Grimm--"Bad Moon Rising" Review

    In this episode, Juliette treats Nick like a strange bug, Hank gets upgraded to a real character and Nick and Hank stop a pack of creepy inbred Wesen from doing some messed up stuff.

     Juliette must fall in love with Renard. It has to happen, because it would be awesome. The possibilities with that storyline are so interesting—much more than her being Nick’s preexisting girlfriend.

    I didn’t love Juliette a lot before her coma so I may be biased, but it just seems like she could be nicer to Nick. I get that it’s hard, she doesn’t remember; but obviously he’s devoted to her, he’s not insane, and he’s really pretty cute, so I would be a little less horrified if I were her. It’s like not only does she not remember him, she also doesn’t appear to get why she would have liked him in the first place.

    She was plenty nice to Monroe, though! It was smart to bring Monroe in because it helped show the audience how her brain works around the Nick-shaped gaps in her memory. Of course, there must be some weird illogical blank spots. Like how did she meet Monroe if Nick wasn’t involved? Did she just abruptly have a stranger over for dinner?

    The scene right after Nick explains everything to Hank is the best. Hank adapted very well under the circumstances and was completely awesome. “Coyotl, right?” “Yeah, Hank. That’s the second one today.” 

Just a side question, how has Hank been seeing all these Wesen? Is it just that after a certain point anyone can see Wesen, but only Nick can see them before that point?

    It might seem like Hank’s adjustment was too easy, but frankly, I was just super relieved. Everyone knows that if Hank had gotten really upset, he would have eventually come to terms with it and basically there just would have been a chunk of episodes in the first half of the season where he felt betrayed by Nick and really angry, and then they would have kissed and made up. Instead the writers decided to skip that entirely, so hopefully that means they’re planning on doing something more interesting with Hank.

    The case-of-the-week had a distinctly rape-y feel to it from the very beginning, didn’t it? But then I thought, “well, they wouldn’t probably wait so long if they were just going to rape her”. But no. Apparently it’s a ritual gang-raping. So, there’s that.  Ugh.

    How could the Coyotls immediately tell that Nick was a Grimm? What distinguishes them? Do Grimms have any special powers aside from seeing Wesen and having an ancient tome of knowledge? I really want them to. If this is a true fantasy/sci-fi show, it’s going to turn out that Nick is actually destined to become the savior of the world or something equally epic.

     Sgt. Wu gets the best line of the night with: “Hey, so, let me get this straight. In the last six hours you arrested six villains, saved a damsel in distress and reunited a family, while I filled out three dozen overtime reports and scrubbed out the coffeemaker. Yeah. We’ve all put in a rich, full day.”

Here's a picture of Monroe since you didn't
get to see him enough in the episode

    This show needs bits of Wu and Monroe to bring some levity to the overall (and increasing) darkness of the show. Although, there were a fair amount of pretty great throw-away lines peppered throughout the episode. 

    Overall, I enjoyed this episode. I loved last episode’s emphasis on Renard and I loved this one’s emphasis on Hank. If a show only concentrates on its main character, it gets boring fast. But if it weaves all the characters together into a legitimate, complex storyline… Well. It’s fantastic. Grimm can still be kind of awkward in some respects but each week’s story has been really fun and the overall progression is exciting.

Extraneous notes:

• Hey, it’s Willa!
• Hey, it’s Stanton Parrish!
• I liked how Nick and Renard both talked around each other. Saying what they meant without revealing what they know. It would be so complicated, remembering who knew what. Renard knows that Nick is a Grimm, but Nick doesn’t know that Renard knows, or that Renard is a Wesen prince. What?
• Honestly, doesn’t anyone else kind of wish Adalind would come back and she and Nick would have some awesome UST? 



Connor Trinner--AKA guy from Enterprise

• Carly’s dad looks like that guy from Star Trek: Enterprise (that insult to the franchise). But he's not. He's some guy from Lost and Supernatural.

Mark Pellegrino--AKA Carly's Dad

Credit:

Director: David Solomon

Writers: Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, Jim Kouf, Richard Hatem

Grimm--"The Kiss" Review

     In this episode, Nick, Rosalee and Monroe attempt to stop Juliette’s memory loss and Nick deals with suspicion from the FBI while Nick’s mother continued to kick ass and be completely unhelpful in getting answers. Meanwhile, Renard and Adalind’s mother work together to wake up Juliette. Nick’s mom has to leave (although she doesn’t, really) because she keeps killing people, and Juliette wakes up but doesn’t remember Nick.

    Grimm seems to like ending each episode with semi-cliffhangers. The last episode ended in a cliffhanger which had to be resolved in the beginning of this episode, and then this episode ended in a pseudo-cliffhanger. It makes for a strange cycle, where a previous story has to be tied off before the next can begin, all within 45 minutes. But maybe it’s intentional? In order to give a sense of good progression with the over arching, seasonal plots.

     Why do all the people that Nick’s mom questions keep dying? She does not have the gentle touch, for sure. Her motherly heart-to-heart with Catherine Schade made me wonder, though, do hexenbiests get any extra physical strength when they shift (I can’t remember the proper word)? Because Schade seems pretty tough for not liking the “physical stuff”.

     On to Captain Renard. “The prince”? I love this story arc. There’s so much possibility. Seven families? The Wesen Wars? Yes, please! The more Grimm develops its history and mythology, the better.

     I want to know exactly how Catherine Schade’s concoction “purified” Renard. Like, physically? Did it clear out all his cholesterol or something? It doesn’t seem like it would affect his intentions or emotions, really, because he’s the bad guy, right? Hard to have a pure heart when you’re the bad guy. But maybe he’s not! Maybe he’s just a complex character with complex motivations.

     Also, I don’t know, but I find it curious that Renard had to kiss Juliette to administer the cure. For one thing, because everyone acknowledges that kisses are the way to do things. What is the historical basis for that? In “Once Upon a Time”, they say it all the time: “True love’s kiss can break any spell”. Not that Renard’s kiss was one of true love, but still. The power is acknowledged.

    For another thing, it led me to wonder whether when Juliette wakes up she’s suddenly going to be devoted to Renard. That would be a horrible backfire for him, wouldn’t it?

     Overall, I enjoyed this episode. It was good because it gave some more attention to how Nick has to balance his Grimm life with his job as a police officer. The episode also gave time to Renard, which is a good idea because he’s awesome. He’s very tied into the mythology of the show and developments with him usually mean developments of the back story, as well. For instance, what exactly is he the prince of? Why is he in Portland? What's up with that CGI castle Renard's brother was in? So many delightful questions!

Extraneous Notes:

• There was some pretty spectacular gore happening with the severed arm hanging from the ceiling, yeah?
• It’s seems very convenient and fan-servicy that Renard had to rip his shirt off during the purification process.
• I loved Monroe’s face when Nick assigns him and Rosalee to take Nick’s mom home. “We three will all just… Go on living”—with a tiny question mark at the end.
• Nick’s mom has such a supernatural look to her that it’s strange that she’s just human. Her face is so… Elfin.
• What is Mama Burkhardt’s plan? Can she really be trusted?