2×16 Nameless
Then he seized his left foot with both hands in such a fury that he split in two.
At the Spinner Software Company, the employees are celebrating the launch of their newest online game, Black Forest 2. Owner Dominick Spinner calls up the head of the programming team, Jenna Marshall, to congratulate her. She in turn thanks her team: Vicky Edwards, Rashid Raju, and Brody Crawford. A little later, Brody and Jenna slip away to a private office to have sex. When Jenna hears someone moving in the office, she hesitates and then tells Brody that she doesn’t want to be seen with him. She leaves and Brody goes to confront the intruder. Jenna moves down the hallway and then hears something hit the floor in the office. When she goes back, she discovers that someone or something has bisected Brody at the waist.
Roderick makes contact with his Castle spy in Vienna, who informs his superior that he’s coming to Portland for a meeting. As he finishes his call from a streetside cafe, the spy is unaware that a man, Henri Leseuer, is watching him.
Juliette nervously returns home and calls out to the spirit that has been haunting her, inviting it to talk to her. Nothing happens.
Nick and Hank are called to the company to investigate the murder. Wu informs them that the body was cut in half and then cauterized with some kind of powerful acid. The killer wrote the words “Play my game” in blood on the wall. Spinner meets with the detectives and explains that they were celebrating the launch of the new game. He’s unaware that Brody had any enemies, and explains that the victim and his team had developed a new gaming code that would increase the number of players in the game a hundredfold. The coding was worth millions and all four team members had stock options that would have guaranteed that they benefit. Spinner informs the detectives that he had heard rumors that Jenna and Brody were romantically involved, but didn’t care as long as it didn’t affect their work.
Next the detectives talk to Jenna, who explains what happened and how she fond the body. None of the team members know what the message means. Vicky admits that all of them were competitive, but they also wanted the project to succeed. She gets a call and discovers it’s from the killer. He says “Play my game” and they trace the call to a phone inside of the company. By the time they get to the office, the killer has already fled. On the desk is Brody’s ID, cut in half, and three title pages from three stories. The phrase “What’s my name? is written on the three pages, one word to a page.
Back at the station, Wu informs Renard, Hank, and Nick that someone hacked building security cameras and took them offline during the time of the murder. They figure that the killer is a tech expert, but haven’t been able to identify the murder weapon. Wu informs the others that he’s a gamer and that he knows about the Black Forest game, and points out that the three title pages are from works of fiction. As he leaves, Hank wonders if they’re dealing with a Wesen but Nick suggests it might be a normal human psychopath.
When Nick goes back to Monroe’s where he’s staying, he describes the case and Monroe admits that he’s never heard of a Wesen that kills by using acid. Monroe asks Nick how he’s handling his separation from Juliette and the Grimm admits that he has to handle it since he doesn’t have a chance. The Blutbad tells Nick that he can stay there as long as he like and goes to bed, and Spinner calls to tell him that he did some checking and confirmed that Jenna broke up with another man, Ridley Cooper, before she ended up with Brody, and gives Nick Ridley’s address.
In his lair, the killer sets up a Sudoku puzzle.
Juliette is in bed, unable to sleep, when she sees another apparition of Nick at the foot of her bed. The spirit looks like it’s been standing in the rain, and is saying something that Juliette can’t understand. When she approaches it, the spirit disappears.
The next day, Nick and Hank visit Ridley and his sister Debra. They inform the detectives that they were testing online games during the time of the murder, and have the voice recordings to confirm they were online. Ridley admits that he knew Brody and that they quested together in the online game. When Nick explains that Brody was cut in half, the Coopers inform him that Brody’s game avatar was cut in half three hours before the time of the murder. Ridley brings up the game logs and shows the detectives that the avatar killer was Nameless, a top player in the game. However, the Coopers warn Hank and Nick that there’s no way to identify Nameless since he logged on anonymously.
Back at the station, Nick and Hank meet with Wu, who has been going over the pages. He points out that the authors of the three stories used pseudonyms and figures it ties into the killer if he is Nameless. Nick figures that they need to monitor Black Forest and watch for Nameless’ next victim in the game… which may lead them to the victim in real life.
Juliette goes to the shop just as Monroe gives Rosalee an antique clock as a gift. She tells them what she’s been seeing and realizes that they’re hiding something from her. They don’t answer her questions, but they do agree to go to the house with her, keep her company, and see if they can confirm the spirit sightings.
The Castle spy calls Renard when he arrives in Portland and informs the captain that he’ll text him when he’s ready to meet.
Nick and Hank meet with Spinner and have him provide Nameless’ IP. The owner does so, but warns them that it may be rerouted, preventing them from finding the killer. As they watch, the Nameless avatar cuts another player, Miller’s Daughter, in half. When Spinner confirms that Vicky owns the avatar, he calls the programmer and tells her to lock the doors and windows and wait until they get there. As Vicky does so, she notices that a window is unlocked. When she closes it, she sees the killer behind her in the reflection.
