Worst. Craft fair. Ever.
We shall see the crumbs of bread... and they will show us our way home again.
Geiers prey on the homeless of Portland, harvesting their organs. Nick wants to tell Juliette that he is a Grimm. Captain Renard gets a warning from the creature world.
This episode provides examples of:
- A Busive Parents: Gracie's explanation of her and Hanson's homelessness is "our parents sucked."
- All-Loving Hero: Nick buys a necklace from Gracie for $20. Both Hank and Juliette call him a softie.
- Arbitrary Scepticism: Averted when the Victim of the Week turns up with very little blood and two puncture wounds in his neck. The obvious vampire jokes are made, but Nick is clearly unnerved enough to at least be considering it.
- Big Damn Heroes: Nick and Hank are just in time to save Gracie and Hanson.
- Bilingual Bonus: Folter Clinic: "Folter" is German for "torture".
- Chekhov's Lecture: Nick repeats Monroe's explanation of harvesting human organs for medical use as a theory when the organ-drying location is raided.Monroe: What do you mean "deal"? Geiers are like herbalists, you know? Eastern-medicine types. You know how some humans use exotic animal parts, like bear gallbladders and rhino horns for, like, you know, medicinal remedies and aphrodisiacs and stuff... Which is ridiculous, because it has no effect whatsoever. Here's the thing. Human parts for creature... enhancement? That actually works great. Our exotic animals are you.
Nick: Some cultures use animal organs to make medicines and aphrodisiacs. Bear gallbladder, rhino horn.
Hank: So, what? If animal liver is good, a human one must be better? - Call-Back: The Reaper who got his ear cut off by Renard in Lonelyhearts sends it back to Renard, with the promise that he will claim Nick's head.
- Chekhov's Gun: Hansen's bracelet, which he takes apart to use as a trail to the holding facility.
- Deadly Doctor: Most of the Geiers can be found at a clinic for homeless people.
- Disposing of a Body: Dr. Levine's henchmen are seen throwing a girl whose organs were removed into a fire pit.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Monroe refers to non-Wesen people as "humans" rather than "Kehrseite."
- Eye Scream: The Victim of the Week gets his eyes pecked out by a raven as he's floating down the river. And he gets off lucky; at least he was dead first.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: Hansel and Gretel.
- Fan Disservice: There's a shot of Grace in her bra and panties—while Geiers are preparing to cut her open.
- Foreshadowing:
- Monroe's assessment of the outcomes of telling people about Wesen - that they'll think you're crazy, or they are - happen with Juliette and Wu respectively in later episodes. They both adjust, however.
- Nick asks Monroe about the possibility of him woging for Juliette to prove the existence of Wesen. Monroe is not enthusiastic, but will eventually do it.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: A common consequence of trying to tell regular people about Wesen, according to Monroe.Monroe: No, no, no, no, no, no. The vast majority of humans just can't process that kind of information. They can believe in all kinds of stuff, you know? Gods, for example. Angels and demons and dinosaurs and the Big Bang Theory and E=MC 2, man, but that's only because it's not right in front of them. They're not looking directly into the boiling core of the raw universe. So, you know, confronted with that kind of reality... a lot of brains just turn to mush.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Nick pulls out his cell-phone, asking the person on the other end if they have plans for dinner, and smiling fondly. You'd think it's his girlfriend, right? Nope! Cut to dinner at Monroe's house, complete with white wine and jazz playing in the background. In fact, the entire ensuing conversation reeks of homoerotic subtext, with Monroe complaining about how Nick never asks about other aspects of his life, mentioning testicles and claiming that "everything works great" in regards to his private parts.
- He Knows Too Much: Dr. Levine targets Gracie and Hanson for harvesting when Gracie tells her about the detective who bought them dinner the previous night, and told them to call him if they saw a particular van again.
- Human Resources: Human organs are medicine for Wesen. For example, human testes are the Wesen equivalent of Viagra.Monroe: Well... okay. This might be a little awkward, but for example, you probably didn't know that your testicles... I mean, not your testicles specifically, but that part of the human male anatomy... has a kind of a Viagra-like effect on certain species. Not that I ever had need to... I mean, everything works great.
Nick: Oh, no. That wasn't awkward at all. - Irony: Monroe speaks disparagingly of Fuchsbau, saying of the apothecary Freddie Calvert, "He's a Fuchsbau, so count your fingers after you shake hands with him." Monroe later marries Freddie's sister.
- Karmic Death: The head doctor falls into the fire pit where she and her workers disposed of their victims. For bonus points, Nick's attempt to stop her from falling in fails because she's woged to fight him, and her claws make him lose hold.
- Meaningful Name: An episode loosely based off of "Hansel and Gretel", had two central characters named Hanson and Gracie.
- Morton's Fork: Telling people about The Masquerade is explained in these terms by Monroe when Nick wants to tell Juliette about Wesen.Monroe: There's no good outcome to that. Either they believe you and think they're crazy, or, far more likely, they don't believe you and they think you're crazy. Either way, it puts a strain on a relationship.
- Organ Theft: Teens are being found by a clinic, kidnapped, their organs harvested for Wesen use, and their bodies disposed of in a fire pit.
- Out of Order: A possible example. Nick and Monroe's conversation about the events of Game Ogre sound as if it just happened, rather than a couple of weeks to a month ago as the episode order suggests.Nick: Look, it's gotten too dangerous for Juliette. She has no idea what I'm dealing with. And that other night, when I got attacked in my house... she could've been killed.
- Pun: Not even finding a greenhouse full of human organs slows down Wu.Renard: Well, any way you slice it, it's still cannibalism.
Wu: I think it's pronounced "capitalism." - Running Gag: Monroe's introduction in each episode seems to always revolve around him doing a very normal, very mundane activity and trying very very hard to ignore Nick and the inevitable creature-related problem. In this episode, he brings this fact up and tries to have a normal conversation—it rapidly and awkward devolves into Monroe's favorite color (red), how human organs are like homeopathic remedies for Wesen, and Nick and Monroe talking about human testicles as the Wesen equivalent of Viagra.Monroe: Maybe I should just get you your own key.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Renard brings a shotgun to one of the Geiers' processing facilities, which he uses to kill one of the Geiers there.
- Spanner in the Works:
- The SUV carrying the harvested organs crashes, leading to the exposure of the operation.
- Hanson's trail of shells, which lead Nick and Hank to where he and Gracie are being held.
- Took a Level in Badass: Nick. For the first time, we see him intentionally threaten creatures with his status as a Grimm and exactly why that means they should be treading very carefully around him. He also pointedly warns the Geier in the clinic that he's NOT being a cop at that moment.Nick: I'm not asking you as a cop, so don't expect me to behave like one.
