My "Grimm" Theory: Theories, Predications, and Shirtless Rage (and it's full of spoilers...)

by B Condon 1:34 PM

 

It's no secret that I'm kind of a Grimm fan and as such, I feel it is my duty to provide my theory on where the fairytale cop show is going, how I would like it to go and what other fans should seriously stop discussing. Why? Because I can't stop talking about it inside my head.

Nick is Not a F****ing Zombie!

Stop making that a thing!!

 



Far too many people have been making this generalization after "One Night Stand," right next to assuming that naiads were named after Diana Naid. (*facepalm*) After being infected by the Cracher-Mortel, Nick did have his zombie moments in "The Ungrateful Dead"** but by "PTZD" and "One Night Stand" it was more than apparent he had either something left over from the experience or maybe Grimm development is finally coming at warp speed through the help of the Baron's spit.

 

Think about it! All others from the Wesen world have features otherwise, shouldn't Nick and other Grimms have some as well? We already have the happy accident that caused Nick's enhanced hearing both in "Mr. Sandman" and "Ungrateful Dead," but what we have seen in recent episodes (Nick stopping breathing and turning color in his sleep, holding his breath saving the anchored down naiad under water, not being affected being strangled by Krampus***) it's too obvious that a zombie would not be doing those things if one was cured. What I think and I hope I'm right about, is that what the Baron did to him actually started the physical attributes he would have grown into over time. Perhaps by the episode "Mother Dearest" we will have Nick's Mom say something like, "oh no, it's finally kicked in" as if they were meant to happen to a Grimm later in life or simply something the writers hadn't established right in the beginning. (In other words, making shit up as it happens...)

 

Thinking back on what a Grimm would look like under the influence, I have noticed through Marie and Nick's Mom is that they have a dead look about their face, which Nick has clearly shown in many episodes. Even in his arguments with Juliette in season 1, you could see that something was brewing at least in his face. He continues this dead look but it seems that either the paling in color seems to be a downfall of CGI having fun or enhancing what it means to be a Grimm? Would we need the CGI or is it a help to Nick's continuing downfall or development, depending how you look at it?

 

And here's a better question, do we thank the Baron Samedi for speeding up this change? A little yes to keep things interesting and a little no (which I'll mention in a later section), especially since Nick is a nice guy but like the character himself it's getting difficult to differentiate his morals as well as how to separate careers as both Grimm and cop. But please, people, can we stop with the zombie talk? That was only meant for those three episodes. It's done and over with, let's discuss something interesting, like hoping if Nick will be able to hold it together and hoping he won't kill Juliette's friend's abusive husband.

 

**I praise you, Tyler Stephens and Sound Department crew!!

*** I equally praise you, Art Department!!! You have no idea how hard I geeked out every time filtering comes into a scene!

 

 

Nick a Super-Hero or a

Super-Hero Grimm?

To tell everyone the truth, the more that Grimm goes on, the more I'm torn about how to view Nick's character. Do we feel sorry for him as he helplessly tumbles down a rabbit hole of his own genetics and possibly lose everyone he loves in the process? Do we rejoice that he's doing so much good for Wesen and impressing the Wesen council? Do we expect him to turn into a super-hero or the anti-hero? So many good analytical questions but at this point, I just watch holding my breath, hoping the writers make good decisions.

 

But is it necessary that, even with all of the Grimm-ness Nick battles, he becomes a super hero-like character? Personally, if I was a writer on the show, I would make an episode (or an arc) based around a crime that Nick couldn't solve in the past or presenting an impossible crime that intermingles the Wesen and human world that is a lose-lose situation that he can't win. I just don't think it's entirely fair that every episode has followed a given formula: one crime, a Wesen of the week, Nick wins and a B line story involving Monroe and Rosalee or Renard and Adalind. That is why I have enjoyed "Stories We Tell Our Young" and "12 Days of Krampus" so much. Krampus involved someone who woges on the Winter Solstice and in "Stories..." it's a virus and not an actual Wesen! Plus it has shown that Juliette does do good on the show besides being one of the few women on the cast. But that's another blog post in itself...

 

It's half of the expectation the general audience has put on "Grimm" and its formula with the sadly almost-Scooby gang dynamic and Wesen of the week. How are we supposed to develop Nick's character other than how he handles his job as a cop and as a friend and boyfriend on his off time? In season 3, we have been watching how Nick has coped knowing that he killed someone while under the influence of Samedi and how it's been covered up by his friends. To tell you the truth, I'm hoping he seeks out a professional, like when Juliette forced him to go to a doctor and he's fine. If he goes to a mental health professional (human? Wesen?) to help him out with all the moral problems he's having; will he come out of that normal or is he going to continue to be contained and falling deeper into his Grimm-ness? He might be a quiet person, but this isn't in novel form (which would be amazing...) but he has to start talking about his mind processes so that the viewers can get a new dimension of Nick's "super hero" status or are we just going to have to wait until he completely loses it and ends up in a mental ward? Or is that what the writers are trying to do with this show: base it entirely like a graphic novel where depth isn't entirely delved into unless the story calls for it?

"Backwards Fairy tale?"



 

The more I think about this the more I am absolutely in love with what Grimm is doing and what it might be doing in the future in season 6!!! Of course, I'm dreaming the latter: the season where everyone is in Austria and someone is going to kill the royal baby, Monroe is geeking out in an Austrian clock shop, and exterior shots are being made in the real Black Forest (they can photo-shop in the digging for what the Crusaders hid since obviously there are rules against destroying historical property... right?). But I digress.

