Grimm Season 4 Episode 6 Review: Highway of Tears
Kathleen Wiedel
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It seemed like it'd been forever since Adalind stripped Nick of his Grimm abilities, but in Grimm Season 4 Episode 6, Nick and Juliette struck back (and apparently had a lot of fun doing it)! Portland has two Grimms again (two and a half, if you count Josh)!
While the villains of the week weren't necessarily the most compelling or well-developed characters out there (the excellent Erick Avari in particular seemed underutilized), it was still immensely satisfying when Nick made his triumphant return to form by definitively trouncing the three Phansigars.
I enjoyed the gradual return of Nick's abilities, from his super-hearing (acquired in Grimm Season 2 Episode 15) to his zombification (Grimm Season 3 Episode 1), to finally the most basic Grimm ability of all. There was that look on Nick's face when he saw the Phansigars woge and he realized that he was back. David Giuntoli has been putting in excellent performances this season, and this week was no exception.
Special recognition also goes to Claire Coffee, who was pitch-perfect playing Juliette-as-Adalind; the initial awkwardness followed by the fun times was so well played that I was laughing out loud:
This is your one and only chance to have an affair with my blessing!
Juliette
Plus, there was that hilarious scene with Monroe and Rosalee drinking as they tried their best not to contemplate Nick and Juliette-as-Adalind sleeping together.
Josh, the son of the Grimm who gave Nick his Key, later arrived at Nick's house (having nowhere else to go) and ran into Trubel - are they setting up for the two of them to take off together when we hit the winter hiatus? Poor Josh can't be left on his own, after all, being chased around by Hundjager. If they leave together, it would allow Josh to escape and be protected from the Hundjager, and Trubel could avoid the attentions of Agent Chavez and her cronies. Anyway, it's a thought.
It also appeared that Kelly Burkhardt better look out, because both Elizabeth and Viktor will be coming for her (or, more specifically, the baby). Personally, I am rooting for an epic Kelly-Elizabeth team-up to kick Viktor all the way back to Vienna (and then some!). Elizabeth has probably been the best new character this season. The major female characters on Grimm have been hit or miss, but Elizabeth is, without reservation, an absolute hit.
This brings me to Juliette. Over the years, she has been a source of ongoing frustration for fans, but this episode made me want to forgive almost every complaint I ever made against her. This was the Juliette I'd been hoping to see all along, the one who calmly picked up extra ammo before going to hang out with Rosalee and Trubel at the spice shop. I really, really want her to give Adalind a good right cross when they see each other again!
[about Adalind] I just gotta say, that woman is such a bitch!
Juliette
Speaking of Adalind- oh, wait! Meisner! That little name-check at the beginning of the episode gave me a brief little hope for Adalind's plotline, but it all seemed dashed shortly thereafter. I rolled my eyes that it took Viktor (Viktor!) for Adalind to realize that Kelly had the baby all along. Of course, by that point Adalind had given Viktor every valuable piece of information in her possession. At this point, Adalind has devolved to the status of infodump. What a fall from the conniving witch of the past seasons!
Going off on a momentary tangent, I wonder if they were setting up Deputy Farris as a potential love interest for Hank. The two of them certainly seemed to be making goo-goo eyes at each other periodically throughout the episode. Subtle, guys, very subtle!
Despite some minor flaws, I had a lot of fun with "Highway of Tears" and found it a satisfying conclusion to Nick's frustrating de-Grimming troubles. Sasha Roiz's Captain Renard summed up my feelings perfectly at the end of the episode -
[to Nick] It's good to have you back.
Renard
What do you think, Grimmsters? Are you satisfied with the way Nick got his powers back? Do you want Trubel to take off with Josh? Is Hank overdue for a non-homicidal love interest? Let us know in the comments below!
Remember, you can relive all the drama right here at TV Fanatic when you watch Grimm online!
