[Abyss]

amphibian, on 20 August 2012 - 06:17 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 August 2012 - 01:53 PM, said:

GRIMM is back and it's awesome. Just watched the S2 premiere.

They really did do a great job with the opener - every plot thread was at least briefly dealt with and a few more possible avenues for the characters opened up. Most of the actors seem much more comfortable in their roles too and were delivering the story well.

Also, the GRIMM make-up artists and set design people are really pushing the agenda with the gore and dead bodies. It might be not be super-realistic, but it is very visual and striking. This is not a lighthearted show.

All true. And i like how they are developing the world and the storyline. The shoutback to the Reaper's heads was nicely done.

If i were going to nitpick, the whole Royal Families/seven knights/Grimms/creatures/Dragon's Tongue thing was handwaved pretty quickly and barely explained.

[amphibian]

To be honest, I'm not sure why affixing Nick to Portland is so important or why Renard is doing anything but controlling his fiefdom.

[Abyss]

Production-wise it's like fixing Buffy in Sunnydale or any other show... always cheaper to work with sets in place.

Story-wise tho i liked the suggestion that Renard is actively trying to keep him close. His goals have been foggy since S1 but he's clearly NOT a nice person, what with the Hitler-charm and all.

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 20 August 2012 - 08:22 PM, said:

I'm jumping into this show for S2 but have yet to watch S1. I'm hoping that I can get into the flow being a new viewer to this one.

Basic idea is that there are monsters hidden among regular people and a few people have a special "Grimm" ability that lets them see the monsters and to fight 'em with increased strength, skill and agility. Nick, the cop, is one of these Grimms, except he didn't know it until recently.

And there were some magic coins that made whoever have them really, really grandiose and cult-leaderish. They're valuable enough that monsters and Grimms will kill to get the coins.

And Nick has a piece to some sort of secret map to a world-changing treasure. That's worth a lot to the monsters and Grimms also.

I'd recommend going back and watching most of S1, but hey, if you're willing to roll with it, I think the show will treat you ok.

[rhulad]

Has season 2 started all ready? I am a little out of the loop since I was "off the grid" so to speak while on vacation.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 20 August 2012 - 09:21 PM, said:

...Basic idea is that there are monsters hidden among regular people and a few people have a special "Grimm" ability that lets them see the monsters and to fight 'em with increased strength, skill and agility. ...

Now wait a tick... i thought the Grimms' only ability was to see the monsters. Everything else is training and nastiness. No increased anything - that's Buffy.

Aside from the blood thing that's come up a couple of times i think.

[amphibian]

They haven't come out and explicitly stated that a Grimm = Buffy-style slayer, but there's no way it's anything other than that. Nick's fighting siegbarsts, lions and stuff.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 21 August 2012 - 01:12 PM, said:

They haven't come out and explicitly stated that a Grimm = Buffy-style slayer, but there's no way it's anything other than that. Nick's fighting siegbarsts, lions and stuff.

My take is that he gets by because he's a cop and he's been training against Monroe with his aunt's weapons. As far as i can remember he never wins becuse of physically beating the more powerful things senseless. Monroe kicked his ass the first time they met. A few of the vessen have been physically powerful but most of them are essentially funny looking humans with fangs and claws as far as badassery goes. He hasn't punched out a powerhouse yet and usually gets his ass kicked until he's clever. Even against the two reapers it was a blade fight, not a boxing match.

[rhulad]

I would have to agree with Abyss on this one, Nick doesn't seem to be any stronger physically or anything. He usually wins by getting lucky or planning the attack ahead of time.

[Gnaw]

rhulad, on 21 August 2012 - 02:53 PM, said:

I would have to agree with Abyss on this one, Nick doesn't seem to be any stronger physically or anything. He usually wins by getting lucky or planning the attack ahead of time.

That was S1. He seems in these first two eps to have gotten a powerup some how. Which correlates with the new opening credits narration which is very Highlanderish to me.
I like the show so far. I really like the longer arcs they've had from the beginning, the royal families etc. To me, that's better than the 'villain of the season' that so many shows do.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 21 August 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Lol I found one online. The one he takes out the 2 reapers. Anyway I was loling when these face changes came. One was like a Beaver.

