‘Grimm’ Review: “Revelation”

After an Olympics-inspired break, 'Grimm' returns to pick up where it left off. Will Monroe and Rosalee be able to convince his parents that they're perfect together? Will Nick and Hank be able to catch the latest Wesen serial killer? Will this turn into a three or four-parter? Read on for our in-depth review of tonight's episode of 'Grimm,' "Revelation."

The episode picks up right where it left off with Monroe's parents confronting Nick and freaking out. They're upset with Monroe's friendship with a Grimm and storm out, while Rosalee goes to the spice shop to cry. The killer goes out in the woods and eats something.... human.

Back in Vienna, Adalind is being watched by the Royal Victor, who checks in with Adalind's midwife Stefania, which Sean Renard is alerted about. Renard wants his contact to meet with Adalind right away. Hank and Wu come in and show Sean footage of the killer, the first they've gotten. Rosalee is sleeping in the shop when Monroe comes in. He apologizes, and she says they need to talk. She doesn't want to ruin his relationship with his parents, but he won't hear it. He also reveals that Nick came over, so he's screwed anyway. A park ranger finds a fire and wonders if anyone's around. He then finds the killer's stolen truck and his trophies, which he calls in and back up is on the way when the killer shows up, but it turns out he has a partner.

Monroe and Rosalee are in the spice shop sleeping, when Monroe wakes up and feels bad that they're not home in their own bed. Monroe gets up to plotting to confront his parents, and sets up a meeting. Nick and Juliette confer in the kitchen as she's been doing research on the berserkers, and she warns Nick to be careful because this killer might target him. Nick is then called away about another body. Monroe comes to see his parents at their hotel room. It gets heated, and Monroe gives them an ultimatum that they can either accept him or write him off. Back in Vienna, Adalind gets a phone call from Sean, who tells her that Victor is going to kidnap her, and Sean thinks the child is his. There's a knock on the door, and it's Sean's men. They tell her to leave quickly, and there are already Victor's men there. One of Renard's men gets into bed with a gun, and tells Adalind to tell the visitors she's not alone.

Adalind opens the door and finds Victor's men there. They come in and after a standoff, Sean's man shoots one while Adalind is able to use her witchy powers to shoot a pen into the other man's eye, though Adalind's not sure she's the one who did that. Nick and Hank show up at the latest kill site, and the gang realize there's more than one killer. Adalind drives with Renard's men, who are part of the resistance, and they take her to the middle of nowhere and drop her off with one of Sean's men so there will be no trail to follow.  Back in the spice shop, Juliette comes in to talk with Rosalee. Juliette offers a shoulder to beat on, and brings up the killer. Monroe comes in and they talk about the killer, who Monroe can tell is exceedingly dangerous. At the precinct they find the owner of the second vehicle, but it's not likely to be the second killer. Monroe calls Nick and tells them they have to meet alone, as it's too dangerous for anyone else. Adalind makes her way through the forest and they find a cabin in the woods. Monroe's parents fight as his mom Alice wants to make amends, but the father won't have it. Victor stews and brings in Stefania, who he blames, but she makes a case that it's someone else due to the fact that she showed up. Alice goes to the spice shop, looking to explain herself and somewhat apologize. She says she believes in wesen traditions, which is why she thinks the marriage won't work. Alice proposes a Wesen ritual, and the two rubs their wesen faces together.

Monroe goes home and finds his father at his front door. His father doesn't want to leave without his wife, and he doesn't know where Alice is. Monroe brushes him off. The two bicker, especially about Nick. Monroe explains his friendship with a Grimm and that Nick is different. Nick shows up and Monroe's dad leaves, goes outside and howls. Monroe explains that Nick is likely to be hunted by the killers. They go to weapon up as Monroe's dad watches.

At the camper, Nick and Monroe weapon up, while Nick reads that scalping the beserkers might make them weak, so they take knives, and plan to head to the quarry, but it's too late. Once outside the beserkers attack. A shotgun blast has little effect, and the two aren't doing well when a third beserker shows up. Then Monroe's dad comes in to help and Nick is able to scalp one, which causes it to die, and then they're able to take out the other two. Monroe's dad says he had to help and that he never believed that Nick could be good. He also says that beserkers signal a bad omen for the world, just as we see Adalind in bed. She has another labor pain and starts screaming. Back at Monroe's, Nick and Juliette, Rosalee and Monroe, and Monroe's parents have dinner. When Juliette brings up the wedding everyone wesens out, but Nick gets them to calm down. Monroe's dad says it's going to take some getting used to.

Unfortunately the month-long gap between this episode and the last highlights that tonight's episode nearly abandons the wesen (of the month, in this case) killers in favor of the family dynamics; towards the back half of the episode I wasn't sure if that narrative was going to stretch into another episode. It's almost as if the killers are in the picture to give Hank and Wu something to do. But as the family dynamics were the most interesting thing about the last episode, it was smart to focus on that side of the story. Still, the bad guys are faceless and dispatched without much effort.

But as one of the central metaphors of the show is about how the world has culturally progressed in regards to acceptance of different races and sexualities, this was a pleasurable episode and that showed older wesen confronting their prejudices, and seeing a changed world. And, as with the last episode, seeing Chris Mulkey and Dee Wallace in the role of Monroe's parents helped give these characters a greater dimension than old bigots. I'm curious if the whole ritual thing Alice mentions comes into greater fruition, but on some level, this show is more about its characters than it's monsters that I'm guessing the season finale will be Monroe and Rosalee's wedding (or at least it should be). Which will hopefully lead to more Wallace and Mulkey.

Adalind's storyline, her pregnancy, looks like it's finally going to go somewhere, and her sections of the show were actually pretty good this week. Nothing against actress Claire Coffee, who often plays a delicious bitch, but I keep waiting for her storyline -- and for that matter the whole royals things -- to add up to much. Maybe it will. Though "Revelation" felt lopsided, the focus on Monroe and Rosalee's relationship and how those scenes played out were enough to make it a winning episode.