I waited impatiently for the Grimm panel since last Thursday and as of yesterday at 5 pm, I finally had the pleasure of seeing that beautiful post-pregnancy glow on Claire Coffee (Adalind), the adorable nuttiness all over Silas Weir Mitchell (Monroe) and even Russell Hornsby had a strange giddy swagger about him. (Hornsby and wife Denise Walker just had a little boy, Walker, two weeks ago.) Although the panel I saw was edited, I couldn't help that the questions asked by both the moderator and the audience were a bit on the lukewarm side. It almost made me nervous about where the show is going considering my own fearful opinions. Sure, the questions asked were cute and expected with the giddiness of the impending Loch Ness Monster storyline, the lack of Juliette and Kelly, and of course the "Spoilers" teasing game of it all. In other words, the off season responses a fan would expect.

The truth is, with the ever growing phenomenon of Comic Con and the genre of fantasy/sci fi becoming very prominent in acting content, Grimm and the Grimm world should have every right to be lovingly nit picked. Who better to lovingly nitpick than me with my last two opinion pieces about the show? We all expect the cute young kids and young adults to ask about characters and make up logistics about Grimm or how magical and immersive SWM is as an actor and that's fine, but these are the questions I would have asked (in an imaginary world where I have the ability of confidence-ing)...

"I would like to ask a question considering the friendship of Nick and Monroe. In season 1 and 2 there was this fairly solid sense of masculine closeness, but now that there is basically this Grimm army, when, how, and will you [creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, director/producer Norberto Barba] come back to that focus between the two characters?"

"Are there any early editing choices you [Greenwalt/Kouf/Barba] made to the show that you regret now? And if there are, would you want to rework them back into the show somehow?"

"Where do you [Greenwalt/Kouf/Barba/Coffee/Turner] think Grimm stands on the Bechdel scale? Do you think changing Juliette into a hexenbiest and the whole "hexenbitch" phenomena made where you are on the scale better or worse?"

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"To Silas, I was wondering if in all of your magical Germanic-ness if you have more ideas of what you would want to bring to the show in terms of content and if they had not made it into Season 5, would you care to divulge future possibilities?"

"To Bree and Claire, as women where do you think Grimm ranks in terms of feminism both within the show and even in the broader genre of fantasy/sci fi? Do you think it could be better and how, either in terms of the writing or characters in general?

"David [Giuntoli], I thought you portrayed the duality between Grimm and cop brilliantly in the last few seasons just in terms of that pressure cooking acting. Now that it is no secret (and this also goes to the producers), what other aspects of the character will be his internal war now outside of all of the loss and bitterness or will that be the only highlights of who Nick is as a character? Where does his darkness go from here? Will things get psychologically worse before it gets better, if at all?"

"Not to throw out episode ideas which I'm sure you [Kouf/Greenwalt/Barba] hear plenty of, but what do you think about a first-Wesen account (as it were) of experiencing the Grimm-ness in Nick's eyes? Or do you think it's frightening alone just from hearing it from other characters or even just to divulge the unseen just once? 

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"Claire, now that Adalind is insistent on being a better mother to Baby-Grimm now that Diana is gone, do you think she will lose her autonomy as a woman losing herself into the role of a mother? Now that Adalind has been weakened throughout the show in more ways than one, do you think she will jump back into some aspect of her old self at some point? What would you like to see paralleled or differentiated from her experiences as a daughter to an emotionally abusive mother to her own role as a mother? Do you think she can or will rise above her [mother-daughter issue] genetics?"

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"Sasha [Roiz], producers, speculate with me. I know that you said that the royal storyline will be put aside for a bit, but now that the King is dead, do you think Mia Gaudot will be back to make a power play? Will we also see just a tiny ounce of Sean's backstory, just a teeny bit?"

"Russell [Hornsby], you seriously crushed it in that tent scene during the "Mishipeshu" episode, is there more impending scenery chewing to expect from you in the next season? What would you like to have happen to Hank outside of being a friend/extension of Nick?"

BONUS! My new favorite person and one of the many in the current running to be my spirit animal, Yael Tygiel interviewed cast and crew for my favorite podcast, Afterbuzz TV. Check out this magic-ness. (Click on the playlist button for the others)

Warning: Spoilers Included

One Night Stand

(Season 3, Episode 4)

 

 

When multiple drownings have occurred in Portland, Nick and Hank stumble on a new type of Wesen of the mermaid kind with vicious male counterparts. Rosalee starts to move into Monroe's place. Renard discovers who the royal baby's birth mother is. Juliette finds a curious email in Nick's inbox with the signature M.

