Grimm Is Fun. This is a rec!
The very basic plot premise
Cop Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) suddenly starts seeing weird faces on other people. Turns out he is a descendant of the Grimm brothers. His aunt has the same gift, or "problem" as Nick calls it, and tells him he is supposed to kill all those strange creatures. He can't tell his girlfriend Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) or his partner Hank (Russell Hornsby) about any of it.
Hank and Nick are partners
What actually matters:
German monster-of-the-week
The German language is butchered in a hilarious way. :) The creatures are called "Wesen" (German for "Being"), and Nick discovers that he'd rather not kill all of them. Instead, he befriends a wolf-creature ("Blutbad", meaning "bloodbath") called Eddie Monroe (Silas Mitchell Weir), who has all the best lines and is the best actor in the first half of the first season, hands down.
Pretty normal scenario: Monroe is excited and Nick is gobsmacked
They have this buddy relationship where Nick comes to Monroe for help with Wesen-related cases. And they butcher some more German. The first half of the first season is pretty much a slashy procedural with supernatural elements.
Underlying plot arc
Then, in the middle of the first season, the plot starts to pick up. We find out that Nick is being hunted by European royal families who send Wesen after him. We find out that there is a member of those royal families in Portland. And then there are several attempts on people close to Nick.
One of the many opportunities Nick has to tell Juliette the truth
The latest case is drawn out all throughout the first half of the second season where we are now, and it's an interesting case of magic mutual obsession.
The shallow
David Giuntoli
David Giuntoli is the cutest thing to grace our screens since Joe Flanigan (he also has ideas about heroes similar to those of JF...). He looks a bit wooden and slick at first, but he gets a lot better with time. He's *tiny* compared to all the other actors around him, but he still carries the show, and I love that.
Sasha Roiz
Sasha Roiz (who was on Caprica) plays Nick's boss. He is the most interesting character so far. We learn more about him in the course of the story than about any other character. He gets to do #shirtlessrage and he speaks fluent French!
Obviously, there's more shallow to be had, these two are just my favorites. Ymmv.
Meta
It's shot in Portland and has beautiful green forest backdrops.
The characters aren't always all that consistently written. The drama is more important than the character motivation, which sucks at times. But hey, when the most popular thing to compare to right now is Teen Wolf and Supernatural, there's really nothing to complain about Grimm at all. :) David Greenwalt is a producer, and he did Buffy and Angel as well as Eureka and a few other things. You kind of know what to expect.
The police procedural part is often quite unrealistic, as are the Wesen special effects in early episodes. But you get used to a little handwaving with Grimm, and the creatures really do get better later. Go in knowing that, and you'll enjoy yourself immensely.
Rosalee is a Fuchsbau
The fandom has grown a lot with the second season. There still isn't that much fic to read yet, but the second season is promising to continue the interesting plot arc, which is a good sign.
Where to start
If you are ready to go through the first half-season, there's no reason not to start at the beginning. The pilot isn't bad. 1x08 is a good Monroe ep. If you want to see some Nick/Monroe buddy action, you should start with 1x12. If you want to get a glimpse of the story arc, 1x13 is the best bet. You should definitely start no later than 1x15.
Try it, and let me know what you think! You have until February to catch up.
x-posted to dw (comments:
)