Grimm (TV)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Exactly what it says, folks.

Grimm is a detective series with significant Fantasy Series and Horror Series elements.

Nick Burkhardt, a new on the beat homicide police detective with the Portland Police Bureau in Oregon, is about to marry the woman of his dreams. He comes home to discover his Aunt Marie has turned up unexpectedly. They take a walk and she hits him with the truth she's been keeping secret from him: he is one of the last descendants of the Grimm family—as in The Brothers Grimm—and as such, is gifted with the ability to see monsters, or "Wesen", walking among us, and that his family has hunted and slain these monsters for generations.

Now Nick must cope with his new abilities, the knowledge that comes with them, and still do his job as a police officer.

Over the course of the first season, the series has moved away from Monsters of the Week and Police Procedural elements wrapped up in self-contained episodes into a more of a ongoing drama with various subplots all running concurrently that happens to be centered around police work and Wesen life. At the same time, the show has branched off from focusing on Nick as the central character into more of a ensemble feel by giving other characters more screen time and involvement in various plots.

Tropes used in Grimm (TV) include:
  • Achilles' Heel: The Blutbad have a weak spot at the lower right part of their back. If hit there it will stun them for a few seconds.
  • Aggressive Negotiations: Nick invokes this with Adalind.

Nick: Adalind, I think it's time we settled our differences. Violently.

  • Alien Catnip: Apparently mold that’s poisonous to us humans is “meth plus helium” to Wesen.
  • An Arm and a Leg: A type 2 example in "Bears Will Be Bears" when Monroe was fighting the people sent to kill Marie, he literally dis-armed one of them.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Marie warns Nick of a secret organization dedicated to defeating the Grimms and their allies (known as the "Grimm Reapers", of course).
  • Androcles' Lion: "Last Grimm Standing" 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.
  • Animal Motifs: Every Wesen seen so far has had one except for Hexenbiests (eyeless hag-like creatures), Siegbarstes (ogres), Haage and Hässlich (Grimm reapers and/or trolls) and well, if you consider the Dämonfeuer as based on dragons that are not really animals but mythical creatures.
  • Anti-Villain: Marty Burgess, arguably, given that he's a Serial Killer with a very good Freudian Excuse who only kills assholes. Although your mileage may vary on that. The people he killed may have been assholes, but they didn't seem to be in any way evil. And he was terrorizing the girl he loved at the end in a big way. Also he killed people when they saw him as harmless and were about to let him go.
    • Captain Renard, who protects Nick, even though he is putting himself at risk to do so, but is looking to take the key entrusted to Nick by Aunt Marie.
    • Lena, a Spinnetod (spider Wesen) who has to consume the liquefied organs of three men every five years in order to not undergo rapid aging, who is clearly reluctant to do it.
  • Art Shift: Perhaps not an art shift per see, but the show definitely makes the effort to use color, lighting, shadow and other subtle visual elements to create a quasi-fairy tale/story book appearance within context of realistic visuals.
  • Asian and Nerdy: Sgt. Wu, who lampshades the trope.

Nick: Can you see who he texted?
Wu: Of course I can; I'm Asian.

