It begins.
"The wolf thought to himself, what a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful..."
- The Brothers Grimm, 1812
Detective Nick Burkhardt has a pretty good life; he's a respected cop living in Oregon, planning to propose to his girlfriend Juliette. But then he starts seeing strange things. Certain people's faces just don't look right...
A visit from his beloved aunt Marie complicates things when she visits with two pieces of news. First, she has cancer and doesn't have long to live. Second, the things Nick is seeing are real. A hidden society of "Wesen" live alongside humanity, and some people - Grimms - can see them. Their family are Grimms, and Nick's powers are waking up. Nick barely has time to process this before he and Marie are attacked by a man with a scythe. They fight back and Nick shoots their attacker, but Marie is hurt. Before passing out, she tells him to "kill the bad ones," and passes him a strange metal object she tells him to guard with his life.
But there are bigger problems. A little girl is missing, and Nick's investigation brings him to a Blutbad called Monroe. He's not guilty, but is able to shed light on the Grimm issue as well as help Nick track down the real culprit. Nick has a steep learning curve if he's going to save that girl...
This episode provides examples of:
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Nick's assessment of Adalind when he first sees her (but before she woges) is accurate in every given detail... even if a few details are missing.Nick: She wears Armani, makes low six figures, drives a BMW, and is falling for a senior partner at her law firm. Nothing but trouble, Hank.
Hank: Why can't you just look at her ass like the rest of us? - Bait-and-Switch:
- The audience's first sight of Nick is through a camera as if he's being stalked, only for him to smile down the lens and hold up the engagement ring he's just bought. The camera is being held by Hank, who's just screwing around.
- Aunt Marie is first seen pulling up into Nick and Juliette's drive and approaching the house. The framing and the context make her appear sinister, as if she's sneaking into the house with harmful intentions, which is played up when Nick comes home to a dark house and gets no reply when he calls out to Juliette... then he enters the kitchen and finds them there, getting along famously.
- When Nick goes back to Monroe's house looking for the missing girl, Monroe leaps at him through the window, slams him against a wall and growls, "You shouldn't have come back," then invites him inside for a beer.
- Book Ends: The episode begins with a victim listening to "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics before being killed. The ending of the episode has Nick stopping Adalind from killing Aunt Marie, but being injected by the needle's contents meant for his aunt. As he falls unconscious, he sees Adalind's hag face as she escapes, with Marilyn Manson's cover of "Sweet Dreams" playing.
- Catapult Nightmare: After killing the Reaper who tried to kill Aunt Marie, Nick has a vivid nightmare of a terrified Juliette running through a dark forest in a red evening gown and screaming for him. The implication is apparently that he's Dreaming of Things to Come, in which case it's either Early-Installment Weirdness or From a Certain Point of View as those specific events never occur.
- Chekhov's Gun: "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics is playing on the iPod of the first victim. Later, the killer begins absentmindedly humming it front of the cops, tipping them off. Marilyn Manson's cover of the song later plays during the Cliffhanger.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- It's established that Grimms are triggered when a relative dies, in contradiction to Kelly Burkhardt's later assertion that male Grimms simply develop later in life than the women. Possibly Averted as Nick hears this from Monroe, who could be repeating a piece of misinformation spread to Wesen by Grimms.
- Monroe makes a big deal about Nick using wolfsbane to disguise his scent. It's mentioned in one other episode and then forgotten about.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- The banter between Nick and Hank in their first scene establishes both their characters and their friendship.
Nick: Hank, what are you doing?
Hank: Testing out the new equipment and getting a picture of you while you're still young and innocent.
Nick: Oh, well, I'm getting married once, not four times.
Hank: Oh, you're a "happily ever after" guy.- Captain Renard is first seen after Nick has shot the Reaper who tried to kill Aunt Marie, his first on-the-job kill. He first assures Nick that the man he shot was a bad guy, expresses concern for his wellbeing after the night's events, and tells him to make sure he sees the psychologist and gets some rest. This establishes him as no-nonsense, but also A Father to His Men. However, Nick's brisk replies indicate that they're not close.
Renard: If you had to shoot somebody, you sure picked the right guy. How you doing? You holding up?
Nick: Yes, sir.
Renard: A first shooting is no small thing. You'll be required to see the police psychologist.
Nick: Yes, sir.
Renard: Make sure you do. Get some rest. - Fairytale Motifs: Little Red Riding Hood. The Monster of the Week is a wolf-like monster with a predilection for little girls in red hoodies, their latest victim having disobeyed her parents to take a shortcut to her grandfather's house.
- Friendship Moment: Despite his cynicism, Hank wishes Nick luck as he heads home intending to propose to Juliette.
- Horrifying the Horror: Monroe is the Big Bad Wolf. Nick is the monster he was warned about as a kid.Monroe: You know, I've never seen one of you before. I heard about you guys all my life, never thought I'd see one up close. A Grimm! Heh, whadda ya know!
Nick: You know about me?
Monroe: Are you kidding? My folks used to tell me stories about you guys, scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. How long have you been at this? You seem kinda new. - It's Not You, It's My Enemies: After confirming that Nick has become a Grimm, Aunt Marie advises him to end things with Juliette for her own safety.
- Naïve Newcomer: Nick is this to the supernatural. He's just started coming into his heritage and is only passingly familiar with the fairy tales.
- Nightmare Face: Nick and Hank discuss a beautiful young blonde woman who passes their car. Nick looks back at her... just as her face turns into that of a rotting corpse. The woman hurries away looking normal again, while Nick stands there looking confused and scared. And a new Grimm is born.
- Noodle Incident: Aunt Marie has been telling Juliette stories about Nick's childhood.Nick: Dead frog in the microwave?
Juliette: Among others. - Powers in the First Episode: Nick first becomes aware of The Masquerade. He starts seeing people turn into monsters that no one else notices.
- The Reveal: After Adalind's attempt to kill Aunt Marie, she dumps the white coat and gets into a car. The driver is Captain Renard... Nick's captain.
- Scary Librarian: Nick goes for a walk with his Aunt Marie, who tells him she's dying of cancer. They're attacked by a mysterious figure wielding a scythe, who Nick kills with help from his surprisingly spry and not-so-frail aunt. Later, at the hospital, a doctor informs Nick that Marie has scars all over her body and asks what her job was. Bewildered, Nick answers, "she was a librarian!"
- Spotting the Thread: Hank is entirely skeptical of the Postman as a suspect in Robin Howell's disappearance and has no idea why Nick suspects him at all. That is, until they're leaving and he realises the Postman was humming "Sweet Dreams," the same music that was on the Victim of the Week's iPod. That in itself isn't too suspicious, but when the pair turn back, they see the suspect disappear from the window where he was intently watching them leave. Moments later, the lights go out as he pulls a breaker switch.
- Stealth Pun: Nick justifies calling only Hank as backup by saying, "I already cried wolf once." By this point he knows the Monster of the Week is a Blutbad, basically the Big Bad Wolf.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Aunt Marie is dying of an unspecified form of cancer and doesn't have long left. Nick obviously knows, as he's unsurprised to see her with no hair and when they go out to talk, his first question is "how bad is it?" She came to Portland to tell Nick his Grimm heritage while she still has time, and is clearly concerned it won't be enough.
