Season 4, Episode 8
Air Date: Friday, December 12, 2014, 9/8c on NBC
Rating:
“Cuide su rebaño, nunca deje su lado. Cuide su sangre, el Chupacabra tiene hambre!” – Grimm
**** SPOILERS AHEAD ****
Diego’s late night snacking is becoming deadly
The opening statement roughly translated says, “Take care of your flock, never leave their side. Watch your blood, the Chupacabra is hungry.” When a local Portland doctor, Diego Hoyos (Max Arciniega) returns from a long trip in the Dominican Republic, strange things begin to happen to him that he can’t explain. When one of his neighbors is found exsanguinated, a witness seems to believe it’s the work of “El Chupacabra.” An urban legend, the “Chupacabra” is believed to look like a goat that sucks the blood of its victims. As fall finales go, “Chupacabra” is fantastic! It is suspenseful, dramatic, and filled with surprises that will surely tide you over until Grimm returns in January 2015.
Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) are called to investigate the case of the suspected “Chupacabra” killings but Sgt. Wu (Reggie Lee) is beginning to piece together a pattern. Wu ties many of the “Portland-esque” aka “weird” cases to Nick and Hank, and brings his findings to Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz). Thankfully, Renard dismisses Wu’s allegations but you can tell by the look on Renard’s face that this is getting out of hand.
Poor Wu. I hope he can get a grip because he doesn’t know the half of it!
As the killings continue, Wu sees the Chupacabra creature roaming the streets. The Chupacabra is actually Diego. When Diego was in the Dominican Republic, he was infected with Malaria causing him to lose control over his Wesen side. With Diego being a “coyotl,” it gives him the appearance of the legendary Chupacabra. So when Wu confronts Nick and Hank about all the weird stuff he’s seen, and threatens to quit the police force, they have no choice but to tell him the truth. Finally! But Wu isn’t quite ready to hear the so-called truth.
Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) provides a little assistance on the Chupacabra case by helping translate some text in one of Nick’s Grimm journals. But the real surprise of “Chupacabra” is the explanation of Juliette’s nausea and headaches. I thought she might be pregnant but…she isn’t. I knew her being human and inhaling a powerful Hexenbiest potion may prove dangerous but I had no idea what the writers had in store. Is Juliette Wesen now? Is she a Hexenbiest?
Monroe and Rosalee are in danger and what happens at the end of Chupacabra frightens me.
Meanwhile, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) are dealing with their own misfortune as they try to pack for their long awaited honeymoon. Rosalee gets a disturbing call threatening her life. The “Secundum Naturae Ordinem Wesen” strike again, and they leave a nasty calling card behind. Monroe’s Blutbaden side is ready to rip some heads off.
Across the pond in Vienna, Prince Viktor (Alexis Denisof) and Adalind (Claire Coffee) discuss the topic of her baby, who’s most likely in the care of Nick’s mother Kelly (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio). No one is quite sure where Kelly and baby are but the royals aren’t the only ones looking. A member of the resistance, Hans (Bernhard Forcher) pays a visit to Renard in Portland inquiring about the baby as well. The only question I have is will Adalind side with the royals or change her allegiance once she’s reunited with her baby? Kelly saved Adalind and baby Diana’s life in season three. Nick and Juliette took her in, despite Adalind’s past misgivings toward them. Prince Viktor wants the child for his own purposes to use as leverage and would betray Adalind at the drop of a hat. This is going to get very interesting. I’m ready!
After all is said and done, Diego accidentally infects his wife Belem (Alyssa Diaz). Nick, being a Grimm, wants to help, taking them both to Rosalee’s shop so she can prepare a potion to cure Diego. But with Belem also infected, there is only enough of the mixture for one dose. Things get very hairy in the spice shop and when the smoke clears, Diego saves his wife’s life but loses his own.
Overall
“Chupacabra” really surprises me with its intensity. I was a bit disappointed with the Christmas episode “The Grimm Who Stole Christmas,” but “Chupacabra” pulls many major story lines together, leaving me anxious for what the next half of the season will bring. I don’t know if Wu is going to be able to handle the truth about Nick and all the Wesen oddities in Portland. I think he’s still very unstable from his “Aswang” experience, and his fragile mind may not be able to process the revelation of the creatures and monsters living among them. Monroe is attacked at the end of “Chupacabra” and I fear for both his and Rosalee’s future. As for Juliette, I am glad the writers have given Tulloch an interesting turn for her character. I adore Tulloch and hate seeing her portrayed as “the girlfriend of the Grimm.” Juliette has a lot of gusto and to not capitalize on that just seemed wrong. I wonder if we’ll see a Hexenbiest showdown between her and Adalind?
What did you think of “Chupacabra?” Leave me a comment below or tweet me at @judybopp. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Grimm returns Friday, January 9, 2014 with all new episodes.
For more on the show, go to the official site.
Like Grimm on Facebook.
Follow Grimm on Twitter @NBCGrimm, as well as these cast members: @russellhornsby, @mistergiuntoli, @BitsieTulloch, @sasharoiz, and @MrReggieLee.
Photos ©2014 NBC Universal, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Judy Manning
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3 comments
I did like that Viktor was honest enough with Adalind to admit that they probably wouldn’t have let her keep her baby is she hadn’t run off with the resistance (probably meant “stay with” as well).
I am really po’d that, unlike in the teaser for this episode, I didn’t see Nick tell Wu that what he saw was real. I watch OTA and my antenna setup isn’t great, so I really hope that at least the line was delivered during a drop-out. They could have made room in the episode for that, at least, even if they did have to put off anything lengthy.
I agree that Juliette is very underused. Having her become part hexenbeast would probably help the writers use her more. For a variety of reasons any confrontation between her and Adalind would be a bad idea. Adalind has much more experience at magic and being a hexenbeast in general, and has gained a great deal of power. I doubt Adalind’s mother would have discounted and belittled her so much if she had been as powerful as we have seen her since she got her powers back.
By the way, having right clicks disabled on all of your site is bad design. My browser keeps pointing out words I misspell, but since the right click restriction extends to cover the text entry box, I have to try correcting by hand, and when (I can’t seem to do it) sometimes replace the words I want to use with others.
Author
Hi John, thanks for reading and commenting. We disabled the right click to avoid people copying our text and using it elsewhere. Our writers work hard on their content and it’s not fair when people ‘borrow without asking.’
As to your point about Nick not telling Wu – he was trying to but didn’t finish because the Chupacabra attacked and then the wife got hurt. It’s going to be interesting to see how the writers come back next year with the continuation of this whole ‘Tell Wu’ situation. As for Juliette – yes, her becoming a Hexenbiest is really daring for the writers but I’m just glad they are giving Tulloch a better opportunity to be utilized on the show. Viktor being honest with Adalind is a good thing but he should have kept that to himself. Now that Adalind knows his true intentions, when they find the baby – I’m sure Adalind will go into ‘Mama Bear’ mode and attack anyone trying to take her baby again. I’m sure the baby, who will have grown a little, might also be more powerful and may do her own little magic to stop anyone trying to take her from Nick’s mom Kelly and her mom Adalind. Thanks again for reading and commenting. Sorry about the right-click option. We have to be careful with our content.