Grimm

'Grimm' (2011-2017)

Opening thoughts: 'Grimm' appealed to me straightaway, despite taking a while to get round to it. Absolutely loved the premise which was the show's biggest selling point, darker, more supernatural and more mysterious twists on famous fairytales (some already quite dark) sounded absolutely great. Different twists on famous stories and characters is not a new thing, with shows like 'The 10th Kingdom' and 'Once Upon a Time' still existing, but they didn't have the tone and themes that 'Grimm' did.

As an overall whole, 'Grimm' was really impressive. Actually found the earlier seasons absolutely wonderful, while finding that the show started to run out of ideas a little in the last few ones. There is actually very little wrong, but the very little that is wrong turned out to be quite big issues when they became more prominent. They are outweighed though by what 'Grimm' does right, which is a lot and most of the components were executed outstandingly.

Bad things: Am going to begin with the not so good things. It is brought down by two characters that really annoyed me, with both being flatly acted. One was Adalind, who didn't have an awful lot of personality, or at least to begin with, and her soap operatic antics did too often irritate (some unnecessary). Did appreciate though that she was made more sympathetic later. Even worse was Juliette, who is incredibly annoying, especially when she was more dominant (i.e. Season 4). Due to her stubborn-ness, selfishness and know it all nature being exaggerated in the writing.

There were times where the storytelling relied a little too much on contrivances and coincidences.

Good things: So much is fantastic. Most of the acting is fine, with David Guintoli and Silas Weir Mitchell being throughout absolutely captivating. Nick is a fascinating and charismatic character and loved how truly Monroe often is. Their chemistry is great fun. The characters on the most part are well written and had well fleshed out personalities and development, Nick particularly. A vast majority of the writing is full of wit and intrigue, apart from some soap opera creeping in in the latter seasons.

Furthermore, a vast majority of the storytelling is very imaginative, deliciously dark and full of entertainment value, with any conflicts having a good deal of suspense. Wholly living up to the great premise. The mystery elements always intrigued, the spin on the stories and characters used inspired and inventive as well as uncompromising and the supernatural ones were just about easy to follow. The villains are suitably menacing. It is a very well made show and looks a lot more expensive than it actually was, very atmospheric scenery and sets, wonderfully moody photography and lighting and the effects didn't look cheap. The music had energy but also an ominous vibe.

Concluding thoughts: Concluding, very good and often fantastic.

8/10.

I don't know how I missed this when it came out back in 2011 or how I never heard of it until 2022 on Prime, but wow, am I glad I found it now.

I"m on season 6 and am sad because this is the last season and I don't want it to end.

It sort of reminds me of Buffy for older viewers, and I love the chemistry all of the characters have with one another.

I like the monster of the week episodes best, but I felt the same way back when I watched the XFiles and Supernatural...just a lot more fun with monster of the week episodes, lol.

My favorite characters are Rosalee and Monroe. They remind me of Xander and Willow. I'd totally watch a spinoff based on them.

It's a fun series, and as a fan of all shows with a supernatural bent, I wish there were more like this.

Do you like fables? Fantasy stories and creatures in general? You will have quite the feast here - if you accept certain flaws that is. While the characters are nicely written, this falls mostly under the monster of the week category. There is some building up and characters developing to a certain extent. But it also lets them do things and then lets them get away without or little consequences.

There is also quite the coincidences and stuff that does not make sense. Things get sweaped under the rug and we have the "Buffy" level of knowledge: check the book. Which is all fine and dandy, but also quite a stretch to be fair. I know that some might feel the world depicted here is a stretch itself, which is fair. But even in the world and the rules set, it breaks them from time to time to say the least.

You can't be too mindful of things like that, otherwise you won't enjoy the show at all. It is fun and watching the outtakes make you like the actors even more. Which might make it harder to rate this the way you wanted to rate it ... I was thinking about going an 8 just because of that, but even though the finale was also very good, it was also very predictable and gave us a character (re)turn, that should not have happened. The lines can blur between good and evil ... but sometimes it is too much ... not to mention the return of ... but let's leave the soap opera elements alone and just enjoy this for what it is ... light and fun entertainment

Grimm is one of a few shows with realistic characters who are neither perfectly benevolent nor malicious. The lead character is a detective who is sent on a mission by his dying aunt to rid Portland, Oregon of evil people who are actually not completely human. The protagonist is not perfect as he frequently looks out for many of his own needs taking advantage of other people in the process. He is mostly good, but not perfect which is exactly what the show needs. Furthermore, I enjoy role of the protagonist's girlfriend. She is aware he has a secret and she wants to help, but he knows telling her about who he is will place her life in danger. The protagonist has an official and unofficial partner which is a great twist in the show because it divides the show into two halves. Part of the show is dedicated to solving the official crime and the other part of the show is dedicated to catching the evil partial people. The unofficial partner is possibly the best character in the show because he believes he should assist the protagonist to make up for his troubled past. The reason I am not giving this show a 10 is because I am getting tired of the show taking place entirely in Portland, Oregon. How does the protagonist find so many of these partial human creatures, which are supposed to be fairly rare, just in the city of Portland alone? It is starting to get a little silly when the "rare" creatures account for about 1/10 of the population. However, this is the only major flaw of the show and it is easy to overlook. In a scale of 1-10 in which 1 is the worst, 10 is the best and 5 is average. This show is a 9/10 Great and highly recommended.

I watched this series with pleasure. It was not too intense but also never shallow. Nice series for relaxed evenings.