Board Thread:General Grimm Discussion/@comment-27720018-20160906015503/@comment-197.91.190.142-20180409083709

Nick had already moved on with Adalind, even with Juliette living under his roof, he never once acted like a man still holding a candle for his ex. He didn't draw away from Adalind, in fact he grew closer. He still cared deeply for Juliette's wellbeing but there was no romatic love on his part. That was the show having it's cake and eating it as well. Juliette knew Nick's heart was already elsewhere (as soon as 6x02) and he tried to play it down because not too long ago they were the ones together with the intention to marry and eventually start a family. He felt awkward about her candid expression of something he'd been hiding within himself and it's reflected again when the gang was at the loft and Monroe made that faux pas comment about N/J and you can see Nick's discomfort rearing its head again. Nick was stuck between allowing himself to be happy when confronted with Juliette's destroyed life almost constantly. How can he truly embrace his new life, no holds barred when her life is basically in ruins?

You are right about his confusion for what he felt for Adalind, perhaps he couldn't reconcile the reality of loving someone that he once hated oh so very much. I don't know how any of us could handle it if we were in his shoes. We saw a lot of that confusion in S5 from his hesitation but S6 did away with most of it, not all obviously or else we wouldn't be discussion this issue right now. When he healed Eve with the stick and saw Juliette had returned, he still ran to the mansion and kissed Adalind passionately. He wanted her back at the beginning of S6 as much, if not more so at the end of S6 after Zerstörer had killed her.

Something clearly held Nick back and I don't think it's the intensity (or lack thereof) of his feelings for Adalind. The show never once showed him hesitating being with Adalind at all in S6. The show did however bring back his guilt and pointed it out in the dialogue and flashbacks. Nick fell in love with Adalind against his better judgement. His commitment to taking care of his son and by extension, Adalind, didn't need to turn romantic and yet it did. In a twist of sorts, I'd go so far as to say that Nick felt more passionately for Adalind in S6 than she did. I cannot agree that his feelings for Adalind are as placid as claimed. Not expressing his feelings as we viewers may expect (it's fiction television after all) doesn't mean he didn't love her as much as she loved him. I don't believe you can box love in so simplistic a concept. It's already established on the show that Nick was essentially a closed off individual because of his background that even when he met Juliette, it took him a while to loosen up. Falling in love with Adalind could not have been be easy because of everything that had happened before. He was already in love with Adalind, Juliette's speech just made it okay for him to move on without the baggage of his past mistakes hanging over his head every time he saw Juliette/Eve.

Another thing to remember is that Nick wasn't even the only one who had to move on, Juliette was in the same boat, we saw that between 6x03 and 6x05 as she was confronted with Nick's family life. She was shown to still love Nick in S6 (maybe even in S5 seeing as she threatened Adalind about hurting Nick) but she already knew he loved Adalind. We saw her nearly woge emotionally when she was in the tunnels and heard Nick tell Adalind he thought he'd go crazy with her. Diana knew that it had made Eve sad to see Nick and Adalind together but Eve decided to leave the past behind because it was painful for her and the last time she had expressed her pain, very bad things happened. Holding on to the past was both painful (for Juliette) and kept them stagnant (for Nick). It's no way to live one's life. These two had to both come to a place of acceptance of their new lives and each other's new realities and grow from thereon hence 6x11 is closer for them both.