RIP Grimm--the little series that could

Television can be divided into winners and losers, shows that are renewed and shows that are cancelled.  Come to think of it, life can be divided into winners and losers too.  In most cases shows starts off strong, run for a few seasons, then limp to the inevitable end (except for The Simpsons).  Or, they don’t catch on and are off the air in 13 (or fewer) weeks and never of again (except for Firefly).

One outlier is the late, relatively unlamented NBC series Grimm, which ended its run after five full seasons and half of a sixth.  The show never caught fire, or created a huge fanbase, or acquired critical acclaim (its two Emmy nominations were for stunt coordination). But it survived, reaching the famous 100-episode threshold, which is not nothing in the cutthroat world of network television.  Its departure leaves a Grimm-sized hole in NBC’s Friday line-up.

The show, created by David Greenawalt and Jim Kouf, began with the tail wind created by Greenawalt’s work as a producer on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Like Buffy, it was about a not-so-lone champion who fought mystical beasties that existed right under the noses of an oblivious society.  Like Buffy, its hero developed a cadre of friends and colleagues, some of whom were frankly more interesting than the lead character. But unlike Buffy, the central mythology never quite gelled.

In my opinion, the central problem with Grimm was not giving the audience a reason to care about the main character, Portland police detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli).  Speaking as a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the audience cared about her DEEPLY.  Not just whether she’d survive her battle with evil; we cared if she’d have a nice date to her prom, that she’d get into a good college, that she’d stop sleeping with pretty boys who either dumped her or were in an evil government military organization.  The creators of Grimm just assumed we’d care about Burkhardt because he was the star, he was sort of good-looking, and was a cop.

The premise behind Grimm was that there was a society of fairy tale creatures in the world that were called Wessen (one endearing yet annoying aspect of the show was that all the words describing the mythology were Germanic in origin, making them difficult to spell or pronounce).  Wessen looked human, but could “woge” into creatures that looked half-human, half-animalistic.  Some had magic powers, some were evil, some were just hungry and ate humans, and some were just refrigerator repairmen.

Burkhardt was the last in the hereditary line of Grimms, who protected humanity from Wessen, but Burkhardt put a modern twist on the job—instead of killing ALL Wessen, he instituted a policy of only killing Wessen who threatened people or other Wessen.  Luckily for him, he was a homicide detective in Portland, where most of the murders seemed to have some Wessen link.

Grimm did an excellent job of filling out its “Scooby Gang” including Nick’s detective partner Hank and a Wessen named Monroe who was a Blutbad (when he woged he turned into a fierce wolf-like creature).  Eventually the team included Nick’s fiancée Juliette, a police sergeant with the unfortunate name of Drew Wu, and Monroe’s finacee, who woged into an adorable fox-like Wessen.  Complicating matters was the fact that Nick’s boss was a Zauberbiest who was a member of the royal family that were the hereditary rulers over some aspects of Wessen society.

Like The X-Files and Buffy, Grimm juggled “monster of the week” plots with an expanding mythology about how evil elements of Wessen society was organizing to possibly declare was on humans.

Nick was a bland character, and his relationship with Juliette was one of those typical TV pairings where the couple is deeply in love because they are both in their mid-20’s, good looking, and the script requires it.  When Juliette got amnesia (that plot device never gets old), all she could remember about meeting Nick was that she thought he was cute. They had nothing in common, shared no hobbies, and it was easy to forget she was a veterinarian because it was seldom mentioned unless it somehow was required by that week’s plot.

What amused me the most about Grimm was that they never got the opening credits quite right.  The kept tinkering with them until they finally gave up around season four or five.  They still were terrible, but they stopped changing.

What distinguished Grimm was the imaginative way it re-worked old fairy tales into modern morality tales.  The supporting cast was excellent as well. The standout was Silas weir Mitchell as Monroe, a schleppy human that could transform into a fearsome Wessen, yet was a vegetarian who repaired antique clocks.  His relationship with Rosealie (Bree Turner) had all the warmth Nick and Juliette’s romance lacked. Russell Hornsby as Nick’s partner Hank always provided strong support that suggested he was underused by the writers.  Sasha Roiz was suitably charismatic and mysterious as Nick’s boss, Captain Renard, and Reggie Lee provided Xander-like comic relief as Officer Wu.

Grimm was never a ratings blockbuster, but expectations were lower on Friday nights, and it did well enough to make it to 123 episodes.  I’ll miss it, but frankly I am not clamoring for any follow-up TV movies to find out what happens next in the impending Wessen/Human conflict.  Six seasons and 123 episodes is a good run for any TV show.