Monday, February 29, 2016

An open letter regarding "Grimm"


"Grimm" was solidly my favorite television series for a good three years. That started to waver a bit in the fourth season. I continue to watch the show, but is has been less rewarding.

I write this without knowing that I can even get anyone to see it because I care about the show. I care about the power of entertainment in general, but I care about this show in particular because of what has gone before and because of my fondness for the people involved.

I have had some thoughts about (and even blogged about) this before, but since then I have seen the Showrunners documentary. Joss Whedon's interview provides a good way of talking about this, which feels like a sacrifice of "moments" at the expense of "moves".


Moves are the big dramatic things that happen. For the most part I think "Grimm" is still doing great with the plot twists it chooses. Even some of the moves that seem more questionable could work if they were given the appropriate moments, but it feels like those character moments are being neglected. This ends up damaging the characters.

This may be easiest to see in the arc of Juliette becoming a hexenbiest. That was a big move, but one for which the groundwork had been well-laid and which had amazing future potential.

It should have been the most exciting thing to watch. Instead it got very repetitive as Juliette went around angrily demanding her life back and then angrily not wanting her life back, with very little feeling of any of it being emotionally real.

This was most obvious in Juliette's interactions with Rosalee. To hit one plot point Rosalee was acting so out of character that it had to happen in a dream. The "She's a freaking hexenbiest" line was funny, but it didn't feel right in the context.

What was really needed was a scene where Juliette was able to talk about her fear of losing herself, and Rosalee was able to listen, and promise to try and help her. They were robbed of that time together.

It wouldn't have to take away from Juliette's ultimate turn to the dark side. There could have been the initial struggle, and an attempt to make her new identity fit in with her old life and friends, with the news of Adalind's pregnancy still pushing Juliette over the edge. That would have been more believable and more compelling.

It does feel like this shift has served the female cast worse, but for a few episodes, especially Hibernaculum and Double Date, it really did seem to make all of the cops worse as cops. That was unfortunate, because Nick, Hank, and Wu being good cops is part of why we like them.

I have seen other feedback online that indicates similar complaints. That's a concern, but fixing this doesn't even require a major overhaul. It's a fairly minor adjustment that would have a huge payoff. "Grimm" has a great cast, and a large part of the popularity of the show is their likeability. It would be a shame to squander that potential.

I appreciate any consideration that this gets.

Sincerely,
Gina Harris


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