Grimm (Pilot)

NBC wants you to watch Grimm really bad even before the premiere officially airs Friday October 28th. If you followed @GrimmNBC on NBC like fourteen thousand others you got a passcode to watch the pilot early; I actually got the code and watched pilot two weeks early.  If you don't even follow Grimm's Twitter handle you can go to nbc.com/grimm and watch the first 20 minutes without obligation. I guess you could call it a sort of a "soft open"; lets just hope it doesn't have a negative impact on the premiere, which was already pushed back by a week in hopes of capitalizing on the Halloween weekend.

Over all Grimm was a good watch; it's like Law and Order meets Supernatural; a procedural crime drama that's always worked with a very trendy twist of monsters. Set in an eerie looking Portland, Grimm opens with a young college girl jogging through the woods listening to Sweet Dreams, originally performed by the Euromythics, underscores this first episode.  Oh, and the young lady is wearing red. She's distracted by a porcelain figurine that was left on the trail, right as she stops to take a look, she's attacked. Sent in to investigate the murder is Detective Nick Burkhardt (our star David Giuntoli not to be confused with Superman's Brandon Routh) and his partner Hank Griffin (played by Russell Hornsby).  We soon find out that this isn't an ordinary murder; the female jogger was turn apart as if a vicious animal did it, but only a boot prints were found around the scene.

Nick has been seeing people's faces morph into things, that he can't explain...very reminiscent of The Devil's Advocate movie. Nick is later visited by his dying Aunt Marie who explains to him that he is from a long line of Grimm's, people who hunt monsters thought to be fairytales.  The monsters are real but only reveal themselves to the Grimms and only when they loose control of their emotions.  The "monsters" who are the murders, rapist, and molesters are in face REAL monsters, and it's Nick's job as a Grimm to put them down. Good thing he has a badge!

For the most part Nick's aunt isn't much help to him, because of her illness.  So, he's helped along by Monroe, a reformed type of werewolf called a Blutbad; Silas Weir Mitchell plays Monroe and does a wonderful job. He ends up providing quite a bit of comic relief, and is sure to be a reoccurring character.

For most of the episode Grimm plays on certain motifs that are found in the Grimm's Fairytales which I'm sure will be a weekly thing. The pilot episode of course focuses mostly on Little Red Riding Hood. Parallels between this series and the fairytale include:

1. Wolves personified.
2. Wolves who are excited by the color red.
3. Little girls who disobey and suffer the consequences.
4. A journey to Grandpa's house (though typically Grandma's)
5. The girl was supposed to stay on "Hunter's Lane", but choose to cut through the park (like a forest). The hunter is the hero in the fairytale.
6. The villain likes to fatten his prey with chicken potpies to fatten them up for dinner.

Grimm reminds me of Fright Night, it's scary when it has to be but it doesn't take it's self too seriously. If you like that sort of thing you should check out the pilot on Friday, Oct. 28th, if you haven't already, and if you're not watching Fringe or Supernatural...OK just DVR it, but make sure you watch, and leave a comment letting us know what you thought.