Grimm Season 5 Episode 13 Review: Silence of the Slams
Kathleen Wiedel
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It was Case of the Week time in Grimm Season 5 Episode 13, with the team getting sucked into a case with a luchador being controlled by his own magical mask, which had been made from the face of a Balam.
Yes, Benito the mask-maker totally murdered a Balam, sliced his face off while he was still alive, and turned it into a luchador mask. Which the cocky young Goyo then proceeded to wear. It was really, really disturbing if you ever actually stopped to think about it.
Let me preface this with the disclaimer that I know practically nothing about lucha libre. I do think, however, that turning someone's actual face into a mask is kinda frowned on in the whole morality department. Patrick might not have been a nice guy, but the way he died was downright horrifying.
And we the viewers got to see it first-person perspective! That was... nauseating.
This takes a facelift to a whole other place.
Hank [regarding a victim who had his face removed]
Though it was actually strangely funny when the Balam face turned human at the end, and Monroe was all, "Oh, look, it's Patrick!" in a very matter-of-fact tone. I'm clearly not cut out for that line of work, because I would be screaming my head off and then be plagued by nightmares for, well, ever.
Goyo was one of those guys you can't help but cringe at how stupid they are. (Signing a contract in blood is never a good omen.) Of course, Benito should have known better than to actually make him a powerful magic mask in the first place (setting aside the whole murder and face-skinning aspect).
Overall, this episode was fairly fast-paced and seemed to deal with Goyo and his issues more than our heroes, which is a tad frustrating when they just got back with the culmination of a four and a half season arc. And then Team Grimm simply decided to put the magic stick away for now!
To be honest, that might be a realistically wise choice, though it's hardly the most dramatically exciting one from a viewer's perspective.
Also, Nick lying to Adalind about recovering the Crusader treasure felt a little like a rehash of every lie Nick told to Juliette during Grimm Season 1. And the lies to Adalind about what happened with Diana in Grimm Season 3. It will probably end just as well this time around.
Adalind, at least, was only guilty of equivocation when she neglected to inform Nick that her 'Biest was actually making a comeback already. It was gratifying, though, that she was making an effort to get in front of the issue and actually talk things over with Nick before it became a huge problem.
Meanwhile, Eve made the connection between Rachel Wood the campaign manager and the assassin who took out the unfortunate Andrew Dixon. She also eavesdropped on Rachel Wood and Renard's conversation about him needing a family to win the election:
Rachel Wood: To win, you'll need a family.
Renard: You proposing? [long beat] Or are you pregnant?
That long beat, by the way, was downright hilarious, with Sasha Roiz imbuing Renard with just the right amount of momentary panic. I'd be totally down with Renard getting a Black Claw infiltration storyline, which would potentially also give Adalind something to do besides sit in her home-sweet-paint-factory.
Plus, if Adalind had to play happy wife to Renard, it would create all sorts of weirdly awkward tension between the Renard-Adalind-Nick triangle.
A few final thoughts before I turn the discussion over to you:
- Reference was made to the "alien" Wesen and the skin-hunting Raub-Kondor from Grimm Season 2 Episode 19, "Endangered."
- It sure was convenient for Nick and Hank that Goyo killed Benito the mask-maker, thus relieving them of any need to actually explain how Benito killed Patrick and sliced off his face for the luchador mask.
- I found the reference to Santeria rather odd, considering that Santeria is an Afro-Carribean religion that has, if I understand it, more in common with native African religions and Catholicism than anything Aztec like Xipe Totec.
- Black Claw was aware of Adalind and Diana's relationship with Renard, indicating at least some familiarity with events going on in Renard's family. I'm not going to read too much into it yet, though.
- Be sure to check out our Grimm quotes page for some of the notable quotes from this episdoe.
So, what did you think of "Silence of the Slams"? Did the story of the luchador and his face-mask draw you in? What do you think Renard is going to do? How long will it be before Team Grimm figures out the magic stick? Let us know in the comments section below!
If you missed this episode, you can always watch Grimm online to catch up. Be sure to tune in on Friday, March 25, 2016 at 9/8c on NBC for Grimm Season 5 Episode 14, "Lycanthropia"!
