Saturday, October 14, 2023

1/22 - Woman in Black 2/12 - Season of the Hexenbiest


 

 While there is still some month left I wanted to discuss some episodes that were the best of the best.  Today I'm going to talk about the best episodes from the first and second seasons.  So let's shine up our morning stars and jump in.  The first and second seasons while good are not my favorite of the series run.  There's a little bit of an introduction to the show that at times seems to be a bit slow.  Little by little things are uncovered and while the refreshing story concept is what kept me coming back it was only the set up for what was to come later in the show.  The first episode is actually the season finale of the first season titled "Woman in Black".

 

 

When Nick Burkhardt was about twelve years old when his father was killed in a car accident.  Little did he know that the car accident was staged in an attempt to kill his mother Kelly (special guest star Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who like him is a Grimm.  Once Kelly found out about Nick's father being murdered she decided she had to separate herself from her son if he had any hope of a normal life.  This is where Aunt Marie came into the story.  While Marie was also a Grimm, the people after Kelly were not after her.  Kelly sent Nick to live with his Aunt Marie while his mother went into hiding.  More than fifteen years after Kelly left is when the show begins.  Nick is now nearly thirty years old and he discovers the truth about his father's death.  To make matters more complicated, one of the men responsible for his father's death has come back to Portland.  Akira Kimura, the man responsible is being followed by a woman all dressed in black.

 

 

Elsewhere in Portland, Adalind Shade who has lost all of her Hexenbiest powers thanks to Nick, was working on her revenge.  She infused her cat Majick with a toxin and took the cat to the vets office where Juliette works.  While being examined, Majick scratched Juliette on the hand thereby introducing the toxin to Juliette's system.  When Nick finds out that it was Adalind's cat who scratched her, Nick suggests they got to the hospital.  Juliette disagrees with him about Adalind and the two argue after Nick tells Juliette that Adalind is a witch and to prove it and finally come clean with her he takes her to his trailer.  The trailer is where he keeps all his Grimm weapons and books on Wesen including the Grimm Diaries.  After leaving the trailer she still doesn't believe him so the next stop is Munroe's house.  Before Munroe can tell her much, she collapses and they take her to the hospital.  The doctors are not sure what is wrong with Juliette and Munroe tells Nick that the answers lie within Adalind's cat which luckily is back at the kennels in the vets office.  Munroe tells Nick that Rosalee and he will run tests on the cat to see how they can help Juliette.

 


 

Nick goes to confront Adalind and finds her home empty with nothing left in it but for a bowl of milk she had left out for her cat.  Nick returns to his home to find it trashed.  He also finds Kimura there and the two men fight.  As Nick is able to get the upper hand on his father's murderer the woman in black walks in.  The woman and Nick begin to fight.  Nick manages to pull his gun on her but is shocked when the woman calls him "Nicky".  The woman in black is Nick's mom who he had thought was dead.  Back at the hospital, Juliette wakes up but with her eyes now completely black.  End of episode.  At the beginning of each episode there is a sort of vanity card that contains a quote concerning the episode we are about to see.  For this episode the quote read: "It shall not be death, but a sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall.", which is a quote from Briar Rose whose story Sleeping Beauty is taken from.  Juliette is positioned as this stories Sleeping Beauty.  A good cliff hanger for a season that was a fairly decent first season but would prove to be only average by what was to come in seasons 3 and 4. 

 

 

The next episode I want to talk about is from season 2, the twelfth episode of the season titled "Season of the Hexenbiest".  In this episode Munroe makes a startling discovery when he finds out that Juliette has been having a secret relationship, one that seems neither party involved seems to have control of their desires for one another.  See, earlier when Juliette woke up with the black eyes she was still under Adalind's spell and only a kiss could truly wake up Juliette.  Renard went through a ritual to become the one who could wake Juliette but when she woke up, the two were hopelessly attracted to each other and could not hold back from their feelings.  Juliette sees Munroe seeing her and Renard kissing in The Spice Shop and runs out. 
   


Meanwhile, Adalind's mother has recently turned up murdered earlier in season 2 and with her being another Hexenbiest no easy task.  Adalind has come back to town looking for answers.  She questions Hank about her mother and when she is not satisfied by his answers she has his beaten up by a couple of Hundjägers.  Nick goes to see Hank in the hospital and Hank tells him about Adalind's visit.  Juliette, not knowing just how dangerous Adalind is as she still has no memory prior to waking up in the hospital at the end of season 1, is the next stop for Adalind.  The two talk and decide to get a cup of coffee together.  Nick calls Juliette and he asks her to put Adalind on the phone.  While they are talking the police arrive and arrest Adalind for the murder of her own mother even though she was in Europe when she was killed.  Adalind would actually rather be in jail as it makes it more difficult for anyone to come after her as Renard is also angry with Adalind.

 

Adalind's true reason for coming back to town is for a secret key she is working with Renard's royal family as well as an organization called the Verrat to find.  The Verrat is a secretive Wesen group who has worked closely with the Royal Family since the end of WWII.  Adalind tells Renard about the key as well as informing him of who she is now working with.  Renard tells her he doesn't know anything about a key but Adalind knows, thanks to Juliette that the key might be in Nick's trailer.  Adalind sends Renard off to look for the trailer. 

 


 

Back at home Juliette tells Nick she has been having feelings for another man but has not acted on them yet.  He decides to move out of their home and moves in with Munroe.  As Nick is moving his things into Munroe's house, Munroe calls Nick to the TV as the man that he saw Juliette kissing in The Spice Shop is making a speech.  On the TV screen is Nick's boss, Captain Renard.  The episode ends with Renard finding Nick's trailer where the key Adalind is looking for may be hidden.  The quote shown at the beginning of the episode is: "Oh! There is a terrible witch in that house who spewed her poison over me and scratched me with her long fingernails." which is taken from The Bremen Town Musicians who appear in Grimm Fairy Tales.  The quote refers to Adalind as being the terrible witch who has returned to town for this episode.  The episode comically ends with "To Be Continued ... Sorry!", across the screen as this episode was the mid-season finale and the viewers would have to wait four months for more episodes.  I'll be back tomorrow with two more episodes.        
 
 


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