The Beginning of the End Parts 1 and 2
The season finale for season five of Grimm was a two hour affair. Some have the name of part one as being Set Up but I've really only ever thought about it as being a two hour episode. Both episodes were aired back to back so I treat them as one episode even though there were separate credits for each. There were two different opening quotes as well. But we will just treat it here as a two hour episode. I will make a notation where the first episode ended for those interested. So for now let's head back to Portland and see what is going on. Since last we met, Sean Renard has become the new Mayor of Portland. At his victory speech he also has Adalind with him. Munroe and Rosalee watch on TV commenting they cannot believe she is there with him. Outside their house Munroe notices a truck parked in front of their house and he suspects they are being watched. Munroe goes outside to confront them and Rosalee orders him back into the house. As Munroe gets closer to the truck it leaves. Back inside the house Rosalee writes down the trucks license plate number and says they should have Trubel look into it.
At the Hadrian's Wall compound Nick tells Trubel and Meisner that Renard wanted him to join Black Claw as having a Grimm on their side would benefit them greatly. While questioning another member of Black Claw, Eve has gotten a name out of her. Conrad Bonaparte is the name. Meisner knows the name and tells them he is one of the founders of Black Claw. Trubel gets the license plate number from Munroe and Eve runs the number through a data base and the number comes back as belonging to members of Black Claw. Nick and Hank go to Hank's house as police officers have shown up there investigating dead bodies that have appeared at Hank's house. What's worse is a neighbor claims to have seen Hank running out of the house right after hearing gun shots. Clearly lying the woman is either Black Claw or being forced to lie by Black Claw. The police arrest Hank and Nick goes to the North Precinct where they say they are taking Hank but they never make it there.
Renard, Adalind, Diana, and Kelly all go to the Black Claw mansion where they meet Bonaparte. Renard's campaign manager, now girlfriend is also there. Adalind takes the kids upstairs leaving Renard to celebrate with Bonaparte and Rachel. Diana, realizing her father is getting chummy with Rachel makes Renard and Adalind kiss in the hallway upstairs. Adalind pushes him away and woges telling him that Diana is doing this as it's not something she wants. Renard tells her that weather she wants to be there or not she needs to get used to is as this is her life now. Adalind goes and lies down with Diana who tells her that she doesn't like Rachel. Adalind tells Diane to go to sleep. Meanwhile Rachel and Renard are in bed together but she tells him that they will have to end their relationship for the sake of his image as the new mayor. Later, Bonaparte talks to Adalind and tells her she must think of the children and stay with Renard. She tells him that she is only doing this for the sake of the children. Bonaparte woges into a Zauberbiest and takes Adalind's hand and tells her that if she is going to be stubborn she should look it and begins to turn her into stone. He turns her back and then gives her a ring and tells her not to take the ring off and if she did it would be painful. For her children. She thanks him commenting the ring is beautiful.
The two cops that arrested Hank take him to the same house the truck watching Munroe's house is registered to and knock him out. They make a call to report that they have Hank. Nick, thinking they took him to their precinct in the north of town heads there but he is met with resistance as all the cops there woge and tell him there is a new mayor in town and things are going to change. Nick goes to talk to the witness who reported Hank and finds the house a mess with signs of a struggle. Nick goes to The Spice Shop and tells Munroe and Rosalee about Black Claw having Hank. Rosalee, Munroe, Nick, and Wu all head to the police station to question Rosalee's old friend Tony (the one Adalind broke the fingers of the last time we talked) and he refuses to say anything. They introduce him to Munroe and leave the two of them alone in the room. After some crashing and grunting Munroe comes out of the room with the address of where Hank is being held. Renard arrives at the precinct and there is a stare down between him and Nick. Nick tells Wu to let him know if and when Renard leaves.
Nick goes to the Hadrian's Wall compound with the address and speaks to Meisner. Meisner says that address is Black Claw and he needs to be very careful. He asks Meisner if he can borrow Trubel and Eve. The three of them go to the house where Hank is being held. After a brief and seemingly easy battle they also find the body of Hank's neighbor. They realize this was a set up as the real fight is somewhere else. Black Claw invades the Hadrian's Wall compound. Meisner is the only one left. He manages to kill a couple of the Wesen before they leave when his phone begins to ring. Renard comes in and says they don't have to be on different sides that he could get Meisner in Black Claw even though he isn't Wesen. Bonaparte, who has now arrives as well, says that there are no exceptions. He woges and makes Meisner choke himself. Renard asks Bonaparte to stop but he tells the new mayor to stay out of it. As Meisner continues to choke he begins to bleed from his eyes and nose. Renard pulls his gun and shoots Meisner killing him. Bonaparte tells him that was very compassionate of him. Which he also says is going to be a problem.
