Watched the first episode of NBC’s ‘Grimm’ last night – and while it fell well short of ABC’s ‘Once Upon A Time’ it was still worthwhile for me. This is because when Silas Weir Mitchell made his appearance as a ‘big bad wolf’ turned good I knew the show couldn’t be too bad. Mitchell was amazing on ‘Prison Break’ and has had many other excellent TV and Movie roles – when he is on screen he dominates the viewer’s attention. Without Mitchell I doubt I’d of made it through to the end.
The show is based upon characters from the Grimm Fairy Tales who actually exist in the real world – mostly as villains – but appear ‘normal’ to most humans. They can be seen in their true and horrifying manifestations by David Giuntoli who plays homicide detective Nick Burkhardt – descended from a line of the Grimm family who fight the supernatural. So ‘Grimm’ is basically a detective show with a twist.
The first show made me think of several episodes of the ‘X-Files’ and ‘Fringe’ – but except for Mitchell, our good ‘big bad wolf,’ the acting and screenplay lacked much nuance or humor. Would I watch the show again? Yes, at least for now – because the supernatural characters, those out of the fairy tales, look amazing and I get to see Mitchell do his thing.
Fairy Tales are always told and read to children – but I never understood why that is. They are almost uniformly violent and horrible – playing upon some of our the deepest and most powerful archetypal fears. Just take ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ or ‘Hansel and Gretel’ as examples – in these charming tales we see a range of horror: abandonment by a parent, death of a loved one, being eaten by witches and wolves, being lost, being imprisoned, etc. – a regular buffet of nightmare inducing snacks.