Yah the facechanges, which are essentially the extent of many of the monsters, are at times rather silly. They dig a bit deeper by typically giving them personalities that link back to their 'type', ie: the squirrels are nervous and skittish, the wolves are pack/family oriented, etc etc, tho they break from it sometimes with more traditional types like 'trolls', and the hexenbeasts are good fun. It's kind of like how ever new 'demon' on Buffy was the same surplus Narn makeup from Babylon 5 with a few new bits stuck on the face... you just go with it.

Gnaw, on 21 August 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

rhulad, on 21 August 2012 - 02:53 PM, said:

I would have to agree with Abyss on this one, Nick doesn't seem to be any stronger physically or anything. He usually wins by getting lucky or planning the attack ahead of time.

That was S1. He seems in these first two eps to have gotten a powerup some how. Which correlates with the new opening credits narration which is very Highlanderish to me. ...

I'm not wild about the new opening. I get what they're going for, but I really liked the brevity of the old one with the ghost face.

Havne't seen S2 ep2 yet. Wil get back to you.

[Gnaw]

Abyss, on 21 August 2012 - 05:36 PM, said:

I'm not wild about the new opening. I get what they're going for, but I really liked the brevity of the old one with the ghost face.

I suspect they changed it for the network's Olympic push of the show to attract new viewers.

[amphibian]

Briar King, on 21 August 2012 - 08:52 PM, said:

Yeah it was kinda cheesy seeing that for the first time. The network only has the last 3 epi from S1 so I guess I'm screwed till Netflix gets it seeing it from the beginning.

You are? Is there no other way you can get at the Grimm episodes?

[Abyss]

Saw ep2, and i stand by my 'no superpowers' opinion.

[Binder of Demons]

Abyss, on 22 August 2012 - 03:59 AM, said:

Saw ep2, and i stand by my 'no superpowers' opinion.

I'd actually have to go with AMPH on this one and say that while it's not exactly stated that GRIMM's = BUFFY-lite, he definitely seems to have an increase on the strength and speed thing compared to most people. He has tangled with serious heavyweights and held his own, but he's still more likely to use his guile to defeat them since he grew up without any extra abilities and doesn't rely on them.

I thought the fight with the Dragon's Tongue assassin in the season finale was the clincher for me in that regard, as you had a person/creature which has easily killed several people and is feared by everyone and yet Nick in his anger about his family just walks through it's attacks and basically beats the beejesus out of it. Same again with the cat-like creature in the Season2 opener where he seems to able able to match it pretty well for speed and strength..

I just figured that for the GRIMM's to be so feared by the whole creature community, they'd have to have SOME extra ability other than simply being able to recognise the non-humans?

[Gnaw]

Binder of Demons, on 23 August 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

Abyss, on 22 August 2012 - 03:59 AM, said:

Saw ep2, and i stand by my 'no superpowers' opinion.

I'd actually have to go with AMPH on this one and say that while it's not exactly stated that GRIMM's = BUFFY-lite, he definitely seems to have an increase on the strength and speed thing compared to most people. He has tangled with serious heavyweights and held his own, but he's still more likely to use his guile to defeat them since he grew up without any extra abilities and doesn't rely on them.

I thought the fight with the Dragon's Tongue assassin in the season finale was the clincher for me in that regard, as you had a person/creature which has easily killed several people and is feared by everyone and yet Nick in his anger about his family just walks through it's attacks and basically beats the beejesus out of it. Same again with the cat-like creature in the Season2 opener where he seems to able able to match it pretty well for speed and strength..

I just figured that for the GRIMM's to be so feared by the whole creature community, they'd have to have SOME extra ability other than simply being able to recognise the non-humans?

Agreed

[Abyss]

Gnaw, on 24 August 2012 - 02:43 PM, said:

Binder of Demons, on 23 August 2012 - 11:34 PM, said:

Abyss, on 22 August 2012 - 03:59 AM, said:

Saw ep2, and i stand by my 'no superpowers' opinion.

