Yeah, this looks fine.
On many a dark night people would see her walking along the riverbank and crying for her children.
Child abductions on Halloween, lead Nick and Hank to a figure from Mexican folklore. Valentina Espinosa, an Albuquerque detective, arrives to offer the Portland PD her expertise on many similar trios of abductions, all ending in the childrens' midnight drowning.
Meanwhile, Monroe deals with some troublesome trick or treaters.
This episode provides examples of:
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite having The Big Bad Wolf on speedial, Nick and Hank are reluctant at first to consider an actual ghost their lead suspect. Even Valentina Espinosa, who's been on this case for years, just thinks she's a regular woman who thinks she's La Llorona. Then Nick finds multiple entries about La Llorona in the Grimm notebooks, leading to a rethink.Hank: I thought we didn't believe in ghosts.
Nick: We didn't... - Cassandra Truth: Pilar, an older neighbour of the first victim's father knows all about La Llorona, and is able to deduce what happened to Juliette from seeing her cat scratch scar. Both Juliette and the father end up shouting angry with her, but Juliette at least later admits she's right.
- Charm Person: Seems to be how La Llorona makes her victims leave with her. One of them asks another if she's an angel.
- Halloween Episode: La Llorona explicitly operates in the days leading up to Hallowe'en. Monroe goes all out decorating his house for trick or treaters (mostly with skulls).Monroe: Halloween for us, come on. That's like, bigger than Christmas. There's a long Wesen tradition of All Hallows' Eve Midnight Woge running through the woods, scaring the crap out of villagers. Literally, sometimes.
- Hidden Depths: Juliette speaks fluent Spanish, having spent part of her childhood living in Spain with her grandmother. This leads to her stepping in as translator for the first victim's Spanish-speaking father.
- Mugging the Monster: Some trick and treaters picked the wrong target when they broke Monroe's window.
- Mundane Utility: Nick goes to the trailer to fetch a real Morningstar for Monroe to use in his Hallowe'en decorations.
- That Was the Last Entry: Nick's ancestors couldn't make heads nor tails of La Llorona, despite several entries from Grimms who've encountered her. The last note is from a past Grimm just leaving to confront the demon. With Hank and Valentina as back-up, Nick fares better.
- Would Hurt a Child: Every Hallowe'en, La Llorona abducts and drowns three children, hoping to exchange them for her own children, who she drowned when her husband left her for another woman.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: La Llorona's kidnapping method. She approaches the river where her intended victims are, crying loudly, and walks into the river as if she's trying to drown herself. When the adult with the child wades in to help, she leaves with the child.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Despite this being the world of Grimm, Valentina firmly believes that she is an otherwise ordinary cop hunting down an ordinarily psychotic serial child murderer who at the most believes she's La Llorona.
