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GRIMM |
Nick Burkhardt - David Giuntoli Hank Griffin - Russell Hornsby Juliet Silverton - Bitsie Tulloch Eddie Monroe - Silas Weir Mitchell Captain Renard - Sasha Roiz 
OTHER GRIMM SEASONS Season 1 OTHER SUPERNATURAL DETECTIVE SHOWS Buffy The Vampire Slayer Angel Blade The Series The Dresden Files Blood Ties Moonlight Lost Girl 
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Bad TeethA cargo ship brings a sabre-toothed cat person to Portland along with a container full of corpses. Nicke, meanwhile, has to deal with the woman who claims to be his mother. GRIMM comes roaring back with a re-run of the action finale to the last season. The fall-out from those events is quite significant. Juliet is in a coma on the edge of death, and conveniently losing her memory. Then there is the reappearance of Nick's mother, played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a very, very badass fighter who has less of a way with toast. She also shows the other actors how it should be done in no uncertain terms. Add to that the fact that the mother doesn't take to Nick's partner and his partner wants to know what's going on and, as family reunions go, it kind of sucks. All of this provides a strong and believable background to the ongoing plot line. It's darker and deeper and bloodier than much of the first season, but still maintains Monroe's banter to lighten the load. The bigger picture is revealed to revolve around a hidden gizmo of immense power (yes, another one of those) and the arrival on the scene of a new wing of Euro baddies doesn't exactly ring the bells of originality, but is hugely innovative compared to the arrival of the FBI on the scene. TopThe KissNick and his mother take down the assassin sent in to kill him, but don't have time to clean up the scene, thus bringing Nick under suspicion. The cop under suspicion and being investigated by his own friends is an old, old trope and there isn't a whole lot here that hasn't been done before in any number of cop shows. As a result, it's hardly the most startling or original storyline. On the other hand, the more supernatural side of the equation is more entertaining. Information is starting to fall into place and there are a couple of seriously kick-ass actions sequences to be going along with, especially the one between two mothers (moves borrowed from Jason Bourne notwithstanding). The proposed method of saving Juliet at least shows imagination. TopBad Moon RisingHank's friend needs help when some coyote men take his daughter for a ritual. Nick has to walk a fine line between finding the girl and letting Hank find out about him. This is a nice enough episode. It starts off poorly with the victim being a personal friend (never be the friend of a cop, it always ends badly) of Hank's, but the girl's nature and the stand off with the bad guys makes for a more streamlined and raw story that has some nice action and plays well. TopQuillA disease that only attacks the supernatural beings is loosed in Portland and Nick's friends are placed in danger whilst he attempts to find a cure. Hank is finally on board with the whole Grimm thing at last. It's a relief that storyline is finally over. Juliet, however, is starting to recall things. Renard is obssessing over Juliet following the kiss and the whole disease and race to find the cure thing is just too dull. TopThe Good ShepherdSomeone has stolen money from a church and Nick has to find out who before revenge is taken. A thin police procedural story isn't made any thicker by the addition of the supernatural elements. There is nothing here of any real interest. One of GRIMM's weakest moments. TopOver My Dead BodyMonroe's ex-girlfriend kills a paid assassin only to learn that his target was Monroe and that she will havte to pretend to be the killer to save him. Jaime Ray Newman is back as Monroe's sexy kick-ass ex-girlfriend, and not before time in our book. She is one of the most fun characters in the show and she enlivens what is otherwise a stupid plot of mistaken identities and silly contrivances. Thanks to her, the episode rocks and the ending is devastating. TopThe Bottle ImpA man with anger management issues is on the run with his daughter, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. This episode is so predictable that it's almost insulting. The real villain is obvious and so ineffective. Another weak episode. It also helps that the monster of the week isn't necessarily the villain of the piece. TopThe Other SideA student is killed because of his involvement with the science quiz team, who are very, very serious about what they do. Nick needs to learn who was responsible. A threadbare police procedural plot that is barely spiced up by having those involved be supernatural and throwing in some nonsense about gene manipulation to create new strains of monster. It's hardly surprising and barely interesting. TopLa LloronaA water ghost is stealing kids and Juliet gets to watch Nick work the case. Monroe, meanwhile, shows everyone in his neighbourhood what Halloween should really be