The beasts were loosed into the arena, and among them, a beast of huge bulk and ferocious aspect. Then the slave was cast in.
The gruesome murder of an elderly couple leads Nick to some missing persons cases. After some parolees go missing, Nick is drawn into a case with a Grimm twist; an arena where captured Wesen are made to fight. While helping out Nick, Monroe is captured and put into the ring, and Nick is the only one who can save him.
This episode provides examples of:
- Androcles' Lion: Subverted. The episode seems to be setting up a situation similar to the Aesop after Monroe helps pull a nail from the hand of a gladiator shortly before they are set to fight each other. But the gladiator shows no compunction about killing Monroe and probably would have done so had it not been for Nick's intervention.
- Ax-Crazy: Dmitri Skontos has been reduced to little more than a feral beast, and once he escapes the Lowen Games, he brutally murders an elderly couple before being recaptured.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Nick and Monroe.
- Dirty Cop: Leo Taymor is a corrupt probation officer who runs the Lowen Games.
- Dissonant Serenity: Taymor isn't really bothered by Nick pulling a gun on him, calmly assuring him that his compatriots will tear him apart.
- Electric Torture: How the Lowen Games' overseers prep combatants.
- Fighting Your Friend: Taymor has Dmitri Skontos fight his friend Brian. When Brian loses, Taymor has Dmitri kill him and feeds him one of his arms.
- Foreshadowing: Monroe jokes about how bad it would be to be attacked with a morning star. Guess what happens...
- Forgotten Anniversary: Variation. Nick doesn't forget about his and Juliette's anniversary for which she's made a special dinner, but rescuing Monroe takes priority.
- Gladiator Games: The Lowen Games. Most Lowen consider them a bad reminder of their past, but Leo Taymor is interested in bringing them back.
- Internal Reveal: Juliette finds the engagement ring Nick bought for her in the pilot.
- Meaningful Name: Leo Taymor.
- Nothing Is Scarier: We don't see what type of Wesen the Priest is, but he's something that's very good at killing, as evidenced when he executes Leo Taymor.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: The first fifteen minutes of the episode exhibit Nick showing off his tracking skills, probably something police detectives have to brush up on in the Pacific Northwest.
- Sinister Minister: Renard employs a Wesen version to execute Taymor.
- Super-Strength: It's revealed that Grimms possess superior strength than that of a normal human, allowing them to go toe-to-toe with Wesen if need be.
- To Serve Man: The workers at the Lowen Games serve the participants the flesh of dead participants.
