Contributor: John Keegan
After watching this episode, one of my fellow Critical Myth Podcast-ers remarked that the writing staff must have been anticipating some of our criticisms, because this installment seemed to introduce some of the very things that we said the show needed to grow out of its emerging “monster of the week” pattern. While I’m still not entirely sold on the viability of the series, I do think it has made a solid step in the right direction.
That’s despite the fact that the show continues to follow the trappings of a cookie-cutter procedural in a number of ways. It’s a staple of the tired “CSI” franchise to introduce the majority of investigations with the victimization of a hot young woman. All three episodes of “Grimm” have followed this pattern. And of course, there are the obligatory investigate scenes, which thankfully are a lot more interesting in this episode than last time.
Things progress according to the established pattern for a while after that: Nick gets as far with the investigation as he can using conventional means, his Grimm abilities kick in just in time to give him a new lead (and give the CGI crew something to do), and then it’s time for some Winchester-esque research in Aunt Marie’s journal.
The story gets a lot more promising when a connection is forged between the mysterious attractive blonde (Adalind) that has been hanging around Nick’s boss and the current “bee” attacks. The resulting interplay between Grimm and Hexenbeast takes the episode up a notch, as the particular difficulty of Nick’s position is made abundantly clear. He’s supposed to take down the bad creatures preying on humanity, but how does he make that distinction? Especially when the creatures as a collective may have reason to consider Grimms the real monsters?
Even so, that wouldn’t be enough to add substantial promise to the series. Instead, that comes with the revelation that the “bee” attacks are meant to expose and eliminate a threat to Nick. Apparently, there are creatures that work on the side of the Grimms, and they are trying to take down Adalind’s law firm, which is a bastion for an anti-Grimm faction. In essence, there is a Big Bad leading the anti-Grimm charge, and all the indications point to Nick’s boss as the leading contender.
I won’t say that this is an amazing episode; it’s still too mired in first season formula just yet. It will take a little more time to prove to its audience that this is the beginning of the kind of necessary turn that allowed “Supernatural” to survive and flourish. But it does introduce enough potential to grant this series a bit more benefit of doubt, and it has revealed that potential earlier than I had expected.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 8/10
