Grimm

Rarely does a series move me to review it. But this one is quite special. The premise is almost like Monsters Inc where the little girl scares the monsters under the bed - just made for adults. And what a lot of monsters there are here! The possibilities are almost endless...

Vaguely based on the Grimm tales, this series transports those tales into the 21st century far better than any other recent attempt at it. Each episode is a surprise, some have major frights in them, though the one criticism I have is that the main character isn't "grim" enough.

But to me the revelation - and half the fun of this show - is the character Monroe, played masterfully by Silas Weir Mitchell - truly funny, bringing a human touch to the monsters on display... he truly deserves an award for his role in this.

In the beginning, I wasn't sure if I will watch it or give up on it, but after a few episodes I was completely addicted. The show follows the usual pattern of crime dramas, but its focus is on cases that involve beings from fairy-tales. None of those aspects is new or original, but till now shows were focused either on one or another, while the way this show combines them is new and interesting, made to attract both fans of crime dramas like "CSI" and fans of fantasy like "Supernatural" or "Once Upon a Time". Warm recommendation to everyone, regardless of what genre you prefer.

8/10

'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.

...you skip every scene this annoying turd Juliette is appearing in or being talked about. After I started skipping the above mentioned scenes, the show was quite entertaining and fun to watch. I can't help it, but this character just annoys the f out of me, as many other reviewers already said.

The rest of the show is nothing spectacular and the scheme is always the same but if you don't binge it, it is quite good.

As others already wrote, I don't get it, why most american shows insist on turning themselves into soap operas all the time regardless of the genre. Every show hast this romance and relationship crap in them. It has become really difficult finding something which doesn't consist of a dozen relationships, romances, marriage, divorce, whatever stuff.

After viewing the pilot of this show, I think it has a lot of potential. Yes it follows the tried and true formula of expose modern individual to some sort of secret war/history/duty/etc, but there is a lot they can do with it from there. It did its job as a pilot: introduce characters, introduce conflict, and give you the general idea how the episodes will go. I think it is about time we had a new show that runs the good old man vs. monster bit, especially one that isn't prone to becoming some touchy-feely WB-esque teen drama. While its too early to judge the show as a whole, it promises good things. I hope it delivers.