Viewers

The episode was viewed by 3.78 million people, earning a 1.0/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking third on its timeslot and tenth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Dateline NBC, The Amazing Race, Hawaii Five-0, Dr. Ken, Last Man Standing, MasterChef Junior, Blue Bloods, 20/20, and Shark Tank.^[1] This was a 7% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.04 million viewers with a 1.1/4.^[2] This means that 1.0 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it. With DVR factoring in, the episode was watched by 6.15 million viewers and had a 1.8 ratings share in the 18-49 demographics.^[3]

Critical reviews

"Clear and Wesen Danger" received positive reviews. Les Chappell from The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B" rating and wrote, "After a series of episodes that have escalated the danger and stepped back from procedural activity, Grimm is back to a more familiar groove this week with 'Clear And Wesen Danger.' Once again, there's a monster of the week who needs to be tracked down and it seems like the overarching plot is being conducted off to the side, except this time Grimm's trying to build more of a synergy between its two sides. That's a balance that the show hasn't often struck — when its weekly cases are tied to Resistance/Royal/Wesenrein/etc. activity it's usually more obvious that the episode is an outlier — and while it's a little rocky in its transition, there's compelling enough action and development that thing still seem to be going in the right trajectory."^[4]

Kathleen Wiedel from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.0 star rating out of 5, stating: "It was typically gruesome fare when the Wemlinger ripped out the throat of the unfortunate accountant, even as I saw it coming a mile away. It was also pretty obvious that sweet old lady Betty would turn out to be Wesen, too. The case ended with another ominous reminder of the coming war."^[5]

Liz Prugh from EW wrote, "This week's Grimm continues to hint at the rising of a war, introducing new monsters as well as theories about what the four slashes mean. We also see Nick, Adalind, and Kelly settling into their home as a family. Nick seems genuine about wanting to give this baby a good life, and he isn't adding to his laundry list of crap to deal with—the death of Juliette, not knowing where Trubel is, the 'raging war' that's coming, and his baby momma moving in — by thinking about whether he's a Grimm, a Hexenbeist, or what Adalind calls a 'Grimmerbeist/Hexengrimm.'"^[6]

MaryAnn Sleasman from TV.com, wrote, "That was better, right? This episode felt like a return to Grimm's strengths and while far from perfect, 'Clear and Wesen Danger' was certainly channeling the good stuff in its efforts to return Nick and the gang to some kind of stability. The discomfort that permeated 'The Grimm Identity' was still present, as it should be. Nick's life hasn't been so dramatically altered since his Grimm legacy was revealed and the saddest part is that in the end, Aunt Marie's warnings about the dangers of trying to have family and normalcy in their life were proven right. Nick, Juliette, and their occasionally warring Wesen allies made such positive progress over the course of the previous four seasons. It was really starting to look like the dark ages of the Royal oppression and the threat of constant Grimm vs. Wesen violence were starting to give way to a brave new world—one where there was a place for all of these different groups to peacefully, or at least tolerably, coexist."^[7]

Christine Horton of Den of Geek wrote, "This is a good thing. If the writers take their time and develop a major storyline that runs all season – and allow Nick and the others to focus solely on it – it would not only be a real change to previous seasons with their 'Wesen of the week' plots, but it would add a story arc that, hopefully will provide more detail about the shadowy second world that we still don’t understand."^[8]