Monday, April 25, 2016

Grimm 5x18 Review: “Good to the Bone” (Honor Thy Parents) [Contributor: Alisa Williams]


“Good to the Bone”
Original Airdate: April 22, 2016

“The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”

Are all the Grimm subplots finally coming to an end? Or are we just adding new ones? Let’s find out as we review this week’s Grimm!

THE CASE


A new Wesen is in town, and he’s removing the bones from his victims. Ouch. A drunk driver crashes his car and then wanders into a bad part of town, dazed and asking for help. He doesn’t find help, but he does find a guy who drags him out to the middle of the road, runs him over a few times, and then woges into a vulture-looking Wesen before sucking out his bones.

I have to hand it to this guy, because he’s certainly the most polite evil Wesen we’ve come across. He apologizes profusely before killing the victim — which is something, I guess. Turns out the killer’s name is Charlie, and he’s only killing to feed his parents. They are both house-bound and old and frail and need him to regurgitate the liquefied bones he’s sucking out of his victims and feed it to them. I’m all for taking care of your parents in their old age, but this is taking things a bit far.

When Hank and Nick investigate, they discover that these boneless bodies have been cropping up in several counties across Oregon. When another murder happens in Portland, this time it’s one of Hank’s snitches and they turn to Rosalee and Monroe for help. They explain that it’s most likely a Barbatus Ossifrage, a vulture Wesen that only kills people who are on the verge of dying already.

The team decides to lay a trap for the Barbatus Ossifrage. Rosalee explains that only a body that smells of imminent death will do. Fortunately, Rosalee can whip together a lovely perfume that does the trick. Monroe is voted to be the bait. Poor Monroe. He always gets stuck with the worst jobs.

The plan seems to work at first. They douse Monroe in the death perfume and stick him in the park near where the other bodies were taken. But just as Charlie the Barbatus Ossifrage approaches, he catches a whiff of someone else — Wu. Wu has just managed to trip and crack his skull (more on that later), and apparently he smells closer to death than Monroe’s perfume does. While Hank and Nick try to figure out what happened and where Charlie ran off to, Charlie is busy dragging Wu away to kill him.

Lucky for Wu, Charlie is having a crisis of conscious. As he drags Wu, he talks to himself, complaining about the burden his parents have put on him, and that they’re ruining his life. This angst-ridden monologue gives Hank and Nick enough time to reach them in time. Charlie tries to run away from them but manages to run right in front of a passing vehicle instead. That seems like fair justice for someone who repeatedly ran over his victims before sucking their bones out.

Nick and Hank track down Charlie’s parents and take them to the morgue to identify his body. They confirm it’s him and then as soon as Nick and Hank leave to give them a moment alone, they proceed to suck out Charlie’s bones and eat them. That’s family for you, eh? Did I mention this episode was really gross?


THE SUBPLOTS


If you were hoping this week might see the end of some subplots, then you’re going to be rather disappointed. Instead, Grimm decided the only proper thing to do would be to introduce a few more storylines into the mix. You remember Hank’s physical therapist, Zuri, whom he really liked? Yeah, I’d forgotten about her, too. Which means now must be a great time to re-introduce her! She runs into Hank at the grocery store and immediately asks him out. He’s less than thrilled at the prospect. After all, she did shoot him down before and told him a human-Wesen relationship wouldn’t work, even though it was clear they really liked each other and he had just helped save her brother’s life. Apparently she’s had a change of heart. Even though Hank is hesitant, she’s insistent and pretty and well, has Hank really dated anyone since Adalind (which was about three years ago)? Nope. So, he agrees to come over the next night and she’ll cook him dinner.

More signs of Wu’s imminent werewolf-ness are occurring. As he brushes his teeth in the morning, he begins choking and manages to cough up a chunk of hair and blood. Gross. Then, while he’s at work, his hand suddenly becomes hairy and clawed and he falls to the ground. Nick and Hank rush to his aid but his hand has already returned to normal and they don’t notice a thing. He shrugs off the fall as low blood sugar and waves them away. Later, they’re working the case and a stray dog tips over some trash cans next to Wu, then begins growling at him. Wu woges (!!!) and chases after the dog. Before he can catch it, he trips and falls, cracks his head, passes out, returns to normal, and is kidnapped by Charlie.

Adalind finally comes clean to Nick. ... About some things, anyway. She doesn’t tell him she’s a Hexenbiest again, but she does mention her meeting with Renard and her suspicions that he’s going to use Diana to blackmail her into something. Nick tells her about Renard’s ties to Black Claw and tells her to be careful and let him know if Renard approaches her again. She doesn’t have long to wait because he calls the next morning asking her to meet him that night. When she arrives at the designated spot, Renard’s men sneak up on her and drug her. Apparently this was necessary so he could take her to the location where Diana is. When she wakes up, Diana is there and they’re reunited — finally! Diana tells her how much she has missed her, but um, Diana was like, ten months old when she was taken, so... good memory?

I’m glad we’re making some sort of headway with these subplots, but adding the new-old love interest for Hank? Unless Zuri turns out to be one of the leaders of Black Claw, then can’t we just wait until next season to get Hank a girlfriend? Goodness knows he’s waited long enough — a few more episodes wouldn’t kill him.

Bonus Musings:
  • “Well, this guy got boned.” Too easy, Nick. Way to go for the low-hanging fruit. 
  • “This is not the first flat body on the books.” “That’s sort of depressing.”
  • “When I saw you in the frozen foods section, I thought, ‘well, he needs someone to cook him a decent meal.’”

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