 

Literature Used: The Little Mermaid

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), Fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbieste (warlock), Naiad (mermaid)

Best Quotes:

Jake: I just -- she came over and she just wasn't... normal.
Nick: Nobody is, Jake. it's Portland.

Best Moments:

Rosalee allowing Monroe to leave her to unpacking her stuff and to go to the trailer with the boys.

Elly swimming in Jake's swimming pool then woges in front of him.

Nick doing his own Grimm woge-ing in front of Hank after pulling Elly out of the water.

The Stories We Tell Our Young

(Season 3, Episode 6)

 

Renard leaves for Vienna for a Resistance meeting and ends up being hunted by his family. Back in Portland, Nick and Hank's latest case involves a child that has a Wesen-like virus that is very deadly to the species. Rosalee feels the duty to report the virus case to the council despite her friendship to Nick and Monroe who are against it. Juliette delves deeper into Nick's job as a Grimm. Adalind meets Eric's brother.

 

Literature Used: Inuit mythology

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbieste (warlock), Hundjager (hound dog), Pflichttreue (panther)

 

Best Quotes:

 

Monroe: So I guess it's time for the "Birds and the whole Bienen-Wesen" talk.

 

Nick: I like to think we live in an enlightened age. Where fear does not drive belief. That's the truth behind the fear.

Alexander: Fear is not an easy thing to change.

Nick: Try

 

Best Moments:





Every time Renard turns into an action star and starts killing people.

The medical treatment scene in the little boy's outside fort.

Twelve Days of Krampus

(Season 3, Episode 8)

 

A Santa-like Wesen is terrorizing troublemaking teenaged children and it's up to Nick, Hank, Bud and Monroe to stop it. Over in Vienna, Renard is continued to be pursued by the Verrat as he insists that the Grimm he has will help them defeat the seven royal families despite their distrust in him for being half-royal. Monroe enlists Juliette to help him surprise Rosalee with the way he celebrates and decorates for Christmas but ends up falling flat on his face in the process as Rosalee's depressing history unfolds a little more. Renard leaves Adalind a message.

 

Literature Used: O Tannenbaum

 

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), Fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbieste (Warlock), Krampus (anti-Santa sheep-like Wesen),  Eisbiber (beaver), Schakal (jackal), Hundjager (hound dog)

 

Best Quotes:

 

Monroe: You know, I've got a lot going on today. Gotta get these jobs out before Christmas, because you know, clock repairs. Need to be timely.

Rosalee: Is that a clock joke?

Monroe: Just a tiny one. Sorry, I heard it second-hand.

Rosalee: Yikes. I'm leaving before you can think of anymore.

 

Wu: Don't worry, I'm not going to give you crap about arresting Santa Claus in front of a bunch of children. But I wouldn't expect under the tree this year.

 

Hank: You picking anything up?

Monroe: I got nothing. Except the smell of fear on Bud.

 

Renard: I am royal and I can be a bastard.

 

Wu: Besides the red suit and the black boots, he looked like something out of... and I quote "my worst drug crazed, acid induced, flashback nightmare."

 

Juliette: "You arrested Santa?"

 

Best Moments:

 

Interaction between Juliette and Monroe as they decorate his home.

 

Nick beating up on a Schakal posing as a Santa as on-lookers stand there doing nothing but recording the incident on their phones.

 

Girl talk between Juliette and Rosalee.

 

Nick getting choked by Krampus's rope and not being affected (except for a little CGI-tinting of his skin)

 

When Rosalee leaves out a beer and cigar for Santa.

this.

 

Eyes of the Beholder

(Season 3, Episode 10)

 

 

Hank's physical therapist and crush is involved in a current case involving street gangs and her younger brother whom she is raising. Juliette is feeling more awkward around her college room mate after discovering she's Wesen and seeks out advice from Rosalee on what she should do. Alicia's boyfriend makes a move to take her home but results in Juliette defending her best friend.

 

Literature: The Merchant of Venice

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), Fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbiest (warlock), Klaustreich (alley cat), Yaguarate (jaguar)

 

Best Quotes:

 

Nick: That's quite a way to send a message. Cutting off the head of a serpent.

Monroe: Or in this case, the head of the Yaguarate (Nick and Hank stare) Serpent's good.

