‘Grimm’ Recap: Bark That’s as Bad as Its Bite
Warning: This recap of the “Tree People” episode of Grimm contains spoilers.
Nick and friends take on a woodsy warrior in the latest Grimm and give everyone another reason to behave in the bush.
Safety in numbers
The Scooby gang is standing around cautiously inspecting the mirror in Nick’s bathroom where ol’ green eyes first appeared to Eve and Nick. Adalind hypothesizes that he’s either connected to Eve or after her. “Spirits and entities sometimes have a way of attaching themselves to people of our world,” she says in a not-creepy-at-all way.
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But Rosalee reminds them that Nick saw it too, and therefore it might also be after him, which Monroe thinks makes total sense because “Nick and Eve are pretty deeply connected.” He tries to diminish the awkward vibe he created by adding, “Or they were.”
Nick also recalls that he saw it in a dream. As usual, Diana knows more than they do. She barges in and declares that it wasn’t a dream but more like a premonition. “It’s something that’s not real yet,” she says, adding that it is going to happen in the other place through the hole in the mirror.
Until they figure out what’s happening, Monroe proposes they institute a buddy system whenever they need to use a mirror so that no one accidentally sees the skull man alone. Rosalee also commands that Eve stay at their place for the time being.
Nick fetches Adalind so that he can shave. He thinks the skull knows he is a Grimm. He’s worried that it is connected to Eve because she is a hexenbiest, which in turn makes him concerned about his current girlfriend, because she is also a witch. Suddenly it strikes Adalind that the thing might not fear Grimms. And with that thought, he sticks with the stubble.
Sanguine surprise
Eve and MonRosalee dare to take the hand mirror out of the locked drawer once they return to the spice shop. It is just as she left it, covered entirely in dried blood. But as Eve holds it, the blood starts to reliquify, and Monroe throws the mirror back in the drawer. Eve wonders whether the only way they can figure out the identity of the other place that Diana mentioned might be to go there.
Meanwhile, Renard is still trying to get to the bottom of the symbols his daughter drew. He gets a call from the mystery Russian woman. She recognizes some of the symbols as ancient but supposes that the ones she doesn’t recognize “are not from anywhere known.” She then adds creepily, “I fear nothing until now.” She instructs the captain to find the tunnel as soon as possible.
Make like a tree and leave
Two hillbillies combine drunk driving, hunting, and littering in the middle of the night. When they come upon a deer after a deep conversation about how much women dig camouflage and cousin kissing, one shoots the animal and goes running after it while the other takes extra time to grab another beer before following. As Dev is admiring his kill, vines shoot across the forest floor, wrap around his legs, and drag him deeper into the woods. When Ralph finds him by following his screams, his entire body is engulfed in branches, and eventually one pokes through his heart, spraying Ralph in blood. That’s when the bloody buddy notices a giant tree person pulling his dead pal’s body up and giving him what looks like a giant hug. The still-breathing redneck makes a run for the car and manages to get away but then slams bumper-first into a tree.
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Ralph refuses to leave the scene the next morning. The sheriffs attribute his blathering on about monsters to his intoxicated state, but Wu knows well enough by this point that he should call Nick and Hank to the scene. Wu finds that three other people have disappeared in the general vicinity within the last five years and then discovers even more missing-person cases with the same M.O. The lab then finds a giant amount of chlorophyll on Ralph’s jacket, and by giant they mean like the amount found in a mighty sequoia.
The gang deduces that they are dealing with an ecological creature of Japanese origin that is biologically driven to protect its territory and the environment. All those folks who disappeared had records of poaching, polluting, or other green crimes. (At this point, I can think of a few climate-change deniers I’d like to send to Oregon.) While in the woods trying to find the creature, they discover another abandoned truck and a lawn chair covered in blood. They return to the precinct and map the last seen location for the missing folks to establish a perimeter. They return to the woods and go to the center of the circle and stumble upon a unique massive tree, which Nick had vibed on during the earlier ramble. Upon closer inspection, they see the faces of the missing imprinted all over the trunk. And in a bit of dialogue worthy of a cheeseball CSI opening, someone cracks, “Gives new meaning to family tree.” Turns out it is a species that lives on blood, and it has a symbiotic relationship with the monster.
The gang decides to pretend to do harm to the environment by using some gross (but harmless) goo Rosalee concocted. But when they dump it, nothing happens all day. Monroe wonders whether they shouldn’t just leave it alone. It is, after all, protecting the forest and only organically killing people who are endangering nature. Rosalee volunteers to bring them turpentine to spike the goo.
When she hits a rock on her way to meet them, the oil leak draws out the tree man, and she runs to the guys. It finds them in the grove and attacks them all. Nick slashes it with an ax, and it falls to the ground, spewing plant blood from its chest. The tree grabs it with its vines and sucks it into its trunk. Then its face appears. The gang assumes it is dead and that they’ve done everything they could. But as they drive off, it opens its eyes.
When MonRosalee get into bed and discuss the fact that she shouldn’t be having such dangerous adventures while pregnant (“The kids will be adventure enough”), they notice what looks like a face in their wooden ceiling for the first time. Just to be safe, Monroe offers to paint the ceiling.
Grimm airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of Grimm for free on Yahoo View.
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