‘My head hurts.’
For anyone who’s never seen an
episode of Grimm before and decided to tune in last week, Season 2’s
‘Face Off’ would have probably teased that very line from your
lips. This is a big reason that I felt that this episode needed to
play after ‘Season of the Hexenbiest’ all the way back in
November.
All throughout the episode there is a
lot of continuity porn; though it’s nice to know that there aren’t
many major plot elements that have been forgotten along the way, it’s
not going to make any sense for a new viewer.
If you’re watching for the first
time, go back and watch at least the previous episode before you
watch this one: you’ll thank me when things make a bit more sense.
You might now be asking ‘then who is
it for?’ If it’s for anyone, it would be the fans that waited
over three months for some sweet resolution.
After wondering how much longer this
arc was going to be stretched out, this episode is refreshing to say
the least.
Where we left off, it was starting to
look like Nick was going to have an adrenaline-spiked run in with his
captain complete with some Grimm action. Captain Renard had also
found out about the trailer and was just about to go inside to search
for the key.
There’s some bad news for Renard and
Juliette fans: the spell has spiralled out of control to the point
where it’s likely that one is going to kill the other. The race to
cure the two of them is more important than ever and after much
brooding from Nick we’re finally on our way to the end of this sub
plot. It’s a two-step process though, so you might get a little
more sexual tension squeezed out of the two them anyway.
Speaking of brooding, it’s
interesting to see Renard dropping his guard as much as he has over
the course of the season. He is an unhinged, snarling beast for a
decent portion of the episode. Don’t believe me? Watch how he deals
with Adalind. When was the last time we saw her that scared? When was
the last time we saw him act like that? His interactions (as well as
the lack of) with Nick in this episode is also very interesting
compared to his more restrained and professional demeanour in earlier
episodes.
Beyond this happy little love triangle
we have the return of Rosalee; given how crazy things have been
getting in terms of the shop’s clients, it’s great to see her
back behind the counter and (finally) concocting a cure for the
Captain and Nick’s fiancé.
Concocting a cure and helping Monroe
infuse some humour into the episode. It’s nice to see amongst all
the dark clouds there’s still some lighter parts to ‘Face Off’.
While the episode
isn’t the best starting point in the series and would be alien to
even regular viewers who forgot what happened last year, it’s a
fantastic episode. Even though the sub plot is still winding down,
all the relevations we’ve been granted and all the great moments
littered throughout the episode are enough to leave most fans
satisfied…I know I was anyway.
Review by Greta Rehak
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