Grimm recap: Maiden Quest

Things are getting hotter and hotter each week in the HexenBiest household! Nick and Adalind are still playing house in their “fortress,” learning how to live with one another and raising Kelly. They continue to bond (they’re actually getting along really well), sharing their absent-parent pasts over dinner while trying to hush their crying baby. Adalind tells Nick about her run-in with an old co-worker, expressing how she hates feeling so helpless and that when it’s time she wants to return to work. I get where she’s coming from, but if she feels so helpless, why rely so much on Nick “making her feel safe?” We all know the real reason she’s acting like this: She’s falling in love with him. More on that in a minute.

The crime of this episode begins with a millennium-old tradition of a certain wesen culture, Weten Ogen. A rich wesen-mobster of the Weten Ogen kind named Daniel Troyer employs an ancient tradition in his quest for vengeance for his son’s murder. The tradition encompasses a ritual with three Weten Ogen men vying for a “princess,” who in this case is Daniel’s daughter, Elena (special guest star Madeline Zima.) The competition in this specific instance is to bring Daniel the head of his son’s killer — Frankie Atkins, another mobster. The champion of this test will get to marry Elena and inherit Daniel’s fortune.

The three Weten Ogen suitors are “blessed” by Daniel, and the first is chosen by drawing a feather from an ancient relic. The suitor, named Isaac, is seconds away from beheading Frankie at his nightclub when another Weten Ogen attacks and kills him, saving Frankie’s life.

When Nick and the gang are called to the scene, they quickly pick up that wesen might be involved from Frankie’s description of “a man in an animal costume” saving his life. When Nick and Hank try to find a connection between the victim, Isaac Proctor, and Frankie, they discover that Isaac is the son of criminal defense attorney Amanda Proctor — and, according to Renard, a Weten Ogen.

The Scoobies go to visit Amanda’s office and resort to telling her that Nick knows she’s wesen and that he is a grimm. She’s freaks out that Renard brought a grimm into her office and is even more furious that they are insinuating her son was up to sketchy business instead of focusing on finding his killer.

They’re led to Daniel’s home, and of course he and Elena play dumb when Nick and Hank show up to question them. The police’s involvement doesn’t stop Daniel from moving the ritual along, and he later toasts the remaining two suitors to try their chance at killing Frankie.

Eli, one of the suitors, leaves to begin his mission, and Elena warns (and begs) him not to follow through with it. Eli’s loyal to the ritual and insists that he will succeed. He’s definitely not an amateur and finds out a way to become Frankie’s bodyguard, driving him to his house where he can get him alone to do the dirty deed.

Of course, as soon as Eli gets Frankie alone and wields his ax, another Weten Ogen (the same from before?) pops out from nowhere and takes him out, saving Frankie’s life once again. When Nick, Hank, and Wu show up to the scene, it’s clear that Frankie is traumatized from witnessing a wesen woge and attack for a second time. Wu digs further into the case and finds something fishy from the autopsy of the first victim Isaac: the gold feather. The team finds the same feather in Eli’s pocket — no coincidence.

NEXT: Monroe and Rosalee adorably geek-out over wesen mythology.

Monroe and Rosalee leap with excitement at the news, telling the rest of the team that the feathers are a part of an ancient ritual of the Weten Ogen. They explain the “Maiden Quest” to the group, and Nick and Hank head back to Daniel’s house in hopes of catching the third suitor. They pull over the remaining suitor as he leaves Daniel’s house and take him in for questioning, where they fully disclose their knowledge of the ritual and Nick being a grimm.

What Nick and Hank didn’t see earlier was that when the third suitor was toasting Daniel, he told him that he wasn’t responsible for killing Eli or Isaac. He also fully discloses that he wanted nothing to do the ritual in the first place and that his parents made him do it. Further proving his complete lack of interest in the ritual, he tells Daniel that he’s gay. Sorry, Elena!

Nick and Hank start to believe that the young man may not have had anything to do with the crime, and they take his advice and decide to revisit Daniel to try and get some answers.

Meanwhile, Daniel isn’t the only parent out for vengeance. Amanda Proctor wants justice for her son, and she goes to Frankie to inform him of why there’s a hit on him. She says that she wants revenge for her son’s death — she wants Daniel Troyer dead. Frankie goes into mobster-mode and sneaks into Daniel’s house with a loaded gun, but the tables turn fast when Daniel woges in front of him.

Frankie’s post-traumatic stress kicks in, and things get even worse as Elena appears — fully woged — attacking him to prevent him killing her father. Nick and gang show up, and the pieces are finally put together: Elena was the one behind all of the killings. She tells her father that she hated the ritual, and she couldn’t allow the murder of a man to be in her honor. Daniel pulls a plot twist and says that the true test was for her all along — he needed her to prove that she was capable of running his empire. Because of course, how could a woman run a mob empire?!

While Frankie crawls and bawls in a corner, Hank and Nick inform them that Elena won’t be prosecuted for her crimes for two reasons: One, it’s too complicated to implicate her, and two, she was killing in Frankie’s defense. It’s a different story for Daniel, who gets arrested for soliciting Frankie’s murder. Ah, I love old-school Grimm episodes with a new, weekly crime.

Now for the steamy scenes: Earlier, Nick was looking into the secret tunnels in his new home, noticing a door that probably hadn’t been opened in decades. He comes out of the tunnels and is filthy, running into Adalind on her way to the bathroom. Kelly spat up all over her, and Nick is a gentleman and lets her use the restroom to clean up first.

Adalind conveniently forgets to bring another pair of clothes with her (how much vomit did Kelly spew up?!), and she asks Nick to grab her a shirt. She doesn’t have very many clothes of her own, and after a lecture from Nick to go shopping, he brings her a shirt. Of course, it’s a Risky Business-esque button up, and after she grabs the shirt — while wrapped in only a towel — she changes into the the shirt and leaves the bathroom for Nick … with no pants on and her bra hanging by the door. I’m having a hard time believing this isn’t intentional.

Nick’s reaction is unclear; I can’t tell if he’s annoyed, surprised, or suppressing lust. When Nick comes home from solving the Weten Ogen crime, Adalind tells him she is truly worried about his safety, with obvious “I-think-I’m-falling-for-you” undertones. All Nick can do is hug her (she is the mother of his child after all), and before they can dive further, Nick hears something outside — it’s Trubel! She crashed her motorcycle into the side of the warehouse, and she’s bruised, bloody, and limping. What’s happening?!

Other Noteables and Questions:

• We last saw Trubel being brainwashed/beaten by Meisner — is she playing with Nick, or did she truly escape?
• Renard was seen earlier with Andrew, who is running for mayor. Andrew wants Renard’s support in the election, but Renard is hesitant until he knows what Andrew’s policies will be. Renard, you have enough going on; I suggest you stay neutral.
• The show is still hinting at Rosalee’s motherly instinct. She also received a mysterious letter from someone in her past in Seattle letting her know that “Carlos” has died. What shadow from her past is coming back, and will it affect her relationship with Monroe?
• Runner-up of the episode: Monroe affectionately tells Rosalee he woud “kill a flock of dragons” for her. Those two!
• Winner of the episode: Frankie’s girlfriend, Lola. She ended up getting her burger and calling the police to the scene. Stay fierce, Lola.