Grimm Forum

Love Sick

Episode: 1x17
Air Date: April 13, 2012
Synopsis: Nick and Juliette join Hank for dinner, where Nick discovers Hank's mystery date is none other than Adalind, the same Hexenbiest who tried to kill Aunt Marie. Meanwhile, Captain Renard takes matters into his own hands when a visit from foreign representatives of his royal bloodline threatens his position. Elsewhere, Monroe and Rosalee are called into action when the lives of Hank and Sgt. Wu hang in the balance.

Resources
Episode Summary (Grimm-Fan.com)
Screen Captures (Grimm-Fan.com)

Thus begins the best three episode stretch of Grimm, beginning with Love Sick and culminating in Leave it to Beavers. And funny enough, not a single one of these three episodes was written by any of the showrunners (i.e., Carpenter, Greenwalt, or Kouf) or any of the regular Grimm writing staff, (e.g., Cooper, Skentzos, Difore, etc.). This always puzzles me. Clearly, the showrunners know these episodes are awesome (if they have any taste in what's good), so why don't they bring any of these three writers back for more episodes? Are they too expensive? I guess this will just be one of life's mysteries to me.

High points

1. I really like The Third Man allusions. The writer, Catherine Butterfield, is certainly a fan of film classics.
2. Now, we get our very own treasure map, further increasing the show's Indiana Jones focus.
3. This is probably my favorite Adalind episode.
4. Captain Renard would make a pretty damn good James Bond.

Things I dislike

1. Everytime Rosalee mentions how "Freddy had problems" I want to throw something at my television. That's probably the main reason I never became a Rosalee fan. Even when she does this in season 2, it still annoys me. It's like her character has absolutely no depth, except for these cheezy remembrances of this two line Grimm stock character. I'd rather have drug-addict Rosalee.
2. Having Adalind lose her hexenbiest nature using grimm blood clearly made this show about the supernatural, rather than based on pseudo-realistic explanations. That wasn't a problem with this episode, but it clearly opens the door for the writers to do dumb stuff in the future. It also makes analyzing the show that much harder, since there's now no logical baseline for any aspect of it.

I like this episode. The captain and how he handles things with his cousin – really hot! Though I can’t forgive him that he accepted to sacrifice Hank for the key. In season 2 he shows his sweetest side, but here we can see the truth: he wants Nick for a partner because he could be useful. More than Adalind.

Adalind keeps provoking Nick and he can do nothing but watching – really good.

Poor Wu is finally cured.

I like how Nick and Adalind settle their differences violently , and that it’s not that easy to rescue Hank (“kill the witch – problem solved”).
I even like the idea to exorcise the witch out of Adalinds body, just like Saruman out of Theoden. For some time my husband and me were discussing what witch-powers mean at all in Grimm. They can mix Zaubertränke (plural!) after a formulation in a book, so what? For sure the Zaubertrank needs a witch’s blood, but even that is never mentioned in the series. Only deceiver and deceived.
The one who’s doing magic here is Nick.

German sentences in this episode:
"Ich warte auf ihn jetzt – hier kommt er" I’m waiting for him now – here he comes
"Es ist wie durch Zauber – ein Zaubertrank" It’s like magic – a magic potion! (Monroe’s eyes in this sentence are pure magic )

(08-02-2013, 09:47 PM)HellJacket Wrote: [ -> ]Thus begins the best three episode stretch of Grimm, beginning with Love Sick and culminating in Leave it to Beavers. And funny enough, not a single one of these three episodes was written by any of the showrunners (i.e., Carpenter, Greenwalt, or Kouf) or any of the regular Grimm writing staff, (e.g., Cooper, Skentzos, Difore, etc.). This always puzzles me. Clearly, the showrunners know these episodes are awesome (if they have any taste in what's good), so why don't they bring any of these three writers back for more episodes? Are they too expensive? I guess this will just be one of life's mysteries to me.

Total agree

(08-04-2013, 09:27 AM)Gretel Hanselsister Wrote: [ -> ]I like this episode. The captain and how he handles things with his cousin – really hot!

Hach ja!

(08-04-2013, 09:27 AM)Gretel Hanselsister Wrote: [ -> ]"Es ist wie durch Zauber – ein Zaubertrank" It’s like magic – a magic potion! (Monroe’s eyes in this sentence are pure magic Heart)

I don´t know how often I repeated this scene. It´s so sweet.

