Before we sink our teeth into the upcoming episode of Grimm, let’s take a look at what we saw last week to refresh our memories.
In a ‘Monster of the Week’ series with a central storyline, we get episodes that are separate from the plot. These episodes serve to give us a break from the heavier elements of the story and focuses on a smaller, more self-contained threat. It’s the showrunner’s way of saying ‘let’s take a break from the crazy plot twists’.
This isn’t that episode.
Although this episode downplays the main storyline to focus on our suspect and their situation, we learn more about Renard and how the potion is affecting him (which I’m sure many have been dying to see after the focus on Juliette’s memory loss). We also see our resident Hexenbiest Adalind getting chummy with Renard’s half-brother, which only serves to scream ‘trouble next episode’.
While I know many of us were itching to learn more about the potion’s effects and Adalind’s plans, I feel that this should have been carried over to the next episode.
This could have been a self-contained episode and still showed what’s happening to our favourite royal bastard. There are some great subtle moments where we see Renard on edge around Nick and some interesting looks that he and Juliette share upon their first meeting since the kiss.
The aforementioned Adalind scene, however, could have been cut and we would have lost almost nothing save suspense for the next episode.
There’s also no reason this episode couldn’t have focused on Renard instead. In the show Supernatural we’ve had an episode that followed Bobby rather than the Winchester brothers. I’m surprised that’s not what William Bigelow, the writer this episode, went with given the focus on Renard’s subplot.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the case this time around.
We all know about overbearing parents who push their kids to be the best of the best: it’s one of the most abused storylines in Hollywood.
I groaned when Doctor Higgins told her son Pierce he probably shouldn’t go out because he has homework. It’s a little more downplayed than most examples, yet this episode’s set up feels weak. It’s hard to look away when Bigelow dangles a very obvious suspect and motive in front of my face. The Lowen-shaped red herring went completely over my head
I admit that I leant more towards the mother because Pierce is her son and children are generally innocent (keyword: generally). The fact he’s being put under a lot of pressure and his friends are dying also makes him more sympathetic than his mother.
Thankfully, the twist was shocking enough to make the more cliché moments worth it. I’ll say nothing more on that and let your imaginations run wild.
Despite the weak spots in the story, I feel that this episode could have stood on its own if we hadn’t spent so much time following Renard and Adalind. We come here every week for Nick’s tale, but I can’t help but feel that this weakened the episode.
I’m looking forward to finding out what the shift in Renard’s character means for Nick and Juliette—I just hope it’s integrated into the story better than it was here.
Review by Greta Rehak
0 comments:
Post a Comment