‘Grimm’ Review: “The Bottle Imp”

Last week on 'Grimm' we saw how Hank, Nick and Monroe work together as a team to protect each other, and we saw Rosalee leave to take care of a sick aunt (which means Monroe is now slightly single). We were promised that Juliette is about to come out of her memory coma, and it looks like we're going to finally see some movement on that plot tonight.

Last week's episode "Over My Dead Body" was good, but they really need to move this amnesia plot forward. Hopefully they will in "The Bottle Imp," so read on for our in-depth recap and review.

As fireworks go off over Portland, the show begins with the quote " 'Let me out, let me out,' the spirit cried. And the boy, thinking no evil, drew the cork out of the bottle." Nick and Juliette are cooking and watching the fireworks, and Nick regales Juliette with anecdotes he remembers about her life. Juliette then says she remembers. She's back. And she remembers their last night together, where he was telling her he's a Grimm. Big gulp. She also believes him about everything! And then his cell phone goes off. It was all a dream. PSYCHE. Nick's on the couch and it's eight in the morning. We then see a father greeting his daughter - later revealed to be Robert and April Granger - and Monroe at the shop. Rosalee calls to check in, and wants to know if Monroe's okay with the whole Angelina dying thing. He says he's dealing with it, and then she asks him to make a recipe for a client. Robert and April go to a gas station when the attendant tells the father his card's been declined. Robert gives him another card, which also doesn't work, and the dad's reveals he's a werewolf as he goes back for cash. Then the gas station attendant is then murdered.

Sgt. Wu brings in Nick and Han to the murder scene/gas station, and they look for evidence. Robert and April wait by the side of the road and she tells him it will be okay, while the dad is freaking out because he knows the cops might be on to them. But his daughter offers positive advice, and then they spot another truck (and a truck driver...) Back at the station, they've found the credit card holder's name, and the license plate was caught on tape, all registered to Robert Granger. Captain Renard spots April, and they want to talk to Robert's wife. Back on the road, Robert confronts the truck driver, and with his daughter helping they get a ride.

Monroe is making the recipe when the client shows up looking for Rosalee, but Monroe is accidentally distracted and grabs the wrong final ingredient. Looks like we're going to have a playful B plot this week. Hank and Nick show up in vests at Robert's, and they knock and ask for Mrs. Granger. At the house they find blood all over the house, and a barely alive Mrs. Granger in the bathroom (she's also a Wesen). Back at the station, they try to find out Robert's next move. He used to be a teacher, went into construction, was recently fired and has maxed out credit cards. They all know that Robert has nothing to lose. In the truck the driver tries to make conversation and on the radio in the truck a country song ends just as a news report comes on, which identifies the man's hitchhikers. Robert knocks the guy out and starts driving.

Back at the station they get some clues, like that he seems to be building something, and Wu works on hacking Robert's computer, where he finds that Robert's been looking at things that peg him as a survivalist (guns, self-composting latrines, etc.) Just then Juliette shows up, she's still trying to remember, and says hi to all the coworkers when she sees Renard and gets flustered. Finally this plot is going somewhere (even if it was obvious from the get-go). Wu finds a photo of a camping area, which he might be able to track through the photo's GPS. Hank and Nick go to Nick's camper, and Nick invites Hank in for the first time. They're looking for which Wesen it is, which Nick doesn't know. They flip through books, and Hank gets a better sense of the world Nick's been living in. Hank accepts his role as part of this. Renard gets a call from Adalind, who's finally back in the picture. Adalind asks who killed her mother, and threatens that both Renard and Juliette are about to have some fun. Renard looks at his laptop, and sees that all he's been typing is Juliette over and over.

Back at the camper, Hank finally finds the right Wesen. It's a Drang-zorn, which are nasty, short tempered, and fiercly protective of their offspring. Normally they hang out in underground dens, and so they think Robert's making one out of a shipping container. They used to be shot with a crossbow and burned at the stake, which allows Nick to geek out with Hank about how he has a crossbow himself, and then shows Nick his closet filled with weapons of yore. Hank then sees a elephant gun and puts together that it was the gun that killed Stark - the ogre back in season one. Hank says he owes his life to whoever fired the gun, and Nick reveals it was Monroe. These scenes are what makes this show occasionally great. Hank starts to put pieces together about how long this has been going on.

Robert's at his hideout with April, and it's a fairly intricate series of tunnels and rooms. Robert checks to see if there's anyone outside, and then tells April that he's going in to town to get supplies. She wants cereal. Back at the spice shop, Monroe gets a call from Rosalee. When reciting the recipe back to her, Monroe realizes he made a mistake. She tells him that it's eleven on the scale of one to ten terrible, so he says he'll check on the guy.

The truck driver isn't dead, he was just tied up, and we see him emerge from the forest. Robert tells April he won't be gone long, and she asks what happens if he doesn't come back, but he tells her that he will be back, and that she's supposed to stay inside. Back at the station, Nick is told they've found the truck driver, and they know about his stolen truck. They've also got a possible location for Robert's hideout. In the forest the police find the hideout and Nick finds April. He tells her that no one's going to hurt her, and she goes for the hug. Monroe goes to Leroy's apartment and hears cackling and sees childish paintings on the wall. He finds Leroy cutting up his apartment with a chainsaw. When Monroe offers an antidote, Leroy comes at him with a frying pan, but the old "close the door before he gets there" knocks Leroy out, and Monroe is able to give him his meds.

Back at the station Nick and Hank question April, who wants to see her mom. Child services show up to take her away. Robert talked to one of his neighbors, and Nick and Hank get a feeling he's heading to see his wife. Cut to: the hospital where Robert is going to see his wife.

Nick and Hank pull up and run in, and find Granger kissing his wife. And it's revealed the killer isn't Robert, it's their daughter. The daughter can't control her emotions or her outbreaks. April is shown at a halfway house, where she gets bullied immediately and doesn't take well to discipline, and so she bites her foster father in front of everyone. Nick and Hank then show up, and find the foster family running away and April on a swing. She says she likes Nick and smiles with her teeth covered in blood. Nick talks to a Juvie guard sent over by Monroe, who says she thinks she can handle April. Mostly because she's a Drang-zorn herself. Nick gets a call from Juliette who's about to make dinner, and it's going to be a candlelight dinner for two. Post-dinner, he tells her they used to dance on nights like this. She says she should make the effort to remember, and so the two dance. And then kiss, and at the end of the kiss,Juliette sees Renard and freaks out a little. Nick asks what's wrong and Juliette says "me" and leaves.

Finally we're getting some movement on the Juliette storyline, but it looks like they're going to milk this one for as much as its worth. The show is at its best when there's a good Monroe subplot, and this week they gave him very little to do, but there were moments in the middle where Hank and Nick bond that made this a slightly above average episode. The show succeeds most when it's about the characters, and when it can interweave that in with the central crime/mystery of the week. They didn't do that this time, but it's never bad, just minor key. But that's 'Grimm.'

But what did you think? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.