A reaction to 'Grimm'
...So, my sister's been telling me I should watch Grimm, and I finally took an afternoon to check out the episodes available on Hulu. And ... um. It's kind of like a mix between NCIS and "Bloodlines". But heavy on the NCIS, and missing the small bits of charm "Bloodlines" held. I mean, seriously, I found myself thinking, y'know, "Bloodlines" was actually pretty good by regular TV standards. Because at least the characters were halfway to being characters and not just roles. Given half a season and a decent writing team, they probably would've gotten there. It was a little heavy-handed at points, but there was room for it to grow depth and layers. And the production standards were movie-quality, as is typical for SPN. There were moments of nearly breath-taking beauty, and bits of humor and pathos and wit.
Grimm, on the other hand--it really was like deja vu of when I revisited NCIS in s12 and found I could predict the show almost scene by scene and line by line. Except with more bad CG and fewer cutesy character quirks. Nobody feels like a real person; the world they inhabit is mere backdrop; the plot threads and season arcs leave no room for symbolism or paralleling or even character development. The whole thing is simply flat. Forget about the possibility of giddy laughter or anxious tears or falling head over heels in love multiple times an episode.
If you like Grimm or NCIS, I am very glad for your sake. Please don't let my commentary affect your enjoyment. But the effect both those show have had on me is to make me appreciate just how deep SPN is--how layered. Almost all the characters, even those with five lines of exposition, seem like they have actual lives going on somewhere we can't see. They all have history and preferences and habits. They're all little bundles of contradictions and quandaries, just like real people. And they inhabit a real world because the camera inhabits a real world, and it is a beautiful (though at times exceptionally gory) world. SPN exists in a way few fictional worlds achieve.
You know what? I just really, really appreciate this weird little show I've managed to discover twice--the people involved in making it, the artistry and care they employ, and the characters and stories contained therein. It's not perfect, but it's a small and lovely wonder, and when it finally comes to a close I will probably cry.
But I won't start watching Grimm.
Grimm, on the other hand--it really was like deja vu of when I revisited NCIS in s12 and found I could predict the show almost scene by scene and line by line. Except with more bad CG and fewer cutesy character quirks. Nobody feels like a real person; the world they inhabit is mere backdrop; the plot threads and season arcs leave no room for symbolism or paralleling or even character development. The whole thing is simply flat. Forget about the possibility of giddy laughter or anxious tears or falling head over heels in love multiple times an episode.
If you like Grimm or NCIS, I am very glad for your sake. Please don't let my commentary affect your enjoyment. But the effect both those show have had on me is to make me appreciate just how deep SPN is--how layered. Almost all the characters, even those with five lines of exposition, seem like they have actual lives going on somewhere we can't see. They all have history and preferences and habits. They're all little bundles of contradictions and quandaries, just like real people. And they inhabit a real world because the camera inhabits a real world, and it is a beautiful (though at times exceptionally gory) world. SPN exists in a way few fictional worlds achieve.
You know what? I just really, really appreciate this weird little show I've managed to discover twice--the people involved in making it, the artistry and care they employ, and the characters and stories contained therein. It's not perfect, but it's a small and lovely wonder, and when it finally comes to a close I will probably cry.
But I won't start watching Grimm.
Although I did like that most of the creatures were, in fact, good people just trying to live their lives. That, at least, was an interesting concept.
Although I did like that most of the creatures were, in fact, good people just trying to live their lives. That, at least, was an interesting concept.
Yeah--except that there's so many of them, that the show had to turn into a conspiracy story to explain why the 'normal' people don't know about them. It might have started as a "fairytale-type crime procedural" or whatever, but it's definitely not that anymore.
It's really weird to watch a show that's doing nearly the same thing your favorite show is doing, but falling short in every single category, right down to 'maintaining integrity of initial premise'. (SPN isn't still doing the 'a new horror movie every week', but it definitely has several solid horror-type episodes per season, and--
Okay, sorry--that started to turn into a spiel. Can you tell I'm in love? :P