REVIEW - Grimm - S02E21

In ‘The Waking Dead’ every subplot and storyline going on throughout season two reaches boiling point. Juliette sees for herself what a wesen is, Captain Renard and his brother find out about Adalind’s child and there is an undeniable tension between Frau Pech and Stefania. The story also introduces a new species of Wesen and a new recurring character which promises to wreak some havoc in the finale.

As the name implies, we deal with zombies of all things in this episode. It’s interesting to see how the series integrates them into the mythos; I’m also impressed that they chose a more traditional approach than Night of the Living Dead-esque monsters. It was still a little hard to avoid eye rolling given how often they’re used in Hollywood.

The presence of the new character was jarring and when it got to three quarters into the episode I wasn’t sure what they were going to do with him. It wasn’t until the very last scene with said character that I was impressed.

Grimm seems to have focus issues in many of its episodes and while this is not an exception it is impressive to see all these side stories come together for what seems to be a grand finale. After several episodes of silence Eric Renard and his brother’s confidant return on screen to react to the possibility of an illegitimate heir. While this plot simmers in the background its influence in the next episode is clear by the end. Juliette’s subplot, however, has more focus than it probably should have at this point in the arc. The benefit is the arc is done and shouldn’t come up next episode.

This episode is notable for being the one of few episodes where Adalind’s scenes aren’t jarring additions. I love how the show toys with whether she is being played or doing the playing—this episode leans more to the former, but it’s still intriguing to watch.

‘The Waking Dead’ tries its hardest to bring everything together so we can watch worlds collide in the next episode. As a result the episode has focus issues at times and can be disorienting. It’s a must watch for the impending finale and completes a storyline that has stretched out just a little bit too long. I wouldn’t recommend it as a standalone episode but for someone who wants to understand the storyline this is one you can’t skip over.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm - S02E20

This week on Grimm, Nick picks the worst possible time to start an affair with a wesen. He spends the majority of ‘Kiss of the Muse’ obsessed over a musai while the rest of the cast work to both arrest another one of her victims and find a cure for him. Meanwhile Juliette has obtained all her missing memories and wants to reconcile with Nick.

Nick’s gradual descent into obsession, while not subtle, is effective. From the moment that she kissed his hand it was obvious something was going to go down, but it is not cemented until he goes to her house instead of dinner with Juliette. The more time he spends with her the worse he gets and it starts to show after his second and third visits. Bravo, David Guintoli. Bravo, Sean Calder.

Speaking of performance and writing, it was great to see Munroe, Hank, Rosalee and (yes, even) Renard working together while Nick was under the influence. Hank and Renard do the policing while Munroe and Rosalee do their usual research in both the trailer and the spice shop. The supporting cast are usually downplayed in importance when it comes to each case so it was nice to see them taking over investigation this episode. I believe it was ‘Mr. Sandman’ that first had this opportunity to play with this idea but it’s this episode that does something with it.

This is also one of the few episodes so far where there is no cure or counterspell for a wesen’s ability provided by either of the cast’s main resources. Munroe and Rosalee had to improvise a solution using their own deductive abilities. Again, I love seeing the showrunners try something different.

As mentioned above this is the episode where Juliette remembers everything and tries to apologise to Nick for how she alienated him. For someone who has been watching this whole time it’s both cathartic and heartbreaking. In any other episode Nick might have loved to hear those words coming out of her mouth. In ‘Kiss of the Muse’, however, he’s too busy thinking about sparkly blue wesen ladies to care.

While I was applauding the writing this episode just a few paragraphs before, there’s two things that really bother me; first and foremost, I have a problem with Juliette’s memory of the talk she and Nick had in the trailer. It is a complete reversal of her original reaction for no other reason than ‘having time to gradually process what happened’. Just a few months ago I would have been screaming ‘why is this so hard to believe’, but the change in attitude here was too jarring. Nick needed her this episode, but that could have been achieved by her having a five second freakout, calming down and then coming to conclusion she did in that scene.

