Grimm Episode 218
“Volcanalis”
Written By: Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt
Directed By: David Grossman
Original Airdate: 26 April 2013
In This Episode...
A geologist named Jill is excitedly researching a local volcano. As she heads back to the truck, she is attacked by a man, ranting for her to “give it back” and “you haven’t shown respect.” She maces him and escapes. But once home, she is attacked by a giant fire demon creature.
Hank is on vacation, so Nick teams up with Wu on this case. Jill seems to have been burned from the inside out, with external burn marks on her neck and arms that look like handprints. Tom, her boss, takes Nick and Wu up to the area Jill was last investigating. They are attacked by the same man who attacked Jill. He recognizes Nick as a Grimm and runs. Nick gives chase, but it is Wu who tackles him. This is Marcus, an archeologist who has been living off the grid for nearly 15 years, after his wife died under mysterious circumstances (similar to those of Jill). Judging by his rap sheet, Marcus is widely considered an eco-freak. During his ranting interrogation, he mentions the Volcanati, bent on revenge. Renard has taken over for Wu on this because of the Wesen connection, and he knows of Volcanalis, the priest of the Roman god of fire. They link Volcanalis to chunks of rock that Jill took. Nick remembers that Tom took some as well, and he and Renard rush over to save him. Volcanalis is already there when the cops arrive. Both Nick and Renard shoot at it, but it has no effect. Volcanalis flees and Nick chases, but it disappears into the sewer at the first grate it can.
Since you can’t fight fire with fire, Nick realizes they must fight it with ice. He enlists in the help of Renard, Monroe, and Marcus to gather tons of volcanic rocks. They take the rocks to an empty steel mill and pile them up in the center of the room. Marcus stands with the rocks as bait, and when the Volcanalis comes storming in, the other three men blast it with a heavy treatment of liquid nitrogen. Volcanalis turns to obsidian, except for his eyes, which glow orange as the rest of the Volcanalis is frozen. Marcus gets the honor of sledgehammering the creature, since it killed his wife.
Juliette’s hallucinations are becoming more frequent and more vivid. While trying to swat one away, she veers off the road and crashes into parked cars. Nick visits her in the hospital (just a minor concussion) but Juliette wants him to leave her alone - even after she figures out that this is the real Nick. Juliette is too scared to go home, so she visits the Spanish woman for her advice. The woman tells her to focus on just one memory. She must step into her past to become a part of it. Juliette is scared, but goes home and tries. She is overwhelmed and runs onto the porch. Out there was just once memory, of her and Nick moving in. She is able to follow just the one memory and when she snaps out of it, all is quiet. Juliette hesitantly tests out other memories, including when Nick proposed.
Frau Pech takes Adalind to meet Stefania the gypsy. Before they can open negotiations on how much Adalind’s baby will be worth, they must test the fetus’s blood to make sure the father is who Adalind says it is. This is done with a heinous torture tool that made me cringe. Once Stefania determines that Adalind is indeed carrying a royal fetus. She offers 500,000 Euros for a boy or 750,000 for a girl. But Adalind doesn’t want money; she wants her powers back. Stefania says she doesn’t even know if that is possible, so Adalind threatens not to carry the baby to term. This grabs Stefania’s attention.
Dig It or Bury It?
Big glowy fire demon. What could be wrong with that? Nothing, that’s what. This was a fun episode with a monster that is very unique for the Grimm world. It was nice to step away from the strictly procedural episode and focus on something that is just plain monstrous. It was strange that the bull Wesen was introduced in this episode, but his Wesen-ness seemed unnecessary.
I don’t know what that gypsy did to Adalind, but that was horrifying.
Big Bad...
Taureus Armenta. These bull Wesen are stubborn and courageous in the face of adversity. They can often be found in the front lines of battle, and have nerves of steel under fire.
Fun fact: Volcanalis wiped out Pompeii because many of the villagers took rocks from his volcano.
Prophecies?
Apparently we are now getting aliens thrown into the mix, which is usually not a good sign. But Juliette finally asks Monroe what a Grimm is, so maybe we will get some closure on this damsel-in-distress storyline. Also, don’t forget: Grimm moves to Tuesday nights at 10pm.