Jenna is in her office when Nameless calls her on Vicky’s phone. He asks if she knows what his name is and tells her that Vicky is dying to give Jenna the next clue.
The police get to Vicky’s house just as Jenna calls to tell Nick that the killer has struck again. They break in and find Vicky’s bisected corpse, and Nick has Wu put a police guard on Rashid and Jenna. Nick and Hank look around and find a Sudoku puzzle with seven highlighted squares. Nameless has written the words “Guess my name on the wall.” When they wonder where to go from there, Wu says that he has an idea.
Rosalee and Monroe have supper with Juliette, and they talk about how Nick met Rosalee when her brother was murdered. As they talk, Juliette sees Nick’s ghost again, thumbing through an old book. Monroe and Rosalee can’t see it, and when Juliette approaches the spirit, it disappears.
Nick, Hank, and Wu take the puzzle back to the police station and Wu solves it. The highlighted numbers are 3121915 and they work out that it refers to March 12 at 1915 military time. They call Jenna into Renard’s office and ask her if the date and time mean anything to her. It doesn’t until Wu goes back over the title pages and realizes that all of the authors used nom de plumes. He brings them the new clue and Jenna remembers that an IT guy at the company invited her to the Nom De Plume Restaurant after he fixed her computer during a deadline. Jenna stood him up and doesn’t remember what he looked like or his name other than that it started with a T. Wu realizes that she’s hiding something and figures that Nameless helped her with the code. Jenna admits that they were rushing to meet the deadline and after Nameless fixed her computer, he saw the code on her screen and offered to fix it. She passed out from exhaustion and when she woke up, the code was done and Nameless was gone.
Juliette describes the book she saw in the vision and Monroe blurts out that it’s a journal from Marie’s trailer. Even though he tries to hide it, Juliette realizes that she was at the trailer the night that she went into a coma. Rosalee agree with her, unaware of what happened that night, and Juliette begs Monroe to take her there. If he doesn’t, she says that she’ll forget Nick for good.
Renard sends a text message to the Castle spy arranging a meeting at a cafe at 8 that night. Both men are unaware that Henri has intercepted the message and is heading there now.
Nick and Hank check and then inform Renard that Nameless erased all traces of himself from the company records and used a fake address. The two detectives then go to Marie’s trailer and check the journals, and finally locate a reference to an acid-secreting Wesen known as a Fuchstefelwild. The Grimm that killed it wrote down the dozens of different aliases that it used, all consisting of the same 15 letters in different combinations. They go back to the station and have Wu run the names through an anagram software program. Once they have all the names that start with T, they compare them to the online list of gamers in Black Forest and come up with one match: Trinket Lipslums. They figure that they need to get into the game and Spinner agrees to help.
Jenna is playing the game at home when Trinket contacts her through the online audio. He tells her that she didn’t keep her end of the bargain, but Jenna says his real name and then attacks his avatar in the game. She cuts it in half and laughs in triumph. In his basement lair, Trinket goes berserk, climbing the walls and throwing things on the wall. Once he regains control, he traces Jenna’s IP address.
Renard meets his spy at the cafe and they discuss however Eric is conspiring with the other Families to destroy democracy among them and destroy the union. The spy gives Renard a flash drive with the names of Eric’s co-conspirators but warns his superior that they can’t trust Meisner, the head of the Wesen Resistance. Renard warns the Castle spy that they have no choice. As they talk, Renard spots Henri at the bar, leaving a briefcase behind. The captain grabs the briefcase and throws it out the back just as it explodes. As he gets the customers out, Renard spots Henri across the street as he prepares to shoot the spy. Renard shoots him just in time, checks his ID, and confirms that he came from Vienna.
Once he has Jenna’s address, Trinket goes to her house and cuts his way through the door using his acid-tipped claws. However, when he confronts Jenna in her bedroom he discovers that “Jenna” is an undercover officer. Nick steps out of the closet and orders Trinket to surrender. He refuses and leaps out the window and onto the fire escape. As climbs upward, Wu climbs after him but Trinket severs the metal supports, leaving the sergeant dangling in space. On the roof, Nick and Hank are waiting and reveal that they know that Trinket is a Fuchstefelwild. Rather than lose, Trinket leaps off the rooftop to his death.
Renard returns to the station and confirms that the flash drive has the names of the Family members opposing him.
Nick returns to Monroe’s and finds the Blutbad waiting for him. Monroe tells his friend that Juliette remembers the night at the trailer and is insisting that Monroe take her there. When Nick tells him not to, Monroe warns Nick that if he doesn’t, Juliette plans to forget Nick for good… by leaving Portland.