Grimm 5×17 – Inugami – Recap

“Revenge is the act of passion,
vengeance is an act of justice.”

This is the episode in which we finally see someone we were waiting to meet for a long time.

Find out who that is by reading our recap of Grimm 5×17, “Inugami.”

At the beginning of Grimm 5×17, Nick and Eve secretly meet after Eve used the Hexenbiest potion to turn into Renard. She tells Nick that, indeed, Renard is cooperating with Black Claw, although he didn’t know at the time that Dixon was going to be assassinated. Black Claw wants to take control of the government, starting with Renard in Portland. Eve also tells Nick that it won’t be long until Adalind will be a Hexenbiest again, and she warns him to be prepared because she won’t be who she is now anymore.

Nick immediately goes to talk with Monroe and Rosalee. When Rosalee hears about Eve’s warning, she tells Nick what happened when her old friend Tony came to the spice shop and became violent after she denied him the money he asked for – how Adalind saved the both of them, and in doing that she started to show the first signs of being a Hexenbiest again. They agree to wait and see if Adalind will talk about it with Nick on her own.

That same night, Adalind talks to Nick, but only to tell him she has an interview with her old law firm and that she intends to go back to work – not what Nick was expecting her to say.

Meanwhile in Grimm 5×17, Wu wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. He sees the bathroom door opening, but to an outside forest. Wolves’ howls can be heard when Wu leaves his room. Is all that just a nightmare within the nightmare? The next morning, he wakes up in his bed. His bathroom seems to be back, so it was just a nightmare, or so it seems. But we are shown some leaves on the floor, next to his bed…

The next day, Nick talks to Monroe and Rosalee about the tunnel he discovered under his house. He is afraid to reveal secrets to Adalind now, so he asks Monroe and Rosalee to take a look at the tunnel while Adalind will be away for her job interview.

Before being called in for a new case by Wu, Nick informs Hank about all the latest news. When they get to the crime scene, Wu shows them what they’ve got: The head of a young man.

Adalind goes to her old law firm, and her boss is more than happy to have her back. He’s wesen, of course, and he can’t wait to know if she still is too. We see Adalind woge into a Hexenbiest again in front of her newborn Kelly.

Back at the crime scene in Grimm 5×17, Wu is able to identify the head they found as belonging to 18-year-old Brian Johnson, whose parents reported him missing. Nick and Hank go to talk with the parents, without telling them about the head. They see the room in which Brian played video games, the last place his mother saw him, and find out that Brian and his friend Roger got five years’ probation for criminally negligent homicide. They were showing off with a gun, but the gun was loaded and one of their friends – Kuma – was accidentally shot. It’s then that Nick decides to tell Brian’s parents that their son was murdered. Then Nick notices something on the floor: an origami. Brian’s father says he knows who does those – Jin Akagi, Kuma’s dad. What’s more, Jin had threatened Brian and Roger in the past.

Wu calls Hank to inform him that the rest of Brian’s body has been found buried standing up in the sand near a river. It appears Brian’s head was cut while Brian was buried in the sand and probably still alive.

Next, Brian’s mother calls Nick to tell him that her husband is going to Jin’s house because he thinks Jin killed his son. When Nick and Hank arrive at Jin’s house, they find Brian’s dad lying on the floor. Jin says Brian’s dad tried to attack him, and that all he did was defend himself. His wife Madoka (played by Keiko Agena – and allow me to have a small Gilmore Girls fangirl moment here, thank you) confirms his version, but we see that Jin is wesen and he attacked Brian’s dad.

Back at the precinct, Brian’s dad tells Nick and Hank that what attacked him was some kind of an animal, or someone wearing a mask. When Jin arrives with his lawyer, they say they don’t want to press charges against Brian’s dad. Nick asks where Jin and Madoka were the night of Brian’s murder and the lawyer explains they were at a fundraiser.

Meanwhile, Monroe and Rosalee are exploring the tunnel under Nick’s house. It’s very big and it appears to be located under the city. Monroe explains to Rosalee that this tunnel is probably part of the old Shanghai Tunnels. And they also find a skeleton…

Nick and Hank talk to Roger, Brian’s friend, who tells them about the accident that caused Kuma’s death. Kuma had brought an old Japanese sword to Roger’s house, and Roger showed his friends his great-grandfather’s gun. Brian fired a shot by accident, and it hit Kuma – nut the police reports say two shots were fired. Roger explains that right after Kuma was hit, he turned into some kind of creature. Brian was frightened and let the gun drop, which caused the second shot that ultimately killed Kuma. Brian and Roger both saw Kuma’s transformation, but didn’t say anything in court. Roger was obviously afraid no one would have believed him.

Nick and Hank go back to Jin’s house to talk to him and his wife. When Nick tells them how Brian was killed, they tell him about the Inugami – a ghost dog and guardian, like a samurai. Inugami are wesen bound in servitude to a family. They are only called upon to protect or avenge, and when they kill, they follow a very specific ritual. Jin says their family doesn’t have an Inugami because the only way to have one is to save an Inugami’s life, which they say they never did. Then Madoka remembers that her father saved the life of a friend when they were both boys. That friend is Takeshi, Jin’s attorney. Nick and Hank think it’s better to get back to Roger’s house, since Takeshi might try to kill him too. Jin asks to go with them, to help.

While Monroe and Rosalee are about to leave Nick’s house, Adalind comes back from her job interview with Kelly, so they hide back inside the tunnel. While they are still hidden, they see Eve getting inside the house. Eve is there not to try to hurt Adalind, but to warn her. She tells Adalind that someone from Black Claw will approach her, trying to draw her in. Adalind asks why they would want her, and Eve says Hexenbiest are valuable. She also says she understands Adalind is scared, but if she hurts Nick, Eve will come for her.

Jin, Nick, and Hank manage to stop Takeshi before he can kill Roger too, and Nick receives a text from Monroe asking for help – Monroe and Rosalee are still trapped inside the tunnel.

Meanwhile, Renard comes back home. He finds Rachel there waiting with a surprise for him.
It’s his (and Adalind’s) daughter, Diana!

What did you think of Grimm 5×17?