by Faith-Ashleigh Wong

What happens when you combine Fight Club with The Hunger Games and everyone involved is a Wesen?  This week Nick learns that the creature community enjoy sport, just the kind that is more bloody and brutal.    

The Löwen Games is a Gladiator-esque combat fighting tournament where two Wesen are pitted against each other in an arena and must fight to the death.  It is run by Löwen, fierce lion-like Wesen who are fuelled by generations of bitterness because this is what they were put through back in the ancient days of Rome.

A savage breaking and entering in the woods where a gnawed-on rare steak and horse tracks outside the house soon lead Nick and Hank to an abandoned warehouse where they discover a Latin-inscribed arena.  The detectives suspect an illicit brawling club is taking place when they come across splatters of blood and medieval weaponry.  Nick, of course, ever the alert Grimm now, senses a Wesen connection.

I really enjoyed this episode.  The pieces of the puzzle are slowly coming together.  I am becoming ever more curious as to who exactly Captain Renard is in the Wesen community.  We are reminded again (when he is referred to as Your Highness, albeit sarcastically) that he is of some higher authority but in this episode we see he seems to also have connections of the "priestly" kind.

Lots of great Monroe moments this week which is always a good thing!  I loved what he dubbed Nick's Aunt Marie's trailer – the "Smithsonian of Grimmology" – his unabashed childlike curiosity and awe is a complete turnaround to his early on trepidation at being in the presence of a Grimm. 

As always, Monroe comes to Nick's aid and gets sent on undercover cop duty but this week we see that this comes with great danger, the possibility of which perhaps hadn't really ever fully crossed either of their minds.  Monroe gets into real peril when he is unwittingly tricked into becoming the next opponent in the brutal blood sport.  For a reformed Wesen, this is not the place to be.  

How intense and nerve-wrecking was that battle?!  It certainly was not looking good for Monroe!  When Nick arrives he orders the ringleader (another crooked officer in the force – unnerving much?) to put a stop to the deathmatch.  On failing, Nick offers to fight in place of Monroe.  I thought this was a pivotal moment in their friendship.  As has already been established, a Grimm and a Wesen fighting on the same side is unheard of (let alone a Blutbad whose family was killed by a Grimm).

Nick's inner Grimm is really put to the test and I honestly didn't know if he was going to make it!  While Monroe still has the strength and fangs of a Blutbad (though he chooses not to use them), stripped off a gun, Nick is essentially powerless in the creature world.  Thankfully Nick had the sense to call for back up but even though he survives, this comes at a cost as we see an upset Juliette alone at home on their anniversary. 

While Nick and Monroe's friendship have reached a new level of close and their win in The Löwen Games will be spreading like wildfire in the Wesen community, in contrast I sense Nick's relationship with Juliette is near breaking point.  There will undoubtedly be a fall out and I'm anxious to see if Nick will finally tell her the truth.  Whether he does or not, is an engagement still on the cards?