The other issue I had was the musai and the ending of her arc—to put it bluntly we are given no motivation for her actions other than ‘I’m a musai, it’s what we do’. This is lazy writing. While it’s implied she enjoys seeing men fight over her, I have no idea if this is a species trait or just her abusing her powers. Her interrogation scene, which would have been great to establish any kind of backstory, gives her no depth. The idea of her is great and the conflict she creates makes this episode one I won’t soon be forgetting but I’m in no rush to see her again.

In conclusion this episode is great save a few jarring moments and a bland villain. With Juliette in the loop I imagine the team dynamic will be shifting next week. Whether or not it’s for the better is yet to be seen.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm - S02E19

There are few things that make me happier than plot progression in Grimm. In ‘Endangered’ we finally learn the purpose of the keys, Munroe tells Juliette what a Grimm is and aliens are revealed to be glow in the dark wesen. The focus shifts away from our main characters and onto the monster of the week, but their problems are still front and centre.

Who are these brand new wesen? A young couple with blue, glowing skin that resemble something fresh out of Area 51. They’re under scrutiny for abduction and killing a rancher’s cows.

Hank is back but he has once again been shoved off screen in favour of Sargeant Wu. Though it is great to see our supporting cast get more use it is starting to feel like Hank’s being phased out of the story in favour of our nerdy Asian friend. We also see the return of Doctor Harper which serves to reveal that the perpetrator of the cow slaughters has bioluminescence when they’re stressed.

The tension of the main storyline involving both Juliette’s memories and the keys never leaves the episode, but it is not what viewers might fixate on. We see the development of Rosalee and Munroe’s relationship as well as how Nick is integrated into their lives as Munroe’s roommate. It’s also great to see Nick learning to overcome his limits as a cop to function as a Grimm.

In regards to that last comment, this episode did one thing I do not feel the last episode did: it deals with the consequences of Nick’s solution, albeit in an abrupt way.

As we progress through the episode, the new characters gain more development and top at least Juliette for screentime. It doesn’t go into their backstory or why they’re in Portland but we see just enough to care what happens to this young family. As for the villain this episode (surprise, it’s not the guy gutting cows) it only takes one scene for him to go from harmless to despicable; I feel that reveal is one of Grimm’s greatest twists so far.

As I mentioned last week I love the simple addition of a filter to illustrate when Juliette is remembering a scene and when she is in the present. It has gotten more subdued than it was in ‘Volcanalis’, implying that her memories are, in fact, getting stronger. I may not talk about it much in terms of my reviews, but it is little details like this that make me smile.

If there is one problem in Grimm’s special effects repertoire, I have to say that it is they show something is glowing. I noticed this in ‘Volcanalis’ as well, but it is more prominent in this episode due to how much screen time these creatures have. It does not look jarring when the glow is in the villain’s eyes or the skin sample, but it does look silly on the large blue bodies.

This is a good episode for character interactions (namely between Munroe, Nick and Rosalee) and has a strong arc for the creatures we’re focusing on. Somehow this episode manages to balances the dark clouds swirling overhead with the wonderful mysteries lurking inside the Grimm universe. It’s definitely worth a viewing.

Review by Greta Rehak

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Review - Grimm - S02E18

Looks like the writers are once again dipping their hands into another mythology’s cookie jar in ‘Volcanalis’. Don’t let the opening quote fool you; we’re dealing with an Ancient Roman god this episode. With Hank gone on vacation and Wu still locked out of the loop, Nick has to team up with Captain Renard for this investigation. Meanwhile, Juliette’s struggles with her memories climax with a car accident, forcing her to seek a solution, and Adalind makes a deal that the season two preview spoiled a few months back.

This episode is great—in places. Given Nick has been able to neatly hide the supernatural elements under normal crimes up until now, it was surprising to see an enemy force him to solve the issue as a Grimm instead. Though the tension from their previous brawl seems to have diminished, Nick is still reluctant to trust Renard with any information pertaining to his sources. It is a shame that this isn’t explored more, but it’s enough to hint at what we might expect in future episodes.

The two subplots, both Juliette and Adalind’s, were engaging and refused to be crushed under the weight of the main plot. We see Juliette return to the grandmother from ‘La Llorona’ (again) and learn of a way to remember without suffering another ‘Nick Overload’. The cinematography as Juliette relives her memories (starting in monochrome save her shirt then gradually turning to colour) is beautiful and helps create one of my favourite moments in the episode.

