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.
