Kelly Burkhardt

Kelly Burkhardt is a Grimm, the sister of Marie Kessler, the widow of Reed Burkhardt, and the mother of Nick Burkhardt. She first appeared in.

Background
Kelly was, along with her husband Reed, believed to have been killed by Soledad Marquesa in 1994 in Rhinebeck, NY. Her son Nick was taken in by her sister, Marie soon before the accident occurred. After the accident, Marie told Nick that his parents had died in an auto accident. However, it is revealed in that it wasn't her that had been in the crash, it was her good friend Gina Serafini, who Reed was driving to the airport. She went on the run to continue the idea that she had been killed.

A mysterious woman was seen in the shadows spying on Akira Kimura, the only surviving member of the four Schakale who were suspects in Kelly's murder and who have continued to search for the Coins of Zakynthos. The police tracking Kimura found her in his hotel room, from where she escaped after a brief fight with Sergeant Wu. She showed up again when Nick was fighting Kimura, who she incapacitated. She then turned to Nick and called him "Nicky," to which Nick replied "Mom?"

Kelly assists Nick Burkhardt with his investigation into the attacks by the Mauvais Dentes. Nick takes her to Marie's Trailer, which she tells Nick that she and Marie bought when their father became ill. Kelly shows Nick the surviving page of one of the original Grimm Diaries and explains the history of the Grimms going back to the Fourth Crusade. Later, after Nick tells her about the key, Kelly tells him that someone in Portland knows who he is. When Nick receives a telephone call about Marnassier from Special Agent Kanigher, Kelly accompanies her son to the lumber mill to assist in the confrontation.

Kelly helps Nick subdue Marnassier and strikes the fatal blow with a knife in Marnassier's throat. She goes to the hospital with Nick while he administers the potion prepared by Rosalee; she helps hold the medical staff at bay while Nick works. Kelly confronts Catherine Schade, who tells her that she did not have anything to do with Adalind's plan, but Kelly persists in terrorizing her and grabs her neck. Catherine tells Kelly there is a prince in Portland but refuses to disclose his name. Kelly and Catherine fight and Kelly throws her into a mirror, and one of the pieces of glass slices Catherine's neck, which kills her before Kelly learns the identity of the prince. Realizing that things have become too dangerous for her in Portland as she has now murdered too many people, Kelly takes the Coins of Zakynthos apparently with the goal of returning them to the island and destroying them. After a tearful goodbye, Nick takes Kelly to Union Station so she can take a train out of Portland. Once Nick drives away, she does not go inside the station; but instead steals a car by using a slim-jim to unlock the door.

Kelly was hired by the Laufer to facilitate the exit of Adalind Schade and her baby from Europe. She arrived at the meeting place early enough to see agents of the Verrat arrive. Once she was sure that the Verrat were after Adalind and her baby, she killed four of them. On the aircraft she checked the box of supplies and realized that they were headed for Brazil. She told the pilot that since the Verrat were waiting at the pick-up point, they would be likely to be at the landing site and changed the landing site to near Portland.

On the ground in Portland she stole a truck and took her Adalind and the baby to Nick and Juliette's Home for safety. When she arrived, Nick told her about his and Juliette's history with Adalind and reminded her that she had killed Adalind's mother.

When Adalind left Nick and Juliette's home, Kelly went with Nick to Sean Renard's Home to find Adalind.

Kelly sees Weston Steward arrive to Renard's condo building and she follows him in. She watches and listens in as Weston shows a picture of Adalind to the building guard at the front desk and asks if he has seen her in the building recently. When Weston goes back to his car, Kelly surprises him and slams his head into the car, knocking him out. When Nick comes out of the building, Kelly tells him about Weston and the fact that he is an FBI agent. She takes Nick to Weston's car and tells Nick that he knows Adalind is upstairs with Renard and so do the two guys he sent around back. Upstairs when one of the men tries to hide around the corner near the staircase, Kelly runs up the stairs and makes the man shoot himself with his gun before throwing him over the railing.

Outside Monroe and Rosalee's house, Kelly's locket floats out of her pocket into the baby's hands. Inside the house, Adalind asks Kelly if she wants her locket back, but she says the baby can keep it. When everyone leaves the house, Kelly tells Renard that the biggest mistake Adalind made was coming to him, and as long as he has his child, he, Adalind, and the baby will be vulnerable the rest of their lives.

At Weston's house, Kelly watches as Renard interrogates him. After the interrogation, Kelly goes with Nick back to his house to meet Hank to get him caught up on everything.

