The Good Shepherd (Grimm)

"The Good Shepherd" is the 5th episode of the supernatural drama television series Grimm of season 2 and the 27th overall, which premiered on September 28, 2012, on NBC. The episode was written by Dan E. Fesman, and was directed by Steven DePaul. The series returned to its normal Friday timeslot beginning with this episode.

Plot

Opening quote: "Dressed in the skin, the wolf strolled into the pasture with the Sheep. Soon a little Lamb was following him about and was quickly led away to slaughter."

Bud (Danny Bruno) meets with Nick (David Giuntoli) to discuss Juliette's (Bitsie Tulloch) health state. The Nuckelavee is revealed to be watching over them. An accountant is assaulted in his office by a wolf-like creature and then thrown into a wood chipper.

Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) are visited by Lance Calvin (Jonathan Scarfe), a pastor, who claims his church has been assaulted from an online bank account. When visiting the church, they discover the attendees are Seelenguters and the Pastor is a Blutbad. Nick and Hank then have Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) infiltrate the church to investigate.

Renard (Sasha Roiz) is notified that the Nuckelavee the Royal Family sent is called David Esquibel. Esquibel attacks Nick on his aunt's trailer and Nick is forced to kill him and finds out that he was looking for the key. Nick and Hank also discover that many assaults have been happening on churches that were previously run by Calvin. After discovering Calvin cheated on her, her secretary Megan (Kristina Anapau) exposes his crimes to the church.

Calvin plans on framing Monroe for an attempt of his life but he's discovered by the attendees, and gets killed by them in a fight. However, they think Monroe conspired with Calvin and chase after him. Nick and Hank manage to save him and show Calvin's guilt. The episode ends as Megan and a friend relax in the Caribbean, a plan she originally conceived with Calvin.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 5.32 million people, earning a 1.6/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale.^[1] This was a 2% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.62 million viewers with a 1.5/4.^[2] This means that 1.6 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 8.24 million viewers with a 2.9 ratings share in the 18-49 demographics.^[3]

Critical reviews

"The Good Shepherd" received mixed reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "C" grade and wrote, "Tonight's epigraph comes from 'The Wolf In Sheep's Clothing' (of somewhat disputed Aesop/biblical origin), which tipped the episode's hand right at the start. So far the best episodes of Grimm have found a way to take a well-known folk tale — or the occasional obscure story — and give it a modern twist to fit in a crime procedural context. Not so with 'The Good Shepherd,' which is mostly a literal take on that story, depicting a Blutbad reverend presiding over a congregation of sheep Wesen (at one point Monroe says the name and the plural form, but I honestly have no clue how to spell it). It's all a bit too clever from the get-go, with the whole flock of sheep as the reverend's flock, the herd mentality, et al."^[4]

Emily Rome of EW wrote, "Let it be known that Grimm has a thing or two to teach us about herd mentality, how con men talk when pretending to be religious men and just how many bake sales you need to replace stolen funds. I was relieved Rev. Calvin's megachurch vibe turned out to be an act because it just felt so fake. I know there are real fire-and-brimstone guys out there, but no men of the cloth I know talk like that."^[5]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.0 star rating out of 5, stating: "After a few weeks off from an early start, Grimm settled back into its Friday night slot with 'The Good Shepherd.' Sadly for Grimm, however, tonight tried telling a mostly procedural story rather than a serial one, and the show stumbled a bit because of it. However, aside from said stumble, there were a few moments that were more than worth the price of admission."^[6]

Josie Campbell from TV.com wrote, "Characters and themes aside, the show unfortunately missed a cool opportunity to flesh out the Wesen belief system, or at least examine religion from the monsters' point of view. What does Leviathan think of the Old Testament? Do snake-Wesen get upset at their portrayal in the Garden of Eden? Are animal-headed Pagan gods Wesen too? Instead Grimm trotted out a vague Christian group for the sheeple to belong to and left potentially juicier aspects out."^[7]

References