Grimm season 4 finale recap: Cry Havoc

Grimm‘s “Cry Havoc” lives up to its name, as emotional and physical chaos is unleashed on our favorite characters (and others we wouldn’t mind seeing perish) in the season 4 finale. The hour offered some surprise returns, harrowing deaths, and tantalizing hints at what’s to come in season 5.

The hour offered some closure on Nick and Juliette’s tumultuous relationship, and the hints of what lies ahead for everybody’s favorite Grimm. “Cry Havoc” offered death, decapitated head(s), and Diana—as well as a whole lot more, so let’s dive in to the season’s end to find out where it left Nick, Hank, Trubel, and the rest.

“Cry Havoc” wastes no time returning to the cliffhanger of last week’s episode, with Nick having a Se7en moment and finding his mother’s head in a box. Sent into a state of shock, Nick is off his game as Trubel warns him the head is likely a trap.

They and Hank escape from a pack of hundjagers breaking into the house, and once they’re out of harm’s way, Trubel reveals she thinks the Royals are behind the attack based on the hundjager she killed earlier. He’s inclined to believe her, and they double back to the body, examine the markings on it and pick up its decapitated head for future use. (Because that’s everyone’s first thought when coming across a head missing its body, right?)

The trio, along with Wu, arrive at Bud’s house to reveal what happened to Nick’s mother, as well as that Juliette and the Royals have Diana to Adalind, Monroe, Rosalee, and Bud. Luckily, Adalind is able to help track them down to a penthouse, where the gang finds the best use for a decapitated head I’ve ever seen.

Sneaking into a hotel room, Adalind pretends she came upon the head and screams for help. The hotel management, finding her under (incredibly fake) duress, make a call to the police, and who happens to answer the plea but Hank and Nick. They’re able to grab some more intel on everyone else listed under the room’s occupants.

While later scanning through information, Nick realizes his mother had to have been set up—she wouldn’t have been killed so easily. He assumes Juliette must be the one at fault, as someone contacted Kelly from his computer.

Nick’s shock from the beginning of “Havoc” quickly gives way to anger, and he exacts the first half of his revenge when he kills Juliette’s accomplice, Kenneth, in a slugfest outside of Portland. Captured by police and brought out there by Wu, Kenneth doesn’t stand much of a chance against the fury brewing inside Nick. (It doesn’t help his chances when he taunts with the idea that he slept with Juliette.) Kenneth, seemingly sacrificed by The Powers That Be, meets his end.

Speaking of those Powers, Juliette and Kenneth had, earlier in the episode, brought the kidnapped Diana to a palatial estate where King Frederick Renard awaited the arrival of his granddaughter. He sees a bright future for her, and promises one for Juliette, who is initially hesitant given the queen’s history with other hexenbiests.

Their futures are all dependent on surviving the wrath of Nick, of course, and it is certainly no guarantee, as Nick and the gang decide to hunt down Juliette and save Diana. He’s willing to kill his former love (or so he says), and the group, along with a late-arriving Wu, stages a silent assault on Frederick’s compound.

Frederick is eventually alerted to their presence, however, as bodies begin to drop. He has a helicopter awaiting him, and though Nick gives chase, the King and his granddaughter disappear into the night. Juliette is nowhere to be found, and Nick thinks the mission to be a failure.

Of course, what he doesn’t know is that Diana has some help in the sky, as Martin Meisner appears to be driving the plane. And he’s more than willing to help Diana by simply shoving Frederick out of the helicopter. Though unfortunately “Cry Havoc” does not include any type of family reunion for the rescued daughter.

Back on the ground, Nick regroups, believing himself to be defeated. After breaking the bad news to Adalind, he returns home to an empty house. Or so it seems… as he hears footsteps fall behind him, shortly followed by the appearance of Juliette.

Enraged again, he begins to choke Juliette, but cannot force himself to kill her. Unfortunately for him, whatever love remains on either side means little to her, as she tosses Nick around the house with every intention of ending his life. Just as he appears to be on the brink of death, until Trubel comes in to save the day and shoots Juliette down.

Despite whatever anger Nick may feel for Juliette, he still mourns her as she dies in his arms, but he won’t have long to do so. A small army of masked men are about to swarm the house, led by another blast from the past.

If the ending of “Cry Havoc” teaches us anything, it’s that the words “rest” and “tranquility” are likely absent from the Grimm writers’ collective vocabulary. But did the tense, suspenseful ending leave you hanging on for more, or did you want an episode with a little more conclusion to it?

But there’s plenty more to discuss than just those final moments. What did you think of the mansion brawl? How about Wu’s sweet, unwavering desire to help Nick in the fight? And how about Renard using Kenneth as a scapegoat for the Ripper killings?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments, especially about that final, emotional brawl between Juliette and Nick.