Grimm "Dyin' on a Prayer" Review: David and Goliath
Grimm S04E04: "Dyin' on a Prayer"
TV audiences can be a demanding bunch. We want this and we want that and it better be done right, dammit or there will be certain hell to pay (on the internet, at least). When a show takes a wrong turn, the patience required to stick around and wait for it to re-route—if it does re-route—can be hard to find. So while Grimm has been lucky as of late in that its list of shortcomings has been, well, short, I was still surprised (and delighted) by how quickly the series rectified what few issues I've had with it in the recent past. I even kind of like Trubel these days.
And that's where the first leg of my love fest for "Dyin' on a Prayer" comes in: Trubel didn't wait half the season and several crises later to tell Nick about the Wesen FBI conspiracy and their pursuit of her nifty Grimm skillz for what are surely nefarious goals. She's a much more mature character this season, and she's come into her own as an asset and an ally to Nick and as a developed character in her own right. Her personality and motivations are more complex. She asks the questions we've always wondered ourselves—and that Nick, as the expert, has never really been allowed to ask himself. Just how many other Grimm are there out in the world? What else is out in the world besides Grimm, Wesen, and humans? That Grimm itself is raising these questions through Trubel indicates that it's willing and ready to take its carefully crafted world to another level.
Nick has been a lone-wolf Grimm with a clearly defined antagonist to chase for a long time. Little by little, Grimm has added new layers to what Nick (and by extension, the audience) knows about the world of Wesen. Season 3 delved pretty deeply into Wesen culture, and now it seems that Season 4 is all about the Grimm side of things—and some more Wesen because WTF hate-bricks for MonRoesalee. We knew their mixed marriage was a controversial one in the Wesen world, but now it appears that convincing their parents that their union is amazing and perfect forever and ever was actually the easy part.
"Dyin' on a Prayer" was another non-Wesen/non-Grimm creature feature along the lines of "Volcanalis" but with more heart and more awkwardness (they go hand in hand). A rabbi, sick of watching his sister and nephew suffer terrible violence at the hands of her psycho alcoholic Wesen ex-husband, prayed for a Gollum to keep little David safe... without fully realizing that those old-timey prayers were heavy-duty stuff. They were also quite literal, to the point where not only did Davy's evil stepfather end up with a couple lungfuls of clay, but so did his equally awful step-uncle and, theoretically, anyone who might accidentally look sideways at this Gollum's charge.
Cue the awkwardness, when the only way to defeat the wayward Gollum was to pretend-torment an already traumatized child into accidentally summoning his supernatural protector. It was uncomfortable.
Thankfully, the follow-up—where David turned on his guardian when it attacked Trubel, felling the clay giant and becoming a hero in his own right—was basically perfect, bringing the narrative full circle not only in terms of David's story, but an important part of Trubel's. She came to Nick a scared, traumatized, jaded young woman, and now she's found a trust and confidence in herself and her own heroes that enables her to pass on her knowledge to David.
MEANWHILE, IN VIENNA...
Adalind got herself accosted by the creepy faces in the walls of the tower that her creepy guide was leading her through. I'm kind of bored with yet another Adalind-running-from-the-Royals storyline, but the weeping walls were definitely terrifying.
BACK IN PORTLANDIA...
Momma Renard whipped up some of Adalind's go-go juice and MonRosalee received some solid hate mail. Apparently Liz's potion needs something from Juliette to completely bring Nick's powers back, and there's angst all over it. Whatevs. Just do it. We all know you're gonna do it.
ALL ABOARD AUNT MARIE'S BOOKMOBILE OF CRAZY
– YEAH WU, GET YOUR SLEUTH ON.
– Hey everybody! It's the Thing from Fantastic Four! Okay, not really, but the appearance is noted, right? Right.
– "I tried to proclaim a lot of things and look where it got me." I LOLed.
– What do you think the gang needs from Juliette in order to finish the potion?
What'd you think of "Dyin' on a Prayer"?