Excellent episode. The entire story seems to be centered on Nick's key in one way or another. Even Adalind and Hank's romance. When Nick accidentally spilled the ink and got the map print from the key it looked interesting, so I paused the video to have a closer look. Noticed that the old-world type drawing had a sort of sun-burst grid over it like it was highlighting the destination spot. Also, there are the letters B U R at the upper right side and the letter W at the lower right side, like they are partial names of places. They're probably meaningless., but it would be gratifying if there turned out to be a method to these "clues".

In another scene, the Captain kills two royal family couriers before dinner (the royals are stepping up their quest for Nick's key) and then heads out to Catherine's house, where she gives him a small black box. She was mixing a potion in her kitchen when he drove up and guess that is what's in the box, but I missed what it was for. If anyone knows, please let me know!

Fun to watch the charter members of the Scooby gang beginning to work like a crime team in foiling the bad guys' plans, so Sergeant Wu is cured of his pica disorder, Adalind's been de-witched, and Nick saves Hank from certain death. And like most other posters here, I wonder about the advantages of being a Hexenbiest or Zauberbiest. It's true that they are exceptionally beautiful and seem to be physically stronger than humans. But mixing potions which cast spells are the only thing we've seen the women do, (and that ability may not be taken away by the intake of Grimm blood) and the Captain has yet to demonstrate any special powers at all.

The show's set designers do a great job of outfitting the home to the character. Wu's apartment is a sort of standard bachelor pad, but has the quirky touches he would choose and of course, it's architecture is beautiful. Adalind's is sophisticated and House Beautiful gorgeous and contemporary, with a noticiable absence of photographs; how appropriate. Catherine's home is stunning, if a little daunting with the black walls, with a surfeit of mirrors, as suits an externally beautiful and vain witch.

Cat and Mouse

Wogs – 2
Head Count – 2
Apples – 1
Bridges – 1

This episode’s literature link, just like the last episode, is from the Grimm tale titled Donkey Cabbages, And just like the last episode the only parallels I could find is that there is a guy in love with a witch. Thank Grimm; Hank doesn’t get turned into a donkey.

You ever wonder what being a Portland detective was like before Aunt Marie rolled into town. Well, maybe it wasn’t any easier. After all the population of Weson haven’t gone up (if anything its less now) and the weson related murders must be a little bit easier now. But right way in this episode there is double murder.

Nick’s interest and the Families’ interest in the key is heating up again.

This episode provides some more reveals about Renard. It seems like every time the writers provide an answer about Renard, two more pop into my head. This is a nice approach. You provide some satisfaction with a reveal but increase the level of curiosity with more questions. However, since we have all seen all of season 2 we know that a lot of these questions will go unanswered. If I ever watch this season a third time I might try to keep track of “Renard questions and answers”. Or perhaps there is a Grimm fan out there doing it now. But really, what is the story with Renard and Adalind’s mother? Although as I think about this, unanswered questions aren’t necessarily bad. They demonstrate that the story’s universe is bigger than what the viewer can see. Giving the story’s setting a feeling of depth and breadth. Hmmm. That almost makes me feel better about the last season of “Lost”.

What did you guys think of the dinner with Hank, Juliette, Nick and Adalind? I’m not sure Nick handled it right but I can’t think of a better way and to give Nick a little credit – he was pretty much caught by surprise.

I guess Wu isn’t injured in this episode; his eating disorder is a side affect of the cure for giant pimples. But I’m sorry haven’t been keeping track of Wu getting hurt. It seems he gets hurt more often than the view of bridges.

There are lots of really good take-a-ways in this episode. But while watching it for our re-watch the biggest thing I came away with is that it’s in this episode, after Adalind loses hers powers that Renard changes tactics. I know in the past in this forum I've complained about Renard acting inconsistently. But I think all of his behavior, motivations, strategy and tactics before this episode were Plan A. Once Adalind loses her power he confesses he has been underestimating Nick and he changes to Plan B. We can assume the Plan A was get the key and that Plan B is more like get Nick on my side.

I don’t think it has ever been explored in subsequent episodes, but what did Rosalie and Monroe tell Hank when he woke up? Oh, one more. How does Nick explain to Juliette his lip getting bit?

(08-04-2013, 08:56 PM)pale boy Wrote: [ -> ]HellJacket pointed out that the writers using magic means they can now potentially dump any silly thing into the story without making sense. I hope that doesn't happen. The temptation is there, of course. All good "genre" works require internal consistency and I really, really don't want Grimm to go the kitchen sink/True Blood route.

Since this episode, the only time the writers have made a complete break from using pseudo-realistic explanations has been with the Volcanalis/Ring of Fire episode in season 2 (which was an episode written by the show runners). Personally, I really enjoyed that one, so the supernatural angle wasn't a problem. In fact, some of the weakest episodes of season 2 have been the ones very much grounded in reality (i.e., the gene fusion in The Other Side, and the psycho preteen in The Bottle Imp).