  • Assassin Outclassin': The Reapers are killed by Nick.
  • Asshole Victim: The Fuchsbau Lena murders at the start of "Tarantella".
    • This is the common trait of all the people killed by Marty Burgess.
  • The Atoner: Monroe is implied to be one for his previous Big Bad Wolf days.
  • Ax Crazy: The two Wesen junkies in "Island of Dreams".
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Nick and Monroe in "Last Grimm Standing". Didn't last long when the police arrived to arrest everyone involved in the underground gladiator games.
  • Badass Boast: Nick: "Next time, send your best." It's sent to the leader of the Reapers, along with the heads of two of his underlings.
  • Badass Family: Nick Burkhardt is the latest descendant of the Grimm family who have been hunting "storybook" monsters for generations. In "Tarantella", there's brief mention of a Grimm meeting an Asian doctor who shares their abilities so it may be that the Grimm family is simply the most well known or the name given to people like Nick.
  • Bee-Bee Gun/Bee People/Everything's Worse with Bees: The Mellifers.
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy:
    • Monroe implies that several Hollywood actors are Ziegevolk. NBC's website for the show outright states that Casanova, Frank Sinatra, and JFK were.
    • Monroe is pretty confident that Santa Claus is both real and not human; being a Gefrierengeber (German for "frozen giver", according to The Other Wiki) would make him capable of living "up there". Nick doesn't elaborate for the viewers but seems to take the suggestion seriously.
    • Monroe also suggests that the mouse creatures introduced in "Of Mouse and Man" are behind Disney - though he doesn't say the company name, he does his usual Take That on the subject by bringing up "their cartoon thing".
    • An old film reveals Hitler was a Schakal.
    • Steinadlers are described as being involved in the military; there is even a photo of a general included in the book, probably as an example.
    • Monroe states in "Big Feet" that Thoreau, Emerson, and (Edward) Abbey were Wildermann.
  • Better to Die Than Be Killed: Inverted, as Ariel Enerhart's plan for her father is for him to be honorably killed in combat rather than die of old age.
  • Betty and Veronica: Rosalee (Betty) and Angelina (Veronica) seem to be this to Monroe.
  • BFG: Among Aunt Marie's many weapons is a triple-barrel elephant gun. Its purpose is to kill Ogres. Interestingly, it's relatively realistic (the third, under-slung barrel is far smaller than the other two).
  • Bilingual Bonus: Nearly all of the Wesen names are (at least supposedly) meaningful in German (Jägerbär, Ziegevolk, etc). The Mellifer, as an exception, is derived from the Greek word for "honey bee". Other Wesen have names in multiple languages as noted in "Happily Ever Aftermath" where the name written in the Grimm book is in Spanish while Monroe knows the creature by it's German name.
  • Birds of a Feather: Rosalee and Monroe. Rosalee is a rehabilitated drug addict who's cleaned up her act. Monroe himself is also a rehabilitated Blutbad. Both seem to have mellow subdued personalities whilst remaining fiercely loyal to their kind. They both even decorate in a warmly antique style.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lucinda in "Happily Ever Aftermath" is also The Sociopath according to Spencer.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Some of the Wesen. "The Thing with Feathers" features a bird-like woman that makes a gold "stone/egg" in her neck that shatters like glass with impact.
  • Black Best Friend: Hank.
  • Blessed with Suck: Spinnetods. Spider-like beings who are super-strong, super-agile and capable of regenerating any severed limb or appendage. Oh, and they must feed on three human or Wesen males every five years, or they suffer massive rapid-aging. Charlotte, a Spinnetod who refuses to feed, appears to be around seventy years old, when in fact, she's actually twenty-six. The two mature female Spinnetods we see seem very reluctant to perform their kills—while being required to kill in one of the most grotesque ways we've seen all season.
  • Blind Idiot Translation: Much pain and unintended hilarity for German speakers. Starts with simple grammar fail like using adjectives as nouns or wrongly cobbled-together compound words, and ends with completely nonsensical/unintelligible words or horrible dictionary slips (e.g. the supposed 'bee queen' is called "bee gay [person]").
    • One could attribute it to 200 years of other non-German Grimms messing up the pronunciation. Although you do have to wonder why the Wesen even call themselves by it, since they existed before the Grimm brothers labelled them, so its clearly aren't what they were originally called.
    • Probably non-German usage crossed with time in the same way an Asian-American may refer to themselves as Chinese or Japanese when the equivalent word in said language doesn't really have a translation.
  • Blood Magic: Just so you're sure she’s evil, Adalind is shown using this in a cookie of all things.
  • Bloody Murder: The blood of a Grimm is poisonous to Hexenbiests. This is an odd case though, seeing as it doesn’t so much kill the victim so much as it kills their power.
  • Blue and Orange Morality: A borderline case. While Wesen typically do a good job of masking their presence by living according to human society's rules, many of them have deeply ingrained instincts and traditions which are at odds with human laws. This sometimes crosses over with simple Gray and Gray Morality.
  • Bodyguard Betrayal: Averted. When the cops were no longer watching Marie, Nick asked Monroe to keep an eye on Marie, despite knowing Monroe's dislike, hatred, and fear of Marie for what she and the previous Grimms did to his kind and other Wesen. When pointing this out to Nick, Nick replies Monroe is the only person Nick can trust with this. So despite his deep anger at the old woman and the fact that he could have killed her in the hospital bed, he did keep his word to protect her from two thugs.
  • Body Horror:
    • The murders in "Beeware". Being injected with fifty milligrams of bee venom does not make for a pretty corpse. Also, the half-transformed creatures often aren't nice looking.
    • Sgt. Wu eats some cookies that weren't meant for him... and his face breaks out in huge boils. Even worse are his hallucinations, where he sees Nick, Eddie, and Rosalee's faces melt off.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Hank falls victim to this thanks to evil mind control cookies from Adalind.
    • The Coins of Zakynthos do this, giving the person who holds them delusions of grandeur, charismatic influence over others and an obsessive need to possess them. They are explicitly mentioned as being the reason for it the rise of several tyrannical Roman Emperors as well as the Third Reich. We even get a glimpse of this in action when Hank and Renard briefly come into contact with them and begin Putting on the Reich.
    • Also the power of a frog eating Ziegevolk can have this effect on people, especially women. So far we haven’t seen anyone do anything violent at a Ziegevolk request, but they where certainly doing things they never would have done otherwise.
  • Brought Down to Normal: Apparently a Grimm’s blood has the power to do this to Hexenbiest, turning them completely human. Adalind ends up learning this the hard way.
  • Buddy Cop Show: Twice over, no less. Hank is Nick's partner on the Muggle side, while Monroe helps with the creature stuff.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Nick was warned by Adalind in "Beeware" that he needs to protect her or else his reputation will be called into question if Nick allows her to die on his watch.
  • Cats Are Mean: Klaustreich are alley cat-like Wesen with a reputation for being dangerous jerks
  • Chekhov's Gun: "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics is playing on the iPod of the first victim in the pilot. Later, the killer begins absentmindedly humming it front of the cops, tipping them off. Marilyn Manson's cover of the song later plays during the pilot's Cliff Hanger.
    • Juliette asks Nick to boil some water she'd set on the stove. When she gets home and finds Nick beaten by Stark the Siegbarste, she runs into the kitchen to get a weapon to defend herself and Nick, and the only thing she can get her hands on is the water that Nick had set to boil, so she scalds Stark by throwing the water over him.
    • Occasionally, a throwaway line by Monroe will be referenced later in the episode as a way to beat the creature of the week.
    • In the episode "Lonelyhearts", Nick's partner is shown carefully placing a tracker on the monster of the week's car, only for it to go for a walk instead. Originally this seems to be played for laughs, but then in the end when the monster tries to escape by driving to another state, as he has every other time he is close to being caught, they can track him.
    • Rosalee's box cutter. Just before Freddy's murderers return to the apothecary she is shown using it to sift through boxes attempting to find herbs Wesen will kill to get their hands on. When one of the murderers grab her she frees herself by jamming the box cutter into his arm.
    • In "Leave it to Beavers", there is a Chekhov's Crossbow that Nick uses to kill a Reaper.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: The first Wesen Nick sees, Adalind, is working with the forces attempting to kill off Marie, and almost succeeds at the end of the pilot.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Ariel's fire breathing act which ends with her eating fire. It hints at the fact that she's actually fireproof which comes into play at the end of the episode when she fakes her death.
  • Civilian Villain: This trope is played with in the case of Monroe the Clockmaker. He is actually a fairy tale creature—a "Wesen"—of the same type as The Big Bad Wolf, but with a careful regimen of "diet, drugs, and Pilates", he has gone from a ravening beast to a mostly-regular guy leading a mostly-normal life in the 'burbs.
  • Come with Me If You Want to Live: A very mild version of this happens in "Plumed Serpent".
  • Convection, Schmonvection: When Nicks fighting a Dämonfeuer, he grabs a sheet of Copper to shield himself from the flames. This works without any of the realistic ramifications.
  • Cool Guns: The ogre-slaying Elephant Gun in "Game Ogre". Monroe practically squees over it.
  • Crazy Prepared: Aunt Marie was prepared with certain rare items and weapons for any supernatural threat.
  • Cruel and Unusual Death: Which would you prefer: having a gavel crammed down your throat or dying of an ugly anaphylactic shock via bee sting overdose?
  • Cultured Badass: Captain Renard.
    • Monroe can be called this too, given some of his hobbies.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Female Blutbaden get fangs and red eyes when they put on their Game Faces, but are otherwise much more human-looking than male Blutbaden. Same applies when we see a female Fuschbau. Hexenbiests on the other hand, not so much. YMMV on Mellifers, Spinnetods, and Dämonfeuer.
    • Special mention goes to Rosalee, who is by far the cutest female Wesen seen.
      • Bree Turner the actress who portrays Rosalee is recognized for her big Brown Eyes.
    • Adalind fits the bill perfectly. Especially when the would be mugger threatened her thinking she was just a teeny blond.
    • Angelina fits the bill too, being very tough, but very cute, and very easy to underestimate.
    • Averted in "Happily Ever Aftermath" so that you can't tell which one is the murderer.
  • Cycle of Revenge: This is depicted and discussed A LOT. Related to Feuding Families below.
  • Dark Action Girl: Angelina and Adalind.
  • Dark Fantasy: Hell yeah.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Its quickly becoming a World of Snark.
    • Monroe, the first creature Nick suspects of attacking girls in the woods. He ends up helping Nick find the actual creature in question, another of his kind.
    • Nick does so a little bit near the end of the second episode.

