‘Grimm’ Review: “The Walking Dead”

Tonight's 'Grimm' is the penultimate episode of season 2, which is finally wrapping up what happened in the cliffhanger at the end of the first season. Juliette seems to have most of her memory back, and seems to know what a Grimm is. Tonight, she finds out about wesen.

The episode opens with the quote "Papa Ghede is a handsome fellow in his hat and coat of black. Papa Ghede is going to the palace! He'll ear and drink when he gets back!" and shows a castle in Vienna where Adalind enters with Renard's brother Eric. The two flirt by talking about her lack of powers. As the two are about to get it on, his father calls. Adalind is left alone and goes to the door to listen, where she hears about a proposal to the royals, and the father dismissing Adalind. Nick and Juliette go home. Both are recovering from the last episode, and Juliette apologizes and says she doesn't want to move too fast, but thinks they have a chance. Both are hopeful, and then they kiss. They plan to have dinner the next night and then kiss a little more. The next day a wesen destroys a house, and there's a dead woman inside. Wu shows up and he finds the body while his partner is attacked. After both cops are assaulted, the other office shoots the wesen, who dies -- but has green snot coming out of his nose.

Back in Vienna, Adalind meets with her baby buyer, Stefania. She must sign a contract for the baby, which she's forced to sign in blood.  Nick and Hank check out the dead woman in the house, and find no markings on her, and note the green snot on the man. Outside Baron Samedi (Reg E. Cathey) stands around and sings a song. At the precinct they find that the woman is Lilly O'Hara, who's got a long history of solicitation and drugs, while the man committed some check fraud, and then they find that he's got a death certificate from three days ago. In Vienna, Adalind meets with the woman who brokered her baby sale (Frau Pech) and is warned she may be worth more dead than alive if the royals find out. Pech offers protection.

Meeting with the coroner, Nick and Hank are told it's probably a clerical error, and they try to find out about the green snot. Juliette shows up at Monroe's, and she wants a favor. She asks about the night Nick brought her over, and what Nick wanted to show her. Bud was there to fix the fridge, and Monroe explains that she wants to see a woge, a transformation. Bud, of course, freaks out and says he should transform at the spice shop, so the three head over. At the hospital, a doctor tells Nick and Hank that he's unsure if the body is the same man pronounced dead, but that the corpse should be in the hospital's morgue. While walking to it, Nick sees a glimpse of the Baron. Juliette, Monroe and Bud show up at the spice shop, and Rosalee agrees they should show Juliette. Monroe is about to transform when Rosalee says she should go first and tries to explain what a fuchsbau is. At the morgue, there's no body, while when Lily is about to get her autopsy, her eyes open and she sits up.

At the spice shop, Rosalee tries to comfort Juliette and then transforms. Juliette raises her eyebrow and walks out, and then comes back in. She then asks what Monroe is, and finds out he's a Blutbad. Then they suggest Bud go next, which he does, and Juliette finds out he's a Eisbiber. Then -- finally -- Monroe transforms. After some confusion about things, Juliette asks for a drink, which everyone thinks is a good idea. Adalind calls Stefania, telling her that Frau Pech gave her a warning. Stefania promises that it's a straight deal, but once off the phone starts throwing things around. Back at the station, Wu tells Nick and Hank that Lily isn't dead, and woke up. Lily has been taken to a hospital, so Nick and Hank take off. Frau Pech meets with a Royal agent asking for a private audience with Prince Eric, telling him about the baby. While at the hospital, the Baron walks in and starts talking to Lily.

Nick and Hank show up at the hospital too late and find an empty bed. Back at the precinct, Renard gets a phone call from the Royal agent about Adalind's baby, but the agent has no idea who the mother or father is, and Renard suggests making a counter-offer on the child. Nick and Hank see Lily and the Baron on security cams, and then Wu calls with toxicology report. There's a drug that can cause "the Lazarus effect" which makes people appear dead. A tow truck shows up at the Baron's car, and he then poisons the driver. And guess what? The Baron is a wesen. Nick and Hank go through the books at the camper and find the Baron's wesen type, and that the Baron makes zombies. Monroe calls, and invites Nick and Hank to the spice shop, where everyone is there except Juliette. The Baron boards a bus and spits on everyone.

Eric deboards a private plane in Portland and calls his brother as they have some family business to discuss. They plan to meet the next day. Renard calls his Royal agent contact and is told this meeting has been kept a secret, and that he should be careful. Out at the docks, the Baron has created an army of zombies waiting in a shipping container. Nick and Hank share their findings about the Baron with Renard, but he's of no help. Back in Vienna, the Royal agent breaks into a desk and finds a file with blank passports and death certificates. At the spice shop, Nick's wesen friends tell Nick what they did, and say Juliette took it well. As Monroe puts it, they've reached the point of no return. Adalind checks her stomach, while Juliette prepares for dinner. Nick shows up with flowers, and it seems to go well. Eric complains about how Portland is home to nothing more famous than Nike, and how the name is silly. Then the Baron shows up in his room. Guess what? This week is a two-parter.

Actually, that is a two-parter became more evident the further things went along. Pieces weren't falling into place, so this obviously was going to go into the season finale. Which, if the preview is to be believed may turn someone (possibly Juliette) into one of the Baron's zombies.

That out of the way, this was jam-packed with incident, and had more character moments than late. Between the interplay between Nick's wesen friends, Nick and Hank talking about getting ketchup for the camper, to Renard noting how good Hank's gotten at the wesen side of their work, there were a lot of moments that show why it's fun to watch 'Grimm.' One of the best things about it is watching the actors play off each other and against Nick's usual cold determination (which may be why last week's episode felt a little weak, but understandable from an acting point of view). One hopes that they don't hit the reset button again with Juliette (and make her a zombie for season 3), but this is a good set up for the last episode of the season. Here's hoping it all comes together next week.