Adalind’s sub plot saw our favourite antagonist going back and forth between manipulatee to manipulator. She is taken away from her suite by Frau Pech (first seen in ‘Mr. Sandman’) to speak to the Queen of the Gypsies. This is not only something that Adalind did not plan with Pech, but it also leads to a situation where it’s clear the two women are just using her to rack up power for themselves. It’s only in the final moments of her scene that we stop thinking Adalind’s the one being played.

Where it fails is the lack of focus in the episode. The cold open alone struggles to stuff all the sub-plots in before the theme music. Some subplots are forgotten outright (how is Wu being Nick’s partner for a week any different to him being Hank’s? What did Nick and Renard wind up telling Wu? What did Nick and Renard tell the victims’ company?).

Some are devoted so little time that nothing would have been lost by cutting them. After Nick gets word of the dead body, he completely forgets about what’s going on with Juliette and doesn’t mention her accident again. Munroe, despite trying to cheer him up, doesn’t mention it again either.

Though I feel Adalind’s scenes really needed to be in this episode, there is already too much going on in this plot without adding them. The same can be said about Juliette’s scenes and their relevance to their plot. Ultimately, I feel that ‘Volcanalis’ would have been a much stronger episode either without these distractions or without…well, Volcanalis. A Roman god isn’t your average Monster of the Week; it shouldn’t have to fight an amnesiac and a pregnant woman for attention. The resolution of this episode is very satisfying, but the focus is far too scattered for the enormity of each protagonist’s (or antagonist in Adalind’s case) to be realised. Nick takes down a god. Juliette has resolved most of her crazy. Adalind is going to get her powers back.

I should be fan girling right now, but instead I’m horrified at how badly the plot is stitched together this episode.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E17

Just a few weeks ago, I never thought that I would say ‘Grimm is a show that just keeps getting better’. It doesn’t feel like the storylines are balanced well with the Monster of the Week format and certain actors eat up all of the air-time. Previously, however, we saw minor characters become big players in ‘Nameless’ after weeks of being overshadowed in plot relevance.

Not only does ‘One Angry Fuchsbau’ continue this new trend, it ties most of the plot together very well and takes a clever approach to introducing this week’s ‘villain’.

Longtime fans of Grimm might recall the Ziegevolk, a satyr-like wesen who ensnared women and kept them captive at a bed and breakfast in the episode ‘Lonelyhearts’. Newcomers won’t, but they are only disadvantaged for a few seconds: Hank is used to give Nick someone to explain what they do to. This Ziegevolk, a lawyer of all things, uses his pheromone based powers to suggest testimonies to witnesses and verdicts to the jury. To rub salt in the wound, he is defending someone who we saw murder their wife in the cold opening.

Rosalee, unfortunately, is on this jury. This makes her sick and ruins her date with Munroe, he goes with her to court in case she needs support and then he sees Mr Lawyer eat a frog. After that, our foursome are hellbent on stopping a murderer go free.

Like I mentioned before, this episode goes out of its way to bring Rosalee and Munroe into the main plot. However, we also get two familiar bit players in on the action: Sargent Wu as the first guy on the scene of the crime and the always loveable Bud as a third party brought in to help neutralise the threat.

You read that right: after being victimised seven episodes ago, Bud gets to help Nick on one of his investigations. It seems like everyone in the cast is becoming more competent. This week’s conclusion was so satisfying I had to watch it twice. I’m not going to spoil anything, but after one and a half seasons of most of the players being in the dark, it’s awesome to see everyone working as a team.

Now, even though this plotline is expertly woven into the episode, it’s not the primary focus of the trailers. No, that honour goes to Juliette going to the trailer and realising she had been there before. After the cold open, Munroe telling Nick then deciding to take her to the trailer is centre stage. It’s after these crucial scenes Munroe goes home to find Rosalee, adding another layer to the well-woven web of storylines.

