‘Grimm’ Recap: The Future’s Not Theirs to See
Warning: This recap of the “El Cuegle” episode of Grimm contains spoilers.
The producers and Captain McChesty warned fans that this season would get pretty dark, and this episode certainly started to make good on that promise, as a baby-munching monster rolls into town just as Nick, Wu, and Hank return to work.
Duty Calls
Nick gets a warm welcome back to work, but before the team can head out to investigate an attack and kidnapping, Renard calls the three of them to his office. “I’m guessing this will be the presentation of medals,” Wu quips.
He immediately threatens them: “Let’s get one thing straight. I am in charge of this precinct, and if any of you get out of line again, you will be out of here.” After they leave, ghost Meisner appears for the second time, with the accusation, “That wasn’t in the spirit of reconciliation.” Renard, who had put a hand on his old frenemy the night before and realized he seemed solid, tries to justify his murder as a mercy killing, but Meisner reminds him that his betrayal of all of them was really the reason he was dead. The exchange is heated, coffee is thrown, and the guys watch the captain talk to himself and wonder if he is on speakerphone or going insane. Meisner departs with a cheeky “Bonaparte says ‘Hi!’”
Renard is still on edge after getting a phone call the night before from someone on the Black Claw side who is pissed that he isn’t taking the mayoral position. When he explains that the Grimm were painting him in a corner through a spell, the angry voice charges that he should have anticipated the spell and that his “mistake has cost us more than you even know.”
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After interviewing the family, having the mom draw a picture of the three-armed, three-eyed monster she saw taking her infant from his crib in the middle of the night, and hitting the books at the Spice Shop, the Scooby Gang determines that they are hunting for a Spanish Wesen named El Cuegle who keep babies through “the hours of dread” to make sure they will be eaten and then it “aborts the bad future.”
Wu finds three other cases with witnesses who describe seeing a similar monster, including one in Idaho. Meanwhile, the audience is treated to a scene from the monster’s perspective. He actually comforts the crying, feverish baby and promises to buy it medicine. But this kind gesture is his undoing, as he gets attacked with a vision — and the accompanying migraine symptoms — while at the store, which leads the cops to his rental car and then to his hideout.
They return the unscathed baby to his parent despite pleading from El Cuegle. Something is not sitting right with Hank. Why take the risk of getting caught by fetching cough meds when you are just gonna dine on the diaper wearer later? And why steal the syrup if you can afford a car?
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El Cuegle tells Nick that he doesn’t understand the situation. He doesn’t want to eat this horrible helping of little human. He has to. His three eyes allow him to see the past, present, and future, and his visions tell him which babies will do monstrous things later in life. This baby will grow up to kill his parents at 19, and that’s just the start of his crime spree, because his parents’ marriage crumbles and gets violent, and he becomes “isolated and unstable.”
He recalls the story of an Idaho child, Kenneth Slater, as proof. In a moment of weakness, he returned the baby and found his premonition came true – Kenny had recently killed 10 people in a diner. While Nick and Hank check out his story, he starts frothing at the mouth and sees more of the vision. He mutates, breaks out, and goes after the baby again, just as the dad is demanding that his mom go to a psychiatrist. Dad is knocked out cold before the third arm appears. He tussles with Nick and winds up over the staircase whispering “the bears” as his dying words. The parents immediately start fighting again about what the mom saw, and Nick tries to diffuse the situation by assuring him that his wife isn’t crazy. It doesn’t help, and at that moment Hank notices the kid’s favorite blanket covered in bear decals.
Jeepers Creepers
Diana’s powers keep growing, as does the uneasy feeling of what she might do with them every week. She seemed very distraught at finding Nick in a Renard suit, and everyone tries to explain that Nick was actually trying to help her dad. Diana demands to see her dad, but Adalind says that it’s Kelly’s turn to be with his daddy. Before they leave, Diana walks over to Rosalee and informs her that there’s more than one baby in her belly, although she can’t say exactly how many. Diana creepily holds her gaze as she walks out of the shop. Back at the loft, Nick wonders aloud about her powers after she mentions that she has been there before and that lots of people died there. Adalind reiterates the need to protect her. “She has amazing abilities — ones that I don’t understand, and I don’t know where they came from.”
Adalind drops Diana off for daddy time and immediately asks Renard to explain why he doesn’t love her mommy. He admits Nick is an issue in that department and plants a few seeds of doubt about her taking every word her mother says as gospel. She makes the pasta water boil with magic, and Renard tries to figure out whether she knows what happened to Bonaparte. “You killed him because he hurt mommy. Men shouldn’t hurt mommies,” she says in a haunting, matter-of-fact tone.
Renard again drops a hint suggesting that she doesn’t always have to protect everyone, but should she see something when he isn’t around, like Nick hurting her mom… But she cuts him off before he can finish the thought, saying, “He would be very sorry.”
Stick It to Her
Eve is in the tunnel when Nick and Adalind arrive back at the loft. Overhearing their mushy exchange about finally being reunited gives her the skin ripples, and she’s visibly upset. She then decides to get the stick out. When she removes it from the box, it burns one of the symbols she saw on the dead guy’s face in limbo into her hand and knocks her off her game. Simultaneously, Nick gets faint at the precinct. When Eve recovers, she manages to put the stick back in the wall before she starts to feverishly scratch something into the wall.
Should We Stay or Should We Go?
Rosalee is questioning staying in Portland, given the constant danger her and Monroe are always in thanks to their association/friendship with Nick. “He doesn’t attract family types. You and I are starting a family. I never cared about having kids or getting married. I couldn’t imagine putting anybody’s needs before my own. But you changed all that,” she confides in Monroe. “I am scared. Now that I have everything I never even knew I wanted, I feel like it’s all going to get taken away. I will not live like this. I can’t be this vulnerable all the time.”
(Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
Monroe admits that he has been pondering the same questions but is not ready to throw in the towel just yet.
Seems like we might lose some members of the squad before the finale. And it seems like the final throwdown might be between Nick and Diana, maybe after some manipulation by her pops, or maybe Adalind and Nick break up. What do you think, Grimm reapers?
Grimm airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on NBC. Watch clips and full episodes of Grimm for free on Yahoo View.
