GRIMM — “Blood Magic” Episode 610 — Pictured: (l-r) Russell Hornsby as Hank Griffin, Reggie Lee as Sergeant Wu, David Giuntoli as Nick Burkhardt — (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
With only three episodes in its run, after tonight, Grimm (NBC, Fridays, 10/9C) weaves mythology and a tender story of love and compassion to set up the series’ no doubt cataclysmic finale.
Blood Magic opens with a Wesen murder and a confused old woman in a nursing home, follows Eve as she researches ways to step through a mirror into the world of the thing that has threatened her in previous episodes.
A nice evening out with their best friends (each other) ends badly when a woman is killed by something that slashes open her belly.
Meanwhile, an orderly in a nursing home, Mason Wilcox (Regi Davis) is attacked by the elderly woman (Josephine DeLellis) he’s been helping. When she wogues, he defends himself but to the nurse who arrives at exactly the wrong moment, it looks like he’s trying to kill a defenseless old woman.
GRIMM — “Blood Magic” Episode 610 — Pictured: Bitsie Tulloch as Eve — (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
Meanwhile, Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) picks up Adalind’s (Claire Coffee) mother’s books of magic to see if she can find a way through a mirror in hopes of taking the fight to the thing that attacked her before.
Written by Thomas Ian Griffith and directed by Janice Cooke, Blood Magic has Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Roger Hornsby) trying to find a Wesen killer while setting up Mrs. Cutler (the aforementioned elderly woman) as their target.
That goes out the window (almost literally) with the arrival of yet another Wesen – a secret Wesen that is a guardian of the Wesen community and performs a very specific service.
Further complicating things, Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz) asks Nick what the symbols Diana drew mean – and demands Nick show him the tunnel. Nick’s reply is terse (but printable).
In their search for the Wesen killer, Nick and Hank visit Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) to follow up a peculiar discovery made by the medical examiner – which leads to the revelation of a very specific Wesen, The Godfather of Death, and its very specific remit.
GRIMM — “Blood Magic” Episode 610 — Pictured: (l-r) Bree Turner as Rosalee Calvert, Silas Weir Mitchell as Monroe — (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)
Blood Magic is an episode that shows how well Grimm’s creators have merged its Wesen mythology into the real world. As in the real world, assumptions are frequently wrong – and sometimes what looks like a murderer might not be.
A previously unknown facet of Wesen culture is introduced – in a way that feels completely organic. There is a very specific reason why we haven’t heard of it before and it leads to one conclusion that is incredibly touching – especially if you’re a Monrosalee fan.
Then, to put a great big cheery on top of the ep, we get a great cliffhanger that harkens back to previous episodes in a new way.
It’s a brave choice for the show to continue to do these small, very personal arcs so far into its final season – and remarkable that the balance of the major ongoing arcs and the smaller weekly ones work so well. It’s also pretty impressive that Grimm’s final episodes are among the very best the show has produced.
Three to go…
Final Grade: A