Sometime later at the Black Claw mansion Diana hears Bonaparte telling Rachel that Hadrian's Wall is no more and that the Grimms are next. He also tells her he wants her to get closer to Adalind and Diana. Rachel goes to her room and lies down. Diana astral projects herself into the room and tells Rachel to leave them alone. Suddenly the sheets on the bed begin to wrap themselves around Rachel. Diana goes to Adalind's room and tells her she has something to show her and astral projects them both back to Rachel's room. Adalind asks her what she is doing as the sheets wrap around Rachel's head and mouth suffocating her. Diana says she won't take Daddy away anymore. Rachel dies as Adalind wakes up in her bed panting as she thinks she just dreamed it all. Nick, Hank, Trubel, and Eve make it back to HW's compound. Trubel is upset when they find Meisner's body. She asks why didn't they attack when they were all there and Nick says he thinks they are afraid of Eve. Trubel cries next to Meisner's body. Nick goes back to his precinct to confront Renard. Renard acts like he is surprised that Meisner is dead. Nick tells him a coward shot him. Nick attacks Renard. The two fight in Renard's office but the fight soon spills out to the rest of the precinct. After it is broken up Renard orders Nick to be arrested. Hank tells Wu to take it easy as they can't help Nick if they are arrested too. Nick is taken to a holding cell and locked inside. Inside the cage he sees the Black Claw insignia on the wall. The quote for this episode was "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.", which is a quote from Emiliano Zapata who was a Mexican revolutionary who would rather die fighting than live a coward. This is the end of the first part of the finale which will take us right to...
The Beginning of the End Part 2
Hank and Wu go to see Nick in his holding cell. Nick tells them to get everyone back to his place. Hank tells Wu to keep an eye on Nick as he goes to get everybody else together. Before he leaves Renard says he hopes they can continue to work together through their differences. At The Spice Shop the truck is back watching Munroe and Rosalee. Trubel shows up and tells them about the HW compound and that they got Hank out. Trubel tells them that they all need to go to Nick's place to meet Hank. Outside at the truck, Eve kills the men inside it by telekinetically making their heads explode. At the loft Hank tells everyone what has transpired at the precinct. They plan on getting Nick out that night as they don't think he will last long there. Eve tells Munroe and Rosalee to go to the shop and hide everything that they want to keep safe from Black Claw. At the shop they hide the books in the basement and take as many as the weapons as they can back to Nick's loft.
At the precinct Renard calls Bonaparte and tells him he has Nick locked up. Bonaparte is happy to hear this and he sends some Wesen police to get Nick. Back at Rachel's house Renard finds her dead body. He goes to the Black Claw mansion to tell Bonaparte he found her body. He tells Renard he doesn't think Adalind did it because she didn't even know about the two of them. Bonaparte tells Renard that he thinks Diana may have done it. Renard tells Bonaparte that Diana hasn't left the house but Bonaparte asks: "Would she need to?", as he remarks that he didn't think Diana would be this powerful this soon. Meanwhile, not knowing what is going on Adalind calls Nick and Wu answers. He gives her all the info about HW, and Nick being arrested. She wants Wu to give Nick a message for her but she isn't able to give him the message as Renard walks into her room. He tells her about Rachel and that they will have to have a conversation with Diana about killing. He asks her about the ring she has (the one Bonaparte gave her) and she says they are engaged, at least she thinks they are. Renard says then if they are engaged they need to act like it. She begins to woge as he tells her to take it easy.
Black Claw cops arrive to pick up Nick. As they are taking him out of the precinct, they call Bonaparte and tell him they have him. Wu tries to stop them but they woge into Hundjagers and push him away as two other cops take Nick away. Wu, now in control of his lycanthropy, morphs into a more primal version of himself. Wu attacks and kills both Hundjagers. Hank arrives and sees Wu in his primal state and almost shoots him but Wu morphs back in time to stop Hank. Trubel and Eve are also with Hank. Wu tells them all what happened to Nick and they all head to the north precinct. Nick is taken through the station and brought to Bonaparte who tells Nick he wants the Grimm ancestry books. Nick refuses as Bonaparte begins to telepathically choke Nick. Nick screams in pain as he wakes up in bed next to Adalind. She tells him he must have had a bad dream. He goes to check on Kelly who is crying but Kelly isn't in his crib, instead Nick sees Bonaparte leaving with his son. Nick soon realizes this is all Bonaparte playing mind games. Nick is back at the precinct and Bonaparte says for Nick to tell him where the books are or he will never see Kelly again.
