Maia Sees A Beary Grimm Episode
Season 2, episode 2: “Bears Will Be Bears”
“Grimm” seems to be settling into its own world. The lighting is not as hokey in this episode and there was less trying so hard for the “boo” factor.
[All Photos: Scott Green/NBC]
I swear that scenes in the previews last week were not a part of this week’s show. Which leaves me wondering what the previews are for. A scene of Nick and Monroe going up a spooky staircase were used in promotion for the pilot episode . I thought it was going to be in the pilot but it was not. Now the same scene is being used for promotion of the show. I can’t say it’s for this coming episode since it has been used this long and we still have not seen it in the context of a story line.
Spoiler Alert!
This week’s episode is based on the fairytale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the original, Goldilocks is alone when she breaks into the Bear’s home. In this one it’s a pair of miscreant lovers who break in. One of the bears comes home and takes the young man hostage. He is to be the prey in a ceremonial coming of age hunt. Gilda, our Goldilocks, turns up in the police station with a tale of her boyfriend being snatched my some one or something. It’s a little hard to feel a lot of empathy for the young couple that broke into “Bear’s” home. Their complete disregard for other people’s property makes them unsympathetic characters. Most of this episode is a race against time to find the young couple who will be used in this bear hunt.
It reminded me of a Ray Bradbury story about a man who sets up a hunt in which he hunts an other man. His reason being that man makes the perfect prey. These man/bears are more base and less intellectual about their hunt but it still reminded me of Bradbury’s story. Other than the bear hunt the only other story line is Aunt Marie in the hospital and her fight to die on her own terms. She manages this in the end; she is a gritty character that this series will miss. Nick left Monroe to guard Marie. Not Nick’s smartest move. While Monroe is drawn away by bad guys an assassin moves in on Marie.
Marie is able to pass on a bit more information to Nick before she passes away. Her constant advice to him is to trust his own instincts. Nick also gleans that there are more Grimms and more Grimm Reapers. I would love to be a fly on the wall and hear the logic behind each character’s development. I would like to know if Nick’s restraint is the actor’s own creation or that of the show’s creators. Nick has brief moments of levity when he plies his skill as a profiler. Unfortunately they don’t really play as levity. In “Bears Will be Bears” the scene is awkward and just doesn’t quite work. Thankfully it is brief and we go on to things that work better for the show. What is working for the show is the building tension and discovery of what Nick is up against. At the end of this episode we got a glimpse of a wolf-like creature watching Nick and Juliette at Marie’s gave. I thought it had a female eyes. How or why I think they were female I can’t quite describe it was just the shape and look they had.
I will say it again, the leads in this show are not as interesting as the supporting characters. Nick, our police profiler and new Grimm, is just so bland. How someone who has just found the ability to see sinister monsters can be so boring is beyond me. Writers, please give Nick some depth or this isn’t going to make an interesting series. Or make the show much more about Monroe. He is much more interesting. There have been many successful television shows that didn’t have as interesting a premise as this show. They made it because they drew the audience into the characters’ stories. Grimm will have to develop their characters if they hope to keep their audience. Special effects are not likely to hold our attention for weeks on end.