For fans screaming ‘hurry up and remember Nick’, I assure you she’s definitely on that path…even if she’s getting a Nick overload right now. In fact, she seems to be getting a sanity breaking Nick overload.

This episode, like the premiere, has a few nods to previous episodes. Disregarding that Bud is in this episode, we also get an email from Momma Grimm talking about the coins and the grandmother from ‘La Llorona’ makes her grand return to spout more myticisims at Juliette.

Also, the sanity breaking Nick overload has a few hidden in the dialogue.

No episode is perfect; we have another Adalind scene. Is it me, or do Adalind’s scenes have the least plot relevance in the show?

Renard got a pass in my books because his scene deals with the Veratt and a crime that was committed in Portland. Adalind’s, however, only serves to confirm what we already know from past episodes. I feel her plans of revenge would be more shocking if we weren’t told about them five minutes per episode.

Grimm is a show that just keeps getting better. At times I feel whoever is writing an episode should think carefully whether or not adding in a scene improves it, but the damage done is hardly unbearable.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E16

How many times have video games been associated with death in the media?

I was declaring ‘you have got to be kidding’ when I saw the preview detailing a ‘you die in the game, you die in real life’ plot. I have seen this handled very, very badly before in other media so I braced myself for the worst.

‘Nameless’ was a pleasant surprise.

The focus of the plot is the anonymity of the killer rather than the game itself. We deal with someone who has the ability to hide in the shadows yet craves someone to work out who he is. A parallel is drawn between this killer and the Zodiac killer because he leaves behind title pages and Sudoku puzzles as coded messages.

Thankfully, this is Grimm, so the case doesn’t remain unsolved after over fifty years.

If there is one thing I love about this episode is that most of the groundwork is done not by Nick, Monroe or even Hank: the biggest asset to the investigation is (wait for it) Sargent Wu. Yes, the comic relief whose last bout of plot relevance was eating the inside of a cushion is the one who does the best police work.

In the previous review I complained about the need Grimm has to make all the side characters inferior to Nick in some way. This episode, thankfully, proves me wrong. Granted, the usual ‘cram the ongoing side stories into the episode’ stunt is pulled, but we still get a great plot and an instance where I can safely say all the side characters were used to some extent. We even take a moment to develop the victim and (a complaint that I had last week) the killer. This is not something Grimm has been doing much of for the past few weeks.

Perhaps I am overenthusiastic after ‘Mister Sandman’ failed to use the concept for anything but granting Nick a new superpower. Even so, this is the first time in a while I have rewatched an episode of Grimm not because I have to review it, but because I want to. It’s cheesy at times and you can see things coming, but it one of the most interesting twists and satisfying endings I have seen in this show for a while.

Meanwhile in Juliette land, guess who decided to wrangle Monroe and Rosalee into a slumber party? Before this sparks sexy fanart on deviantART, I would like to point out that I have been enjoying Rosalee and Juliette working together. It makes me wonder what might have happened in the plot if Bree Turner hadn’t needed maternity leave; would she have become her confidant much quicker than she has here or is this all purely because she made the potion? Anyway, we see an alarming rate of progress in ending the hallucinations and a revelation that is going to either save or destroy Nick and Juliette’s relationship.

Sadly the prominence of the ongoing subplot that doesn’t contribute to the episode plot does lock out newer viewers (as usual), but I feel you can enjoy it with minimal knowledge of the series because of how well the Monster of the Week is executed. If you’re like me and you’ve been losing faith in the series for one reason or another, see if this episode. Hopefully it will restore it, but that’s just my opinion.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E14

As of ‘Natural Born Wesen’, it looks like we’re back to the usual Monster of the Week routine; last week we encountered bank robbers that use their wesen appearance to conceal their identity. This reveals to Nick the greater implications of wesen exposure in the Grimmverse. This episode is a little more newbie friendly thanks to some exposition delivered by Hank and Renard, but it’s still better to watch in sequence. We also get to see an episode that involves Juliette without her swooning over Renard and has her questioning her grip on reality.

Grimm is no stranger to claiming that historical events were either orchestrated or caused by wesen. It’s time to add the Witch Trials to that happy little list; in the past, when malevolent wesen were exposed to the populace, it set off a chain reaction that ended in a purge of all discovered wesen. As a result, there’s a code against wesen showing their faces to us mere mortals.

