Saturday, February 11, 2012

NEW!: Grimm 1:11 - Tarantella

Overall Rating: 7.2

The preview for this one looked way cooler than the actual episode.  But it was still not a bad effort.



Plot Synopsis:

An unwilling, yet unstoppable serial murderer is on the loose - a spider-creature who must kill and devour three healthy young men every five years to stave off rapid aging and survive.  Her first victim in this cycle we won't shed too many tears over - he's a fox-beast who likes to take advantage of vulnerable women (he calls himself a collector...yeeeechh!).  The second victim, however, is more or less innocent, and murder is still murder.  The hunt for the creature leads Nick to seek Monroe's counsel once again and Monroe takes him to meet a fellow spider-creature who has renounced her ways and lives in a retirement home for creatures of all sorts.  She explains that it takes incredible concentration and dedication to overcome the biological imperative to kill to survive and that these folks rarely ever do their deeds willingly.  After tracking down the likely killer through some good old fashioned police work, Nick and Hank pursue her and stop her from killing a third time.  A bit of luck allows them to capture her alive as she falls into a fishing net.

Meanwhile, other non-humans have begun to figure out that Nick is a Grimm and have found out where he lives.  These same folks were responsible for last week's mysterious surveillance (and bugged out when Juliette tracked them down).  Now they're throwing eggs at his house.  He tracks down one of the families responsible and gives them some words of advice...stay away from my house and make sure no one else knows who I am...or he'll hold them responsible.

The Skinny:

Both the main plot and the side plot were interesting...but somehow, I expected a story about a spider that melts the organs of its' pray after having sex with them to be...um...scarier.  This one just doesn't do much to get me to the edge of my seat, I'm afraid.  It was more...creepy...than scary.  Not that the plot was without its' intrigue.  They're doing a wonderful job portraying the creature-underworld as both dangerous and...rather human.  These aren't simple bad guys...many of them are just afflicted with things that they don't fully understand or don't wish to be a part of.  And Nick is, evidently, the first Grimm to realize this fact and play fair.  This definitely has potential long term.  But this PARTICULAR episode is just well-done filler.

Writing: 6.5

Just a notch above par for the episode's attempts to further establish Nick as the first truly heroic Grimm in a complicated world.

Acting: 8.0

The acting was above par even for Grimm despite failing to really give us moments that will stay in our heads for a long time.  Just a good solid episode on the professional front.

Message: 7.0

This episode doesn't go FAR out of its way to hammer home the hero's creed (be fair to your enemies...and kill only when necessary), but it's still noticeably there in almost every script these days.

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