Frank Rabe: It isn't easy to give up your history. You haven't had to give up yours.
Nick: Yeah, it's been lots of fun.

    • Captain Renard gets a chance too.

Caller: Did you get your present?
Renard: Where should I send a thank-you note?

  • Destructive Romance: Monroe and Angelina's relationship was depicted as this in Episode 6.
  • Did Not Do the Research: In Episode 21, Juliette concludes that it is a hominid and possibly a primate, all hominids are primates. Particularly bad as she is a vet.
    • However, not all primates are hominids. So it would seem her notes were meant to show she thought the hair was from something which is similar to either but not actually fitting in either at the same time.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything:
    • In "The Three Bad Wolves", Monroe's ex-girlfriend suggests that Monroe let his wild side out and offers him a drink.
    • When Nick tries to explain Wesen and Grimms to Juliette, he sounds like a rabid fan trying to explain his favorite TV show to someone who never watched the show and is not a fan of the genre. He gets bogged down explaining small details and fails to realize that the other person does not have the same enthusiasm as he is not convinced of the basic premise. Naturally by the end, the other person thinks that he has gone off his rocker.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Or rather, the mouse bites back—with some fairly disturbing results.
  • Domestic Abuser: Klaustreich tend to be irresistible to women but also have a nasty reputation of mistreating them. In "The Thing With Feathers" a Klaustreich is married to a Seltenvogel but he keeps her a virtual prisoner and is only interested in harvesting the extremely valuable golden egg growing in her throat.
  • Don't Go in The Woods: Ties into the entire mythos of Grimm fairy tales that ominous activity happens in the woods. You can guess where most of the drama happens in this show.
  • The Dragon: Juliette gets kidnapped by one. This is played with, however... since it's an actual dragon and Nick has to fight it!
  • Dramatic Irony: The Spinnetod in "Tarantella" ends up getting caught by Nick because she becomes entangled in a web that's over water.
  • The Dreaded: Grimms have a nasty reputation among the supernatural species and merely being in the presence of a Grimm can cause some of the meeker ones to go into panic mode. For the Grimms that have gone up against the more nastier aspects of Wesen society such as that featured in "Organ Grinder" on a regular basis, their cynical Kill'Em All mentality is perhaps justified/rationalized in their minds simply due to the infrequent instances of running into people like Hap and Monroe.
    • Apparently, the Grimms have become the monsters of their fairy tales.

Monroe: You're the monster under the bed! [...] You're not real! You're a scary story we tell our kids! Be good or a Grimm will come and cut your head off...

  • Even the Guys Want Him: Almost occurs when Monroe spies on the Ziegevolk, who can generate lust-inducing pheromones, for Nick.

Monroe: I can't be around that guy -- I almost bought him a drink!

  • Every Man Has His Price: Monroe disliked being used by Nick for tracking... until Nick offered him a bottle of 1978 Bordeaux for helping out. Monroe had no complaints from there on.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The villains of "The Thing with Feathers" just can't get that Nick is trying to protect the Seltenvogel from them, not trying to steal her golden egg for himself.
  • Evil Counterpart: Though you can't exactly call her "evil", Angelina is this to Juliette.
  • Exact Words: Reginald really should have been careful of how he worded his bargain with Edgar Waltz.

Reginald: You promise you won't hurt my family!
Edgar Waltz: Of course not! You kept your end of the bargain. I wouldn't dream of torturing your family.

  • Expy: DJ Retched Kat in "Danse Macabre" is one of deadmau5.
  • Eyeless Face: The Hexenbiests display this trope.
  • Eye Scream: A dead victim in "Organ Grinder" gets his eyes pecked out by a raven as he's floating down the river.
    • And in "Happily Ever Aftermath", several victims get their eyeballs ruptured by the Murcialago's sonic scream. Very bloodily, at that.
  • Fairy Tales: Each episode is at least partially based off of one.
    • The Pilot's main plot is based on Little Red Riding Hood.
    • "Bears Will Be Bears" is partly based on Goldilocks and The Three Bears.
    • "Beeware" is partly based on The Queen Bee;;.
    • "Lonelyhearts" is based off satyrs, with the Grimm tie-in coming from the tale of Bluebeard (or more specifically Fitcher's Bird, because of the monsters' abilities to induce lust in a victim through touch, and other habits and his many wives (based on both the teaser quote and the name of the Monster of the Week).
    • "Danse Macabre" is based on The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
    • "The Three Bad Wolves" is based on The Three Little Pigs.
    • "Let Your Hair Down" is very loosely based on Rapunzel. Loosely in that she's a Wild Child Blutbad who strangles someone in her first appearance.
    • "Game Ogre" is loosely based on Jack and the Beanstalk.
    • "Of Mouse and Man" is an aversion, since it's taken from John Steinbeck's book Of Mice and Men.
    • "Organ Grinder" is based on Hansel and Gretel.
    • "Tarantella" is based on the Japanese fairytale Jorōgumo.
    • "Last Grimm Standing" is based on Androcles but with the idea averted as the "lion" does not repay the kindness it was shown.
    • "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" has a quote from The Master Thief.
    • "Plumed Serpent" has a quote at the beginning from The Two Brothers.
    • "Leave It to Beavers" is based on The Three Billy Goats Gruff.
    • "Happily Ever Aftermath" is based on Cinderella but inverted, with the stepmother and stepsisters being terrorized by the entitled, sociopathic Cinderella expy.
    • "Big Feet" is about Big Foot but not really. It's more like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, although the official website states that it was based off the story of Hans the Hedgehog.
  • Femme Fatale: Adalind Schade, and possibly all the Hexenbiest who are said to be lovely in human form, and are loyal servants to royalty.
  • Feuding Families:
    • The Grimms have been killing Wesen for centuries, and the families of the dead hold grudges. Monroe's grandfather was killed by a Grimm and he is afraid that he will be disowned if his family finds out that he is helping Grimms instead of killing them.
    • Some of the supernatural species really do not get along and have been fighting feuds for a long time. Bauerschwein are a major victim of Blutbad violence and in "The Three Bad Wolves", one of them has had enough and kills the brothers of the Blutbad who killed the Bauerschwein's brothers.
    • Other species tend to operate more on natural animal lines - the snake creature that appears in "Of Mouse and Man" suggests that they are natural predators/antagonists towards the mouse creature that also appears.
  • Fiery Redhead: Angelina.
  • Five-Bad Band: Possibly:
  • Five-Man Band: One is beginning to take shape:
  • Flash Back: Nick gets them to things Aunt Marie told him, and to earlier experiences with Adalind.
  • Flashmob: "Beeware".
    • Flash Mob Coverup: One of the participants used it as a way to cover up the murders of Hexenbiests.
  • Friendship Moment: When Monroe is beaten up in "Of Mouse and Man" for "messing with the status quo" by helping a Grimm, Nick says he won't ask Monroe for help again. Monroe declares that Nick can ask him for all the help Nick needs, and they toast the moment with a beer.

