Being reduced to being a pawn doesn't reduce one's acting abilities. An example of this is Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He was both a villain that was later revealed to being a pawn by the actual villain. Later, in another movie, he admits to his actions as the WS but also acknowledges that he was used by others to commit murderous acts.
Claire Coffee did well with her character, showing great range, whether trying to appease her mother and Renard (overstating her abilities), the extreme hurt she felt when she lost her abilities against Nick and losing Diana, her cunning abilities to play all sides for her selfish gain when going at it alone, to her change in attitude when trying to escape Europe with Diana, giving up aspirations to a bigger status and lastly accepting/wanting a humble life with a grimm and her two children. She basically played four different characters and was convincing in all of them.
Sasha is perhaps the only other person who played his character differently from one season to the next as much as Claire, followed by Bitsie. The rest of the group pretty much stayed on neutral from day 1 to the last, in terms of their range. I'm not belittling their abilities just pointing out how they weren't given much outside of what we knew of them from their first episode all the way through to their last. Nick did however, show a little bit of growth, he went from a by the book cop that was a grimm to a grimm that was a cop, his approach to his cases shows how much he changed over the years.
As to Adalind not claiming to being manipulated by her mom and Renard, perhaps it's her way of acknowledging her complicity to her S1 actions. Catherine was her mother and like many children who have lived lives trying to make their parents happy, she was no different. While their relationship wasn't all sweet, Adalind still sought her mom's approval or what passed as such at the time. Renard being the hot Royal Prince sleeping with her was a no brainer also, as hexenbiests were known to seek power by attaching themselves to those with it. It was only after their rejection that Adalind's loyalty to them was shaken or broken altogether as we saw with Renard after he gave away their daughter.
Re: the Hexenbiest manipulation -
We saw what having a one did to Juliette when her anger got out of hand. She reveled in that power it gave her, shown through her violent and reckless behaviour towards Nick and his friends, including those murdered because of an alliance she made with the royals. The presences of a hexenbiest no doubt made certain behaviours acceptable/enjoyable that people would not normally do. At the end of the day, it's still up to the person whether they give in to those impulses. A S2 powerless Adalind is very different to a S5 powerless Adalind. The former was driven by the desperate need to fill the void her dead hexenbiest left while the latter not only was she free of it, but was happy to keep living without it as she enjoyed the simpler, fulfilled life without it. She had everything she wanted and thus was fearful of getting it back would do, she was afraid to lose what she'd gained without it. It only worked out for her because she made the decision to hold on to that new life, knowing Nick hadn't rejected her after he'd showed his willingness to accept the hexenbiest when he knew it was [back] permanent), something Juliette never understood during her whirlwind revenge bend. It's about choices, making the right ones even against what supposedly comes naturally. Monroe is a perfect example of that.
Claire Coffee did well with her character, showing great range, whether trying to appease her mother and Renard (overstating her abilities), the extreme hurt she felt when she lost her abilities against Nick and losing Diana, her cunning abilities to play all sides for her selfish gain when going at it alone, to her change in attitude when trying to escape Europe with Diana, giving up aspirations to a bigger status and lastly accepting/wanting a humble life with a grimm and her two children. She basically played four different characters and was convincing in all of them.
Sasha is perhaps the only other person who played his character differently from one season to the next as much as Claire, followed by Bitsie. The rest of the group pretty much stayed on neutral from day 1 to the last, in terms of their range. I'm not belittling their abilities just pointing out how they weren't given much outside of what we knew of them from their first episode all the way through to their last. Nick did however, show a little bit of growth, he went from a by the book cop that was a grimm to a grimm that was a cop, his approach to his cases shows how much he changed over the years.
As to Adalind not claiming to being manipulated by her mom and Renard, perhaps it's her way of acknowledging her complicity to her S1 actions. Catherine was her mother and like many children who have lived lives trying to make their parents happy, she was no different. While their relationship wasn't all sweet, Adalind still sought her mom's approval or what passed as such at the time. Renard being the hot Royal Prince sleeping with her was a no brainer also, as hexenbiests were known to seek power by attaching themselves to those with it. It was only after their rejection that Adalind's loyalty to them was shaken or broken altogether as we saw with Renard after he gave away their daughter.
Re: the Hexenbiest manipulation -
We saw what having a one did to Juliette when her anger got out of hand. She reveled in that power it gave her, shown through her violent and reckless behaviour towards Nick and his friends, including those murdered because of an alliance she made with the royals. The presences of a hexenbiest no doubt made certain behaviours acceptable/enjoyable that people would not normally do. At the end of the day, it's still up to the person whether they give in to those impulses. A S2 powerless Adalind is very different to a S5 powerless Adalind. The former was driven by the desperate need to fill the void her dead hexenbiest left while the latter not only was she free of it, but was happy to keep living without it as she enjoyed the simpler, fulfilled life without it. She had everything she wanted and thus was fearful of getting it back would do, she was afraid to lose what she'd gained without it. It only worked out for her because she made the decision to hold on to that new life, knowing Nick hadn't rejected her after he'd showed his willingness to accept the hexenbiest when he knew it was [back] permanent), something Juliette never understood during her whirlwind revenge bend. It's about choices, making the right ones even against what supposedly comes naturally. Monroe is a perfect example of that.