Grimm Round Table: Hauntings and Witches, Oh My!

at .

It's time to take a deep breath and slow things down; Grimm Season 4 Episode 11 was a definite change of pace from the previous frenetic installments of this NBC drama..

Join TV Fanatic Round Table panelists Allison Nichols, Douglas Wolfe, Robin Harry and Kathleen Wiedel as they delve into some of the burning questions surrounding "Death Do Us Part" - and be sure to share your own thoughts in the comments section below!

Unlike the last few episodes, "Death Do Us Part" returned to a more "Wesen of the Week" format. What did you think of the case and the featured Wesen?

Allison: It was fun. I liked the ghost aspect of it all. It was interesting that the Wesen of the week wasn't really the focus. There were the ghost hunters and then complicated love triangle, and then oh, yeah, the killer is this Wesen and who can burn people. Most of the time it seems like Nick and Hank track down the Wesen partially based on the crime scene, and so this was a different way to get to the same result. Plus, Nick had to pierce his ear which was just amusing.

Doug: I liked it. I mean, it was back to the old formula, but still retained enough of an ongoing character arc with Juliette to keep it interesting. I’d say the most interesting aspect of the case of the week was the fact that it was filmed and uploaded to the internet. Though everyone laughed and thought it would go nowhere because, as Renard said, “No one believes in ghosts” – there’s no telling what the writers can do with it.

Robin: I think it's a shame that one of the most powerful Wesen we've seen so far had such a terrible case. This guy was a walking power plant, virtually unstoppable and literally untouchable in his Wesen form, and the best they gave him was psychotic jilted husband. Disappointing.

Kathleen: I'm with Robin - I was exceedingly disappointed in this case. One of Grimm's strengths is its ability to make the viewers connect on a human level with seemingly –monstrous characters, but I felt little sympathy for Stetson Donovan, despite the fact that he was cuckolded and tragically delusional. It seemed like the writers took easy, cheap short-cuts that really made no sense when looked at closely.

Captain Renard has put Juliette in contact with one of his mother's friends, a woman named Henrietta. While we haven't seen much of Henrietta yet, what are your thoughts on her?

Allison: She has some crazy powers. I mean she can cause words and numbers to jumble up even when she isn't necessarily aware that they are being written down. I'm intrigued by her.

Doug: I’m curious enough about her to want to know more. All we know about her is the word jumble ability so it’s hard to have an opinion of her just yet.

Robin: She bothers me already and we've barely even seen her. She's obviously powerful, but there's must be something shady about a person that requires that much secrecy and cloaking. This can't possibly end well.

Kathleen: Henrietta certainly seems formidable, doesn't she? If she's as powerful as she appears, I'm not surprised Renard's mother came to Portland all those years ago. I'm very curious to see how she handles Juliette and her problems!

Do you agree with Juliette not telling Nick about her Hexenbiest transformation?

Allison: I can understand that she wants to figure things out on her own and not burden Nick with something else to worry about. However, the nightmares of him killing her are a little ridiculous. Seeing as how they are friends with numerous Wesen, it just felt strange. Now, if she had a dream where she accidentally murdered him or something, that would have made more sense.

Doug: No, I don’t agree with her keeping the news from Nick. She should know by now that Nick removed Adalind’s powers – why wouldn’t she trust him to do the same for her? It doesn’t make sense.

Robin: No. I understand the multitude of reasons why she would be afraid to, but having Nick in the dark – and thus unprepared for the obvious onslaught of trouble this is going to bring – is not a good idea. She should trust him enough to be honest with him.

Kathleen: Juliette really is in a bit of a bind, isn't she? It's not like most of their previous experiences with Hexenbiests have been very positive. Plus, the fact that she's periodically transforming into a rotting corpse has got to be very unsettling. As Robin pointed out, she has many reasons not to tell Nick, but I simply can't seeing anything good resulting from keeping it secret, either. He's going to find out, sooner or later, and she'd be much better off trusting him in spite of her fears.

What, if anything, didn't work for you in this episode?

Allison: The love triangle was a bit hard to follow, seeing as how we didn't really have any faces to match the names. The first couple flashback/hallucination scenes were confusing. It isn't until the very end when Lilly is dancing with him that things start to click into place.

Doug: I agree with Alison and found that whole relationship deal hard to follow too.

Robin: I was not a fan of the case of the week. Like everyone else, I thought the love triangle was weird, the ghost hunters going back to the house was unnecessary and annoying, and I thought that species of Wesen deserved a better story.

Kathleen: I found the entire case of the week a mess – to narrow it down to one item, though, I'd have to say that I found it beyond belief that they didn't arrest Lily Hinkley for murdering Stetson Donovan at the end. As I mentioned in my review of this episode, she clearly went to the house with the intent to kill him (even knowing that there was already a Grimm working the case). This was a clear case of premeditated murder, and they all but shook her hand and thanked her for killing Stetson so they didn't have to figure out a way to lock him up! Cheap cop-out, at best.

Any particular quote or scene stand out?

Allison: I loved the scene where Nick tells Lily that he is a Grimm, and Wu and Hank are in the background. Wu tries to figure out if the girl is Wesen, and Hank shares what he has learned: "When they get all freaked out and try to get away, that’s usually what it means.”

Doug: I liked it when Nick invited Wu to join them, Wu said, “I’m in.” That seems to be his go-to phrase for anything involved Wesen.

Robin: Besides Renard being shirtless? I love that scene in the precinct when Wu immediately recalled reading about the Wesen that they were dealing with – especially since he'd only been on the team for a couple days at that point! He's proving to be an asset very quickly, and I love that he's finding a niche.

Kathleen: Heh, I loved Shirtless Renard, too, but I also feel compelled to mention the funny exchange in the trailer when Nick and Hank told Wu about Adalind's cookie.

Grimm Season 4 Episode 12 "Maréchaussée," airs February 6 at 9 p.m. on NBC, so be sure to tune in! You can catch up with previous episodes when you watch Grimm online here at TV Fanatic.

Show Comments
Tags: ,

Grimm Season 4 Episode 11 Quotes

You call this a side effect?!

Juliette

Juliette: Did I do that? I didn't do that. Did I?
Renard: I believe you did.