Wednesday, January 22, 2014

'Grimm' GifTweetCap: Monroe Meets the Fuchsbau-Parent

Grimm "goes there" with "The Good Soldier," an episode about rape in the military. It's a bit of a downer for a show that is normally entertaining for its combination of humor and farcical horror. Still, the creature-of-the-week this episode fits the bill perfectly, and the story has some depth that makes it special in the Grimm universe.

The episode opens with Frankie Gonzales (Emily Rios), who seems to be a crazy woman, cutting into her own arms. She then walks into a bar, and begins harassing a man named Ron Hurd (played by "Fringie" -- as in, from Fringe -- Kirk Acevedo, YAY!), wanting him to admit an injustice he committed against her.
Ron refuses, but she returns later, at his home. He throws her off his property as she screams that she'll never go away. When he looks back, she's gone. Back in the house, he can hear someone creeping around. It's just your average giant lion-scorpion creature, waiting to send a giant stinger into Ron's heart.
Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) look into it, and find a bloody napkin in the dumpster at the bar. Frankie had shown it to Ron after wiping her bloodied arm with it, but it appears to form some sort of code or message.
Nick and Hank begin looking into Jim McCabe (Gonzalo Menendez) and Troy Dodge (Todd Robinson), two other men who were connected with Ron through military service in Iraq. A fourth buddy has already been killed the week before, and the remaining men are in close communication. Frankie seems to have it out for all of them. Eventually, it is revealed that the men gang-raped her while they were serving in Iraq.
Troy decides to write up a confession, but his wife Betsy (Amy Newman) will have none of that. She tears it up and asks him to burn it, but she is killed before he has a chance to light the fire. Before he can call for help, he's a goner too.
Hank and Nick speak via video chat with the colonel (Dennis Adkins) in charge of Frankie and the men in Iraq. He feels guilty for being part of the cover-up of the rape, which happened on 11/11/10. That date also matches the shape of the cuts on her arm. Further research shows that the killer beast is a Manticore, and they believe Frankie to be the killer.
McCabe, the last (and most arrogant) of the rapists, goes about his business, but Frankie won't let him get off that easily. She slaps her arm, with the 11/11/10 markings, against his car window. Just as he is about to pull out a gun, Nick and Hank show up to arrest her.
Nick realizes that Frankie is not the culprit when she transforms into a Steinadler (hawk-like Wesen) while in custody. When he says he was expecting a Manticore, Gonzales brings up the colonel. They have her call him to meet, but he confesses right away.
The colonel soon meets with McCabe at the bar, where he knows the cops will be showing up. It turns out that McCabe killed Troy and Betsy specifically because Troy was going to confess. The colonel only killed the first two men, as his way of making amends for the cover-up. Guess what that means? They are both Manticores! Time for an epic Manticore battle...
The colonel purposely puts himself in a position to be stabbed to death just as the cops walk in. That means that, even though they can't put McCabe away for the rape, he will be going to prison for murder. The colonel was sick and only had three months to live anyway, so he gave his life getting justice for Frankie.
Meanwhile, Rosalee (Bree Turner) had not visited her mother Gloria (Bryar Freed-Golden) for seven years, but receives a letter to visit for the anniversary of her father's death. Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) convinces her to go, and suggests he go with her to meet her mother and sister DeEtta (Laura Faye Smith) for the first time. Rosalee is extremely reluctant, but she finally agrees. After sitting in the car for a long time after a very long drive, Monroe finally convinces her to walk up to the door... which she does in a highly determined fashion, as if in battle.
When she reaches the door, she hesitates. Monroe gives her some support.
When the door opens, it's clear why Rosalee didn't want to go home: DeEtta gives some awesome bitchface. Gloria seems fine, however: she gives some lovely sweetface.
During dinner, DeEtta insults Monroe with a comment about Blutbaden not being detail-oriented enough to work on clocks, then antagonizes Rosalee for not showing up to their father's funeral. DeEtta tells Rosalee that she should at least apologize, but this sets Rosalee off, and she finally explains that she missed the funeral because she was in jail. She has been more sorry than they could ever imagine, but she didn't know how to fix it.
Each episode contains the episode number in some way, and this one is somewhat special for me, personally. When Rosalee storms out of the house, the number is clearly visible: 311, which is also the name of a band I used to obsess over in college.

Monroe gives Rosalee some moral support, explaining that this is just one of those things that happens in families. He then wonders what she stole, and is a bit overly excited to learn that it was a watch.
Later, DeEtta threatens to kill Monroe if he ever breaks Rosalee's heart. Now that she knows the truth, she has become a good sister!
In the meantime, Adalind (Claire Coffee) looks as if she's ready to burst. But the kicking baby has a very pleasing side-effect: telekinetic ability!
If a Hexenbiest baby kick was cool, then a contraction must be awesome! Ummm... maybe not. Her abilities get a bit out of hand when a contraction leads to a bit of mayhem. Just think what will happen when the Biest-baby finally pops out!
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