Monroe: I've never been much of a status quo guy. And next time, we'll be ready for them.

  • Game Face: All Wesen have one, though only Nick and the other Grimms can see it.
    • Marie says that the creatures can be seen for what they are when they "lose control", although it appears that they can also make a deliberate effort to show their inhuman aspect, or suffer momentary Glamour Failure that reveals their true nature to Nick. Unlike other instances though, the various creatures don't seem to actually transform physically—if they do, then their morph form remains hidden even for non-Grimms/non-creatures and they don't seem to have any real physical benefits for showing their Game Face; their strength and other abilities are as natural to them as breathing.
    • Good evidence for this is seen with the Jägerbärs and Mellifers; the former are shown holding and using a bear-like weapon while Nick's book shows the Mellifer's sting as a large device. Using more-than-human abilities however seems to force (or require) some amount of transformation or diversion of energy though this also varies with the person in question. Adalind and Monroe, both of whom regularly engage in non-human activities, demonstrate considerable physical ability with no transformations while the family of bears (who have suppressed their non-human natures) seem to prefer transformation for any sort of show of ability.
    • While Nick himself doesn't seem to have one, most Wesen he encounters are able to identify him as a Grimm. Since this generally only occurs after Nick has seen a given Wesen's Game Face, this may be based on his reaction more than anything else. On the other hand, its entirely possible that Nick's presence might inadvertently trigger their Game Face, alerting them to the fact he's a Grimm.
    • Monroe suggests that non-Grimms/non-creatures can indeed see their Game Face if the creature in question wants them to. However, he also points out that doing so is usually a bad thing if only because humans generally aren't prepared for the sudden shock to their Weirdness Censor.
    • Interestingly enough, Wesen don't have any innate capacity to detect other Wesen unless they see the others' Game Face. This hasn't always turned out well for those that pick on the wrong Wesen.
  • Genre Blind: Nick. He doesn't understand the purpose of wolfsbane or walking through water when trying to track down a Big Bad Wolf in human clothing.
    • Justified in he is new and used to only going after human suspects. Or not, in that he seems never to have read fairy tales or seen a horror movie. Those are also pop culture references.
    • In the first episode, the killer Blutbad preyed on girls in red (á la Little Red Riding Hood). Why in the second episode is Nick's girlfriend seen wearing nothing but red clothes?
      • Well, let's see how that would work. "Hey Juliette, I want you to never wear red again, because it will attract human-looking monsters that are really wolves that eat people." That would surely go over well.
  • Genre Savvy: Monroe.

Monroe: Oh, this is usually the part in the movie where the sidekick gets it.

    • Plus, Monroe constantly relates the investigation in "Beeware" to a horror movie.

Monroe: Oh, don't tell me we are going upstairs... Oh my God, we are going upstairs!