I'd actually have to go with AMPH on this one and say that while it's not exactly stated that GRIMM's = BUFFY-lite, he definitely seems to have an increase on the strength and speed thing compared to most people. He has tangled with serious heavyweights and held his own, but he's still more likely to use his guile to defeat them since he grew up without any extra abilities and doesn't rely on them.

I thought the fight with the Dragon's Tongue assassin in the season finale was the clincher for me in that regard, as you had a person/creature which has easily killed several people and is feared by everyone and yet Nick in his anger about his family just walks through it's attacks and basically beats the beejesus out of it. Same again with the cat-like creature in the Season2 opener where he seems to able able to match it pretty well for speed and strength..

I just figured that for the GRIMM's to be so feared by the whole creature community, they'd have to have SOME extra ability other than simply being able to recognise the non-humans?

Agreed

I follow your reasoning but not once has the show ever said on-screen that the Grimms can do anything special but see the Vessen. It's that that distinguishes them from the rest of the population... out of 7 billion people who treat them the same as everyone else and have no idea they exist, a Grimm can spot them and historically, will kill them. Nick's Mom was dead-ready to stabify Monroe and cat-chemist girl whose name i keep forgetting.

I agree that Nick has been holding his own in the fights, but the Tongue assassin and the Bad Teeth (scriptwriter mouth fixation much?) both surprised everyone they fought before Nick. Nick knew they were coming, which brings us back to the fact that unlike everyone else who would just see a human, the Grimms know what they're facing ... tho with Hank and Monroe in the forest last season we've seen there are exceptions to that.

The Grimms also have the whole history thing to work with... ie with the BadTeeth... it's fast, strong, likes to use its tusk thingies and will strike from ambush when it can. He knew that because Mommy knew it but also because the Aunt's book said so.

The rest is just down to tv fight scene choreo tho i like when they toned down the Matrix-fx - like against the two reapers - for a somewhat nastier style of fight - aginst theTongue and to an extent against the BadTeeth... Toothy had the moves but Nick and Mommy basically punched him in the face a lot - sometimes.

Ultimately just prefer the idea of the Grimms as ordinary people who research and train like fuck to deal with the monsters, because that sets it all aside from being Buffy-lite. I won't weep if one day someone on the show just up and says 'Nick, use your superstrength!' or whatever, but i hope not.

[rhulad]

I'm with Abyss on this.

[Destiny]

Yeah I also agree that - apart from being able to see the morphing - Grimms are just regular humans. There doesn't seem to be an element of superpower involved
especially after... (S2E3 spoiler)

Spoiler

...Hank punched that Coyotl in the face and he went right down.

But I'm kind of confused now. Is it only Grimms that can see the accidental changes the Wesen do? Like in emotional moments they just lose control and the Grimms can see them. I know Monroe said that if they really focus, Wesen can make themselves visible to humans, but

Spoiler

Hank saw it when that Coyotl girl Carly lost control for a moment. And he saw that shrink guy in the first season shift back to human. And he saw Monroe run through the woods.

So are the writers just being inconsistent or is there something special about Hank?

Oh and I like that Hank and Nick can now team-up against the Wesen. Though I really hope he doesn't ruin the awesome bromance between Nick and Monroe. I'd never forgive him for that.

Sad we didn't get any Renard this episode. I'm interested in seeing the effects of the potion from last time.

Intriguing (if somewhat predictable) storyline involving Juliet. Interested in seeing how/if they solve that.

Also, YAY MARK PELLEGRINO!!! (sorry fangirl moment )

And I absolutely hate that new intro. That godawful voice-over makes me cringe.

This post has been edited by Destiny: 28 August 2012 - 08:44 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I'm catching up on this season right now and am at the end of episode 2. I've been pondering the question of the seven families/princes the entire episode, and I may have had a breakthrough.

Spoiler

The seven princes = the seven princes of hell

Evidence:
- Renard looks sort of skeleton-y when he's looking at himself in the mirror and his other half leaks out
- Him breathing smoke after he drank the potion
- Him turning red (both this and the previous one may just be because of the potion though
- My gut
- It would be cool

Thoughts?