Where was this code in the past 36 episodes?

Most episodes don’t have wesen revealing their faces, but I feel that this deserved a passing mention in at least one (I’m looking at you ‘Big Feet’). This episode also introduces the Wesen Council that exists to deal with wesen that roar and beat their chest too much. It’s through this revelation we get some backstory for Rosalee’s family; her father was a former member and her family has a contact in said council. Though Nick and Juliette are the focus again, Munroe and Rosalee mull over contacting said contact throughout the episode. It’s nice to see our supporting cast get airtime despite all the recent drama.

I like this episode because it explores why a Grimm shouldn’t be a policeman. Lately we are getting more situations where operating as a Grimm might get the job done more quickly and efficiently...but would also push Nick into a more grey area. This episode best illustrates this problem so far. Nick doesn’t seem to struggle with this much, but I get the feeling that this is going to become a recurring theme in the series.

For now, Renard and other forces are just going to keep bailing him out.

I mentioned before the break that I had grown to really like Juliette and wanted to see her make it out of the ‘amnesia arc’ in one piece. At first, I though this episode would undo that; like many a fan, I am frustrated by her inability to accept that maybe Nick isn’t crazy. Keep in mind that we have seen her researching wesen DNA and thrown into the damsel in distress role more than once. The last time I checked, she only lost her memories of Nick, not all the wesen she has encountered.

Then her new subplot began and I felt sorry for her again.

After Nick’s done impersonating a tomato, Renard and Juliette take their potion and the ordeal is done. However, as Rosalee notes after Juliette leaves the spice shop, she doesn’t know what effect it’s going to have on the both of them.

Apparently your entire ground floor becoming a bottomless, whispering pit and your staircase stretching to infinity is a side effect.

The effects aren’t the best in the show, but the idea is still unnerving. It’s made clear that Juliette is hallucinating, but the only reason I can think of her hallucinating this is to represent the blanks in her memory. Otherwise, it’s just Grimm doing its best to inject some more nightmare fuel into the episode. Yay.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm - S02E13

 ‘My head hurts.’

For anyone who’s never seen an episode of Grimm before and decided to tune in last week, Season 2’s ‘Face Off’ would have probably teased that very line from your lips. This is a big reason that I felt that this episode needed to play after ‘Season of the Hexenbiest’ all the way back in November.

All throughout the episode there is a lot of continuity porn; though it’s nice to know that there aren’t many major plot elements that have been forgotten along the way, it’s not going to make any sense for a new viewer.

If you’re watching for the first time, go back and watch at least the previous episode before you watch this one: you’ll thank me when things make a bit more sense.

You might now be asking ‘then who is it for?’ If it’s for anyone, it would be the fans that waited over three months for some sweet resolution.

After wondering how much longer this arc was going to be stretched out, this episode is refreshing to say the least.

Where we left off, it was starting to look like Nick was going to have an adrenaline-spiked run in with his captain complete with some Grimm action. Captain Renard had also found out about the trailer and was just about to go inside to search for the key.

There’s some bad news for Renard and Juliette fans: the spell has spiralled out of control to the point where it’s likely that one is going to kill the other. The race to cure the two of them is more important than ever and after much brooding from Nick we’re finally on our way to the end of this sub plot. It’s a two-step process though, so you might get a little more sexual tension squeezed out of the two them anyway.

Speaking of brooding, it’s interesting to see Renard dropping his guard as much as he has over the course of the season. He is an unhinged, snarling beast for a decent portion of the episode. Don’t believe me? Watch how he deals with Adalind. When was the last time we saw her that scared? When was the last time we saw him act like that? His interactions (as well as the lack of) with Nick in this episode is also very interesting compared to his more restrained and professional demeanour in earlier episodes.

Beyond this happy little love triangle we have the return of Rosalee; given how crazy things have been getting in terms of the shop’s clients, it’s great to see her back behind the counter and (finally) concocting a cure for the Captain and Nick’s fiancé.

