Review - Grimm Season 1 Episode 2 Bears Will Be Bears

The second episode of Grimm exposes some glaring holes in the show. The most obvious is the CGI. There are a few scant glimpses of bear faces (which could have been anything), some hazy, brown blobs going through the forest, and a half-second of a whole bear. If the show doesn't have enough budget for solid CGI already, it's troubling to think whether the show can ever be more without showing the monsters in full for an extended period of time.

Then there are the structural problems. Nick's girlfriend is living plot device, intended to show the things Nick may have to give up. Hopefully the writers do something interesting if her character--either give her something to do or get rid of her entirely. The trailer is also a big plot device. It conveniently provides all the answers if Nick just looks--and quite quickly, I may add. It's parked right outside his house, but his evil boss still has no clue about it.

Score: 8.0/10

Review - Grimm Season 1 Episode 1 Pilot

Grimm is a procedural with supernatural elements, not a fantasy show with procedural elements. This distinction is actually pretty large, as the majority of the pilot is spent on stuff you'd see on numerous other procedurals through the week--CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, etc. And even then the procedural aspect of the show isn't that strong, mainly generic strings of clues leading to the ending.

What sets the show apart from other is the fantasy elements that show up from time to time. They aren't seamlessly molded into the show as they should be, but they're there, if that counts for anything. The main character Nick is in the lineage of Grimms, who hunt down storybook characters like big bad wolves. It's a concept that will get the writers lots of mileage within the procedural format. Beyond that, though, the show doesn't have much else in terms of characters or writer.

Score: 8.2/10