GRIMM — “Lost Boys” Episode 503 — Pictured: (l-r) Bree Turner as Rosalee Calvert, Emma Rose Maloney as Lily, Julio Cesar Chavez as Miguel, Eric Osovsky as Big John, Mason Cook as Peter — (Photo by: Scott Green/NBC)
Grimm (NBC, Fridays, 9/8C) has kicked off its third season with a threat that looks to be darker and more dangerous than anything Grimm Nick Burkhardt has ever faced before, but this week’s episode is pretty much a standalone with only one really disturbing moment building that arc.
The rest of the ep is (mostly) a unique take on Peter Pan and the Lost Boys – a very Grimm take, indeed.
Lost Boys opens with Nick (David Giuntoli), Adalind (Claire Coffee) and Kelly leaving Nick’s old house (a SOLD sign is planted outside) and moving into a much safer – and more isolated home in an old warehouse. ‘So kid-friendly,’ murmurs Adalind as Nick leads the way inside.
Meanwhile, Rosalee (Bree Turner) and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchel) are reminiscing about Juliette – the old Juliette, not the one who tries to kill Nick before Monroe heads off to work.
On another front, a terrified, barefoot woman runs from a pack of boys, but trips and hits her head against a fallen branch and kills herself. The three boys following her are Wesen. When they return to their makeshift home in the woods, Peter gives an ailing girl, Lily (Emma Rose Maloney), a hot drink to help her with a bad cough.
Then, two of the boys – Peter (Mason Cook) and Big John (Eric Osovsky) – set off to get her some medicine… which brings them to Rosalee’s shop. While Big John creates a distraction, Peter steals some medicine for Lily – but Rosalee catches him. When he explains why he needs it, she lets him go.
On yet another front, Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz) gets a visit from a member of the resistance we’ve seen before, Meisner (Damien Puckler), who brings news.
Then the Lost Boys return and kidnap Rosalee – while she’s on the phone with Monroe.
Lost Boys was written by Sean Calder and directed by Aaron Lipstadt and they’ve created an episode that is unusual in that it doesn’t revolve a weird murder or some arcane Wesen lore.
Instead, we have a tale of kids who have taken themselves out of the system and are trying to survive on their own. They know they’re different but don’t know why or how. All they know is that they need a mother – even if they have to steal one. Even if they have to break up another family to do it.
The family theme continues in the Meisner/Renard sequence as well, if in a different way. And Nick, Adalind and Kelly are becoming a unique kind of family, too. In fact, it’s in the use of the family as the ep’s main theme that we get the tiniest, creepiest addition to the building season arc.
The last scene is a chiller.
Lost Boys is another example of how Grimm can tell many different kinds of stories through its use of fantasy/horror tropes.
Final Grade: B+