Grimm: Eve of Destruction
January 30, 2016 8:17 AM - Season 5, Episode 7 - Subscribe
Nick and the gang are still reeling from the scope of the ambush and the surprise return of "Juliette", but not everything is as it seems. In light of the heightened Wesen violence, Monroe and Rosalee seek answers from the Wesen Council. Meanwhile, Trubel has some information for Nick that will help him get what he is looking for.
So at home, we have this long running joke about Rosalee and her being a huge narc for the Wessen Council, so when the Council was like "Rosalee? Again?" when she called, we couldn't have been happier.
The Nick/Adalind thing is a fairly big misstep I think unless they stress how it came about because Nick was Fundamentally Broken by Julliette's transformation/death/burning his trailer/killing his mom. But I think that's just going to have to live on in my head. Despite that, I've (sort of) bought into Adalind's redemption arc; I just want to see her with the dude who helped her deliver her first baby because she's obviously meant for him.
Honestly, I have to reevaluate the whole Eve thing now since they revealed that she's wearing a wig in-universe rather than us being expected to believe it was her hair.
This show is not perfect, but it's still fun after 5 full-length seasons, so I'l looking forward to whatever keeps coming. I think it's because I find the Black Claw threat a lot more interesting than I ever found the Royals.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:35 AM on January 30, 2016
The Nick/Adalind thing is a fairly big misstep I think unless they stress how it came about because Nick was Fundamentally Broken by Julliette's transformation/death/burning his trailer/killing his mom. But I think that's just going to have to live on in my head. Despite that, I've (sort of) bought into Adalind's redemption arc; I just want to see her with the dude who helped her deliver her first baby because she's obviously meant for him.
Honestly, I have to reevaluate the whole Eve thing now since they revealed that she's wearing a wig in-universe rather than us being expected to believe it was her hair.
This show is not perfect, but it's still fun after 5 full-length seasons, so I'l looking forward to whatever keeps coming. I think it's because I find the Black Claw threat a lot more interesting than I ever found the Royals.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:35 AM on January 30, 2016
The Black Claw is definitely making me question my own stance in-universe. I don't condone the violence, but if I were Wesen, would I want to have to keep hiding and obey some council that I'd never meet, or just live in the open and try to get humans to understand and accept?
I'm still on the fence with Adalind, and that kiss was inevitable but soooo drawn out. She keeps falling back on "I did what I did for my daughter", but you know she was a bad Hexenbiest before all that. It's cute that Meisner longs for her though.
And yeah, I don't see Juliette coming back as her old self. She burned all the bridges with Nick, I would say way worse than what Adalind did. Like he said, he's just looking to bury her in some way. We'll have to get used to Eve for now.
posted by numaner at 12:44 PM on January 30, 2016
I'm still on the fence with Adalind, and that kiss was inevitable but soooo drawn out. She keeps falling back on "I did what I did for my daughter", but you know she was a bad Hexenbiest before all that. It's cute that Meisner longs for her though.
And yeah, I don't see Juliette coming back as her old self. She burned all the bridges with Nick, I would say way worse than what Adalind did. Like he said, he's just looking to bury her in some way. We'll have to get used to Eve for now.
posted by numaner at 12:44 PM on January 30, 2016
I enjoy Grimm but it's not well-written. Nadalind is super weird and kinda icky, they seem to split up the cast half of the time to introduce the same information twice, there's this whole other gigantic situation of political intrigue and massive social revolution that we barely see at the margins, etc. I'll keep watching, but this ain't gonna win any acting or writing awards.
posted by Small Dollar at 3:28 PM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Small Dollar at 3:28 PM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]
I think I'll find the idea of Eve more believable if there's some magical/supernatural explanation for how she was created, not just Meisner & co using brute force. Or if they'd found some way to suppress/erase Juliette's memories. For her to remember everything but be emotionless about, I don't know.
posted by oh yeah! at 12:14 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by oh yeah! at 12:14 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yeah, brute force would be a terrible explanation, but I like the concept alot. The most unsettling thing in the episode is when Eve thought for a second and responded "I would have killed you if I could." in a detatched, no opinion one way or another, information share.
It basically gives them a brand new character who has a complete, but very different perspective on all their adventures.
posted by humans are superior! at 12:51 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
It basically gives them a brand new character who has a complete, but very different perspective on all their adventures.
posted by humans are superior! at 12:51 PM on January 31, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm sure there was a spell they found that suppressed her emotions
posted by numaner at 6:42 PM on January 31, 2016
posted by numaner at 6:42 PM on January 31, 2016
that she's wearing a wig in-universe rather than us being expected to believe it was her hair.
