Three Coins in a Fuchsbau - Recap

“For me there are neither locks, not bolts, whatsoever I desire is mine.”

Three thieves, Soldedad Marquesa, Ian Flynn, and Hans Roth, are holed up at a house and arguing among themselves as they prepare for a robbery. Soledad finally interrupts the other two to tell them that he’ll shoot them both if they don’t shape up, and they have a job to do. They then go to a jewelry store and shoot their way in. The owner, Samuel Bertram, manages to make his way to the vault in the back and lock himself in. as Soledad and the others drill in, Bertram opens a case and stares at the three gold coins inside. There’s an explosion and Bertram is thrown back.



Nick and Hank are called to the scene and Wu tells them that the thieves killed Bertram and took the security cameras with them. Hank bought his wife’s engagement ring at the shop and knows Bertram, and is aware that he collects rare coins.

Soledad , Ian, and Hans go back to the house and examine their loot, but discover that the coins aren’t there. Soledad figures that one of the others took the coins and draws on Ian. He refuses, insisting that he’s innocent, and Soledad says that he’s going back to the store. Once he leaves, Ian and Hans argue, figuring that one of them is secretly working with Soledad to rip the other one off. They hear someone moving in the house, draw their guns, and go to investigate. The intruder moves in the dark, avoiding them, and manages to maneuver them into facing each other and then shooting the other one dead. As he examines the bodies, the newcomer’s face transforms into a bird-like visage.



Soledad watches the detectives from across the street as they check the local businesses to find any surveillance cameras that might have captured the robbery on tape. Nick spots Soledad and sees his true creature face, and follows him to his BMW. Soledad drives off and Hank and Nick go to the station. They find some footage and confirm that the thieves used the same car that Nick saw. They spot a New York license plate and put out an APB on it, and Nick gets a call from Harper saying that she’s found something.

When Soledad goes back to the house, he finds Ian and Hans dead. The intruder, Farley Kolt, easily disarms Soledad and assures him that the thieves killed each other. Soledad immediately tells Farley that he doesn’t have the coins and doesn’t know where they are. Farley asks why he’s in Portland and Soledad says that he followed a lead from a man in Morocco.

Nick and Hank go to the morgue and Harper tells them that Samuel died of a toxic reaction to something in his system. When she cut him open, she discovered that he had swallowed three gold coins. Each one has a swastika on one side and the head of a lion on the other. However, they’re much older than World War II, as the swastika would suggest. Hank bags the coins as evidence and Harper loudly protests, saying that she needs to study them to identify the poison. Nick gets a report that an Officer Brenner has found the BMW and leaves with Hank, ignoring Harper’s requests for the coins. At the house, Hank takes charge and insists on going in immediately. Nick has to run after him and wonders if he’s okay, and Hank insists that he’s fine.

Inside the house, Soledad tells Farley that he doesn’t know where the coins are. He finally makes a run for it, going out the back door and past the astonished Brenner. Nick and Hank run in and capture Farley, who doesn’t put up a fight. Despite that, Hank grabs him and throws him around, and then complains when Brenner reports that he lost Soledad. Nick tries to calm his partner down and secures Farley, and sees his true face. Brenner goes to call the coroner but Soledad doubles back around and attacks him.



At the station, Hank throws Farley into an interrogation room and then starts to take the coins to the evidence lockup. However, Renard calls them into his office and asks for a report. Hank keeps barging into the conversation, talking about the coins and how he wants some time to beat the truth out of Farley. Renard tells him to hand over the coins and Hank reluctantly does so. When he sees the swastika, Renard notes that it’s also an ancient symbol of good luck in many Eastern cultures. He says that he’ll put them into evidence and tells Hank to go home and get some rest, and that Nick will handle Farley. As Hank leaves with Nick, he complains that Renard is overriding him but finally gives in and leaves. Meanwhile, Renard makes a call to an associate in Paris and tells him that he has the Coins of Zakynthos. The man tells him to be careful but Renard hangs up without responding.

Nick confirms Farley’s ID and goes to the interrogation room. Farley informs him that Ballistics will kill him, and confirms that they’re off the record. Once he’s sure, Farley explains that he’s in Portland because of a Grimm. The three coins were mined on the Greek island of Zakynthos, The coins were reputed to give charismatic powers to those who held them, and they traveled from Rome to China and finally to Germany in the 1940s. They disappeared after the war because the Grimms found and kept them. They proved resistant to the coins’ influence. However, in 1994 the Grimm protecting the coins was murdered and the coins taken. That Grimm was the sister of the woman that Farley was engaged to marry, and his fiancée left him to take care of her nephew when the Grimm died in a car crash in Rhineback, NY. Farley says that Nick should release him because he’s the only one who knows how powerful the coins really are, and that they can even influence Nick.

When Nick goes back to the squad room, Wu informs him that Brenner never called in, and they notice that Renard has gone, presumably to take the coins down to the evidence room. Nick does some research on the Internet and confirms that a couple was killed in a car crash in 1994.

As Harper leaves for home that night, Soledad abducts her.

