Contributor: John Keegan
Fans of “Grimm” aren’t going to be happy to hear this, but I struggled to remind myself that the show was still on the schedule. Considering that “Chuck” has been running steadily throughout the holiday hiatus, it was easy to forget that there was another genre show running on the network on Friday nights. That the promos are so forgettable probably doesn’t help one bit.
This goes a long way towards demonstrating the mind-boggling issues with NBC and their scheduling. They saw potential to take “Grimm” to a new night, with less competition and more fanfare, and did some rearrangement in December to highlight the series. And then what did they do? They took the show off the air for weeks. Any momentum they might have gained is lost.
It also doesn’t help that this return to the world of “Grimm” leans heavily towards the conventional procedural side of the show’s premise. It comes down to some questionable choices by Nick’s partner, and it wouldn’t have taken much of a rewrite to eliminate the supernatural elements entirely. That really shouldn’t be the case for “Grimm”, and the episode suffers as a result.
The writers do try to make things a bit more interesting by placing Juliet in the crossfire, which results in a bit of angst on Nick’s part. This could be the beginning of a subplot where Nick must choose between his life with Juliet and the inherent dangers of the Grimm world. Losing a gorgeous redhead from the show would be a shame; then again, wouldn’t it be more fun to bring back Jamie Ray Newman’s character as part of Nick’s reluctant little team?
To a similar point, the writers could have used this episode as a pretext for having Nick tell Hank all about the supernatural world. After all, given how bad Monroe is at hiding things, I would have expected Hank to be suspicious of the entire situation. Instead, they are clinging desperately to the procedural roots of the show, instead of moving it into the territory where it actually works.
This has all the hallmarks of when a network is pushing a genre show to abandon its genre underpinning for something more conventional. Either that, or the writing staff doesn’t know what it wants, and the showrunner can’t find a consistent middle ground to drive the show forward. Between self-defeating scheduling by the network and bland, predictable episodes like this, I’m still struggling to embrace “Grimm” as a solid genre offering.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 6/10
