A teenager named Carly discusses her high school course load and seeing her counselor with her father, Jarold, in their kitchen, then heads up to her room to work on an essay.Two men, Todd and Kyle, are waiting in her room. They morph into Coyotls and kidnap her from her home, her father none the wiser. Carly is brought to an abandoned farm outside of Portland where the leader of the Coyotls pack, Hayden, tells her that it’s time for her to rejoin the pack after her family’s betrayal. They then leave her tied and gagged with duct tape, suspended in a well.
Nick goes to the hospital to visit Juliette, who says she knows him – he’s the policeman who brought her to the hospital. He brings her roses and a laptop, and shows her photos of the two of them. She doesn’t recognize any of the photos with Nick, but she remembers her coworkers, other friends and dogs. She surmises that she and Nick are close and asks if they’re “sleeping together close.” Nick tells her yes, that they live together – and that they have for 3 years. She’s clearly baffled by this, and Nick attempts to take the laptop away, but Juliette asks to keep it. Nick then meets with her doctor, who tells him that she may have something called prosopagnosia, a disorder where the ability to recognize faces is impaired, but they need to run more tests. Nick should just keep trying to help her remember.
Hank goes to see a therapist about his anxiety, sleeping problems and what he thinks are hallucinations. In the middle of the session, he has a flashback due to post-traumatic stress disorder and grabs the female doctor, scaring both her and himself badly. He then leaves before the session is over. When he gets to the station, he tells Nick that he thinks he needs a break and that he’s concerned he can’t keep doing his job. Nick is understandably alarmed and promises to talk to him later in private. Nick meets with Renard about Catherine’s murder, telling him his suspicions about her daughter Adalind’s sudden disappearance just beforehand. Renard agrees that Adalind needs to be found.
Nick brings Monroe over to the hospital to see Juliette, hoping to spark some recognition. She recognizes Monroe right away – but there’s no connection to Nick, even though Nick was the one who introduced them. She even remembers the dinner they had together… but only that she and Monroe were there. Nick leaves the two to talk and heads back to the station. He and Hank are beginning to talk when Carly’s dad, Jarold, interrupts them. It turns out that he and Hank have been friends since high school, and Hank is Carly’s godfather, so of course he’s come to Hank now that Carly’s missing. Hank and Nick start getting all the information they can from Jarold, but nothing makes sense as to why she’d be kidnapped… until Nick sees Jarold morph into a Coyotl. Nick makes an excuse to leave and meets Monroe at Aunt Marie’s trailer.
The two quickly learn that Coyotls participate in a mating ritual that centers around a female turning the age of 17 and the nearest full moon. Knowing that Carly recently had her birthday, Nick realizes they don’t have much time. Monroe also tells Nick that he believes Adalind’s goal in what she did to Juliette was simply to remove all her memories of him – and it worked. Nick returns to the station just as Hank takes a coffee break. He quickly tells Jarold that he’s a Grimm, he wants to help him – and that Hank doesn’t know about him or anything to do with the other world. He asks if there are pack members who could have come after Carly for the ritual. Jarold seems shocked, but then admits that it’s possible – he and his wife had decided to raise Carly away from the pack, and their families didn’t like it. When Hank comes back, Jarold tells him that they should look into the estranged family members. Nick and Hank go to the shop where Hayden is supposed to be a mechanic, but he’s not there. Hayden’s boss gives them his address, and they find rotting, dead animal parts in the bathroom as well as a newspaper clipping about foreclosed farms.
Back at the farm, the Coyotls subject Carly to a rough and abusive bath to make sure she’s clean enough for the ritual. They tie her to the altar, but the Coyotl who’d been at the shop returns and tells them the police may be on their way. They stop the ritual temporarily and wait for the police. When they arrive, Nick and Hank tell Jarold to stay in the car and let them handle it, but of course he can’t do that. He demands that they tell him what they’ve done with Carly, then runs into the barn with Hank at his heels. The paraphernalia for the ritual freaks them both out, and Jarold runs back to demand answers from Hayden. Meanwhile, Hank notices the ropes moving in the well and gets Nick’s attention. They quickly get Carly out of the well, but the Coyotls have seen them and begin shooting. The three run into the barn and in her terror at finding out that Nick is a Grimm, Carly morphs… and Hank sees her change. He pulls his gun, but Nick steps in front of the girl and confesses to being a Grimm, reassuring Hank that he’s not the only one seeing these things. He promises to tell him everything later, but right now, they need to save Carly and Jarold.
Outside the barn, Hayden and the rest of the pack are holding Jarold. Hayden says that he’ll come in unarmed to talk, and Nick quickly tells Hank that Hayden will morph, thinking he’ll have the advantage over them. But now, Hank is ready. Hayden comes into the barn, morphs and jumps at Hank – but Hank punches him with no hesitation. They get the cuffs on him and then Carly starts screaming, then runs out of the barn. Everyone in the pack rushes into the barn except Todd, who’s left guarding Jarold, and they’re all quickly taken down by Nick and Hank. Meanwhile, Jarold’s had enough and morphs to fight Todd, and Carly joins in to help her dad. They quickly subdue him, too.
Back at the station, Hank fills out the report with help from Jarold and Carly, noting that it’s difficult because he can’t include everything. He and Nick then talk, and Hank tells Nick that it’s one of the better days of his life – “Because I might be crazy, but now I know I’m not alone.” Then Nick gets a call from the hospital, telling him that Juliette can be discharged and he can pick her up. He brings Juliette home, but it’s incredibly awkward. He watches her go upstairs to bed, alone.
WOW. Hank knows now – and he’s handling it well so far! Having someone he’s known and trusted for years, Jarold, as well as Nick telling him that all of this is real and that he’s not crazy was the best possible combination for finding out. The poor man had been pushed to the brink of sanity by this and was questioning everything about himself and his life, so he was ready for it. That this new knowledge helped him to save his goddaughter was a definite bonus. It’s going to be interesting to see just how much Nick will bring Hank into this world – will he tell him about Monroe and Rosalee? Will he take him to Aunt Marie’s trailer? Or will he just tell Hank what he thinks he needs to know? It’ll be interesting to see how they proceed from here – and whether or not Hank will continue to feel the same about this whole new world. Major kudos to Russell Hornsby for playing Hank in such a realistic fashion as he swung back and forth on the pendulum of self-doubt and near-insanity.
And then there’s Juliette. Bitsie Tulloch and David Giuntoli both moved me to tears as they did such a fantastic job of portraying the awkwardness and pain of a relationship remembered only by one person. Juliette wants to remember Nick, and it’s clearly frustrating for them both – and neither knows what to do or what might help. Will Nick be able to find Adalind, and if he does, will there even be any way to get Juliette’s memories back? Does Rosalee have any special potion recipes that could help? Or do they have no choice but to start their relationship over and hope Juliette falls in love with Nick again? If they do have to start over, will Nick tell Juliette that he’s a Grimm sooner? Maybe a ‘do over’ isn’t an entirely bad idea… what if Adalind has actually done them a favor?
