Opening quote: "We shall see the crumbs of bread... and they will show us our way home again." In a forest, two teens, Steven and Kevin, are running from Wesens when Steven falls into the river and dies floating in the water while Kevin is taken by the Wesen. In Monroe's house, Nick considers telling Juliette about his Grimm identity but Monroe states that knowing it may cause consequences. Later, Nick, Hank and Sgt. Wu discover Steven's body after it fell over a waterfall, drained of blood with a puka shell necklace. Nick and Hank find another child with the same necklace and they go talk to the sellers, Gracie and Hanson. They tell them that they last Steve in a clinic with a doctor named Levine. Nick and Hank are then called to a car crash where they discover the driver had a possession of blood, kidneys and livers. Nick also discovers the driver is a Wesen, a Geier, and then the driver dies. While the blood matches the DNA of Steven, the other organs do not, possibly from street kids. Monroe confirms with Nick that the Geiers are responsible as they harvest organs for human enhancement. Monroe brings proof to Nick from a spice and tea shop that sells organs that have been turned into medicines. Nick later visits the owner, Freddy Calvert, revealing to be a Fuchsbau. The fuchsbau flees into the basement only to be caught by Nick. He then has Freddy reveal the source of the human organs. Nick, along with Hank and Captain Renard, go to a trailer in the forest where they discover the organs removal site before the owner opens fire before Renard kills the owner in self-defense. Nick detects the owner's phone and realizes the clinic is involved in the human organ harvesting. The clinic medics kidnap Hansen and Gracie and take them to a cabin where they encounter other young people, who are restrained and waiting for their organs to be forcibly removed. Nick and Hank manage to track down the cabin and kill the geiers after Hanson drops the puka shells from a necklace as a trail. Dr. Levine escapes and nick follows but she attacks Nick before she falls into a fire pit, dying. In the precinct, Renard receives a package: the ear he cut from the reaper who tried to kill Nick. He then receives a call from someone representing the reapers, who states that if he doesn't take control of Nick, then they will.
Reception
Viewers
The episode was viewed by 4.76 million people, earning a 1.4/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, marking a 20% decrease in viewership. This means that 1.4 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.
Critical reviews
"Organ Grinder" received critical acclaim. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "A" grade and wrote, "And here I thought Grimm wouldn't make it past three episodes. After a pretty serious downturn in the first few weeks back from the winter hiatus, Grimm pulled together its best episode yet, a tightly wound and gruesomely creepy standalone plot that finally brought out some real agency from Nick, showed a more useful side of Juliette, and threw in some great Silas Weir Mitchell scenes to boot. I was stunned at how involved I got over the course of the hour, and even though I feel like a bit of an easy grader, I have no problems giving this an A, since it represents to me the best that Grimm has to offer going forward." Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.7 star rating out of 5, stating: "Overall, I really enjoyed 'Organ Grinder' and it's Grimms best mix yet of serial and procedural. Which is rather amazing considering how sparingly Eddie was used. Usually his screen time has an almost direct correlation to how much I enjoyed the episode."
