Detective Nick Burkhardt is a Grimm – he can see monsters for what they truly are – one of the last of his kind. The only problem is that he’s got a very short learning curb because now they will be targeting him.
Even after repeating screening, the opening moments of the series premiere of Grimm make me jump. Which is a good sign.
The teaser for the premiere, which opens with a quote – ‘The Wolf thought to himself, what a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful…’ – The Brothers Grimm, 1812 – jumps us right into the action as Detective Nicholas Burkhardt [David Giuntoli] and his partner, Hank Griffin [Roger Hornsby] ponder a pretty girl’s job when Nick suddenly sees her face shift briefly into something monstrous. He shakes it off and we cut to…
…a pretty young woman in a red sweater and purple training pants is swept off a jogging path so quickly that we barely register the creature that grabbed her. Seconds later, there are screams… then silence.
get the call and are shown to the young woman’s dismembered corpse [which we don’t see, although we do get a glimpse of a severed limb] off the jogging trail. If it wasn’t for a boot print nearby, the girl’s death would probably have been written off as an animal attack. Cut to…
… a very creepy looking old woman pulls up to an older house in a Jeep wagon which is towing an Airstream trailer. Slowly, she hobbles to the house, leaning on a cane for support…
Nick finishes his shift and heads home to what looks like a classic haunted house in the light of street lamps, and enters cautiously, called out to his girlfriend, Juliette [Bitsie Tulloch]. She doesn’t respond, but he finds her in the kitchen with… his Aunt Marie [Kate Burton]. As she hugs him, she whispers, ‘We need to talk!’ so, they go outside.
Marie is dying and Nick’s weird sightings are a byproduct of his inheriting the family curse – the ability to see supposedly fairytale creatures for what they really are [in a book in her Airstream, Nick later finds a drawing, labeled ‘Schlaurffen’ – it looks like the businesswoman he saw earlier]. While Marie is explaining what’s going on, they are attacked by a hulda – a vicious ogre-like fellow wielding a scythe [when Nick has the legend etched into it translated, it reads ‘Reaper of the Grimms’].
The next day, a pre-teen girl disappears on her way home from school. Questioning reveals she was wearing a red hoody and purple tights. We see a postman walking his route – he’s wearing the same kind of boots as the first woman’s killer.
Before the premiere runs its course, Nick runs afoul of a reformed ‘blutbad’ [German for bloodbath – plural is ‘blutbaden’ – but corrupted through the years into Big Bad Wolf] named Eddy Monroe [Silas Weir Mitchell], who takes pity on the rookie Grimm and schools him, while leading him to the one who kidnapped the girl.
In between the bits I’ve used to ease you into the series, there’s lots of blood, some serious gunplay, and a heart-stopping final sequence that suggests that Nick is going to need every instinct he has to stay alive – and not surrender Aunt Marie’s secrets to decidedly inhuman creatures.
The premiere is smart, dark and creepy with more than on good jump moment – even though it also has to provide a series setting’s worth of exposition. It works because one of the show’s creative team is David Greenwalt [co-creator, co-executive producer and co writer] who really knows how to get the most out of supernatural premise – and where to put the humor
Grimm is NBC’s best new series of the fall and by balancing the high-tech shenanigans of Chuck with some cool supernatural weirdness, the network sets up an evening that should draw some new fans to join the hardcore Chuckies. Despite many of NBC’s promos giving away the end of the episode, the Grimm premiere is a dark, twisted, entertaining debut. Director Marc Buckland keep things moving while utilizing creepy lighting [heightened palettes; dark and eerie lighting] and ironic production design [the bad blutbad lives in a regular fairytale cottage in the woods, for example.
Of the core cast, Eddy the blutbad is the most entertaining – and one of the most likable [the two not always being the same thing. He has the best lines and one heckuvan entrance. He’ll make a good source for Nick and, after he’s persuaded Hank, a good source for both.
Given a chance, Grimm could do very well. Since it follows Chuck, it may stand a chance.
Final Grade: A-
Photos by Scott Green/Courtesy of NBC