Grimm

[Leonore]

I've seen an extended preview of this show and it looks pretty cool! Premiere is this coming Friday, October 28...check your local listings. Yes, it's on NBC, so catch it while you can 'cuz you know if it's not an instant hit it will be gone!

Grimm is shot in Portland Oregon (I always think of kinda creepy shows being shot in the Northwest [which I LOVE by the way]. Millennium and Twin Peaks just to name a couple...the woods are so primal there! You can just imagine all kinds of things happening in those woods!

It is a cop/drama about a detective who finds out he is one of the last of the Grimms who hunt and are able to see the monsters in our midst. His only family, his Aunt Marie, comes to town to tell him they're not fairy tales! The special effects look pretty interesting. Might want to check it out!

[alliehalliwell]

Yeah I've been watching Grimm, it's actually really good.

[alliehalliwell]

So if anyone's wondering about watching this show or not, I thought I'd throw in my opinion again. It does cover the Grimm Fairytales but it's more like a cop drama. You get the main character Nick who's a cop - he's also one of the last remaining descendants of the Grimm brothers.

Personally I think this show is more of a cop drama than it is supernatural. Nick and his partner are good friends, and I love how in sync they are. Both cops are really smart & dedicated. Then you get Monroe, who is a fairytale creature "Bluebod" which is basically like a wolf. Monroe's friendly and he helps Nick with cases that have a supernatural spin on them sometimes. It's got everything. Crime drama/mystery as most cop shows do, some supernatural stuff (which is always fun) and you get some close friendships between Nick and his partner and Monroe. I was surprised I liked it so much to be honest. It's a lot more original than I thought. For example, we learn there is such a thing as a Grim-reaper and it's a group of creatures that seek out to kill the Grimm family line (thought they haven't shown much about that yet). Anyways, you should all check it out. Even if you don't like it, you can watch a couple of cute 'cops' for an hour.

[Leonore]

Jan 22, 2012 20:50:09 GMT -5 alliehalliwell said:

Personally I think this show is more of a cop drama than it is supernatural.

I agree with you alliehalliwell! There actually is a LOCI connection also! Norberto Barba who directed and/or executive produced such episodes as Frame, Blind Spot, Endgame, Brother's Keeper, Siren Call, Amends, Maltese Cross, Purgatory and Vanishing Act (Just to name a few of my favs! ;D) was active on LOCI from 2005-2009. He has been directing and executive producing on Grimm.

As an "old school" English major I enjoy the folkloric references to the Grimm fairy tales, and I really like the backstory which suggests that the Grimm brothers and their descendants were/are actually criminal profilers and as we have heard somewhere before "these (fairy tales) are their stories!". Sorry, couldn't resist!

The main character Nick is "one of the last Grimms" and as a result can see the monsters among us and has inherited a travel trailer full of ancient books and weapons for identifying and dealing with said monsters. He is not some sort of vigilante however. He is a detective with the Portland PD trying to reconcile this gift (or curse!) of his with his normal, everyday existence. His ally with the Grimm work is Monroe, a reformed "Big Bad Wolf" who no longer kills. He helps explain the various creatures to the detective (and us) and actually provides for some comic relief. Nick turns to Monroe for help when the Grimm aspects overlap a regular police case he is working with his detective partner who doesn't know that Nick is a Grimm.

The tension in the show comes from Nick's attempts to reconcile both parts of his life: the part that's Grimm (that he didn't seek) and the life he has built in Portland.

The stories, as I've watched the show progress, are hit and miss. Sometimes the Grimm aspect seems forced into the procedural part of the case and is almost unnecessary. There also seems sometimes to be a more menacing aspect of the monsters living and lurking in Portland that could turn much darker and dangerous for Nick and the people he cares for in his life.

Grimm is interesting and has potential, but I'm still not sure how dark they are willing to take it and to succeed long term I think they will have to go darker. As NBC is not currently a network that allows a show time to build and find an audience and they are already showing episodes on different nights (IMO it needs to stay on Fridays) I can't predict whether the show has staying power. I find it to be an enjoyable way to spend an hour getting a detective show fix and becoming reacquainted with some of the darker fairy tales of my childhood before Disney sanitized them all with musical scores and lyrical songs !

[alliehalliwell]

I think it might be nice to see the darker side to the fairy tales. I watch Once Upon a Time (also about fairytales) which has a different spin. I like that show too for different reasons. With Grimm, I think it needs to remain dark. For instance, the original Grimm version of Sleeping Beauty ends with the Evil Queen trying to cannibalize Sleep Beauty's children.

As a TV show I think so far Grimm is just starting to delve into that supernatural world like you mentioned. I would love to see it progress further, taking some of the more disturbing fairy tales (like Sleeping Beauty) and go with it. I'd also like to see some new creatures that Nick has to document on his own, and for him to meet a long lost relative (another Grimm). I think the show can do so much and I really like it so yeah, I'm nervous that it's fate is in the hands of NBC. I know a lot of people who watch it but since we're in Canada, our ratings don't matter to an American run company like NBC.