Grimm Season 4 Episode 4 Review: Dyin' On a Prayer
Kathleen Wiedel
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Let's start off by saying Elizabeth is awesome. Louise Lombard knocks it out of the park every time she appears on screen, and Grimm Season 4 Episode 4 is no different.
The episode opened with Elizabeth putting her Hexen skills to work to come up with a cure for Adalind's de-Grimming curse on Nick. When a brick came rudely flying through the spice shop window, Elizabeth pointedly reminded Monroe and Rosalee to not get distracted from the task at hand with this Grimm quote:
If you're interested in your friend ever being a Grimm again, let's board up the window and get back to work.
Elizabeth Lascelles
But Elizabeth's best moment yet came near the end of the episode, when Monroe and Rosalee returned and found Adalind in the shop! Rosalee looked suitably amazed (and Monroe a bit freaked) when she worked out that "Adalind" was actually Elizabeth, and Elizabeth offered up this gem that had me in absolute stitches:
I hope you don't mind me borrowing your shirt. I just got a little sluttier as Adalind! ...Is that a terrible thing to say about the mother of my granddaughter?
Elizabeth Lascelles
The case of the week revolved around the story of the golem, a creature out of Jewish folklore. I'm somewhat familiar with the Prague story that Ben (the rabbi brother) told Nick and Hank at the synagogue, and I'm fairly impressed with the general accuracy of the lore in this episode. I hadn't expected Grimm's interpretation to be nearly so faithful! Obviously, they did take some liberties, but it was well done nonetheless! Plus, we get to add to our list of "Not Wesen" supernatural creatures, which also included La Llorona and Vulcanalis, as Hank mentioned.
While there was no real mystery to be had here (we saw Ben conjure the golem, after all), the writers still managed to make the case of the week pretty interesting thanks to the lore. Last week on Grimm Season 4 Episode 3, the case was the weakest part of the episode, but that's not the case this time.
Poor Ben had no clue that his golem-prayer would actually work. (Personally, I think having that sort of doubt when praying for divine intervention would rather make the whole thing not work - on the other hand, I know next to nothing about Kabbalah.) And the golem was only out to protect young David. These made a nice change from the usual criminals that Nick and Hank go after!
I'm very glad that Trubel told Nick about her encounter with Agent Chavez last week. After all, how many times have we seen the "go it alone" strategy blow up in everyone's faces?
And speaking of telling people things, Wu confided his suspicions about Trubel to Captain Renard! If I remember correctly, Nick never told Renard that Trubel was a Grimm. Boy, oh boy, Nick, you'll have some 'splainin' to do when you get back to the precinct! I doubt that Renard will do anything with this new (and very valuable) knowledge, but he will probably be upset that Nick didn't tell him. And we the viewers will doubtless get to be the fly on the wall for that conversation!
Monroe and Rosalee continued to charm, though it's clear that they're going to face some stiff opposition from certain Wesen factions that, ah, disapprove of interracial Wesen marriages. (Would those two clowns have thrown that brick through the window if they knew a Hexenbiest like Elizabeth was inside?)
Monroe tried to lighten the mood and starts a rambling history lesson about royal foresters, but Rosalee threw a bucket of cold water on that:
Royal foresters did not throw a brick through our window, Monroe!
Rosalee
This touched something deeply serious, a less-than-savory part of our history whose specters haunt us today. The Wesen who threw the brick were hiding behind masks, which brought to mind certain other hate-based, mask-wearing racist organizations.
Adalind, meanwhile, continued to drive me utterly bonkers. This time she was distracted by weeping wall-faces (how weird is that to say?) who said they know where her baby was. Whenever she does stuff like this, I want to throw my remote through the television and yell at her to get a grip. Again, this is no dig at Claire Coffee, who was pretty darned funny playing Elizabeth-as-Adalind. But if we're supposed to respect this character, they have to give me more than a woman so easily manipulated that she'd do anything for anyone who claimed to know about her baby. I'm getting more frustrated with her character by the episode!
What do you think, Grimmsters? Did you enjoy delving into Jewish folklore for this episode? What other non-Wesen beings would you like to see on Grimm? Will Adalind ever get out of Prince Viktor's castle? Will Nick finally get his powers back next week? Hit the keyboards and share your thoughts in the comments below!
Remember, you can always watch Grimm online right here at TV Fanatic!
