‘Grimm’ Season 6 Episode 5 Recap: The Seven Year Itch

Grimm Season 6 Episode 5
Silas Weir Mitchell and Bree Turner in ‘Grimm’ season 6 episode 5 (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)

Now that Renard and #TeamGrimm have agreed to a cease in hostilities, NBC’s Grimm season six has shifted its focus back to ‘Wesen of the Week’ stories. In episode five titled ‘The Seven Year Itch,’ the Wesen of the week turns out to be a people-eating moth creature who lives in a local park. The episode begins with said Wesen clawing his way out of an unmarked grave.

Eve (Bitsie Tulloch) wakes up in the tunnel and studies the drawings on the wall that match the symbols on the cloth.

Nick (David Giuntoli) has a restless night, reliving his death as Adalind (Claire Coffee) slumbers beside him. He gets up and checks on Kelly who’s sound asleep in his crib and then looks down into the tunnels. Adalind joins him and he tells her he heard something. They talk about how happy they are being back together before heading back to bed.

The Wesen, dressed in shabby clothes, comes upon a stranger in the park and tells him he’s hungry. The stranger calls 911 because he thinks this strange dude is in trouble, but before he can finish the call, the Wesen kills him.

Over at Renard’s new place, he looks through a box of Diana’s dolls and finds the tiny knife she used when she acted out Bonaparte’s murder using her creepy dolls. Meisner turns up once again and Renard (Sasha Roiz) calls him an annoying ghost. Meisner reminds him he was there when Diana was born and Renard angrily thanks him for subbing in when he couldn’t be there himself. Renard wants to be done with being haunted, but Meisner doesn’t want to do this ghost thing half-assed. Renard tries to kick him out of his room and Meisner won’t leave, taunting him by asking if he’s actually there or just in Renard’s mind. Renard heads downstairs hoping to leave Meisner in the bedroom and spots Meisner’s dead body sprawled out on his living room floor. So much for escaping this pesky ghost.

Mothman (as he’ll be referred to until his true name’s revealed) cleans up in a lake, looking refreshed and healthy.

Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) visit the doctor and learn there’s only one baby and are assured the heartbeat sounds great. Oh, scratch that, the doctor finds a second heartbeat and then a third. Triplets! Monroe tells his lovely wife he loves her and they can do this.

Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) meet for breakfast and Nick describes how it felt to be shot and that he knew he was dying. He feels like he needs to carry the stick, saying it’s like carrying a weapon and without it, he feels like he’s missing a piece of himself. Nick tells Hank he put it back in the tunnel, and Hank wonders if maybe he shouldn’t rebury it further away. Nick’s not willing to until he learns more about it and where it came from. Hank thinks maybe they shouldn’t explore it further and that there’s a reason it was hidden in the first place. Wu calls and tells them to head to the park to check out a dead body.

Adalind picks up Diana at Renard’s new place which has a fantastic view, by the way. Renard overslept but seems to be in a decent mood when he says goodbye to his daughter and Adalind. But then he stops them and is about to ask if Adalind’s dealt with a ghost before but changes his mind after looking at Diana.

The Mothman’s victim was left naked and dead without any identification. They found a pile of rags nearby but nothing else. Hank and Nick try to figure it out, and Nick says maybe it was a sadistic sexual encounter gone bad. Hank asks, “Really?” and Nick says, “No. It’s Wesen.” (Season six and Nick’s sense of humor is sharper than ever.)

The dead man’s fingerprints come back to a man named Jeremy Tauberg and they’re about to head off to his place when a woman screams nearby. Her son fell into a hole and is stuck, and when Nick and Hank pull him out, they discover a skeleton. The roots entwined with the body suggest it’s been buried a few years. As Hank and Nick try and figure out what’s up with this new crime scene, they decide the hole is too big for just one body. Plus, the kid was playing in the dirt, according to his mom, which means something was already dug up in that spot which is surrounded by grass. The partners decide the killer was the digger because it’s too weird of a coincidence. Plus, Hank notices a trail of dirt heading to the other crime scene. They deduce someone emerged from the hole wearing “nasty ass” clothes, killed Jeremy, and then took his clothes and left theirs behind.

Mothman, now fully clothed and super hungry stuffs his face at a restaurant. He carries on a bizarre conversation with the waitress about people not lasting as long as they look like they should.

Renard’s in his office picturing Meisner dead on the floor of his new house. He calls someone and sets up a meeting.

Hank and Nick go over what they know about Jeremy Tauberg at the station and figure out he always walked through the park because he lived nearby. Tauberg was 6’1” and weighed 170 lbs, so they sort of know a description of the perp. Wu (Reggie Lee) says Tauberg’s credit card was used at a diner and Nick and Hank head out to investigate.

The waitress describes the man who used the card as normal-looking, but she does remember the weird conversation they had about him eating things and talking about a woman with a pretty face. It weirded her out. Nick gets a call from the medical examiner and learns the decayed body was a female.

