Contributor: John Keegan
Written by Akela Cooper
Directed by Holly Dale
One would think that Halloween would be the perfect opportunity for a series like “Grimm” to up the ante and really embrace its horror genre trappings. Granted, the show is more of a procedural with ever-strengthening genre elements, but there is a significant amount of horror involved.
Instead of going with amped-up bloodletting, “Grimm” goes for something a bit closer to traditional Halloween fare: the ghost story. In this case, the Spanish version of the “Lady in White”, La Llarona. This is not the alluring version that, for instance, raised eyebrows in the series premiere of “Supernatural”, but instead, a woman seeking to sacrifice young children in an attempt to get her own children back (so to speak).
One very nice touch is that Nick and Hank don’t know nearly enough Spanish to help the father whose child has been abducted at the start of the episode. This is logical reason to bring Juliette into the mix. This also means that as Nick learns more about the legend of La Llarona, Juliette receives some pointed warnings about that cat scratch from someone with more “traditional” leanings. All of the pieces are tying together more and more.
As nice as it was to have Nick and Hank working together more, as those scenes have become one of the best parts of the show this season, I can’t say that the case was all that interesting. Having a guest Wesen come along for the fun was logical in and of itself, but it felt like an attempt to make up for the fact that Monroe wasn’t going to be in the main story. I think the relative blandness of the ghost story might have been offset with some solid Monroe snark.
Not that Monroe’s escapades on Halloween night didn’t provide a bit of comedic counterpoint to the ultra-serious ghost story, but it feel like Monroe is getting sidelined more and more in recent episodes. Part of that is Rosalee’s relative absence, due to Bree Turner’s pregnancy when these episodes were filmed. But even so, I was expecting a bit more balance out of the writers, especially since so many other elements have improved this season.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Score: 7/10