  • Ghostapo: The coins in "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" are stated to be responsible for this.
  • Gladiator Games: The Löwen, a lion-like species of Wesen, enjoy running them to the modern day. Captain Renard sanctioned the event with a list of approved targets to snatch and fight. He is not happy when they deviate from the list.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: Based on Monroe's testimony and Hank's freak-out upon seeing two Wesen in their game faces, most normal humans tend to go mad from seeing a Wesen in their other form as their minds cannot handle such a break from reality. A really good example can be seen in the first murder of "Happily Ever Aftermath", though in that case, the darkness and the fact that said Wesen was trying to kill the victim didn't help matters.
  • Good Is Dumb: Hap is easily the nicest Blutbad encountered so far, and also the dumbest.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Nick demonstrates this more and more as the series progresses. Monroe gets several instances of this as well.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language: The names of Wesen are usually German, which is to be expected since they were discovered and classified by a pair of German authors. Some are normal preexisting words re-applied as a monster name, while new word creations usually end as Blind Idiot Translations.
    • Some Wesen names have roots in other languages, such as Greek.
    • There's also some Gratuitous French, as Renard talks to his cohorts/superiors in French occasionally.
  • The Grim Reaper: Played with. In this continuity, it isn't the Grim Reaper, but Reapers of the Grimms, an organization of as-yet-unidentified Wesen that has dedicated themselves to wiping out the Grimms and use scythes as weapons. According to The Other Wiki, the Reapers of Grimms are an organization of trolls with strong evidence from the name of the first to appear (Hulda).
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Reinigen. Suddenly the ability to control rats with music doesn't seem so harmless anymore...
  • Held Gaze: Naturally occurs between Nick and Juliette.
    • Also a variation of this trope is played with between Rosalee and Monroe in "Island of Dreams". To confirm that Monroe did in fact know Freddy, Rosalee grabs onto his arm and looks him square in the eye before revealing herself to be a Fuchsbau. Monroe's gaze does not falter when he reveals himself to be a Blutbad.
  • Hero-Killer: Stark from "Game Ogre" is about as close as a one-shot character can get without actually killing anyone.
  • Heroic Bystander: Monroe helps Nick track down the rogue Blutbad and the little girl.
  • He's Dead, Jim: Aunt Marie fights off another would-be assassin, then delivers Last Words to Nick: "Follow your instincts, believe nothing else" before the scene changes to Nick and his girlfriend at the cemetery.
  • Hive Mind Testimonial: The interviews with the "flash mob" come out like this. Nick even comments on it, asking the last suspect why it sounds like there's an echo in the room. (Of course, they're bees. It IS a hive.)
  • Hollywood Satanism: In one episode, the medical examiner remarks that Satanic cults of this type were popular during the 80's (in Real Life, there was a moral panic at the time that resulted in many innocent people tried and convicted for nonexistent "Satanic" crimes).
  • Homoerotic Subtext: "Organ Grinder" has Nick pulling out his cell-phone, asking the person on the other end if they have plans for dinner, and smiling fondly. You'd think it's his girlfriend, right? Nope! Cut to dinner at Monroe's house, complete with white wine and jazz playing in the background. In fact, the entire ensuing conversation reeks of homoerotic subtext, with Monroe complaining about how Nick never asks about other aspects of his life, mentioning testicles and claiming that "everything works great" in regards to his private parts.
    • That same episode starts with coffee at Monroe's house in the morning, with Monroe asking Nick when he was going to tell his girlfriend. He means about Wesen and Grimms, but the viewer might be forgiven in thinking that they started sleeping together.
    • In "Leave It to Beavers", this happens when Juliette wants Monroe to come to dinner. Nick immediately panics trying to figure out Monroe and he are going to say that will keep the nature of their (working) "relationship" secret from her. The whole scene plays out like they're trying to hide an affair.
  • Horrible Camping Trip: The couple at the beginning of "Let Your Hair Down" had no idea what was coming... and it wasn't even a supernatural threat.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: Monroe knows way more about the supernatural than Nick does, and is way more physically capable if he goes wolfy, which admittedly isn't his favorite thing.
  • I Am Not Left-Handed: "I didn’t call a Fuchsbau"—cue Blutbad attack.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Nick asked, almost immediately after realizing his abilities as a Grimm, how to stop it.
  • Immune to Bullets: Some Wesen are highly resistant to Muggle tactics to taking them down. Nick even referenced he tried macing a teenage Wesen who just enjoyed it.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: The episode title "Game Ogre" (game over).
  • Informed Ability: Averted with Monroe, whose day-job occupation as a clockmaker (which he is evidently very good at) comes up in the eighth episode of the first season when he is called upon to identify and provide information about an antique watch. In the next episode, he is called out to fix a clock. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a ploy to send a message about his work with Nick. He takes it about as well as you'd expect from a Retired Monster--defiantly.
  • Insistent Terminology: Zaubertrank are magic potions, but are almost always referred to as Zaubertrank. When Nick asks Monroe why they aren't just referred to as potions, the answer is basically "because Zaubertrank sounds cooler".
  • Interspecies Romance: While it isn't known how taboo it is, the Ziegevolk in "Lonelyhearts" was able to reproduce with humans, so humans and Wesen are genetically compatible. While it isn't known how human-Wesen lovers are seen, to the Old Land Wesen wedding outside their species is a big no-no and will result in being hunted down and killed.
  • It's All My Fault: Monroe (mostly) and Angelina in "The Three Bad Wolves" after Hap was assassinated by Orson while the two were away.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Aunt Marie's reason for being an old maid; she suggests it to Nick when she reveals the truth to him about his lineage.
  • Kavorka Man: How Ziegevolk appear to the world: unattractive (or at least, not handsome) men with a knack for landing incredibly attractive women.
  • Kink Meme: Yeah, the show has one.
  • Knight Templar: While we don't know how Grimms operate in the modern world, previous generations are possibly implied to have fallen under this category, judging from the reaction of many creatures when they realize what Nick is. Monroe's description of what they did to his grandfather certainly paints a vivid description of their form of justice. Although we know that grandpa deserved it. As we know that nearly all Blutbaden are killers, or at least dangerous. Even Monroe admits to having killed before he became reformed, its very hard to say if it was or wasn't justified. So far all the creatures recorded in the Grimm books that Grimms killed deserved it. So mileage may vary on this.
  • Lady in Red: Blutbaden are provoked by the color red. Which is worrying, since Nick's girlfriend Juliette often wears red.
  • The Lancer: Hank Griffin in law-enforcement matters and Monroe regarding Grimms and the supernatural.
  • La Résistance: There is a resistance movement among Wesen that opposes a powerful Wesen conspiracy that has been infiltrating human governments and advocates racial purity.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: In "Beeware", Nick guns down a Mellifer queen. At the end of the episode, he's stung by a bee. What makes this look a lot like direct payback is the fact that the bee first lands gently on the back of his right hand, ambles around harmlessly for a moment, and then stings his trigger finger.
