'Grimm' Review - 2.12 Season of the Hexenbiest

        On the midseason finale of NBC's Grimm, Adalind returns to wreak havoc in everyone's lives - especially Nick, Hank and Juliette - and avenge her mother's brutal death; Captain Renard's obsession continues to escalate; and a surprise visit at the spice shop gives Monroe more than he ever bargained for.

        As the last episode of 2012, this hour of Grimm had the daunting task of making sure to end on a high note in order to ensure that people will want to wait patiently for two months before seeing the next episode. In that respect, I appreciate the decision the show made to eliminate the police procedural and devout an hour to the serial elements of the series. Yes, a lot of it felt like setting up the pieces in their final pieces to make for one entertaining back half of the season but the reveals and dramatic nuances allowed this hour to have enough tension to make me want to see where they go next in this story.
        Throughout the first half of season two, Grimm has done an efficient job at really honing in on its distinct voice. The show was truly able to open up its narrative by bringing Hank into the main fold which allowed the series to really tap into the development of that relationship between him and Nick. But the best thing about Grimm season one was the informative yet budding friendship between Nick and Monroe which unfortunately has largely vanished throughout the second season whenever the police procedural aspects where the highlight. This episode, by sidelining Hank pretty early on, allowed the series to recapture that greatness of the interplay between these two characters. Seeing both of them take down the creatures from the Verrat was entertaining even though they really didn't get any answers to any of the larger questions.
        The biggest misfire from this season has been the escalating romance between Renard and Juliette. The story has been brought up in most of the recent episodes and it just causes the overall hour to come to a halt. Last week's penultimate hour closed with Monroe learning the truth about their infatuation and set up this finale for this story to come out to many of the characters and deal with it. Unfortunately, the show is not finished with this story. They still see it as good for these characters even though on screen it is a total snooze-fest compared to the rest of the dramatics. I do see a somewhat appreciative viewpoint on the plot because it has now set up the Nick and Renard confrontation which was always inevitable when the show decided to reveal his status as a royal. Nick is still very much in the dark on that angle but if the true payoff to this story is that reveal with Renard I may just have to mutter through it.

So what did everyone think of the episode? Glad to see Nick and Monroe working together again? Are you loving to hate Adalind? How will Renard discovering the trailer effect things? With all that being said, was this the best episode of the second season so far? Share your thoughts in the comments.