Nick calls Eddie and asks him to meet at the treasure. While he waits, Nick finds one of Marie’s journals, written in German. It has pictures of Soledad’s creature, a schakal, and Felton’s creature, a steinadler. When Eddie arrives, he translates and explains that the Grimm who encountered the schakal found them eating a baby and decapitated them. The steinadlers are supposedly creatures of honor, but it’s never clear which side they favor, good or evil. Nick asks Eddie about the coins but the bludbat has never heard of them. As Eddie leaves, he notices some old camera equipment that Marie had stored. Eddie’s great-uncle used similar cameras and projectors, including an old Kineclair projector. Nick thanks him for his help and carefully studies the equipment.



When Nick comes home, he tells Juliette about how Farley claimed to know someone in Rhineback, and she points out that it was Nick’s home town. They figure that Farley knew Marie, but Nick admits he didn’t want to give the information away to Farley for fear that he’d use it against him. Juliette offers to help and Nick asks her to check and see if Farley lived in Rhineback in 1994.

At home, Renard contemplates himself in the mirror while fiddling with the gold coins.

Soledad takes Harper into the morgue asks her what happened to Samuel. She explains that the jewelry shop owner died of poison and that she found the coins in his stomach and turned them over to the police. Soledad knocks her out and leaves.

Renard dreams of thousands of Portland citizens in the streets, cheering him and looking up to the balcony where he is standing in triumph. When he wakes up from his dream, Renard glances over at the nightstand where the coins are sitting.



The next morning, Hank gives Nick a cup of coffee in way of an apology for being a jerk the previous day. He admits that he didn’t know what happened to him. They ID Soledad’s fingerprints and learn that he has a criminal record in Europe. Ballistics have cleared Farley, just as the steinadler predicted, but the officers have found a hotel key among his possessions and go to get a warrant while Farley stays in his cell for the time being.

Renard arrives at the office, wearing his dress uniform, and tells his people to prepare a press conference about law enforcement and to have it ready by 2 that afternoon.

Soledad takes Brenner’s corpse to a motel room and dumps it in the bathtub, shaves, trims his hair, and then takes Brenner’s uniform.

At the hotel room, Nick and Hank search the place and find a suitcase and some military gear. They figure that Farley trained with black ops. Inside the suitcase is a canister of film and a letter from the OSS, dated 1945. The letter refers to the discovery of ten gold coins that were being transported to Allied HQ for examination. According to the spectrum analysis, the coins contained large amounts of arsenic, and the detectives wonder if the poison could also cause mood swings like Hank’s. Nick tells his partner that Renard supposedly took the coins to Evidence, and then gets a call on Harper. She’s been taken to the hospital and Hank goes to see her while Nick takes the film canisters.



Back at the station, Nick goes to the evidence locker and discovers that the coins are gone. He takes the case that Samuel used for them, which is lined with lead and has the lion head symbol on it. Nick then checks with the officer on duty, who says that Renard never checked in the coins. They then go to the mandatory meeting and press conference, and Renard tells the reporters that in response to Samuel’s death, he’s instituting a new crackdown on crime and moral decay in Portland. The audience applauds... including Soledad, who is wearing Brenner’s uniform and posing as a cop to get close to Renard.

Hank arrives and the detectives try to tell Renard that the coins are missing. He ignores them and talks to the press, and they figure that he has the coins. Juliette calls to tell Nick that Farley lived in Rhienback for five years and then left in 1994... just after Nick’s parents died in a car accident. Nick goes to see Farley, who confirms that he was engaged to Marie. Nick tells the steinadler that Marie was his aunt and Farley realizes that Nick was the nephew that Marie left him to take care of. He offers his condolences and wishes that he could see Marie one more time. The steinadler offers to help Nick deal with Soledad, and warns that the schakal will try to get the coins back. Nick wonders what it has to do with his parents’ death and Farley explains that Soledad was one of several creatures that obtained the coins in 1994 by killing Reed and Sally Burkhardt. Since then, Farley figures that Soledad has fallen under the coins’ influence. Hank calls to tell his partner that Brenner’s body has been discovered, and Farley figures that Soledad will use Brenner’s uniform to infiltrate the station. He asks Nick to release him so that they can stop the schakal together.



Soledad disables the lights in the building parking garage and hides. Meanwhile, Hank searches Renard’s office for the coins but doesn’t find them. Nick comes in with Farley and explains that he’s helping them. When they realize that Renard has just left, they go after him, figuring that Soledad is in the station and willing to kill to get the coins.

Renard enters the darkened parking garage but arrogantly ignores the potential danger and goes to his car. Nick, Hank, and Farley get to the garage and Nick tells Farley to stay put while he and his partner find Renard. Soledad opens fire but the detectives arrive just in time to open fire and drive him back. Farley ignores Nick’s orders and pulls Renard to safety, confirming that he’s okay. Hank shoots Soledad, mortally wounding him, and Nick runs to the criminal and demands that he tell him what he knows about the Burkhardts’ death. Soledad asks to hold the coins one last time and then dies. Nick and Hank go to Renard, who is desperately looking for the coins so that he can hold them. Farley has already slipped away.

Realizing where the steinadler is going, Nick gets to the hotel room first. He tells Farley to put the coins down and the steinadler transforms and attacks Nick, who easily knocks him down. The Grimm takes the coins and tells Farley to forget about them.

Later, Nick goes to Marie’s trailer, puts the coins in the lead case, and stores them in a closet. He then plays the film reel from Farley’s suitcase. It’s footage of one of Hitler’s speeches. As Nick watches, he sees Hitler wearing two of the gold coins on the lapels of his jacket... and is able to see Hitler’s true form as a creature.



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