like. The best episode of the season so far, this benefits from having a more interesting demon to chase than usual. The child-stealing, almost invisible woman is a fine image and scary opponent. Monroe's Halloween is also immense fun, even if it is completely predictable and has nothing to do with the main plot. TopThe Hour Of DeathSomeone is killing off the supernatural creatures of Portland, whether bad or not, and torturing them as well. It might be another Grimm, teaching Nick what he should be doing. Nick is a good Grimm, one who chooses which monsters to kill and which ones can be allowed to survive. That makes him the white sheep of a dark-wooled family and the introduction of a dark Grimm is an inevitable idea. Unfortunately, it should have been a lot better than this. It could even have made for an interesting background plot arc. Instead, we have Nick skirting the edges of being discovered ever more closely and certainly past the point of believability. These are cops, for heaven's sake, yet they ignore every suspicion because Nick says so. The seduction of Juliet by Renard is an interesting development. TopTo Protect and Serve ManA man is to be executed in 36 hours, but Nick and his partner Hank start to believe that he is innocent and revisit the case. The clock is ticking. Man on death row, last minute race to clear his name, clock ticking, etc etc etc. Oh yawn! There is nothing here to add to the many, many times that this story has been done before and adding in the overused Wendigo as the villain of the piece really doesn't help with the originality factor at all. It is severely hard to be interested in the main plot, but the side issue of Renard and Juliet at least livens things up for a couple of minutes. TopSeason Of The HexenbiestAn old enemy returns to Portland and threatens to tell Nick who his real enemy is. Juliet tries to deal with Monroe knowing about her and Renard. After a dreadfully dull episode, GRIMM explodes into life with a brilliant one. Plot threads come tumbling toward each other and weave together to set up an intricate web of intrigue that climaxes with Nick learning who is stepping out with his girlfriend. For once, the human story of the triangle between Nick, Juliet and Renard doesn't distract and annoy because it is at the heart of the plot. Nick is coming apart slowly, no longer in complete control of the situation and the return of Adalind, the show's ultimate femme fatale adds a real sense of noirish theatre to the whole thing. If every episode of GRIMM was as good as this one then the show would be unmissable. TopFace OffNick loses possession of the all-important key, but learns the full truth about Renard and Juliet. Is he in time to save either? Not quite on the level of the last episode, Face Off is still easily placed in amongst the best that the show has come up with to date. Now that Nick knows who he is dealing with, he is right royally pissed off and the sexual attraction between Juliet and Renard becomes dangerous in one of the most intense and grown up love scenes for a genre show of this type (ie not a HBO nudity-fest). As things progress, there are twists and turns and changes of allegiance that would be worthy of a series finale, right down to the cliffhanger. This is much, much better stuff and we can only hope that it is the shape of things to come. TopNatural Born WesenA trio of bank robbers are using their (un)natural faces whilst carrying out their crimes. Nick tries to find them before their own kind do. If you break the Wesen code and risk exposing their secret to humanity then bad things will happen to you. That's hardly breaking news, but the fact that Rosalee is now the keeper of the code for the Portland area is pretty big. The police investigation is pretty straightforward stuff and not all that interesting. Juliet's reaction to having her attraction to Renard forcibly broken is much more interesting, but doesn't seem to go anywhere and Nick translates 'giving some space' as meaning 'show no interest whatsoever'. TopMr SandmanSomeone is using grief counselling groups as a place to meet women and then blind them horribly. It's a Wesen, naturally, but then Nick gets infected. GRIMM is always at its best when it's at its nastiest and this episode is pretty nasty. Not only is there the whole blindness thing, but it turns out that the blindness comes from worms in the eyes and that leads to some very icky scenes. Juliet is slowly losing her mind, but nobody seems to much care about that and Nick certainly isn't showing any interest. Her certainly should because the visions are memories of Nick resurfacing. This is not surprising, but it is surprisingly uninvolving. TopNamelessThe inventors of a video game are being sliced in two, both in their game and in reality. Juliet forces Monroe to help her with her returning memories. This episode starts with a drawn out death scene leading to an acid-aided bisecting. It's a bit nasty and shows that this episode is going to be more interesting than most. There is a killer who is playing games with his victims (and therefore the police), which