Eve arrives and makes a cop tell her where Nick is. Hank, Trubel and Wu come in behind her and suddenly a shootout erupts in the precinct. Nick manages to get free, get a gun, and make his way to where Hank and Trubel are. Trubel notices Bonaparte leaving and Eve goes after him. The two of them woge and begin to fight. Bonaparte makes shards of glass fly towards Eve and she is able to dodge most of them but one catches her in the stomach. Bonaparte escapes with Trubel and Wu chasing while Hank and Nick tend to Eve. Nick removes the shard of glass and Hank tries to stop the bleeding. Nick tells Trubel to go get Rosalee and Munroe as he fears for their safety. They get to the shop and get them and some more of the weapons and leave. Nick and Hank bring Eve to the loft and while Hank tends to the bleeding Nick goes to get "the stick". At first they think the stick isn't working but soon her skin turns pale and begins to heal. Nick asks her if she is okay and she says she doesn't know. She suddenly begins to convulse as she falls to the floor screaming. Hank wonders if it has something to do with her being a Hexenbiest. Wu, Trubel, Rosalee, and Munroe all make it to the loft as Nick is picking Eve up and puts her back on the bed. After filling each other in on what happened on their two fronts, the lights in the loft begin to flicker.
At the Black Claw mansion Renard wakes up to Adalind choking and gasping for air. She tells him something isn't right, that she thinks Eve is dying. Renard and Adalind go downstairs as Bonaparte arrives. He demands she tell him where Nick lives. She resists at first but Bonaparte does his choking thing again and Renard pleads for her to tell him. She eventually does and Bonaparte tells Renard that they all die tonight. He leaves and Adalind goes to Diana and tells her she needs to get a message to Nick. She tells Diana that Nick is in trouble and needs their help. Diana agrees that she will help. Back to the flickering lights at the loft we go. Everyone sees Diana on the other side of the room and she tells them that Adalind was forced to tell where Nick lives. Diana tells them that Adalind feels bad and is sorry and then she disappears. They all begin to prepare for an attack. Diana tells Adalind she got the message to Nick and then asks what happened to Adalind's neck. It is bruised from Bonaparte choking her. She tells Diana that someone got mad at her that it was one of Daddy's friend but to not worry about that now.
At the loft, Black Claw members converge. Munroe comments that there are too many of them to fight their way through. Nick has a secret tunnel for everyone to hide in. They all begin to go into the tunnel and Nick goes to get Eve. She is confused and she asks Nick what happened to her. Nick notices she looks and sounds different. She sounds a little like Juliette and he says her name. Nick gets Eve into the tunnel and tells everyone to keep going. He closes the door to the tunnel and Trubel calls for him to get in with them. Nick takes cover in the loft and waits as Black Claw agents seem to come at him from every direction. He manages to kill everyone that he sees. Nick is shot in the back but continues to fight. He fights another Wesen who grabs a gun and shoots Nick in the chest several times. The Wesen makes a phone call and says we got him as Nick falls to the floor seemingly dead. Before the phone call even ends Nick stands back up and kills the man.
In the tunnels Eve needs a rest so Trubel stays with her. Hank and Wu look for an exit at one end of the tunnel and Rosalee and Munroe look the other way. As they are looking around Rosalee suddenly tells Munroe she is pregnant. She apologizes for this being how she has to tell him and that it is probably the last thing he wants to hear right now. He tells her it is the only thing he wants to hear right now and is very happy. Fighting back tears Munroe and Rosalee hug. Upstairs, Nick checks his chest and finds that he is completely healed. He checks on the stick that is still in his pocket as he hears Renard and Bonaparte exit the elevator. Bonaparte is surprised that Nick is still alive, he tells Nick that he underestimated him and that he should have killed him earlier, book or no book. Bonaparte woges and begins to choke Nick telekinetically again. Bonaparte got annoying really quick as this was his go to attack. He needed to mix it up because he was also getting boring too. We see Diana stab one of her dolls with a big needle as Renard shoves a sword through Bonaparte who then dies. Renard, not knowing what just happened due to not being in control of himself just stares at Bonaparte, then at Nick who is just as confused and looks at Bonaparte and Renard in disbelief.
The quote for this episode was "All the world is a will to power..." which is a quote from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche which was to represent the realization and fulfillment of one's true power closely related to one's own ego. Bonaparte thinking he held all the cards allowed Nick to get away time and time again always allowing his ego to get in the way of getting rid of Nick whenever he had the chance. Sort of like the idea of the cat who plays with his mouse just long enough for the mouse the get away. Unfortunately for Bonaparte his biggest weakness was his ego as he underestimates his opponents (Nick and Diana) and this leads to his own death at the hands of Diana.
