What's it about?
A new drama series inspired by the classic Grimm's Fairy Tales. Portland homicide Detective Nick Burkhardt discovers he is descended from an elite line of criminal profilers known as "Grimms," charged with keeping balance between humanity and the mythological creatures of the world. As he tries to hide the dangers of his new found calling from his fiancé [sic] and his partner, he becomes ever more entrenched in the ancient rivalries and alliances of the Grimm world. With help from his confidant, Monroe, a reformed Grimm creature himself, Nick must navigate through the forces of a larger-than-life mythology, facing off with Hexenbiests, Blutbads and all manner of ancient evils, including royal lines dating back to the original profilers themselves, The Grimm Brothers.
So, how was it?
As the second of two new shows premiering within five days of each other that are based on fairy tales coming to life in the modern world, GRIMM will draw countless comparisons to ABC's ONCE UPON A TIME. While this comparison may be unfair (one is a a serialized mystery, one is an episodic crime procedural), it is inevitable and unavoidable. For my money, ONCE UPON A TIME is by far the superior of the two shows, being infinitely more creative, complex and mysterious. But that's not to say GRIMM doesn't have its own charms, and will most likely find its own fiercely loyal cult audience that all such sci-fi/fantasy shows seem to garner (FRINGE, SUPERNATURAL).
My main problem with GRIMM is in its very basic chemistry: it's a procedural. Not one procedural has ever been able to hold my attention. I don't watch CSI, or Law & Order or NCIS, and I never tuned back in to this season's UNFORGETTABLE after the pilot. Hour-long dramas with an entirely new plot every week just don't capture my interest. I prefer something with an over-arching storyline, which is exactly what ONCE UPON A TIME has and GRIMM is lacking. That's not to say there isn't mythology to explore in GRIMM, but the basic format of each episode will be a new big bad guy every week, and that concerns me. How many fairy tale bad guys will we go through before the writers run out of ideas and start recycling story lines? We're not drawing from the infinite well of human experience, here. The Brothers Grimm only wrote so many stories, and if the entire show is based on their writings, they're drawing from a very limited pool.
As for the pilot itself, it was a mixture of intriguing and infuriating ups and downs. The production value was excellent -- the forest settings were lush and creepy, the colors popped, and the creature effects were decent. David Giuntoli is blandly likable as Nick, but Kate Burton steals the show as his docile librarian (but secretly badass monster hunter) aunt. Unfortunately, the writing was bogged down in cliché after disappointing cliché: The protagonist who doesn't know his own super-secret background; the black best friend and partner who's always got the main white guy's back no matter how crazy he sounds; the "bad guy" who turns out to be a misunderstood, wisecracking good guy; the mild-mannered ceramic-collecting postal worker is actually the creeper kidnapper hiding the girl in his basement (this whole plot line felt ripped straight from SVU: Supernatural Edition). And unfortunately for the seemingly-capable Bitsie Tulloch, who plays Nick's fiancée Juliette, it seems as though her role will be relegated to nothing more than lovely damsel-in-distress, as Nick's aunt warns him to leave her or she'll be in danger (and we know that of course he won't). In a world becoming increasingly aware of gender roles and the underrepresentation of women in popular media, the creation of an entire female role for the sole purpose of being a pretty plot device is disappointing.
But my single biggest problem with the show is the simple fact that Nick is a police officer. That seems all-too-convenient, given the fact that he now finds himself faced with chasing down supernatural bad guys. It felt lazy and contrived to me, especially given the fact that Nick's aunt, the only other Grimm we know, is a librarian. That, to me, seems so much cooler. Why couldn't Nick be something more commonplace like an accountant or a banker or what have you? That would've increased the ironic juxtaposition of his new role and allowed for a lot of character development and exploration as he grows into his new role as a bad-guy-catcher. It seems like the writers missed a real opportunity here to make their protagonist infinitely more interesting by having him be a writer, just like his ancestors, the Brothers Grimm.
The underlying mythology is the one thing that gives me hope for this show. FRINGE started its first season as an episodic, X-FILES-ish sci-fi drama and has morphed into one of the most well-written, well-acted, under-watched shows on television (and one of my personal favorites). Maybe one day GRIMM will surprise us all and transform into something similar. The question will be whether or not it remains interesting enough in the meantime to hold my attention in this sea of new shows. We'll see.
Rating:
** Okay. I may give it another episode or two to see if it gets better.
GRIMM had the misfortune of premiering against Game 7 of the World Series, but still did surprisingly well, considering: it managed to get 6.5 million viewers with a 2.1 rating. That's the highest-rated non-sports show that's aired on a Friday since last December. That sounds great, but that still puts it in 8th place for drama premieres this season between the already-canceled CHARLIE'S ANGELS and the desperately-struggling PRIME SUSPECT. Also remember that CBS postponed all scripted shows last night in favor of reruns due to the game, while FOX similarly postponed their new episode of FRINGE (which seems like it would have somewhat of a crossover audience). So for anyone not wanting to watch baseball that night, there weren't many other options. We'll see what happens next week when those shows come back. Granted, the bar for Fridays is set much lower than any other night of the week so even middling ratings can mean survival for a show airing then.
What about you, Fellow Addicts? Are you intrigued or turned off by the episodic nature of the show? Did it bother you that Nick was a police officer? Which do you like better, this or ONCE UPON A TIME? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
(For a quick glance at the other pilots coming out, check out my Fall TV Preview.)
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