This one is solidly engaging and more than a little disturbing...and what's even better, the seeds are actually being sewn for a series of potentially interesting character developments - at last!
Plot Synopsis:
An ogre comes to town seeking revenge for being put in prison for life (or until his escape)...he murders the judge, the prosecutor, the assistant D.A. and comes hard after Hank, the arresting officer. Nick tries to intercede on Hank's behalf by running the investigation with Hank in lock-down, but this brings the ogre down on his home, where he is nearly murdered himself in an attempt to flush Hank out. Thanks to some quick thinking by Juliette (boiling water FTW!), Nick is barely spared, though his home is a mess. While Juliette cleans up the pieces (and has a much-deserved freak-out), Nick sends Monroe to his little shop of horrors to retrieve some ogre poison and some silver bullets - the weapons of choice for killing this beast. Meanwhile, Hank leads the Ogre into a trap of his own making (rather stupidly)...and Monroe follows with the BFG-9000 (Doom reference!). Hank predictably gets his ass kicked and Monroe is forced to kill the ogre. The Grimm weaponry alerts the monster-ring-leader (chief of police) to the presence of a Grimm in his precinct. Stay tuned for that fun search.
The Skinny:
We have four potentially interesting character-driven plots now, with this episode spicing up the soup. In no particular order:
- Juliette has learned the hard way that living with Nick - (to her mind a cop) - could be very dangerous. This is going to strain their relationship at least for now.
- Nick is realizing that his aunt may have been right. Juliette is in danger every day they're together given his monstrous mission statement. He is doing the right thing trying to make friends with the well-intended monsters and build alliances...but there's nothing in that good-planning to remove the very real threat to everyone he loves. He will have to decide whether to tell Juliette about his calling or to leave her for her own safety. That could be very interesting.
- The chief of police - a known ring-leader among the monster underworld if we're to believe what we saw in "bee-ware" - is now alerted to the presence of a Grimm in his precinct and may ask Hank to lead an investigation into the illegal possession of an elephant gun. This could eventually track back to the Grimm stockpile and to Monroe, who wielded the weapon.
- Monroe now knows about the Grimm arsenal/knowledge bank - what he chooses to do with this knowledge will be interesting to watch. He isn't always the most careful and discrete man alive...or the brightest for that matter (not that he's a moron...but he lacks common sense on occasion), so he may slip up some day and lead bad guys to Nick's war chest. Which would obviously be bad.
This particular episode was fast-paced and engaging full-stop...and shows a lot of promise for the future. I am starting to think the series has a future at this blog.
Writing: 8.5
This was a very good murder mystery/suspense script...it doesn't rise to the feature level, but they're working the character angles much better than they were at the start.
Acting: 8.5
Hank and Juliette were the stars of this one and both gave above average performances, as did Monroe. I liked Monroe's subtle hints of being uncomfortable fighting evil...his shaky hand while assembling the gun, his stumbling on the way out of the crime scene, his appeal to his dead father that what he was doing was the right thing. All well portrayed.
Message: 7.0
Minor bonus points for the show's careful separation between monstrous BIOLOGY and monstrous IDENTITY. Notice...the bad guys who run afoul of Nick but aren't normally dangerous or deadly live, while the ones who have no conscience die. Nick and his gang of helpers are not indiscriminately killing all "monsters" - just the ones who must be killed to win the war.
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