I’m devastated by those two deaths. They seemed so unnecessary, and so incredibly violent. I mean, Grimm is actually a pretty dark, violent, gory show sometimes…but hardly ever is that kind of horror visited directly upon the main cast, and never in a way that’s permanently fatal. So that they killed two people was a massive shock on its own…never mind the senseless, heinously violent way it happened…in particular with Hank, which I don’t understand. Wu’s death was horrific and sad but it wasn’t over-the-top on the gore. Why did Hank’s have to be that way?

I’ve also never been on board with Nadalind for the exact reasons you mention, especially because the way they wrote it was so rushed and failed to show beforehand that Adalind had changed or articulate whether or not Adalind is responsible for the things she did while she was a hexenbiest. They kind of did it later, but not in a way that was definitive or consistent enough to absolve her completely. Never mind that no amount of absolving would have changed the effect her actions had on Nick.

Basically I wouldn’t have been happy with it no matter how they wrote it, but the way they chose to go about it was especially bad because it just…never rang true to me. The only way I can make it work in my head is that it’s another side-effect of the twinning spell Adalind performed on herself, Juliette, and Nick in season 3.

That being said, I don’t think anyone has forgotten what Adalind has done…least of all Adalind. There have been several moments when others on the team and Adadlind herself have acknowledged her fucked up past. Eve threatened her last season because she was afraid Adalind would cause Nick more pain. Rosalee and Monroe have both shown some wariness toward Adalind in season 5, however kind they are to her otherwise.

And Adalind has spoken of redemption. She knows what she did. She’s sorry for what she did. That doesn’t undo it, excuse it, or make it okay…but I think she’s always thinking about the mistakes she’s made and looking for ways to do good instead anyway. And as I’ve said before, I’m really glad she got to that point…I just wish the writers had done it without all of this romantic nonsense between her and Nick.

They did not have to become romantically involved just because they had a child together, especially considering that the circumstances of Kelly’s conception were non-consensual and traumatic. They could have raised the kid together and found their way to an amicable co-parenting relationship without any of that, and in my opinion they should have. Based on the shoddy writing, I’ll always believe on some level that the writers were just conceding to the demands of Nadalind fans, rather than writing something because there was romantic chemistry or because it worked, story-wise.

Sometimes I don’t see where the writers are going with something on first watch, but I always manage to get there if I think about it a little harder. I even think I understand, now, what led to Sean’s descent into villainy in season 5. With this, though, I’ve thought about it from every angle I can and that’s all I can come up with. And in my opinion it will always be the one glaring, irredeemable flaw in an otherwise solid show.