by Faith-Ashleigh Wong
Remember the story of the Three Little Pigs and how the Big Bad Wolf huffed and puffed and blew their houses down? In the real world or rather in Nick's world where Wesen live incognito, this equates to arson.
When Nick and Hank are called to investigate an explosion that burns down a house, Nick discovers that the owner, Hap Lasser, turns out to be a Blutbad. Not just any Blutbad but one that incidentally happens to know another Blutbad whom Nick has been working closely with – Monroe.
The detectives sense a connection when Hap reveals that only a month ago, his brother's house also blew up due to a gas leak – only Rolf wasn't so lucky. Hap takes refuge at Monroe's while Nick keeps watch outside. Unbeknownst to him though, someone is watching him.
Before he knows it, Nick inadvertently gets mixed up in a family feud of the Wesen kind. We learn that the Blutbaden have been at war with the Bauerschwein for centuries. Monroe explains that their rivalry is so great that his kind were blamed by the pig-like creatures for just about everything.
Hap's sister, Angelina is also Monroe's former lover and apart from having an obvious vicious streak, proves to be a bad influence on the reformed Blutbad. She lures him out of the house and soon he lapses back to his old ways.
I liked that in this episode we get to know Monroe's character a bit more beyond just the sarcasm and dry humour. We get a glimpse into his troubled past and we have a better understanding as to why he decided to control his inner Wesen self.
When he brings Hap to his home and explains living arrangements, we see that he has many set rules and a strict regimen to his day-to-day life. We learn later that this rigid structure actually helps keep his Blutbad urges at bay.
This is the first episode where Monroe refuses to help Nick and chooses to stay out of it for fear of what he may do. I thought it was really interesting that he was able to see past a Grimm killing his grandfather when he agreed (albeit very reluctantly) to protect Nick's Aunt Marie but it would seem the enmity between the Bauerschwein and Blutbaden is beyond forgiveness.
The uncovering of a life insurance policy puts further suspicion on an already suspicious Angelina. On running her prints, they discover she had been involved with the murder of two brothers a few years ago. The case is still open and was investigated by Lieutenant Peter Orson, who also happens to be the brother of the murdered brothers. If you know your fairy tales, you should be starting to connect the dots.
When Nick goes to confront Peter, they are interrupted by Angelina who by that point is out for blood and will not stop until she gets her revenge. Nick is once again put in the position of choosing between being a cop and being a Grimm.
Angelina does manage to escape and Peter gets arrested but not before he leaves some parting advice to Nick: "Sometimes being a cop gets in the way of what you have to do." It looks like toeing the line is becoming less of an option now and soon Nick will need to decide which side to be on.