Concocting a cure and helping Monroe infuse some humour into the episode. It’s nice to see amongst all the dark clouds there’s still some lighter parts to ‘Face Off’.

While the episode isn’t the best starting point in the series and would be alien to even regular viewers who forgot what happened last year, it’s a fantastic episode. Even though the sub plot is still winding down, all the relevations we’ve been granted and all the great moments littered throughout the episode are enough to leave most fans satisfied…I know I was anyway.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E12

If there is one thing that has been consistent about my reviews of the second season of Grimm, it's disappointment. Perhaps I have been spoiled by shows like Supernatural and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but few episodes in this second season can function independently. Despite this, I love the show; I think it's a good concept and takes a new approach to monster-based drama that I've never seen before.

As season two rolled along, however, the main storyline got...beefier. This isn't a bad thing except in how it was executed. Still, I felt that the finale would make up for this slightly mediocre season.

Sadly, it didn't.

When I review Grimm, I try not to spoil the ending of the episode and that's not changing today. However, since I feel this episode suffers greatly because of this ending, I am going to spoil thing:

The ending of Grimm's second season was a cop out.

Over the course of 12 episodes, Grimm built up the Juliette and Renard subplot, made Adalind the mastermind behind most of this season's problems and made it all but certain that we knew this was going to be messy.

What we got was, at best, a half-finished episode. There were nothing in this plot that we couldn't see coming.

This would have been fine if it was just another episode, but it wasn't. You can't be lazy with your season finale: there's no guarantee you'll have another season. It comes off as cocky to assume you can get away with a 'to be continued' stamp.

The sad thing about this episode is how well it was done until that ending.

This episode was predictable, but that didn't make it any less painful to watch as everything collapsed around Nick. He found out about Juliette's affair (from Monroe, not her) and their relationship's taken a nosedive, his partner was beaten to near-death for being his partner and, to top it off, Adalind's back in town.

The man looked so broken that I swear he was going to give up the key just for respite at one point.

This episode is painful to watch, which is why it's such a strong, tragic episode, but the ending cheapens it.

I feel this episode should have been a two part finale so we could dedicate all this time to Nick's personal problems and still been able to clean up the plot with a strong ending.

While every other show might have you talking about how great the finale was, the conclusion of Grimm's second season left me feeling cheated.

Even if Grimm's already been renewed, that 'to be continued' was a punch in the stomach.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E11

If you ever found yourself stumbling into a world of monsters and magic, there's a lot of things you would probably have rattling through your head: 'am I sure I'm not dreaming' is probably the most prominent, but there's one that Grimm's Hank Griffin has dared to ask in 'To Protect and Serve Man':

'Does this mean I've arrested innocent people?'

The episode this time around deals with a 36 hour race to determine whether or not a death row inmate is truly guilty of murder.

On the flipside, this is the episode where things finally crumble apart for Juliette and Nick. While it doesn't match the horrified panic of season 1's finale, it's definitely heart wrenching to watch for anyone who's ever found themselves tangled up in an affair.

While the supernatural elements are still the driving force behind this episode's sub plots, they're definitely not the true focus. This time, we're focusing on the story of a man questioning the world around him and if he had just condemned an innocent to death while glimpsing into the mindset of a woman on the brink of having an affair.

I don't believe that cutting out the monsters and magic would have hurt the plot of the episode; it gives us context, but we can relate to Hank and Juliette's onscreen struggles.

I admit that the amnesia aspect of her character's plot has frustrated me more than once, but Juliette has grown on me as a character. I'm not sure others would feel the same given how said plot has dragged, but I personally want to see her come out of the looming finale in one piece.

Hank's struggle this episode, however, seems to fall flat in comparison. I guess I feel that way because we've had less foreshadowing of this case and impending excecution than we have of Juliette's growing feelings for Renard. This feels like something that we should have known about before there was only 36 hours left to save the poor guy.

We had a few great episodes where Hank struggled with what was real and what wasn't...what I'm wondering here is why we didn't have a scene where Hank looked over his old cases again and found things that didn't add up in one of those episodes? It seems like a perfect moment to do so.

