Grimm, Episode 1.02 – Bears Will Be Bears

“She looked in the windows and peeped through the keyhole; seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the hatch.”

A couple breaks into a fancy house in the forest and pretend they’re rich for the night. They eat wine and cheese, dress up in the fancy clothes and head up to bed to complete the night of fun.

But it seems the owners of the house arrive and they get ready to run. The blonde girl falls out of the window first, but her boyfriend gets pulled back into the house. She runs off to the car and drives away with the sound of a bear chasing after her.

At the hospital, the doctor clears Nick after getting stabbed with the syringe. He visits his Aunt, but the doctor tells her she’s not 100% yet and they want to let her rest so she doesn’t slip back into a coma.

Captain Renard has two cops stand guard outside Aunt Marie’s room. They go watch the security video, but only see the back of the woman who had stabbed Nick. Much to Renard’s relief of course.

Back at the station, Blonde girl, Gilda, is in custody. Nick’s got a knack of reading people it seems. They bring her along to the forest mansion and they talk to the owners, a Mr. and Mrs. Rabe.

They go talk to the owners.

“Somebody was sleeping in our bed.”

Hank is fascinated by the family’s collection of artifacts. But in a cave somewhere, there’s Gilda’s boyfriend, Ricky tied up by a bear-like creature.

Nick goes to see Aunt Marie after she calls him. She tells him, “You have a responsibility you cannot ignore. You have to hunt down the bad ones.” There are more reapers… and more Grimms out there. Not to mention more creatures. She tells him to keep the trailer safe and hidden.

Nick and Hank head back to the house. Three guys on off road bikes pop up in front of them on their way and one of them turns out to be the family’s son. The family maintains none of them were home last night, but Nick sees Barry’s face morph into a bear-like thing. The family doesn’t like Nick and Hank’s questions and tells them to leave. The father, an attorney, seems suspicious of Nick.

Meanwhile, under a bridge, Renard meets with the woman, Adalind and they discuss how to finish the job with Aunt Marie. And later that night in the forest, Barry and his friends test out a spiked trap in the forest.

Nick has a nightmare of his Aunt stabbing him in the hand. He heads into the trailer to look around and finds a paw-like thing like was at the home. Nick takes it to Monroe who reluctantly helps him out and tells him it is used by Jägerbärs (thanks A.V. Club) in a coming of age ritual that involves the chase. Nick’s got it and he leaves.

Back at the station, Renard tells Nick he had to pull the cops at the hospital. (We know the real reason why of course.) Nick decides to call Monroe to ask him to stay with Aunt Marie, that he’ll own him three and because he trusts him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t trust me,” Monroe says after Nick leaves.

Gilda has a gun and heads back to the house. But she is met by the mother and Barry who knock her out. Nick and Hank rush over to warn the family, not knowing they’ve already taken her to the cave with Ricky.

Hank heads to block the road to keep Gilda from heading there, but he sees tracks and finds her truck hidden in the forest. The father arrives and Nick lays it out on the table. They know what each other is and Nick brings up the ritual. The father says no one does that anymore but then realizes his wife is in on the ritual and now wants to help.

While Barry and friends prepare the ritual, back at the hospital, Monroe talks to Aunt Marie, saying her ancestors had murdered his grandfather and he should be getting revenge now.

But he notices a man watching from outside and follows him to the basement where he fights off him and another goon and then rips the guy’s arm off.

“Okay that went a little too far.”

The father and Nick arrive at the cave only to find the hunt has begun. Barry and his friends are chasing after Gilda and Ricky, but Nick and the father catch up just in time. The mother, fully transformed, comes running towards Nick but she instead runs right into the trap.

“You have to respect your ancestors.”

Monroe calls Nick to tell him what happened and he rushes back to the hospital. A man dressed as a priest attempts to stab Aunt Marie, but she fights him off and out of her room and manages to stab him instead just as Nick arrives.

The exertion is too much for her.

“Remember who are. Trust your instincts and nothing else.”
And with that, she collapses in his arms.

Nick has the trailer taken somewhere and he and girlfriend Juliette bring flowers to Aunt Marie’s grave. They leave as someone, or something watches from the bushes.

Episode Thoughts
A good second episode. It did give a better feel for how the series will work week to week.

I like the Grimm passages at the beginning of the episode. It gives a nice little peek into the episode as it starts. The episode also showed just how much they can turn well-known fairy tales and easily turn them on their heads, putting them in a contemporary and procedural/cop drama setting.

But the episode was far from perfect though. It felt too bottom heavy (as opposed to shows that can have very top heavy episodes). The first half moved a little too slowly, especially considering how packed the last two acts, especially the final one, were. They should work on the pacing in future episodes to keep the excitement level up for the entire hour.

Though in a way, the sort of slower moving pace fits in with the continued excellent use of Portland and its surroundings. The atmospheric and lush forests of Oregon add so much to the series and its overall feel. It is probably my favorite part of the series. It really boosts the fantasy element.

A positive step forward for the series and I am definitely onboard. I hope the audiences stay onboard too after last week’s great start, ratings-wise.

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