Hail, and welcome back, fellow Grimmsters! I'm pleased and excited to be writing the reviews of Grimm again this season.

Grimm Season 4 suffered from what many (myself included) felt were missed opportunities, especially with Juliette's plot line. Can Grimm Season 5 do better?

Watch Grimm Season 5 Episode 1 Online

Onto the Grimmiere, comrades, which arrives just in time to kick off the Halloween weekend! The action of Grimm Season 5 Episode 1 picks up right where last season's finale left off: Juliette dead on the floor, Kelly's head in the box, and Chavez's goons coming to kidnap Trubel. In other words, chaos.

"The Grimm Identity" has a tall order to clean up many dangling story arcs and whatnot from last season while introducing an ominous, if still frustratingly formless, new obstacles. Chavez and her people kidnapped Trubel, but it's really not clear why. Chavez warns Nick about "them," but conveniently/inconveniently doesn't tell him who "they" are before dying.

Isn't it annoying when one's only source of information dies before giving up anything actually useful?

I have to hand it to Chavez's crew, though. They sure know how to clean up a mess, to the point where most of the other characters are half-convinced Nick has gone off the deep end for most of the episode! Phil Coulson from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be appreciative, I think.

Speaking of Nick going off the deep end, he clearly showed how off-kilter he was when he confronted Chavez in her office in front of tons of people. I know Renard's distracted by other things at the moment, like the final disposal of his cousin, but shouldn't he have done better to make sure that the clearly unstable Grimm didn't do something so unbelievably stupid?

To top it off, Nick then kidnapped Chavez. He gives a very telling line in this episode: "She's Wesen. I'm taking her down." Nick has always walked a difficult line between cop and Grimm, and in this episode, he dove completely into the Grimm side. The question is whether he'll right himself now that he's been proven justified, or whether he'll continue down a path that takes him farther and farther from the cop we met in Grimm Season 1.

One thing that definitely hasn't changed from past seasons is the wonderful quippiness of our heroes. From Renard "not really" caring about royalty to Bud's remarks about his wife's labor ("The language is really something you're never gonna forget!"), there are some great lines in this episode.

Let's turn our attention to Hexenbaby. Adalind finally gave birth after the Longest Pregnancy Ever – remember, this child was conceived at the end of Grimm Season 3! I won't voice my opinions once again on the way this baby was conceived, other than I think that Grimm missed a chance to call attention to the disturbing double-standard of female-on-male sexual assault.

Instead, let us stick to the present: welcome, baby Kelly! After initial (and, quite frankly understandable) hesitation, Nick has begun to bond with his newborn son.

What does this mean for his relationship with Adalind? Will he be able to set aside the fact that she's directly responsible for a lot of his personal pain over the past few years? Nick is a good person, but of how much of his grief has she been a party?

Before I turn the discussion over to you, fellow Grimmsters, here are few final thoughts and miscellaneous ruminations:

Did anyone else find Nick's freaky vision of freakiness – complete with floating head-in-a-box – totally disturbing? To make it worse, the CGI dived right down into the Uncanny Valley. (If you don't know what the "Uncanny Valley" is, Google it and impress all your friends with your knowledge of intriguing concepts!)
When Detectives Pogue and Meachum came to Renard's office to talk about the Jack the Ripper case, I actually thought, "Oh, right. That happened." Sorry, Kenneth, no one's missing you.
Wu summed up what a lot of fans thought regarding the writers' treatment of Juliette last season: "I know she turned into a crazed Hexenbiest killer, but I always hoped that somehow she'd come around."
How long will it be before someone finds that everyone's favorite Royal-killing Resistance leader Meisner gave the King a skydiving lesson without a parachute?
And speaking of Meisner... he's back! And apparently working with Chavez, too. The plot thickens!

So, what did you think of "The Grimm Identity"? Why did Chavez and her allies kidnap Trubel? Should Nick forgive Adalind for the sake of the baby? Would you have believed Nick's wild claims about Chavez? What do you think of the Hexenbaby's name?

Grimm Season 5 Episode 2, "Clear and Wesen Danger," is scheduled to air on Friday, November 5 at 9/8c on NBC. You can relive the excitement until then if you watch Grimm online here via TV Fanatic! Also, please enjoy this selection of 21 Wickedly Awesome TV Witches: