Eyes of the Beholder

"Eyes of the Beholder" is the 10th episode of season 3 of the supernatural drama television series Grimm and the 54th episode overall, which premiered on January 10, 2014, on the cable network NBC. The episode was written by Thomas Ian Griffith, and was directed by Peter Werner.

Plot

Opening quote: "I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me, for I am much ashamed of my exchange."

Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) investigate what seems to be a Wesen gang feud, but things get very complicated when the only witness to the murder is the brother of the therapist, Zuri Ellis (Sharon Leal), whom Hank is flirting with. Meanwhile, Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) finally decide to tell Juliette's friend, Alicia (Alicia Lagano), that Nick is a Grimm.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 5.33 million people, earning a 1.3/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking third on its timeslot and seventh for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Bones, Last Man Standing, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, 20/20, and Shark Tank.^[1] This was a 7% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 5.68 million viewers with a 1.5/4.^[2] This means that 1.3 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. With DVR factoring in, the episode was watched by 7.95 million viewers with a 2.4 ratings share in the 18-49 demographics.^[3]

Critical reviews

"Eyes of the Beholder" received positive reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "C+" grade and wrote, "Nick and Hank seem to encounter a different Wesen every week, whether it's working with Renard and the outside world, or chasing down a culprit for a case introduced that week. Perhaps the show doesn't give that much indication of how time passes for these characters, and maybe, as I've posited before, Grimm simply doesn't show the more 'routine' cases the two detectives handle. But it sure seems like they're getting an awful lot of crimes involving Wesen concentrated in one area of investigation."^[4]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.0 star rating out of 5, stating: "If there's one thing that I learned at the end of Grimm Season 3 Episode 10, it's this: Don't give Juliette a frying pan. Not since Rapunzel in Tangled have I witnessed someone mercilessly beat the bad guys to a pulp with one."^[5]

MaryAnn Sleasman from TV.com, wrote, "While 'Eyes of the Beholder' was certainly an improvement over last week's mid-season premiere, my Spidey-sense is starting to tingle in a rather uncomfortable way because we have yet to hit the sweet spot that the first half of Grimm's third season nailed consistently, week after week. It's like the writers decided to save all the mediocre episodes with the weird racial undertones for January, interrupting all the good stuff to get them out of the way now in hopes that maybe we'll forget about them when the plot heats up again later on."^[6]

References