Episode 7: Let Your Hair Down
Now that was more like it!
Admittedly I am always a soft-touch for child-in-peril and parent-child stories, but I thought this one was strong and emotionally affecting. Monroe (I guess we call him Monroe and not Eddie?) and Nick and Hank all had a role to play in the case, and in Monroe’s case especially I really like the tenderness and protectiveness he showed, while also keeping a hold on himself when everyone was in danger.
Hank’s concern and how the old case haunts him (which we’ll see again in the next episode dialed up to eleven) showed us a bit more about him, after he took the backseat for a few episodes. Claudia Christian did a lot to make me care about the mother and feel her loss in just a few scenes.
The two redneck brothers were a bit much, though, continuing the trend of overly broad characterizations.
I don’t know how well that poor kid is going to integrate into her house again but rather than imagine the worst, I’ll imagine the best and hope that with her mother’s understanding and some help from her local pack she’ll be okay.
Episode 8: Game Ogre
First of all, that episode title makes me laugh. Most title puns make me roll my eyes, but that one’s funny to say. “Ogre” is just a funny word.
I am so thrilled I can watch Juliette do something! And look, it’s exciting and awesome! She gets to be tough in attacking the hell out of the ogre dude, and vulnerable, when she breaks down afterward in the ruins of the house. That felt like a very natural series of reactions of a strong-willed woman during and after a crisis, and I appreciate that a lot. I also liked that we got a Juliette point-of-view at all, and I hope that continues.
I am always a sucker for the sympathy ploy of having the hero desperately overmatched as well. Poor Nick stuck in the hospital out of the action couldn’t help, while everyone else is in trouble. David Guintoli did a nice job of desperation and pain, showing some newer colors as Nick.
Meanwhile Hank goes more or less bonkers. I sympathize with the idea of no one else getting hurt for him, but it come off more as solo revenge idiocy. Sure, meet the villain alone in a quarry with no backup and a shotgun, that seems totally smart (no, not really)! Then he gets dumber by spending all the shells at the truck, and while I’m glad his ammunition isn’t infinite, there is no way he would not have been counting how many shells he was using. Unless he’s an idiot. He gets off way too easy there at the end with Renard.
I’m wondering where Nick was before the show started. Did he sprout up from the ground two years ago in the show? Renard, too. Where have they been? Hank has had to explain this case and the previous one to them as if they weren’t police officers or even Portland residents back then. Renard at least heard about the murders, but he was still acting as if most of it was new information, and Nick had never heard of this case or Holly from last episode at all. I realize they have to explain the old cases to the audience, but there has to be a better way than making it sound as if Nick and Renard weren’t around. Unless they actually weren’t around to know about these huge, notorious cases, but in which case we should be informed of that at some point, because otherwise it feels like clumsy writing.
Soooo, Monroe knows about and has accessed the Secret Trailer of Stuff! I’m sure that’s not going to come back and bite Nick on the ass, at all.
I’m definitely having fun with this watch (and I’m sure you’re all having laughs at my expense for my ignorance of what’s to come). Next time I’ll get to episode twelve and you can watch me flail at whatever’s going to happen next on Grimm.
Clacked by Liz Tamura 
on Jun 25, 2012 @ 19:25 EST5EDT