 

Monroe: I'm glad you're not perfect.

Rosalee: Who says I'm not perfect?

Monroe: Not me.

 

Rosalee: You have to play more often. Got any more?

Monroe: I do, I do. I have a Mozart, a Bach, a very nice Brahms. And I got a Rimsky-Korsakov from Scheherazade that'll knock your babushka off.

Rosalee: Oh, the babushka one.

 

Best Moments:

 

Hank and Zuri looking very toasty towards each other.

 

Monroe playing his cello again!!!

 

Juliette kicking her best friend's abusive boyfriend's ass.

 

Hank playing video games with Zuri's little brother.

 

Mommy Dearest

(Season 3, Episode 14)

 

As Prince Victor's men close in, Adalind gives birth to Sean's daughter and gets her powers back. [Drew] Wu comes in contact with his first Wesen that feeds on his childhood best friend's womb fluid and it's only the question if Hank and Nick should tell him he's not crazy.



 

Literature: Legend of Gello/Asswang

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), Fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbiest (warlock), Hexenbiest (witch), Asswang

 

Best Quotes:

Drew Wu: "Sometimes my cat gets mad at me, and all she needs is a belly rub."

 

Best Moments:

 

Wu seeing his first Wesen, finally being addressed by his first name (Spoilers... it's Drew), and overall being amazing showing he is devoted and maybe a little in love with Dana. And even his choice in going straight to a psych ward. Everything Drew Wu!

 

 

The Law of Sacrifice

(Season 3, Episode 18)

 

 

Prince Viktor and the Verrat are on the hunt for Adalind and her child and closing in even tighter. Immediately, the whole Grimm gang has no choice but to help Adalind as **spoiler** Diana's **spoiler** life continues to be in danger as long as she is with her mother. It only ends in heartbreak.

 

Literature: Rumpelstiltskin

 

Wesen Featured: Hexenbiest (Witch), Half-Zauberbiest (Warlock), Blutbad (werewolf) Fuchsbau (fox)

 

Best Quotes:

 

Wu: (pronouncing Viktor's long full name) "I may have inadvertently dropped a -berg or a -dorf or two."

Monroe: "How was my German?"
Hank: "I believe him."
Monroe: "But you don't speak German."
 

Best Moments: Adalind in the street discovering Sean took her baby from her and her hexenbiest powers break a million car windows.

 

The stand off between Prince Viktor and Sean.

 

Everything Sean this episode: the pain in his face realizing he has a child, when he has to give her up and **spoiler** the compassion in his face knowing he has to live without his daughter..

 

 

 The Inheritance

(Season 3, Episode 21)

 

A dying Grimm travels all the way to Portland from Philadelphia to give Nick his trunk of Grimm weapons including... dun dun dun, a second key much against the Grimm's son's behest. Rosalee starts to feel anxiety over the wedding as Adalind finally puts her plans to destroy Nick into action.

 

Literature: The Water of Life

 

Wesen Featured: Blutbad (werewolf), Fuchsbau (fox), Half-Zauberbiest (warlock), Hexenbiest (witch), Hundjager (hound dog)

 

Best Quotes:

 

Rosalee: "It's just all gotten so overwhelming."

Monroe: "Honey, it's a wedding. It's supposed to be overwhelming; to keep you from doing this more than once."

Rosalee: "I just... I have this feeling something awful is going to happen."

Monroe: "That's the spirit."

 

Trubel: "What's up with this key he keeps talking about?"

Nick: "It's along story. It has to do with the Crusades and a bunch of knights who were Grimms who found something they thought no one else should have, so they buried it in the Black Forest and made a bunch of keys that had a map that supposedly leads to where it is. Is that enough?

Trubel: "Good enough for now."

 

Monroe: "Well we're one key closer to god knows what"

Rosalee: "I don't think we'll ever know."

Josh: "I don't think I want to know. But at least now I know my Dad wasn't crazy; unless all of you are."

(everyone looks at each other)

 

Best Moments:

 

 Trubel admitting she was almost raped and attacked by a Wesen.

The magical deviance all over Alexis Denisof's (Prince Viktor) sexy mug.

Not necessarily a best moment but the freakish moment where Hank almost legitimately got ran over by a member of the Verrat. That was extremely close for a TV show!

Everything about that fight with the Verrat members -- possibly the most intense fight in Grimm history.





















 

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...