is hardly new, and there are lots of puzzles to be solved, also not new. Fortunately, it's all handled with enough GRIMM panache to get by. The set up for the Renard bigger picture plot arc is less interesting and continues to point out that there is a conspiracy, but doesn't clarify that any further. Juliet's vision quest is just more of what's been happening for the last two episodes and is, quite frankly, dull. Where would TV shows be if the characters actually spoke to each other? Also, the revolutionary video game looks rubbish. TopOne Angry FuschsbauMonroe calls in Nick when it becomes clear that a Wesen lawyer is using pheremones to get a killer off the hook. Juliet gets closer to regaining her memory, but gets a few too many at once. The main storyline here is a bit too predictable for its own good. The killing at the start is brutally matter of fact and then there is a very smart heist sequence (heisting the lawyer's sweat no less). Matters are not helped, however, by the comedy frog injection sketch (and there's a set of words we never thought we'd see together). Juliet finds a whole new way to come apart at the seams and it is just unbelievable that her so-called friends and lover would take so little interest in that. Patchy, but just about gets by. TopVolcanalisPeople who steal rocks from a country park are ending up dead, cooked from the inside. The creature responsible, Volcanalis, is nigh on indestructible and could go all Mount St Helens on Portland if really annoyed. The lava creature that is Volcanalis is easily one of the best rendered that the show has come up with yet, very impressive and giving a fairly straightforward police story a bit of substance and edge. Sadly, the rest really doesn't match up. The manner in which the creature is dealt with is quite smart, but also a serious let down in the spectacle stakes. The side story about Adalind's important unborn child is obviously setting up a storyline for later, but is otherwise dishwater dull. TopEndangeredThere are aliens in Portland - except that they're an extremely rare kind of Wesen creature and they are being hunted for their skins. We're surprised that it took this long for the show to get around to the whole 'wesen mistaken for aliens' storyline and quite frankly it wasn't worth the wait. The creatures look like those out of ALIEN NATION with an added blue glow and the sheer number of Wesen that nobody seems to have heard of is getting a bit silly. It's a straightforward cop story with some genre frills, but really it's nothing better than average. Juliet is starting to remember Nick and that subplot is actually more interesting than the main. TopKiss Of The MuseJuliet finally decides to let Nick back into her life, only to find that his heart has been stolen by a Wesen who can turn men into artistic geniuses bent on murder. Siren and muse mixed together, this week's creature is at least not so ugly in her natural form. David Giuntoli gets to play something other than wounded hero as he struggles with feelings that are irresistible, but that he knows are not his own. This is some of his best work in the show. Most importantly, though, Juliet learns the truth (some of it at least) about Nick and the Wesen so this whole tedious subplot can be swept away. TopThe Waking DeadWhilst Nick and try to figure out why the dead are coming back to life, Juliet challenges Monroe and Rosalee to show their true faces. This is the first part of a multi-part storyline and so it has a slower pace, allowing more space for the drawn out (but really rather funny) sequence in which Juliet finally learns the truth about the Wesen. Considering that the amnesiac Juliet plot arc has long passed its sell-by date, it is a big relief for the character to finally be brought into the fold and things can move forward a bit. Less interesting is the whole Adalind's baby storyline since it's hard to care what happens to her or her offspring (not least because she wants to sell it to get her powers back). The whole thing is seemingly irrelevant. Much more relevant is the zombie resurrection plot, which features Baron Samedi in a move of staggering unoriginality , but which finally makes a bit of sense when Renard's brother shows up in town, apparently in charge of the whole thing. TopGoodnight, Sweet GrimmThe gang work out what is causing the apparently dead to come back to life just as they start destroying the town of Portland. The hunt is on for a cure, but what is the puppetmaster's true intention? It's the series finale and at least the show comes up with a nice twist in the tail to end on. Before that, though, we have to wade through another rather dull story of chasing the criminal, working out what the Wesen is, finding the cure, all the stuff that's been done time and time again. The irrelevant Adalind baby story has some action in it at last, but it's still terribly hard to care. The second season of GRIMM comes to a close and it's been OK enough not to have annoyed too much. It's still a long way from being great, though. Top |
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