s now contrastingly lying in bed, scantily dressed and with a sensual glare), reunites with Calvin and tells him that the police are catching on. She suggests that it is best to leave, finally revealing that Calvin is the culprit behind the robbery and that the money is intended to fund their vacation and elopement. Calvin decides not to as he realizes Monroe is the ideal candidate for a scapegoat and wishes to frame him for his previous crime.
Whilst doing his usual research in his trailer, Nick is attacked by the mystery Wesen, who is now identified as David Esquibel. (I'm surprised it took this long for someone to find the trailer. I mean, come on! I can't even believe that this was just sitting in their backyard at one point. Don't you agree? ) David manages to enter the trailer and they put up a pretty good fight until he is knocked out by one of Nick's heavy duty weapons. Nick finds out that he is after the Grimm key. (Oh surprise!)
The church decides to hold bake sales to raise the money that was lost. We are introduced to Harmony, a pregnant girl who distracts the bake sale as she causes a scene with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend claims that the baby isn’t his, and that she can name him whatever she wants. She seeks help within the church and is assisted by Megan who asks about her situation. Harmony tells her that the baby is actually Calvin’s, which sets off Megan into a tirade as she admits to the rest of the church that Calvin is a liar and a fake. In the meantime, Calvin meets with Monroe and Calvin describes how meaningful Monroe’s trust and presence in the church is to him. Calvin offers a letter opener, his weapon, as a gift, and after getting Monroe’s fingerprints, shows his true colors as he exposes his hidden agenda. But the session is interrupted as the now enraged group of Seelengut, basically storm in and all “man up” to kick his ass. The Seelengut additionally chases Monroe down due to their distrust in Blutbad in general, but Nick saves the day by intervening. Harmony and Megan both end up escaping with the money anyways, and flying to the Caribbean for a good old "break up vacation".
This was a rather disappointing episode after the hiatus. It might just be me, but I found the approach to the idea of "wolf in sheep's clothing" to be just too literal. The religious context? Check. The conventional underdog storyline arc that we have seen so many times (eg. with the Beavers)? Check. The rather direct moralistic undertone? Check. But, furthermore, who thought it was just a ridiculous visual when the Seelengut all transformed into the sheep and attacked Calvin? I literally laughed out loud at that point.
The trailers for next episode certainly seem to be a lot more compelling, and get back to concentrating on the development of Juliette and Nick's straining relationship. Surprisingly, it seems that Juliette suddenly remembers him. I'm definitely curious! This upcoming revelation may either fall completely flat or be what is needed to spice things up again. We'll see!