Grimm Season 6 Episode 5
Russell Hornsby and David Giuntoli, and Dana Millican (Photo by: Allyson Riggs/NBC)

Nick and Hank talk to the M.E. who describes the decaying process and that there should have been less skin present since she was buried at least five years. Some of her skin was hardened into a subcutaneous shell, which is disgusting and bizarre. The M.E. also reveals all the organs are gone and there are marks on the bones that look like teeth marks. It’s like every bone in her body was gnawed on. (This Mothman Wesen is one nasty bug!)

Diana draws while Adalind cooks, and out of the blue she asks her mom if she knows Meisner. Renard said his name a lot last night, according to Diana, and she doesn’t know why. Adalind tells her Meisner died after getting into a fight with bad men, and Diana asks if her dad was one of the men. Then Diana says she knows Meisner; she remembers being in a helicopter with him. She thought he was nice and wants to see Meisner again, even though he’s dead. She also tells her mom that Eve is here in the wall and she doesn’t feel good.

Alarmed, Adalind heads into the tunnel to find Eve. Eve’s bleeding from the nose and can barely stand, and Adalind has to help her climb the stairs. They make it to Diana’s bed and Eve’s in horrible shape. She has a fever and when Adalind gets a washcloth, Diana heads into the tunnels. Adalind chases her and sees hundreds of symbols are now lit up all over the walls.

Hank and Nick are looking through the books for a Wesen that matches the killer when Monroe and Rosalee arrive home. They announce they’re having triplets and Hank and Nick congratulate them before showing off a drawing in a book that looks like the Wesen. The description translates to “party animal” and the creature was the inspiration for Dionysius. It resurrects from the earth for one day every seven years…and it’s immortal. During those 24 hours, the party animal Wesen has to find a person big enough to sustain it underground for seven years. Wu sends them the composite drawing of the man’s face and Monroe thinks he’s seen him before. They have to find him tonight or he’ll be gone for another seven years. Adalind interrupts the discussion by calling Nick and asking him to come home, letting him know Eve’s been living in the tunnels and is in bad shape.

Meanwhile, the party animal buys a drink for a large woman at a bar. The woman’s date threatens him and then heads outside for a smoke. The Wesen kills him and heads back inside, walking up to the woman and flirting like crazy. He buys a round for everyone in the bar and says, “Let’s get the party started!” They dance for a bit and then take off for a walk. He suggests that you’ve got to live for the moment.

Eve’s looking better after eating and confesses she’s been in the tunnels for a while. She wanted to leave but her body wouldn’t move. Adalind tells her Diana was drawing the same thing and knew Eve was in the tunnels, also drawing. Adalind apologizes for what she did to her and that’s when Nick arrives. Nick looks at Diana’s drawings and heads into the tunnel with Eve. They look over the drawings Eve did on the walls, and Eve thinks it’s connected to what healed them. Adalind interrupts their inspection with news Hank says there’s another body.

Mothman/Party Animal takes a walk through the park with the woman he picked up. He talks about the history of the park and of Portland.

Rosalee tries to help Monroe figure out where he’s seen the killer’s face before. It’s driving him crazy and Rosalee suggests maybe he was a customer. Monroe changes the hair on the drawing, then adds some glasses, and then a beard. He finally figures it out! They don’t know him, but they’ve all seen him – he’s William Stillman and his statue is in the park. The park is named after him and he was one of Portland’s earliest settlers. They call Nick with the news.

Nick and Hank check out the boyfriend’s body at the bar, and Wu says the people inside recognize the man who bought a lady a drink from the composite drawing. Monroe and Rosalee Facetime to explain the killer is William Stillman.

Renard pays a visit to a pawn shop, asking the Wesen owner for help on the haunting. Renard wants to know if the haunting is real or if he’s losing his mind, turning over his father’s ring and his wedding band as payment. The man tells Renard to step into a contraption known as a spirit vacuum. If there are spirits attached to him, it will pull them out. But Renard has to strip before getting in to make it work.

William Stillman tells the woman to look at the stars and asks if she feels the life around them. He admits he wants to kiss her and seems sad about the prospect. They kiss and he says, “You know, I think we’re going to be spending a lot of time together.” She turns away and he woges and knocks her out. Hank, Wu, and Nick race through the park to the spot where they recovered the buried body. They find the Party Animal and take him on, but he’s really strong and punching him is like punching armor. As they surround him, a Wesen comes up behind Stillman and bites his head off. It turns out the lady from the bar is a Wesen!

Renard, naked, stands in the machine and appears to be in pain as the machine begins working. Meisner’s spirit is pulled from him but escapes the machine while Renard’s still trapped inside. Meisner turns the machine on full power and Renard screams as the glass container breaks. Renard comes to, alone on the floor in the now completely empty pawn shop. Meisner appears behind him, saying, “A mind is a terrible thing to lose.”