When she took off that wig I literally said outloud "Oh thank god it's just a wig."
But yeah, this seems like a lot of separate stories that we're supposed to keep track of and lost a bit of its monster of the week stuff. I wish they could mix in some more Grimm-ing as I tend to get lost with all the political who is in whose pocket stuff. I'm also horrible with names so when they mention people I'm like "wait, who? who are they loyal to now? But are they double crossing them?"
Hopefully it starts to spiral together soon and be more cohesive. But yeah, I watch this show for fun, so whatevs.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:41 PM on January 31, 2016
When she took off that wig I literally said outloud "Oh thank god it's just a wig."
But yeah, this seems like a lot of separate stories that we're supposed to keep track of and lost a bit of its monster of the week stuff. I wish they could mix in some more Grimm-ing as I tend to get lost with all the political who is in whose pocket stuff. I'm also horrible with names so when they mention people I'm like "wait, who? who are they loyal to now? But are they double crossing them?"
Hopefully it starts to spiral together soon and be more cohesive. But yeah, I watch this show for fun, so whatevs.
posted by Crystalinne at 9:41 PM on January 31, 2016
For her to remember everything but be emotionless about
Just because a person (or actor) isn't displaying obvious signs of anger, sadness, etc., that doesn't mean that the person or character isn't feeling, or hasn't recently felt, a lot of strong emotion. In fact, it's often regarded as a stronger choice for a character/person to have the emotions, but choose to "rise above", suppress, or willfully focus on something else at the moment. It's what real people have to do, often, and I personally find it compelling to witness.
posted by amtho at 4:16 AM on February 1, 2016
Just because a person (or actor) isn't displaying obvious signs of anger, sadness, etc., that doesn't mean that the person or character isn't feeling, or hasn't recently felt, a lot of strong emotion. In fact, it's often regarded as a stronger choice for a character/person to have the emotions, but choose to "rise above", suppress, or willfully focus on something else at the moment. It's what real people have to do, often, and I personally find it compelling to witness.
posted by amtho at 4:16 AM on February 1, 2016
Rosalie's alternate woge is when she turns into the Voice of the Audience.
On hearing that Juliet was still alive: "That's insane!"
(from a previous episode, on being told that Nick had a dead Hexenbeist, a live Trubl, a head in a box, the FBI and some more Wesen, all in his living room) "What is this, some sort of supernatural scavenger hunt?"
posted by Mogur at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
On hearing that Juliet was still alive: "That's insane!"
(from a previous episode, on being told that Nick had a dead Hexenbeist, a live Trubl, a head in a box, the FBI and some more Wesen, all in his living room) "What is this, some sort of supernatural scavenger hunt?"
posted by Mogur at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2016 [3 favorites]
I really hate to say it, but I have a bad "jumped the shark" feeling about these last two episodes (maybe kinda this entire season.)
One of the strengths of the show in the past has been keeping the idiot ball to a minimum and a high level of communication between the characters, and that's all gone - no-one can speak in complete paragraphs anymore, everyone (pretty much) is hiding things from everyone else for Plot Reasons, everyone's holding the idiot ball.
And while I get that monster-of-the-week is hard to sustain over 5 seasons, they already had so many elements already established that they could've used to build a longer story arc; there's only been the shallowest dive into the world of the Royals, just because the King is dead doesn't mean an entire centuries-long socio-political order collapses - what about the struggle for succession? (And don't forget Renard is a bastard Royal.) You could probably get three seasons' worth of stories just from making the Royals (or the Wesen Council) more than minor offscreen plot devices. How does the Resistance react to the new royals? What happened to Renard & Adalind's baby - Nick's mom is dead, where the heck's the kid? Everyone was hot to get their hands on (him? her?) less than a year ago, and we never found out why. And what about that key/map thing from way the hell back in the first season? They made a big deal back then about how there were 5 or 6 total, but no-one knew where more than two or three were. Maps lead to things, keys unlock things - lead where? Unlock what?
The point being, fine, you think it's getting stale keeping Nick in Portland chasing down rogue Wesen, OK - you've got an entire mythology (that you built) you can use to expand the scope of the show.
Instead, all that gets forgotten or thrown off the back of the bus in favor of a Zack-Synder-esque super-robo-assassin created by brainwashing an almost-dead hexenbiest (said brainwashing apparently carried out by casual beatings and solitary confinement), part of a Super-Seekrit shadow agency (apparently headquartered just outside Portland? Really?) full of reprogrammed Wesen and Grimms built to battle some kind of "Wesen Going Public" militia-cult.
