Three Coins in a Fuchsbau (Grimm)

"Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" is the 13th episode of the supernatural drama television series Grimm of season 1, which premiered on March 2, 2012, on NBC. The episode was written by series creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, and was directed by Norberto Barba.

Plot

Opening quote: "For me there are neither locks nor bolts, whatsoever I desire is mine."

Three men rob a jewelry store. The owner, Sam Bertram (Robert Cohn) decides to hide in a vault to protect valuable coins by eating them before being killed when they blow up the vault door. Not finding the coins, they escape. Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) are called to investigate, discovering the robbers planned very carefully and professionally the heist. Nick then sees one of the robbers Soledad Marquesa (Jordi Caballero) woge into a Schakal.

Two of the robbers are then killed by a creature, Steinadler. Marquesa returns to be confronted by the Steinadler, Farley Kolt (Titus Welliver) for missing the coins. Nick and Hank raid the house and arrest Kolt but Marquesa escapes. Kolt explains to Nick that the coins make the owner have influence over other people, going even into possession of Hitler before being lost. The coins have been protected when two Grimms, Nick's parents, died.

Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz) gets the coins and begins to be influenced by them. Nick and Hank investigate a hotel room where Marquesa stayed, discovering a reel and a document of the Office of Strategic Services in 1945. The document states that the coins are toxic for whoever holds them. Marquesa chases Renard in a parking lot and begins to attack him to get the coins. Nick and Hank intercept them, saving Renard but Marquesa dies before Nick can question him about his parents' death.

Kolt steals the coins and returns to the hotel but Nick catches him and gets back the coins. He hides the coins in his aunt's trailer and watches the reel from the hotel. The film is revealed to be a black-and-white footage of Hitler delivering a speech. During a close-up, he sees that he's wearing the coins in his coat and then Hitler woges into a Blutbad.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 5.30 million people, earning a 1.6/5 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking first on its timeslot and fourth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Shark Tank, Blue Bloods, and Undercover Boss.^[1] This was a 10% increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.79 from an 1.5/5 in the 18-49 demographics.^[2]

Critical reviews

"Three Coins in a Fuchsbau" received positive reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "This week threw a wrench into the typical procedural structure, using another tried-and-true option for supernatural shows: the magic object. In this case it's three gold coins, which benefit the holder with an extreme amount of confidence and bravado, but with the drawback that they make whoever touches them completely obsessed with obtaining them. I can think of many different shows that have used this different structure to brilliant effect — the Buffy bottle episode 'Older and Far Away' is probably my favorite kind-of-cheating example — but Grimm hasn't built up the kind of complicated relationships to pull something like that off. This is the kind of mystical element that everyone wants to have, not one that forces a new kind of situation. The same, stable steps through a case are the still there, just heightened a little bit by the presence of the coins."^[3]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.5 star rating out of 5, stating: "The bromance between Eddie and Nick brings most of the humor to the show and he's a much better partner than Hank. With all the attention he gave to the cameras in Nick's trailer, I kind of wished Nick had invited him back to watch the old film. I would have loved to get Eddie's take on Hitler being a creature."^[4]

Shilo Adams from TV Overmind, stated: "'Three Coins in a Fuchsbau' was a tiny step back from the past few episodes in overall scope, but I think that it can be an important episode going forward. Nick hasn't really had to deal with his past much, once Marie, his last living relative, passed and it'll be interesting to see how he responds emotionally to Kolt's information. The fact that he included Juliette in the loop may indicate that Nick won't be ignoring the fact that his entire worldview got shook once he found out the role the Wesen world played in the death of his parents. He's seemed like a nice, normal guy from the beginning of the series and I root for him and Monroe to continue learning from one another and growing, but I felt like I barely knew Nick Burkhardt before 'Three Coins in a Fuchsbau'. The episode may not have provided a shocking reveal, but the fact that Grimm seems ready to embrace its true beginnings and bring on the mythology is a very, very promising thing for the show. Grimm may not be much on character backgrounds, but when it does fill in between the lines, I find that I'm liking it (and its characters) more and more."^[5]

References