‘Grimm’ Review: “Once Were Gods”

With last week's revelations that Adalind's baby has been born and that Sgt. Wu has a first name (Drew) out of the way, we're hoping tonight's 'Grimm' steps up its game, though it looks more like a monster of the week episode from the outset. With Monroe and Rosalee prepping a wedding, and Nick's mom due home shortly, this could go lots of ways. Read on for all you need to know about tonight's episode "Once Were Gods."

The episode opens with the quote "You shall not become corrupt, you shall not become putrid, you shall not become worms." A contractor is breaking a wall and find a strange package, so they call in the expert Vera Gates and they find an Egyptian Jackal statue. Sgt. Wu is in a hospital and draws wesen, obviously worse for wear. Nick, Hank, Juliette, Monroe and Rosalee are at Nick's place trying to figure out if they should tell Wu what's up. Hank thinks they should let Wu know, where Monroe leads the charge that it's a bad idea. They agree to wait to see how therapy goes for Drew (still getting used to that). Two men watch professor Gates and her discovery on the news, and they plan to do something about it. So they head to the university, open the sarcophagus and say that they've got it. The two are interrupted by a security guard. Karl Herman, one of the thugs, attacks the guard but he gets off a shot and kills the other thug. Another security guard comes in and Karl shoots him.

Wu is in therapy, explaining his visions, but the doctor doesn't think it could be real if he's the only one who saw it. Nick and Hank come to visit him, and Drew puts on a good face, but after a couple of moments they're called in on a case. They head to the university and investigate the scene. Gates shows up and opens the sarcophagus and find a mummy that looks like a jackal. It turns out the thugs spray-painted the Egyptian words "I protect the dead" in the room. Back in Austria Victor meets with Sebastian, and Sebastian is busted for spying. In Portland, Nick and Hank find the name of the criminals, and consult with Renard. Nick thinks the mummy is a wesen, and may not be entirely dead, while Karl packs and apologizes for his failing but plans to finish the job that night. Back in Austria, Meisner finds Adalind's baby in the woods and brings the baby back to the cabin. But the baby is in the cabin, and Meisner is carrying wood, which the cabin needed. Then the logs catch fire spontaneously.

Nick shows Monroe pictures of the mummy, and Rosalee thinks it's possible that a wesen was mummified while transformed and says that a lot of the Egyptian gods were wesen. When Nick explains about the graffiti, Monroe and Rosalee know that it's the work of the Beati Paoli, a secret society that protect wesen antiquities. Nick, Hank and Juliette head off to the camper, while Monroe and Rosalee plan to meet their wedding planner, and question if they should inform the council. Wu has another nightmare and thinks he hears an Aswang, but it's just something bouncing against his window. Juliette finds some info on the Anubis wesens, and notes that one of Nick's ancestors filmed their adventures. The trio watch the film and find out that Egyptian leaders wanted to be buried with wesened out Anubis to get to heaven. Monroe and Rosalee are at the spice show when Alexander from the council shows up. He's there to talk to Nick.

Gates studies the cat-scan of the mummy when Nick and Hank show up, and ask Gates to secure the mummy as Karl will likely come back. She brushes them off. Nick gets a call from Monroe, who passes the phone to Alexander, who wants to meet. Renard calls Sebastian, but he's being waterboarded. Juliette comes to visit Wu and talks about her time being out of it during her "I can't remember Nick" period from last season. She tries to convince him to lose his fear of it. Nick comes to Monroe's and meets Alexander. Alexander needs Nick's help with Karl. He knows Karl went too far, and gives Nick all the information he has about what Karl's doing that night, and wants Nick to kill him. Gates goes back to her place when Karl puts a knife to her throat.

Hank comes into Monroe's house, and he and Nick take off to find Gates. She's being held by Karl, and she calls in to remove the extra security at the university. Back in Austria the Royals are heavily armed and have found the location where Sebastian dropped off Adalind. Back in the cabin, Adalind and Meisner have a little heart to heart when Mesiner gets a call from Renard, who tells him that he hasn't heard from Sebastian in days. Renard tells him to head to Zurich. Back in Portland Wu studies his drawing of the Aswang and thinks about what Juliette said. Nick and Hank enter the professor's house and find that she's been taken. Karl has taken Gates to the university, and Nick and Hank show up shortly thereafter, and find that Alexander is parked outside. Monroe and Rosalee fret about the current situation when Nick calls them to go watch Alexander. Karl gets to the coffin and transforms when Nick and Hank show up, guns out.

Nick wrestles with Karl and finally gets the upper hand, but Karl says they're not done until the mummy is destroyed. Hank puts Karl into a patrol car, while Nick talks Gates out of what she's seen. The Royal men find Adalind's cabin empty, but they can tell she's not far away. Nick and Hank go back into the university and find that Alexander has taken the mummy. Monroe and Rosalee have eyes on him, but Nick tells them to sit tight. Alexander tries to leave when Nick stops him. Nick gets in his car and tells him he's free to go, this time. Nick Hank, Alexander, Monroe and Rosalee make a pyre and burn the mummy. Wu emerges from the psychiatric hospital ready to go home, and is convinced what he saw isn't real.

Okay, so this was a monster of the week episode, but actually a pretty strong one as it got into the mythology of the wesen, and its ties to real history didn't feel too cute. That's good. Wu's issues seem resolved, and though it would be nice to see him a part of the team (just to give him more to do), it's fair to say Nick has enough help at the moment. This also integrated the show's team players well. Everyone had something to do, without anything feeling forced.

We're moving into the back half of the season, and there's been some great threads this year, though it's nice to see the Adalind thing either getting lip service, or actually moving things forward. Whether this leads to her baby being the chosen one, or a greater arc for season 4 is unknown, but that could work. Nick's superpowers seem to have fallen by the wayside, but I wouldn't be surprised if that comes back into play later in the year. Right now we're starting to build to the season's conclusion, and we could see some of those elements come back into play.

That said, tonight it was nice to see Nick and Hank just doing some crimebusting in a case that was more interesting than some of these sorts of episodes, while the denouement struck the right notes.