That said, Hank's got some amazing moments in this episode. Like Nick before him, he hounds this case like a man possessed. There's the constant niggling doubt that he could kill an innocent man throughout the episode and we see it eat away at him. One interrogation in particular stands out.

I think the main reason Hank's struggle seems diminished in this episode is because it came after several episodes of him having adjusted to his discovery of wesen, and the audience was still on edge from last week to see what happened with Renard and Juliette post-kiss. If it hadn't been for the timing or the aforementioned lack of foreshadowing, Hank would have easily eclipsed Renard and Juliette.

With that I leave you guys to the finale... Here's hoping things don't escalate too badly.

They will, no doubt, but still a girl can hope, right?

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S2E10

With the season two finale of Grimm two weeks away, it goes without saying that the episode this week has some high standards to reach - unfortunately, last week's episode only made said standards higher.

Previously on Grimm, everything went to Hell.

The teased Renard and Juliette relationship started to blossom, Nick's reputation as a 'friendly neighbourhood Grimm' was nearly tarnished and, most shocking of all, his neighbour Bud was almost tortured to death for the crime of being a wesen.

Also, to top it off, there's another Grimm in town out for wesen blood.

Over the course of the series, we've encountered a lot of wesen. We've seen Nick expose their crimes, befriend them and, most important of all, use his knowledge to solve the weekly crime.

Despite this, we've never seen a case where the culprit was not a wesen. Even cases where we had non-violent, friendly wesen staring us in the face, the one who commited the crime is rarely a human.

This made the line 'just because he's a wesen doesn't mean he's guilty' feel a little jarring at first. However, it serves to set the tone of the episode perfectly.

In this episode, we see two wesen encounter Nick for the first time; they proceed to freak out worse than others had (ie: Bud) in season one.

This isn't new in Grimm, but it's different for one key reason: Nick threatened the suspect. While it might not register as menacing at first, his obsessive behaviour when deciding to pursue the suspect certainly is.

Before I continue, I'd like to make it clear that there's no reason to suspect that Nick might be wrong this time. The audience is informed right away that the wesen we've been introduced to is guilty and that the only reason Nick's acting like this is the possibility that this kidnapping monster might get away.

His solution? Drug him up for a confession, of course.

Shady? Very, but what actually happens is much worse.

When we see him again, the poor guy's hanging by chains in a basement with blotchy, skull-shaped burns all over his body.

The police department decides to mark it up to a vigilante and feeds the story to the hungry press. The wesen community, however, takes one good look at the photos and declares that there's only one suspect: a Grimm.

This isn't as surprising as you'd think.

Yes, it's a good twist, but it's already been established that Nick isn't the only Grimm in the series. What was stopping another one popping up?

In the main storyline, we've finally got a reason for Juliette and Renard to interact - both are concerned about how Nick's been acting and arrange to meet for coffee.

After six weeks of amnesiac Juliette I have to say it's about time; I was worried that they would save this for a finale cliffhanger or the penultimate episode.

Both Sasha Roiz and Bitsie Tulloch give a good performance here. It's every bit as tense as you'd expect; both put in effort to resist the potion's effects (Juliette more than Renard, if you ask me) but...well, see for yourself.

This episode has a very strong balance between the main story plot and the episode plot. Throw in a great twist and a few status quo challenging questions and you've got one of the better episodes of the season.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW - Grimm S02E09

Ah, Halloween: that wonderful holiday stuffed full of cobwebs, fake blood and sugary goodness.

It's over now, but we've still got Grimm around to supply us with monsters and mayhem.

Any monster-based show worth its salt has to up the ante in the Halloween episode: this episode should have the creepiest antagonist and the creepiest scenes.

Grimm's never really been a scary show (it's gorey and got monsters, but that doesn't always make things scary) and the scenes in this episode didn't really stir anything in yours truly, but that doesn't mean it was a bad Halloween episode. It may not have lived up to my expectations, but it was actually one of the more entertaining episodes in season two.

As per usual with Grimm, we had three subplots: bringing down this week's antagonist, Monroe's subplot and the ever looming messy love triangle between Renard, Juliette and Nick. Because I discussed my feelings towards the love triangle last week, I'll try and focus on the former two subplots.