Still, the more leeway you give television writers, the more likely they do things to alienate their audience. In my opinion. However, they haven't done anything particularly terrible as of yet. *knocks on wood*

(08-05-2013, 03:01 PM)HellJacket Wrote: [ -> ]

(08-04-2013, 08:56 PM)pale boy Wrote: [ -> ]HellJacket pointed out that the writers using magic means they can now potentially dump any silly thing into the story without making sense. I hope that doesn't happen. The temptation is there, of course. All good "genre" works require internal consistency and I really, really don't want Grimm to go the kitchen sink/True Blood route.

Since this episode, the only time the writers have made a complete break from using pseudo-realistic explanations has been with the Volcanalis/Ring of Fire episode in season 2 (which was an episode written by the show runners). Personally, I really enjoyed that one, so the supernatural angle wasn't a problem. In fact, some of the weakest episodes of season 2 have been the ones very much grounded in reality (i.e., the gene fusion in The Other Side, and the psycho preteen in The Bottle Imp).

I agree with HJ, with just one thing to add. The LaLlorna creature may have been a "regular" weson but they left the door open to a supernatural explanation.

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(08-05-2013, 06:54 AM)speakeasy Wrote: [ -> ]In another scene, the Captain kills two royal family couriers before dinner (the royals are stepping up their quest for Nick's key) and then heads out to Catherine's house, where she gives him a small black box. She was mixing a potion in her kitchen when he drove up and guess that is what's in the box, but I missed what it was for. If anyone knows, please let me know!

I don't remember that happening.

(08-05-2013, 06:54 AM)speakeasy Wrote: [ -> ]Fun to watch the charter members of the Scooby gang beginning to work like a crime team in foiling the bad guys' plans, so Sergeant Wu is cured of his pica disorder, Adalind's been de-witched, and Nick saves Hank from certain death. And like most other posters here, I wonder about the advantages of being a Hexenbiest or Zauberbiest. It's true that they are exceptionally beautiful and seem to be physically stronger than humans. But mixing potions which cast spells are the only thing we've seen the women do, (and that ability may not be taken away by the intake of Grimm blood) and the Captain has yet to demonstrate any special powers at all.

Adalind has demonstrated (off screen ) super strength. remember she tore into that hobo at the beginning of this season. We can assume that Renard has that and all the other basic weson powers such as recognizing other weson.

(08-05-2013, 06:54 AM)speakeasy Wrote: [ -> ]The show's set designers do a great job of outfitting the home to the character. Wu's apartment is a sort of standard bachelor pad, but has the quirky touches he would choose and of course, it's architecture is beautiful. Adalind's is sophisticated and House Beautiful gorgeous and contemporary, with a noticiable absence of photographs; how appropriate. Catherine's home is stunning, if a little daunting with the black walls, with a surfeit of mirrors, as suits an externally beautiful and vain witch.

Yes, i've brought this up before. I also think kudos goes out to whoever chooses the locations. Since this show has started I've developed some kind of architectural envy; i want to move into all the character's homes.

(08-05-2013, 04:53 PM)Lou Wrote: [ -> ]I agree with HJ, with just one thing to add. The LaLlorna creature may have been a "regular" weson but they left the door open to a supernatural explanation.

Thanks, Lou. I was thinking I forgot one, but couldn't remember which. Yeah, the LaLlorna creature really could have been anything, though I'd probably chalk that one upto supernatural.

However, ghosts are an iffy subject on whether they break the rules or not. I mean plenty of realistic-oriented shows have had "ghost" episodes. Even though there's never been proof, their "existence" is a very real part of our world, though they pretty much exist solely in hearsay (e.g., I know someone that swears they saw one, etc.). So, yeah, I have less an issue with this type of supernatural than say, a volcano god or actual witchcraft. But so far, the one god we have met worked.

If I was to list other supernatural episodes, I'd probably put Danse Macabre and Three Coins in a Fuchsbau in supernatural territory, but only mildly. Controlling an army of rats is pretty out there. Having three coins that let you take over a country is very much so (though, that episode only implied that that was the case). The Cinderella episode is another one that crosses into the supernatural territory, just because of how extreme that one is.

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(08-05-2013, 04:53 PM)Lou Wrote: [ -> ]Adalind has demonstrated (off screen ) super strength. remember she tore into that hobo at the beginning of this season.

That killing was offscreen. Anything that happens offscreen makes for really poor evidence. She could have just slashed his throat, for instance (or, I could be remembering a different scene than the one you're thinking of).