  • Loners Are Freaks: The ostracized teenager in "Danse Macabre" was treated like this. In the same episode, Nick empathizes with the teen and implies that he was once a loner, too.
  • Love Is in the Air: Ziegevolks have the power to charm anyone with their touch.
  • Made of Iron: Ogres are ridiculously hard to kill, but they're not immortal. The simple way to kill them is with an extremely rare poison that calcifies their bones and makes them brittle enough to shatter from the inside out; or, simple overwhelming force can be applied. Both of these approaches get combined when Monroe poisons the rounds he fires through Marie's antique triple-barrel elephant rifle, taking Stark down in one shot. Presumably, anything invoking the Chunky Salsa Rule would also work.
    • Grimms are also this to a degree. That Nick was capable of taking a beating from a Skalenzahne in "Last Grimm Standing" and still manage to easily best it, heavily implies that Grimms have far superior strength and stamina than most Wesen. The aforementioned Ogre however, is something clearly beyond even their limits.
  • Magical Security Cam: Implied in "Beeware" when Nick asks if they can "do anything" (answer: "no, the camera's stationary") with recorded footage of a flash mob murder.
  • Masquerade: The fight between the Grimms (and their allies) against the creatures who aren't as concerned with humans, which continues to the 21st century as ordinary persons do not know about this fight. The two factions want it that way.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It is never said for sure if the coins in "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" are really magical or the people holding them are suffering from delusions caused by arsenic and mercury poisoning. The irony of the situation is that this is a universe with dragons who can breathe fire, trolls who are almost impervious to normal weapons, and satyrs that can charm you with their touch. Given instances of Wesen activities (human organs as herbal remedies) and Adalind's special cookies, it may be quasi-magical by our perception but mundane chemistry with a Wesen touch in the Grimm universe.
    • Although, if you look carefully, Hank, who was affected by the coins, never came into skin contact with them...
    • Not to mention the fact that the coins bring out the exact same symptoms in the people who possess them...
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Gilda Darner is the name of the victim of the week in a Goldilocks-themed story. Gilda as gilded or gold. She also is a blonde.
    • More groan-worthy is the young Jägerbär named Barry. Whose last name is Rabe, an anagram of "bear".
    • One of Barry's friends Jägerbär friends is named 'T.B.', as in 'Teddy Bear'.
    • In light of The Reveal at the end of the pilot, one must wonder about Police Captain Renard...
    • In "Beeware", the Queen Bee of the Mellifers is Melissa, which means "honey bee" in Greek.
    • In "Lonelyhearts", the antagonist of the episode is a creature based off satyrs. The antagonist is named Billy Capra. As in billy goat, which satyrs have the legs of. And Capra which is the genus of goats.
    • Lieutenant Orson in "The Three Bad Wolves" shares a name with a pig character from U.S. Acres.
    • Oleg Stark[1] in "Game Ogre".
    • "Organ Grinder", an episode loosely based off of "Hansel and Gretel", had two central characters named Hanson and Gracie.
    • Leo Taymor the Löwen in "Last Grimm Standing". Nick actually Lampshades this one.
    • A bird based Wesen named Robin.
  • Memetic Badass: Grimms to Wesen, In-Universe. It's important to note that Grimms seem to have no real special powers other than the ability to see Wesen. It's only the centuries of hunting and thus the downright mythical stories told of Grimms by Wesen to each other and their children that give Grimms their fierce reputation and legendary status.
  • Men Are the Expendable Gender: Overwhelmingly, victims tend to be male. Even the initial multi-victim attack in "Bigfoot" ends up with the sole female still alive.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Aunt Marie ends up in a hospital bed after an attack by Hulda the Troll, and a nurse reveals Marie's body is Covered with Scars. Nick fends off another attempt to kill her while visiting her. She dies in the second episode.
    • The Wesen mentor in "Happily Ever Aftermath" ends up like this too at the hands of his mentee, no less.
  • Mind Screw: In-universe, this happens to Hank. Warning to the wary, never eat cookies from a Hexenbiest
  • Monster of the Week: Looks like that's going to be the format here. That said, the show does seem to make an effort to have recurring creatures outside of the Myth Arc creatures like Blutbaden. As the series has progressed and matured to the point where much of the initial world building has already taken place, it has become less about new monsters and more about the drama. To a certain extent, the Police Procedural aspects have been toned down as well, serving more as an excuse for Nick to get involved/informed about the situation than as an actual story line where someone gets arrested.
  • Monsters Anonymous: Monroe.
  • Mugging the Monster: Human criminals going after creatures are going to be in a world of hurt. Even the peaceful Monroe is capable of ripping a man's arm off without much effort. In "Bears Will Be Bears", this happens to three different groups of human criminals. Even those species that aren't gifted with physical capabilities or supernatural abilities tend to have quirks that make them hard to deal with. The mouse creature in "Of Mouse and Man" is shown crawling through small spaces far faster and better than a human could.
    • Played with when Wesen attempt to fight Nick, as he is the monster that they fear. Given that he's been revealed to be stronger than Monroe, (who can rip a man's arm off), this starts to make sense.
  • Muggles: Anyone who isn't a Grimm or one of the creatures he hunts. Nick has to deal with weird reactions from his partner because his partner is a regular mortal human.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: Goes right along with Ariel's Stalker with a Crush antics.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast : If you know German (and can get past the Blind Idiot Translation pain/giggles), then names like Blutbad and Dämonfeuer are this in spades (means "Blood Bath" and "Demon Fire" respectively). Some of the other Wesen names are none to cuddly sounding as well.
  • Never Mess with Auntie: Aunt Marie really puts the English on the trope given she's dying of a terminal illness and still takes on Hulda with only a knife and her Bald of Awesome. We find out later she was a Badass Bookworm, having been a librarian by trade. A knife concealed in the handle of her cane, that is. She also stares down Monroe while she's clinging to life in a hospital bed. Considering we see Monroe rip off a man's arm a few scenes later, that took no small amount of guts.
  • Non-Human Sidekick: Monroe.
  • Non-Idle Rich: Though not exactly rich, Monroe is affluent enough to indulge in fairly niche hobbies and has enough spare time to help Nick out on a regular basis. Given his occupation though, it's perhaps justified as people of his skill and talent are few and far between so he can charge a premium.
  • The Nose Knows: Stated by line by the one who embodies the trope: Monroe.
  • Not So Different: Orson confronting Nick when the latter knows that he's of Bauerschwein origin. The former believes that they should work together as police officers and not in the Grimm—Monster hunting view. Nick doesn't agree, considering Orson's involvement in Hap's death.
  • No Swastikas: Subverted. Renard goes into detail about the history of the Swastika, and what it originally meant.
  • Off with His Head: Reapers traditionally kill Grimms by decapitating them with their large scythes. Nick is able to best two of them and does the same - then sends their heads to their commander as a message.
  • Oh Crap: The reaction of various creatures upon learning that Nick is a Grimm has basically been "oh god oh god please don't kill me." Nick has used this to get information, but other times he's clearly getting exasperated at having to explain that he's not the indiscriminately beheading type.
    • In "Leave It to Beavers", the look the Reaper in Germany has when he discovers his parcel contains the severed heads of the two Reapers tasked with eliminating Nick. As well as a note from him.

