Grimm: Highway of Tears Recap

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFlffwt0Q54]

Grimm: Highway of Tears (04×06)

Synopsis: A couple’s car crashes and one of them gets abducted. Meanwhile, Nick and Juliette have to have sex in order to get Nick’s powers back. The kicker? Juliette has to look like Adalind while they’re doing it. Awkwardness ensues.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

At the end of last week Juliette told Nick that he needed to be a grimm again. This week they revisited that topic in light of everything that had been happening. With risk at an all time peak not only for them, but for everyone associated with them, they really couldn’t afford to have Nick without his powers any longer. Juliette took one for the team and told Nick that she would be willing to take the potion and sleep with him, even if it meant she’d have to do so looking like Adalind.

I think this week was sort of ridiculous because it spent so much time on the awkward sexual tension regarding the potion. I guess in the end I’m glad they finally agreed to it because the hemming and hawing just seemed childish and impractical. Like I said last week, put a blindfold on the guy! He needed his powers back and there are worse things to do than sleeping with Juliette while she looks like Adalind. What if it had required child sacrifice, or the killing of a virgin, or virtually anything else that didn’t end in an orgasm and two generally content people? Come on.

What really got me was the semi-humorous way they attempted to portray the whole thing. From Renard’s mother saying the awkward, “we should go now,” to Trubel knocking on the door the day after as if Juliette and Nick had some sort of contagious disease everyone had to avoid, everything seemed a bit over the top. It was more of a cheesy soap opera then a serious drama and whatever attempt at humor they were trying for just felt cheap and immature to me. Maybe I’m taking it a bit too seriously, but in a perfect world I would have spun the thing differently. Or, at the very least, had someone in the group point out that it wasn’t really a big deal and the pros outweighed the cons.

The whole thing was wince worthy and I found myself making a face through the majority of it.

Anyway, when the viewers weren’t being subjected to some weird sex-centered soap opera, they got a sneak peek of the case of the week. A couple was driving through the Oregon foothills only to be passed by some jerks in a huge obnoxious truck. Unfortunately for them, the truck was actually a pair of guys looking to abduct a young couple. They drove over a spike strip like something out of a bad horror movie, crashed the car, and the young man was stolen from the vehicle while the woman was left behind due to the fact her legs were caught in the crushed car.

Across the world, Viktor finally fed Adalind food that wouldn’t send her on a terrible acid trip. In the process she told him everything he wanted to know about the baby, including giving him information about Nick’s mom. At the end of their conversation they finally came to the conclusion that Nick’s mom had the baby. If they were to find the baby, they’d have to find her first.

Back in awkward sex land, everyone comes over the morning after to see if it worked. Surprise, it didn’t. At least not at first, and everyone is awkward about that, too. I don’t know what the deal is or when the dynamics shifted but everything just felt awkward in this episode. Even Rosalee and Monroe felt awkward, and they are two of the least awkward people there are. It seemed cheapened, somehow. Oh well.

Halfway through the episode and viewers still have no idea what’s happened regarding the investigation into the car crash. Seriously, half an hour into the episode and no one had revisited the crime shown at the beginning. Before they got there, they stopped off with Renard and his momma who discussed Adalind’s witch hat, the fact his mother would soon be leaving, and Renard’s child. His mother wants her granddaughter and he had promised to deliver the baby to her once Nick’s mom makes an appearance again.

Honestly, the case of the week was probably the least productive part of the episode except for the very end which I’ll get to later. After they investigated the scene, Nick realized that the circumstances were similar to a case he’d been on six years earlier. Turned out there was a pattern and that someone had been putting out spike strips and stealing young couples for the past six years, every three years. Of course it is wesen related, as they manage to figure it out even without Nick’s powers. Apparently, they’re dealing with Phansigar who feel the need to steal young couples in order to sacrifice them to some sort of crazy lizard god.

And, go figure, they have to do it every three years in order to appease the god in question.

So while Nick investigates that, and wrestles with getting his powers back, Trubel gets into trouble. She stepped outside and realized that someone was watching her. It was one of the men running with the FBI lady who had given her a job offer. In response to the guy playing dumb about what he was doing, Trubel slashed his tires. It was beautifully done and probably my favorite part of the episode because the guy just sat there, powerless, and watched her. After all, he was a Wesen and she is a Grimm. It would be a bad idea to get on her bad side.

Things got even more complicated when Trubel managed to ditch her tail and get back into the house only to have Josh show up. You remember Josh, right? Son of a Grimm whose life is being threatened because of a key his father once owned. We know the story. Apparently he went to the only place he knew he’d have a chance at being safe. He and Trubel ate sandwiches together in what was my second favorite scene of the episode. Pretty much everything with Trubel is my favorite. I was also equally bothered and amused when Trubel and Josh had an entire discussion while their mouths were stuffed with sandwich.

Finally, back to the case. Of course the Deputy Sheriff, who had been working with Nick and the team, went to investigate a junk yard where the Phanisgar had set up shop. She ended up dumped in a hole alongside the fellow who had been taken out of the car. With them in the ground, the Phanisgar dressed up and began to complete their ritual in front of their strange giant scrap-metal lizard. Nick, Hank, and Monroe showed up but Nick started to have a physical fit of some sort so naturally Hank and Monroe both felt they had to leave him. They ended up in holes.

Nick ended up dragged over to the holes, too, but by that point his weird physical issue had been resolved. He proceeded to kick the asses of all three Phanisgar as his powers were finally restored to him and he was able to save everyone. Afterward, once the case was all cleared up, he got the chance to spread the news.

Nick is back in action and ready for whatever is about to come next. Hopefully.