The Angel in NBC’s GRIMM
It’s the middle of the week and with nothing on tv tonight I found myself already looking forward to the weekend. In my house the weekend officially kicks off with NBC’s GRIMM which comes on Friday nights at 8.
I was thinking about how much I look forward to it, and how much it reminds me of Angel. Remember that show? The Buffy spinoff? David Boreanez as sexy vampire p.i. type guy? Yeah, that one. Now hold on. Before you start tweaking out, calling me a freaknut, just hear me out. I know they are not like, the SAME – as in show plot wise. Seriously. There are enough similarities that GRIMM, IMO, is totally be influenced by Angel. I’m not really surprised either since David Greenwalt, the creator of Grimm, also helped create Angel back in the 90’s. I would even wager to bet that a majority of Grimm’s fans used to be Angel enamored.
Here’s why I say that. Ready? ‘Cuz I’m about to blow your mind…
Main Character:
|
|
Angel and Nick are both “investigators”, they both have a broody “air” about them, they both are a bit more than normal. Angel being a vampire, Nick being a Grimm. They both love a lady that ultimately, they can’t have. Angel’s love was a vampire slayer, Nick’s is a mortal he thinks he is keeping safe by not telling her the truth. Angel actually chose NOT to have his lady love, for her own safety. Will Nick do the same? It made for an awesome story arc on Angel, for sure.
Partner:
|  Hank
|
Wesley was Angel’s “partner”. He helped run the PI business, and helped fight the baddies. He was Angel’s friend. In the end he went from being a nice guy we liked to being a dick-face. If I remember right, in the end he even tried to kill Angel? I can’t remember – but I think so.
Hank is Nick’s friend. Though he doesn’t help or know about the Grimm side of things (he senses something is going on he can’t quite put his finger on), he is also Nick’s partner at work. They look out for each other. I’m not sure what they are doing with his storyline but currently he is under some kind of spell – and it would seem going dark (or maybe crazy).
Lovable Sidekick:
|  Monroe
|
And… here I start crying. Yep, as if on queue – I have tears. My Doyle. Omgosh, I loved him. Doyle was this lovable guy/half-demon. He was Angel’s friend. Doyle got “visions” from “the powers that be” and was a huge help to Angel. He was there for him, loyal to a fault, without question, and in the end gave his own life to save Angel – and the world. His last episode broke my heart. He was my favorite character on that show, and they killed him off with no warning what so ever. It was so heroic. I cried for weeks over that. I am not even kidding. I didn’t watch the show again until after it had been canceled. That’s how upset I was over Doyle. Glenn Quinn, the actor who made Doyle a reality, was killed off on Angel in 1999 (rumored for drug use) – and went on a downward spiral – eventually killing himself in 2002 (accidental drug overdose). To this day, I can’t see a picture of Glenn Quinn without crying.
Monroe is this sweet, lovable, beastie called a weider blutbad. He is Nick’s friend – even though Nick is a Grimm and should be killing him. Monroe does what ever Nick asks him to do, even when he doesn’t want to. I don’t know why, Nick has done nothing to earn that kind of loyalty other than NOT kill him. Since Nick “inherited” his Grimm without any training – Monroe is kind of Nick’s mentor. Teaching him about the other beasties, and helping out as needed. Often, putting himself at risk. Silas Weir Mitchell is an AMAZING actor. I can’t imagine anyone else in this role. He is perfect. I love him. Like my Doyle. If they kill him off, I will give up on tv shows all together. My heart won’t be able to stand it.
Lady love:
|  Juliette
|
Ahhh, the lady loves. Buffy was a kick-ass vampire slayer. She would stake a bitch and not think twice about it. She loved Angel, but they could never REALLY be together. He was a vampire and she was the slayer. Juliette is a boring, weak-ass. She has no idea about the darker things in the world or that her man love is a Grimm. She senses something is up, though. They can never really be together because he is a Grimm and she is ignorant.
More:
Now on Grimm we even have like an apothecary run by Rosalee, who has tons of knowledge and books on all the beasties – much like “the watchers” from Angel. Nick has started using Rosalee and her resources for info/help.
phew… that’s a lot to take in (why are you complaining, I’m the one who had to type it all out!)
So if Grimm and Angel are have so much in common, why is Grimm failing to impress the masses? Even it’s fans (ie: me and my peeps) are a little underwhelmed each week. So what’s going on?!
Here’s the deal. Or at least, the deal as I see it.
Grimm and Angel have so much in common, that we (or I mean, I) have expectations. Angel was a huge hit, and if Grimm wants to mimic it’s success then they need to do a little tweaking. Take for instance, Nick. Nick is nice to look at. He’s all broody, just like David Boreanez was in Angel. However, Angel might have been dark and broody – but he wasn’t flat. There is something missing with Nick. I don’t know if it’s in the acting or in the writing, but “IT” is just missing. I really want to like Nick. He’s easy on the eyes. He’s a good cop. He’s a nice guy. He’s ridding the world of nasties! But for some reason, he leaves me saying – meh. I don’t really care about him. Yet. The writers could kill him off and replace him with a new Grimm, and I would be totally ok with it. Something is definitely MISSING there.
His lady love, Juliette, has either got to “nut up” or shuddup. No kidding. If you follow the show on GetGlue or on Twitter – it’s no surprise that we (and by we I mean the entire peoples of the interwebs) we don’t like her. Listen, I’m from the Buffy generation. I’m so sick of females being portrayed as week, clingy, needy, little things that can barely make a sandwich much less protect themselves. I (we) want an ass-kicking female, one that don’t take shit and loves her man like it’s nobody’s business! As it is now…nobody likes her! She has no idea what’s going on so the scenes she are in just drag the pace of the episode down. It’s not even her fault. Bitsie Tulloch does a fine job with the script she’s given but an actress can’t change their character – the writers have to do that. Nick has got to tell this chick what is going on so she can Buffy up and be his “better half”. I want to see her helping him and loving him like she means it. I thought she was going to go bad-ass last week when she took out a gun and told Nick to go on, she’d be ok alone. Then… nothing. bah. She either needs to be told he’s a Grimm so she can step out of the vat of doldrom they have created her to be or she needs to move on so Nick can start being a little naughty and get his freak on with the ladies who don’t need to know he’s Grimm. All or nothing, people. That’s what I’m saying. “Are you in, or are you out?” – said in my best Heidi Klum. lol. Their relationship the way it is, is just BLUH. It sucks the life out of the show.
The show powers that be also need to invest a little more in their show. I mean, they’re claiming it’s the darkest thing on tv right now – and yet they are giving us nothing to back that up. You want to call yourself dark – then show me something! A little more spent in the fx department would be a good start. I’m not saying go all Michael Bay – and spend so much NBC can’t keep it on the air, but seriously – come on. And forgive me if I’m wrong – but to be dark… shouldn’t there be something dark in the show? I mean, where is the scare factor? Or the gore? I mean – what exactly does dark mean to these Hollywood people because apparently it doesn’t mean the same to me? Every week, I wait wait wait… it builds… I feel like SOMETHING BIG is fixing to BLOW. MY. MIND. and then … fizzle. Are you kidding me? This show is starting to make me feel like I’ve just been in a 50 minute make out session – only to find out my boy toy suffers from E.D. I don’t like cold showers, people. No. No, I do not.
I swear I love this show, I do. It has so much potential. Hollywood, if you’re reading this… You can pay me to sit in the writers room and bounce ideas. I can tell you where you’re missing it. I’m cheap! You wouldn’t even have to pay me to come out there to California (or Portland) because Skype is a thing. Please don’t let this show die, fix it. Fix it before it’s fans turn their backs and walk away.