Nick: Next time. Send your best.

  • Once an Episode: Each episode begins with a quote from a story or fairytale relevant to the episode in question. Nick also ends up calling on Monroe for something in every episode, whether Monroe likes it or not.
  • One-Gender Race: The satyr-like Ziegevolk, who impregnate human women. Also, all Hexenbiests seen so far are female. The Spinnetods are not a one gender race, but only the females have the degenerative condition that makes them prey on young men, and the males are, as a rule, killed by their mates (the husband Spinnetod in "Tarantella" being an exception).
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Nick and Adalind, since he knows she's a Hexenbiest, and she knows he's a Grimm. When he has to question her for his case, they discuss it but take sub-textual shots at each other with their word choice.
  • Opening Narration: In this case, it seems, as of the first episode, to be a quote from the fairy tale the villain of the week comes from.
  • Opium Den: Nick and Monroe track a couple of Wesen junkies into one specifically for Wesen (if a human were to smoke the stuff, they’d die). The smoke messes with Monroe’s nose.
  • The Other Rainforest: Set and filmed in Portland, Oregon. There are a lot of little in jokes that are funnier if you're a Portlander or an Oregonian (two Eisbibers being really big OSU fans, for instance).
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Dämonfeuer, Wesen descendent from a dragon-like lineage. They can breath fire by vaporizing their body fat and igniting it, seem to hoard copper, and are fireproof. As with the werewolf entry below, Monroe makes the important distinction that dragons are a myth while the Wesen that inspired them are real.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: Called 'Wesen' in-universe. The Other Wiki has a more complete list.
    • Judging by the medical records of the ogre Nick encounters, it seems that a lot of the monster's abilities are natural and can be detected through mundane means. It's when they get excited, frightened, aroused, or other natural biological triggers that they demonstrate greater than human abilities.
    • The Blutbaden are the basis of The Big Bad Wolf. Despite Monroe's condescension for Nick's comment about silver bullets, they are basically werewolves by a different name.
    • The Bauerschwein are the basis of the Three Little Pigs. Needless to say, Blutbaden and Bauerschwein typically aren't on friendly terms.
    • The Jägerbärs are the basis of the bears of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
    • The Mellifers are the basis for The Queen Bee.
    • The Reinigen are the basis for The Pied Piper.
    • Hexenbiests are the basis for several evil witches, including the Evil Queen from Snow White and the witch from Donkey Cabbages.
  • Outrun the Fireball: Nick does this in "Plumed Serpent".
  • Out with a Bang: Adalind’s potion was intended to cause this in Hank.
  • Playing With Fire: The Wesen in "Plumed Serpent", known as Dämonfeuer, have fire breath. They apparently do this by vaporizing their fat, "vomiting" that vapor into the air, then somehow igniting it through static electricity. The family includes two flamethrower operators, a welder, and a fire dancer, so they obviously quite like fire.
  • Poisoned Weapons: The bullets in "Game Ogre" were poisoned.
  • Potent Pheromones: Zigevolks are goat-like Wesen who have a gland that releases pheromones from their sweat. By eating live amphibians, they can stimulate more pheromones and make them airborne to enthrall people.
  • The Power of Blood: There are several kinds of potion that include blood of the maker and blood of the target as ingredients; these potions can only be cured by killing the person who made it. Furthermore, if a Hexenbiest ingests the blood of a Grimm they become human.
  • Product Placement:
    • iPod, iPhone, and Nike, all within the first five minutes of the first episode.
    • "Beeware" has the sounds particular to Android phones.
    • There’s also product placement for obscure products you’ll only find in Oregon. In one episode, you see a box of Voodoo Doughnuts, a shop that’s only in Portland, Eugene, and Seattle (and rather famous locally) and in "Lonelyhearts" the beer Monroe orders, Double Dead Guy, is brewed in Bandon OR.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: The psychiatrist in "Big Feet".
  • Rape as Drama: The entire episode of "Lonelyhearts" was about a satyresque monster, making him a serial rapist by human standards.
  • Record Needle Scratch: A modern version but in "Leave It to Beavers", Juliette cozies up to Nick and the background music begins to play romantic music. When she reveals she actually just wants to invite Monroe over for dinner, the music stops abruptly.
  • Recurring Extra: The beaver creature plumber and his buddies seem to be setting up this way as they reappear in "Let Your Hair Down". As a twist/inversion of a monster movie, he's trying to convince his friends that Grimms are real and they proceed to watch Nick before running away when they are noticed.
  • Red Eyes Take Warning: When Blutbaden get pissed, their eyes turn red.
  • Retired Monster: Implied to be the majority of the creatures, at least among the more predatorial species. In the second episode, when one of the Jägerbärs is told that his family is performing the traditional manhood ritual (which involves hunting down and killing someone), the first words out of his mouth are, "What? No one does that anymore." It also explains why Blutbaden, whose hungry urges are triggered by the color red, haven't eaten everyone. For other Wesen like Spinnetods, they're rare enough that either they're retired like Charlotte or dead because of the particular demands of their biology aren't compatible with a normal life.
  • The Reveal: Nick and Hank's superior in the force is in cahoots with one of the creature assassins, who was a Hexenbiest, in the pilot.
  • Rewind, Replay, Repeat: "Beeware" has Nick repeatedly re-watching the Flashmob videos taken by various security cams in hopes of finding the person killing people at each Flashmob event.
  • Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Nick goes on one of these in "Plumed Serpent".
  • Running Gag: Monroe's introduction in each episode seems to always revolve around him doing a very normal, very mundane activity and trying very very hard to ignore Nick and the inevitable creature-related problem. In "Organ Grinder", he brings this fact up and tries to have a normal conversation—it rapidly and awkward devolves into Monroe's favorite color (red), how human organs are like homeopathic remedies for Wesen, and Nick and Monroe talking about human testicles as the Wesen equivalent of Viagra.

Monroe: Maybe I should just get you your own key.

  • Save the Princess: Invoked and Conversed when Juliette is kidnapped by a Dämonfeuer.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Monroe is breaking all kinds of taboos by helping Nick, but he is not going to let that stop him from doing what he thinks is right. This point is made clear when, in Episode 9 ("Of Mouse and Man"), he's ambushed by a group of creatures who beat him bloody and unconscious, then scrawl a Reaper scythe emblem on his car; Nick says he won't ask for any more help, but Monroe refuses to knuckle under to threats.

Monroe: I'm not really a status quo kind of guy.

  • Secret War: See Masquerade above.
  • Ship Tease: From the moment she showed up, this has been happening between Rosalee and Monroe.
  • Shout Out: In Season 1 Episode 6, a Blutbad, in other words a werewolf of sorts, by the name of Adam Hauptmann is mentioned.
  • Sinister Minister: One of Captain Renard's allies is a Catholic priest who serves as "God's Wrath" and will kill those who go against Renard's rule over the Wesen in the area.
  • Sinister Scythe: Seems to be the Weapon of Choice for the Reapers of the Grimms.
  • Somebody Else's Problem: Monroe tries so hard to stay out of Nick's investigations... but it seems that he just can't. After "Of Mouse and Man", the villains basically reverses Monroe's stance on the matter instead of warning him off as they intended. Oops.
  • Spiritual Successor: So Nick is essentially The Chosen One who protects people from the forces of darkness, his mentor Aunt Marie is a librarian with a weapons cabinet and a giant book of demons (and she can kick ass). And the monsters have a Game Face that looks oddly familiar. And David Greenwalt is the executive producer. Remind you of anything?
    • The premise (the monster hunter is the mythical creature to the mythical creatures) also draws heavily from I Am Legend (the original story, not the movie).
  • Stalker with a Crush: Ariel Eberhart somehow manages to come across as this, even though Nick was the one stalking her (well, following her for a case, technically speaking). Of course, it's all part of her plan.
  • Status Quo Is God: In-universe example. The Reapers don't take kindly to anyone messing with the status quo of the supernatural system and alliances. Nick's crossing lines and making certain allies is not well liked as a result.
  • Stock Sound Effects: Several of the over-the-top type, probably to enhance the "supernatural creatures out of folk tales" feel.
  • Straight Edge Evil: The villain of the pilot episode is a soft-spoken mailman who wears loafers, fluffy sweaters and aprons and owns a cozy cottage in the woods. And eats people.
  • Superpowerful Genetics: With a magical element. The death of the previous generation passes on the powers to the next. Because Marie has terminal cancer, the abilities were passing to Nick a little at a time. Upon her death, though, the rest showed up.
    • Though, this is questionable as it's revealed that Nick's mother is still very much alive.
  • Swarm of Rats: An unlucky music teacher becomes a meal for a pack of hungry rats, and a Reinigen can actually control them.
  • Television Geography: Portland is divided into five geographic sectors—North, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast and Southwest. Every street name is preceded by one of these sector names (i.e. Northeast Tenth Avenue) except for Burnside Street which is labeled "East" or "West". East-west streets can run through two sectors of the city; the names of north-south avenues (which are numbered) can exist in up to four sectors of the city. Therefore, it's important to not only say the name of the street, but also the sector where it exists. In Grimm, names of streets are given without their corresponding sectors (probably to keep viewers from visiting Real Life addresses).
  • There Should Be a Law: Hap is surprised that it's legal for a Grimm to be a police officer. He is not the brightest guy.