Later that night, the baby is crying and Adalind can't get her to stop. All the clocks in Monroe's house go wild as the baby starts crying harder. Suddenly she stops crying and the clocks calm down. Monroe asks what just happened as Kelly walks into the living room.

The next morning, multiple police cars pull up in front of Monroe's home as Rosalee and Monroe are about to start making breakfast. Kelly senses something is going on and goes to look out the window. She sees the cops and runs back to everyone as cops burst in all the doors to arrest her for the murder of Catherine Schade.

Kelly is in the interview room when Adalind arrives thinking she is giving a statement. Adalind asks what she is doing there and Kelly says she wanted to talk to her because at the very least she owes her an explanation. Kelly tells Adalind that she was looking for her the day Catherine died because of what she did to Juliette. Kelly says that Catherine wouldn't say anything, so she had to make her because her other choice was to let Juliette die. Adalind says she was angry at Nick because he took her powers. Adalind then asks why they are having this conversation and Kelly says she had to give up Nick because of who she was and if she hadn't done so, he might have been killed. Adalind tells her it's her problem and if she is looking for forgiveness, she doesn't have any. Kelly says she isn't looking for forgiveness, but she wants her to understand that "sometimes we have to sacrifice what we love most."

That night, Kelly is among the masked group who go to get Diana back before Viktor leaves Portland. After they get her, Kelly tells Renard it has to be done and he says he hopes she's right.

The next day, Kelly is driving a truck that Nick and Juliette found online with Diana in a car seat next to her. Diana's toy keys float into the air and Kelly tells Diana she is going to have to teach her not to do that in public, and smiles.

Nick tells Monroe that his mother killed Catherine Schade while they are looking for the ingredient list she left in the spice shop because Monroe suggested she could help.

Nick Burkhardt received an email which he thought was from his mother. She apologized for not keeping in touch, told Nick that she misses him, that she is okay, and said she would be making good use of the "money;" Nick took that to be a reference to the Coins of Zakynthos.

Juliette checks Nick's email looking for the results of his recent medical examination when an email from "bheadr" arrives. Juliette decides to read the email and it is signed "Love you M." The email is from Kelly, but as Juliette believes her to be dead, she wonders who "M" is.

Juliette tried to find more information about Kelly so she checked the IP address that the email was sent from and tracks down the point of origin. Juliette learns that Kelly's email came from Višnja Gora in Slovenia and tells Nick about it.

Juliette decides to contact her through email and she replies suggesting that she and Nick communicate through Juliette.

Comic series
Kelly is intercepted by Verrat agents. She phones Nick from Vienna to instruct him to take over for her; she has hidden the coins where no one will find them in the meantime. As she is explaining, the phone falls to the ground, leaving Nick wondering what has happened. She is taken hostage by Drauz.

Personality
Kelly is not at all concerned with breaking the law or whether the human police find her actions criminal. When hunting Kelly is ruthless, she seems to hold a dislike towards Wesen, and was shocked when she learned her son Nick was friends with two, although after spending some time with them, and seeing how much Nick trusts them she was willing to extend some friendliness to Monroe and Rosalee, and seemed to slightly rethink her views. She holds a great hatred for the Royal Houses, as they are guilty of much the turmoil in the world. She is secretive and likely feels that Nick isn't ready to know everything about her mission as shown by her fooling him into thinking she got on a bus at the station, when she really stole a car to leave. Despite this, she makes it clear she deeply loves her son and just wants him safe.

Grimm Abilities
As a Grimm she can see things normal people can't and despite her age she has great physical strength, agility, and stamina as she was able to disarm Wu and land on the ground running quickly. She is a very dangerous adversary as she most often kills any creature she fights, and seems unable to control her killer instincts. She possesses great stealth. She was also able to disable her son Nick in combat despite him being younger, and deal a stunning blow to Kimura despite the trouble he gave to everyone else. She does not move around unarmed; she keeps a switchblade on her at all times.

Trivia

 * Prior to airing, Kelly Burkhardt was known as "The Woman in Black". She wore black throughout the entire episode.
 * Kelly has worn all black in every episode that she has appeared in.
 * Her email she uses to keep contact with Nick is bheadr@toomail.net.

Quotes

 * (To the pilot) "I don't trust anyone I am not close enough to kill."
 * (To Nick about Catherine Schade) "I didn't actually kill her. She impaled herself."
 * (To Adalind) "Sometimes we have to sacrifice what we love most."