The Hour of Death

"" is the tenth episode of Season 2 of Grimm and the thirty-second episode overall. It aired on November 2, 2012 on NBC.

Synopsis
The episode starts off with Nick sleeping on the couch – apparently he’s been doing that since Juliette lost her memory. He is haunted by the missing girl’s case, and in his dreams he runs over the information he has again and again. He is jolted awake by Juliette when she sees he’s having a nightmare. Juliette is annoyed Nick keeps getting so little sleep, but has to leave for work before they can have that discussion.

A man, Adrian Zayne, is talking over the phone to another man (Richard Berna). The following conversations imply that Richard and Zayne are working together to kidnap the girl – Donna, and also the missing girl Nick is working on - and hand her over to another man who is “practically drooling over her”. Zayne looks over photographs of Donna before throwing them into the fire.

Nick and Hank arrive at Zayne’s house just then to question him. Nick notices the man burning Donna’s photos, but the photos are already completely burnt by the time Hank tries to take a look. Zayne panics and woges into a Schakal. He then realizes Nick is a Grimm and panics even more. He runs out the house and Nick gives chase. Nick catches Zayne, tackles him and continues punching him repeatedly until Hank holds him back.

The detectives question Zayne, but he denies everything. With no evidence (the photographs are completely burnt) to prove Zayne guilty, the detectives have to let him go. Nick, however, is sure of what he saw in the fireplace and uses his identity as a Grimm to threaten Zayne. Zayne freaks out and screams to the policemen that Nick is going to kill him.

Juliette calls Adalind’s ex-employer, and is frustrated to find out that Adalind had left the company already. Renard, who sees Nick’s confrontation with Zayne, gives Juliette a call about Nick’s being on edge. They agree to talk about it over coffee the next day.

Nick visits the Spice Shop and Monroe helps him concoct a truth serum – Serum Exomologesis – to make Zayne confess the truth. Nick takes a Doppelarmbrust to Zayne’s house and plans to shoot him with the serum, however, when he reaches said house, he finds Zayne in the cellar hanging in chains from the ceiling, dead.

Hank, who suspects Nick is going to do something reckless, arrives at the house too while Nick is appalled at Zayne’s mutilation. Initially, Hank is horrified and thinks Nick is the one who did it, but Nick has Monroe as an alibi – he was just at the Spice Shop. They study the body and find it branded several times with a skull-like symbol that was also painted on the walls with blood. They hear sirens outside, though Hank didn’t call backup, and Nick hurries to get rid of the Doppelarmbrust.

Wu informs the detectives that Zayne had confessed to kidnapping the girl, and is impressed by their interrogation skills until both of them inform him that they just got there.

The cops at the station pour over Zayne’s recorded confession, in between which he howls in pain from being tortured and branded. They announce this news to the public, and broadcasts the symbol, hoping for someone to come forward about what the symbols mean.

Bud is at home having a dispute with his wife with the TV on in the background. He sees the symbol and is distressed. Monroe is also at home watching the news. He sees the symbol too and horrified, he fumbles for his phone before calling Nick.

Hank is giving Nick a hard time over the fact that he’d tried to shoot someone with a crossbow, when Nick receives Monroe’s call. Monroe breathlessly asks Nick to come over regarding the symbol. Just then Hank picks up the station phone to a hysterical Bud who requests to talk to Nick only. He stammers about the symbol until Nick promises him that they are working on the case.

Monroe tells Nick about the symbol – an old German symbol for “G”, or Grimm, in other words. He tells them about the Endezeichen Grimms, heartless Grimms who kill any living thing related to Wesen and brand their belongings with the Sterbestunde (the symbol). They realize there’s another Grimm in town, and Monroe advises Nick to stop him before Wesen start thinking it’s Nick doing the killings.

Renard calls a colleague in Vienna to ask if his family had sent the Endezeichen Grimm.

Nick receives a call from who appears to be the other Grimm. He berates Nick for not doing his job, but acknowledges that Nick had brought a crossbow to Zayne’s house, which gave him hope that Nick wasn’t completely useless.

In a dark room, a man re-watches videos of Zayne being tortured. He uploads the video onto a website.