Obviously when I say backwards fairy tale, I think of Adalind's story line: an ex-witch so bent on getting her powers back she is driven to sell her unborn child to get help from the gypsies and accidentally lands in between a gypsy-hexenbiest rivalry. Now she's rubbing the dead hexenbiest's insides on her stomach to help the process. That's how far she is willing to get her powers back because it's the only way she could be close to her own mother at this point. (Psychology, folks...) But really, she can't be entirely grieving over her Mother how she brushed her aside when she lost her powers. So we have a very unhappy woman that naturally would become the hexenbiest...the "witch" that has no morality and Grimm takes that to a strange and magically realistic place! Add that to the real world, especially with all the violence and the way Grimm does not flinch from the gore and a dark psychological place, this seems to be a triple punch to the gut that this is not a normal fairy tale.

And keeping in that magically realistic place, we don't need a reminder of who Nick is but what he might become -- a cross somewhere between the huntsman in Snow White or the woodsman in Little Red Riding Hood but the man in the woods with knowledge of weaponry. Only it's switched around to be a man-predator who will haunt and scare all types of Wesen and eventually will hunt out this "witch" woman and save anyone in her path and eventually kill her. I'm starting to look at this show in this direction and it both disturbs and fascinates me all at once.

But we can't have Nick become that role completely since some of us actually like him (I enjoy the show for its ensemble work and of course the underrated comedy of Reggie Lee and of course Monroe... obviously... Nick doesn't really do a whole lot for me) and he's already torn into two continuums. In season 1, Aunt Marie basically told him to break up with Juliette and in the next season, his mother says to keep his friends and comatose girlfriend close to him. If a Grimm is full of otherworldly misery that is in their DNA, they have to have a loving network to keep him sane, right? Are the writers toying with that right now as some kind of metaphysical question of how a normal human's psychology being torn between the good and the bad?

 

Guy Love Grimm-Style

It's no secret how much I love Monroe. I love how he and Nick interact. I like how David and Silas are total dorks in real life. But (and I feel horrible to even bring up my tiny criticism) this friendship, at least on screen, is not at all realistic. Perhaps it is the fault of what a writer needs to present in the pilot, but Nick as a cop should have had better judgment than to run off to the first Wesen that looks like his possible suspect and to even go to his house at night off the books! And maybe that says something about how Nick is balancing his two lives now but all pilots need to be sketchy and offer the show's mission right away, I can forgive that. But even throughout season 1 as Monroe's friends are dying right and left, first by a Bauerschwein to a borderline psychotic Wildemann, we continue with the Grimm formula: Wesen of the week, Nick saves the day, Monroe helps. (I have a better question, are we supposed to watch the show as a serial where time is extended Friday to Friday?)

 

And even with the "oh ha ha" gay subtext behind the scene [above], Monroe is more than observant about the fact that Nick is continually using him, resulting in one of the greatest scenes ever. It's quiet but insistent that Nick isn't so much using him and there is a friendship between them, although one where Nick will quietly demean him for Monroe's quirks but put up with it because he's fine with whoever can help him maneuver through the Wesen world. So it's still using but Nick won't say anything but Monroe can feel better about himself. But there was a small moment between them, eleven episodes later in "Big Feet" where Monroe's in his car in the parking lot of the bar and almost crying that another friend has died while on the phone with Nick. But to me, their friendship still feels one-note even a season later as their friendship becomes more and more distant but maybe that's classic guy-friendship.  It might be nit-picking and yes, they needed a character like this but the fandom of this bromance has grown over the two seasons. You would think that others want to see something more (other than the Nick-Monroe slash art some people are making online...). I mean, as many times as Monroe has saved Nick's ass and vice versa, you would think they owe something to one another more than a sarcastic one-liner or rude humor. But then again, what's the timing of the show? It's never entirely clear.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am glad that Monroe is always there to help, but I really am waiting for Nick to really test the limits of their friendship, outside of his moody Grimm-ness, but how he has always treated Monroe. They almost did this in the current season when Nick "shoots" Monroe to make the Bauerschwein confess that he was killing off Blutbaden. But it seems Nick's relations with the Wesen world is always a little at arm's length and perhaps that's the fault of his character under the influence of his Grimm-ness or otherwise. It's clear Nick has a soft spot for Rosalee and Bud but I feel his guard is never completely down anyways; he is OK with Monroe having his quirks but never tries to invest more than a call in to work to remotely try to be real friends with Monroe even when they were living together! Maybe Monroe needs to save Nick's life again but Nick doesn't need that now that he can breathe underwater and escape a noose.

Myths/Fairy Tales I Would Like to See...

 

• Little match girl (although that's a little umbrella-ed in with "Organ Grinder")
• The Wesen world's equivalent of Robin Hood (but not King Arthur! Let me keep my obsessions separate...)
• Beauty and the Beast
• Snow White and Rose Red
• A Celtic fairy tale maybe? (maybe something inspired by Yeats?)
• Norse fairy tales?
• More Wesen myths/beliefs (like El Cucuy or "Stories We Tell Our Young")

 

There are always more swimming in my brain...

And the promised shirtless rage....

...You're welcome.

 

And the not-so shirtless rage but indeed shirtless...