Hap: He's a cop and a Grimm? Is that even legal?

  • They Look Just Like Everyone Else
  • Things That Go Bump in the Night
  • Those Wacky Nazis: Because, of course, Hitler was a Schakal!
  • Title Drop: In the episode "Island of Dreams", the title turns out to be a term for Wesen Opium Den s featured in the episode.
  • To Be Lawful or Good:
    • Nick runs up on this trope in "Beeware" when he has to protect Adalind from Melissa. In the eyes of the law, Melissa is a murderer, and he's a cop. In the eyes of the supernatural, Adalind is a Hexenbiest and Melissa a Mellifer, messenger and helper to Grimms. This time, Nick chooses the law.
    • He faces this again in "Cat and Mouse" when he let Ian, the head of the Resistance, go after Ian killed a defenseless man in front of Nick and had Monroe dump the body away from Rosalee's shop all to protect his friends. So in sum, he picked Good.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Nick in "Organ Grinder" where, for the first time, we see him intentionally threaten creatures with his status as a Grimm and exactly why that means they should be treading very carefully around him.
    • He also pointedly warns the Geier in the clinic that he's NOT being a cop at that moment.
    • In "Last Grimm Standing", it's revealed that Grimms have superior strength to that of ordinary humans, allowing Nick to easily defeat an adversary that several well-trained Wesen failed to do. Monroe's comment about digging down deep and channeling previous generations of Grimms could indicate that they might potentially have more abilities.
    • In "Leave It to Beavers", Nick ends up killing two Reapers tasked with eliminating him. He sends a parcel containing their severed heads back to their handler in Germany, along with a note.

Nick: Next time, send your best.

  • Trigger Happy: The bad guys in "Island Of Dreams" only meet the ‘shoot at the slightest provocation’ part of the trope description.
  • Underground Railroad: For Wesen, who are trying to escape the Old World controlled by The Seven Families, there is this as a means of escape in United States.
  • Useless Security Camera: Subverted. They couldn't find the perpetrator with the security cams, but they were able to identify the murder victim and the people standing closest to her so they could question them about the crime. They were also able to nudge an uncooperative witness by reminding him he'd been caught on camera.
  • Vancouver Doubling: Averted. The series is both set and filmed in Portland, Oregon, with the exception of the end chase scene of "Lonelyhearts", which is filmed on location an hour or so up the highway.
    • Which is explained in-universe. The perpetrator of that episode was on the run. It would make sense then for him to be just out of town, they caught him just as he was leaving.
  • Vegetarian Werewolf: Monroe is one now, but wasn't always.
    • Charlotte in "Tarantella" is an example of what happens to Spinnetod women if they succeed in resisting the urge to kill every five years. The result is rapid aging.
  • Verb This: "Tweet this" from Doug the Mellifer.
  • Visual Pun: Nick and Monroe at a dog park.
  • Wall of Weapons: Nick has one in his trailer. Monroe finds it—and the rest of the Grimm 'lair'--to be appropriately cool and scary from his perspective as a Blutbad.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Melissa and her minions, killing Hexenbiests because they're evil.
  • Wham! Episode: "Three Coins in a Fuchsbau". Aunt Marie was once engaged to a Wesen, but had to break it off when her sister (also a Grimm) was killed by another Wesen, who had stolen coins she was protecting--coins responsible for Nero, Caligula, and the Third Reich. Also, Hitler was a Wesen.
    • "Woman in Black". Adalind has afflicted Juliette with some unknown poison. To get her to seek medical treatment, Nick tells her everything, but she falls unconscious before he can show her definitive proof. Hank is starting to Go Mad from the Revelation after seeing both Monroe in his Blutbad form and a Wildermann turn back to human when he died. Oh yeah, and Nick's mother is alive.
  • Wham! Line: From "Love Sick".

Adalind: You killed me.
Nick: You don't look very dead.
Adalind:' I'm human.

    • From "Woman in Black".

Woman In Black: Nick. Nicky, it's me.
Nick: Mom?

  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In "Let Your Hair Down", the last we see of the doggie-wash guy, he's tied up in a basement.
    • So, as of the end of "Tarantella", there's a prematurely aged young woman in jail who is missing no fingers, but the cops have a detached finger that matches her DNA. How did the law process this one?
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?/Van Helsing Hate Crimes: Subverted. Unlike some of its brethren in the genre, Nick is fine with letting supernatural creatures live their own lives as long as they're not breaking the law, and so far has treated them as he would human beings in comparative situations. This has come to shock some of them as this approach seems unheard of for a Grimm (on the other hand, Marie very specifically said "Hunt down the bad ones"). Conversely, it turns out that some of the supernatural creatures are either (usually) harmless and not involved in any real trouble or are allies of the Grimms. The former still tend to be wary of Nick while the latter tend to be surprised that Nick seems to ignore the traditional feuds. Nevertheless, the reputation of the Grimms is enough that most creatures that recognize Nick instantly expect him to kill them on the spot.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Rats?: "Danse Macabre".
  • Woman in Black: The titular character of, well, "The Woman in Black".
  • Wrong Genre Savvy: Nick mixes Blutbaden with werewolves, and asks if he might need silver bullets.

Monroe: What, are you an idiot?

  1. ↑ "Stark" means "a stern, determined or physically strong man".
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