The police find the video the next day. Nick discusses this with Hank – clearly the other Grimm knows about Nick.

Nick and Hank question Donna and her parents, and manage to get footage from when Donna says she was kidnapped. They trace down a van from the footage, a van belonging to Richard.

Richard is confronted in his van by the police. He freaks out when he woges and realizes what Nick is, and starts screaming that Nick killed Zayne. Nick shrugs it off when Wu looks at him, puzzled.

Richard walks down the station hallway, where he walks past many officers, including Ryan Smulson who gives him a small smile.

Juliette meets with Renard in the coffee shop. After short conversation, Juliette slips up – while talking about Nick, she says, “just starting over with you” to Renard, before hurriedly covering up the ‘you’ with ‘him’. Renard touches her hand and she leaves in a hurry, leaving behind her glasses.

Richard, while being interrogated, seems less worried about his van being searched and more worried about Nick killing him. He proves extremely unhelpful, but the van search gave them more than enough evidence to arrest Richard – until someone lets Richard go.

The police quickly make their way to Richard’s house. Richard dead and is branded with the same symbol, the Sterbestunde. Nick and Hank are confused, because no one, except the people at the station, knows about Richard’s arrest. Nick gets a call from the “Endezeichen”, berating him for not killing Richard the minute he was revealed as Wesen.

At the station, Ryan brings in a very frightened and panicky Bud. He says that all the Wesen are worked up and some are suspecting Nick of the mutilations. Nick assures him again that he will get to the bottom of this and Bud leaves.

Wu finds security camera footage from the interrogation room. The person who let Richard go was careful not to show himself, and clearly knew where the cameras were, but he slipped up and the camera captured his reflection in the door glass – it’s Ryan.

Bud is at his truck when Ryan comes out of nowhere and attacks Bud, knocking him out.

Franco tells the detectives that he saw Ryan going after Bud.

Nick and Hank make their way to Ryan’s house, where Ryan’s mom reveals that Ryan moved out because he was not happy with “what we were”. They discover a room where Ryan has stuck pictures of Nick all over the walls, literally. Ryan obviously worshiped Nick.

Ryan, wearing a black cloak and mask, hangs Bud from the ceiling. Bud tries to stall for time and engages in conversation with Ryan, who is clearly frustrated by Nick not being a real Grimm, and that all Wesen should be killed. Just before Ryan brands Bud, Nick bursts into the room and Ryan flees.

Nick tackles and punches Ryan. Ryan screams at Nick before revealing himself as a Lebensauger. Ryan is horrified at his own woge and denies his identity as a Wesen before begging Nick to kill him, which Nick of course does not do. They arrest Ryan.

Bud thanks the detectives and surprises them with a hug.

Renard comes back to return Juliette’s glasses. Juliette remembers that it was Renard who kissed her in the hospital, and they kiss in the doorway before Juliette pulls herself away with difficulty and slams the door in Renard’s face and sinks to the ground, horrified.

Press Release
When a brutal vigilante homicide is made public, it sends Portland’s Wesen community into a frenzy. As Nick investigates further, he discovers a pattern similar to that of a particularly brutal line of past Grimms. Is there another Grimm in town, or is Nick dealing with a sadistic copycat? Meanwhile, Captain Renard takes it upon himself to offer Juliette comfort in handling her ongoing dilemma with Nick.

Videos




Wesen

 * Blutbad
 * Half-Zauberbiest
 * Eisbiber
 * Lebensauger
 * Schakal

Production Notes

 * Bree Turner (Rosalee Calvert) was not credited and did not appear.
 * This is the first episode to use footage from a later part of the episode as the background for the opening quotation.

Continuity

 * When kissed by Sean Renard, Juliette Silverton remembers that it was he who awakened her from her coma/trance.

Trivia

 * Although the idea of more ruthless Grimms has been referenced since the beginning, this is the first time they are properly identified, or had their habits and methods explored.

Questions

 * Will Ryan Smulson be back?
 * How many Wesen are in the police force that Nick doesn't know about?
 * Where did Ryan get the Endezeichen Equipment?