Mermaids, Grimm-style
More and more she grew to love human beings and wished that she could leave the sea and live among them...
Family traditions of an obscure Wesen species are examined when a young drowning victim shows strange marks on his legs. Central to the deaths are the Mahario sisters, including deaf-mute Elly who may have a connection to the victim's friend.
Renard becomes aware of the Royal baby... and comes to a startling revelation about his connection to the child.
This episode provides examples of:
- Arranged Marriage: Naiad marriages are arranged, which explains how the elder two Mahario sisters ended up married to psychotic murderous jerks.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Mahario sisters. It makes sense that they all look so different when it's revealed that they all have different biological fathers.
- Call-Back: Nick's changing abilities are showcased more. At a physical, it's revealed that his heart rate and blood pressure remain constant no matter what he's doing. Later, he stays underwater for a long time to untie Elly.
- Cute Mute: Elly is deaf-mute, very easy on the eyes and her crush on Jake is sweet and endearing.
- Defiant Captive: Elly kicks her brothers-in-law at least twice, including a Groin Attack.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Male naiads are sterile, so to keep the species going the females seduce human men and have their children, which they and their husbands raise together. The husbands are naturally unhappy about this, so traditional Naiad males kill the fathers in revenge. Never mind that the men they kill have no idea what's going on.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: When Abel Mahario confronts his sons-in-law about the murders, he describes them as fundamentalists. When they announce their intention to "cut" Elly as punishment for interfering, it sounds like they're talking about FGM, especially when they accuse Abel of causing the trouble by "not raising your women right."
- Fingore: Elly's brothers-in-law decide to "cut" her, meaning cut the webbing between her fingers and toes to make her not a Naiad anymore.
- Fairytale Motifs: Of The Little Mermaid.
- He-Man Woman Hater: It's implied that Naiad men are disposed to act this way, out of resentment that their women must cheat on them in order to have children, leaving them to raise another man's children. As well as the tradition of murdering the biological fathers, this results in a definite "keep your women in line" mentality. Abel Mahario is an exception.
- Internal Reveal: Renard becomes aware that Adalind is the mother of the Royal baby. Presumably, he also does some finger-counting and realises he might be the father.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Downplayed. Juliette sees an email for Nick that ends, "love, M." She's suspicious, but doesn't seem ready to throw accusations around just yet.
- No-Sell: The killer Naiads try to intimidate Nick and Hank by woging... to a Grimm and his partner. Yeah, the ensuing fight doesn't go their way.
- Shout-Out: When Jake describes what he saw of Elly as "not normal," Nick assures him, "Nobody is, Jake. It's Portland."
- Spanner in the Works: If Elly wasn't secretly in love with Jake, she wouldn't have rescued him from the water and no one would have known that he and his friend died in anything other than a misadventure.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Nick can add this to his powers list, as it turns out his zombie form can go without air for a surprisingly long time. He stays underwater to untie Elly for long enough that Hank starts to freak out before coming up absolutely fine.
- Rescue Romance: Elly is in love with Jake, so she pulls him out of the water and resuscitates him after her brother-in-law drowns him. He remembers her and she approaches him later, but it's left ambiguous whether a romance develops.
- Water Torture: Elly's brothers-in-law force her to woge by holding her head underwater so she can't breathe without gills. They haul her out intending to start cutting, but she dewoges forcing them to start over.