For those of you who have never seen Grimm, Monroe is a Blutbad AKA a Big Bad Wolf AKA the Grimmverse's version of a werewolf.

He is also the comic relief and easily one of the most fun characters to watch on screen. He works with antique watches, had a model train set and, best of all, celebrates Christmas with more gusto than you'd imagine from someone his age.

As it turns out, he's also a huge fan of Halloween.

I cannot express just how much childlike-glee covered my face the moment I saw Monroe's decorations. His plotline focuses on three neighbourhood kids trying to get revenge on him because he stopped them from stealing a girl's candy. It had no real effect on the main plot of the episode, let alone the series' storyline, but it's still pretty entertaining.

Besides, how else would we have known it was Halloween if Monroe hadn't shown Nick his decorations?

Our villain this week isn't from a fairytale as one might expect: what we've got here is the Weeping Woman, a piece of Mexican folklore. This is acknowledged via Nick's ancestors being unable to figure out what exactly she was and the one wesen in this episode not registering that this was a supernatural threat.

While I like that the book is unable to supply an easy solution and forces Nick to take a huge risk to save the victims, part of me feels that we could have deviated from the formula a bit more than we did.

The Weeping Woman, or La Llorna, feels like it would terrify a parent much more than anyone else: she systematically captures two boys and a girl then drowns them. The parent sees her drowning, goes to save her...but by the time they're in the water she's walking off with their child.

The kid'll be dead in the water the very next day.

We've dealt with kidnapping and child abuse in Grimm before, but we seldom witness it. I feel that this is because we generally don't like seeing children getting hurt, which is why over the course of the episode we're shown scenes where the kids are just in a really dark place but completely unharmed.

This episode ultimately failed to deliver the horror you'd expect from a Halloween episode. While we clearly see the stakes rising throughout the episode, it feels more like it's NCIS, not Grimm. I also feel that in terms of the children's safety we played things far too safe to conjure a sense of dread. It might've made a difference if we saw a glimmer of fear in even one child's face.

All this said, it was an entertaining episode, even if it was a disappointing Halloween special.

Review by Greta Rehak

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REVIEW Grimm S02E08

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

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Grimm: The New Season

Grimm Season 2 Episode 1. 

WARNING WARNING SPOILER ALERT

Aired 13/8/12

For those who haven't seen it yet, there's a sneak peek of the episode at the bottom of the review if you're still reading

Well it’s Season 2 and they’ve started the series off with well this new episode. It did everything they needed to do after last season’s finale. As well as introducing the next over riding story arc.

The new episode starts off just before the last one ended, with a cargo ship coming into Portland with a new Vesen threat for Nick to deal with. We saw The Woman in Black take down Akira Kimura –the one responsible for the death of Nick’s parents – the Woman reveals herself to be Nick’s mother Kelly Burkhardt & then bam!

They launch into the new opening sequence which I quite liked, fits in with the show a little more considering the show is based off the Grimm Fairy tales. The whole “There once was a man who” line fits perfectly.

So in this episode we find out what’s wrong with the Juliette, whether or not Nick & his mother kill Akira, what the hell the deal is with that key, what’s in the cargo ship and find out why Nick’s mother didn’t tell him she was alive!

So apparently Adalind despite no longer having any powers left after Nick grimm’d her, has still managed to poison Juliette with a zaubertrank called l'esprit ailleurs or Spirit Elsewhere for those who prefer English. This then prompts a series of events which ends up with Nick barging into Mother Hexenbiest’s house to threaten her, probably my favourite scene in the episode.

The other part that I absolutely loved was Kelly filling Nick in on the key and the history of the Grimm’s and how they’re interrelated. The plot is so tightly interwoven with everything else, it was perfect.

Which leads onto the new vesen nasty that our *Two* Grimms have to deal with. First Impression? The guy’s beast form looks like the love child of Darth Maul and a saber tooth tiger which when you think about it is pretty awesome.

Although this episode was pretty light on the action, all the plot and dialogue more than made up for it. The next episode comes out on the 20^th of August, US time.

I’ll be waiting with baited breath to see what happens next.

The Trailer:

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