Sorry, no. It seems like the show is abandoning its strengths and its own background in favor of a sharp left turn into Seemed Cool On Paper (for certain limited Frank Miller definitions of "cool".)
posted by soundguy99 at 9:58 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
One of the strengths of the show in the past has been keeping the idiot ball to a minimum and a high level of communication between the characters, and that's all gone - no-one can speak in complete paragraphs anymore, everyone (pretty much) is hiding things from everyone else for Plot Reasons, everyone's holding the idiot ball.
And while I get that monster-of-the-week is hard to sustain over 5 seasons, they already had so many elements already established that they could've used to build a longer story arc; there's only been the shallowest dive into the world of the Royals, just because the King is dead doesn't mean an entire centuries-long socio-political order collapses - what about the struggle for succession? (And don't forget Renard is a bastard Royal.) You could probably get three seasons' worth of stories just from making the Royals (or the Wesen Council) more than minor offscreen plot devices. How does the Resistance react to the new royals? What happened to Renard & Adalind's baby - Nick's mom is dead, where the heck's the kid? Everyone was hot to get their hands on (him? her?) less than a year ago, and we never found out why. And what about that key/map thing from way the hell back in the first season? They made a big deal back then about how there were 5 or 6 total, but no-one knew where more than two or three were. Maps lead to things, keys unlock things - lead where? Unlock what?
The point being, fine, you think it's getting stale keeping Nick in Portland chasing down rogue Wesen, OK - you've got an entire mythology (that you built) you can use to expand the scope of the show.
Instead, all that gets forgotten or thrown off the back of the bus in favor of a Zack-Synder-esque super-robo-assassin created by brainwashing an almost-dead hexenbiest (said brainwashing apparently carried out by casual beatings and solitary confinement), part of a Super-Seekrit shadow agency (apparently headquartered just outside Portland? Really?) full of reprogrammed Wesen and Grimms built to battle some kind of "Wesen Going Public" militia-cult.
Sorry, no. It seems like the show is abandoning its strengths and its own background in favor of a sharp left turn into Seemed Cool On Paper (for certain limited Frank Miller definitions of "cool".)
posted by soundguy99 at 9:58 PM on February 3, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't know, it seems like maybe, Maaaayybeeee, this rising terrorist equality tolerance movement could maaaayyybeee finally bring the European power structure into the main story? Maaaayybe some more of them might come to Portland, or the royals could become desperate enough to ask Renard to help in an official capacity, or something...
But if not, I totally get your point, soundguy99.
posted by amtho at 6:47 AM on February 5, 2016
But if not, I totally get your point, soundguy99.
posted by amtho at 6:47 AM on February 5, 2016
I don't know, it seems like maybe, Maaaayybeeee, this rising terrorist equality tolerance movement could maaaayyybeee finally bring the European power structure into the main story? Maaaayybe some more of them might come to Portland, or the royals could become desperate enough to ask Renard to help in an official capacity, or something...
Maybe. Or maybe the Royals are the next slaughterfest as the Claw tears down everything we knew about the the teetering equilibrium of the world. I concur it's not being well done but I am okay with upsetting the whole applecart. I think that's where last season was heading anyway. Having the trailer resources to turn to in order to google up what you're dealing with, then smacking it down, was getting to be a well worn crutch. So they burned it up.
So now we have something Nick has always leaned on in being this Good Grimm being threatened too. In the past he's repeatedly said and shown that he's only going to be up in the face of wesen when they transgress, by killing and/or by revealing themselves to the world. That lets him stop being a general boogeyman and instead be acting in the interests of a wesen civilization that wants to live undetected. If that gets upset, what then? So far the people looking to reveal themselves are pretty awful but we had our first look this week at two apparently law-abiding citizens who are comfortable with what their daughter is doing with this organization that wants to shrug off the yoke.
I'm not sure the show is smart or subtle enough to pull it off, but I'd be interested to see Nick have to confront whether he's willing to be violent with wesen just to keep the secret, absent other antisocial stuff.
posted by phearlez at 10:23 AM on February 5, 2016
Maybe. Or maybe the Royals are the next slaughterfest as the Claw tears down everything we knew about the the teetering equilibrium of the world. I concur it's not being well done but I am okay with upsetting the whole applecart. I think that's where last season was heading anyway. Having the trailer resources to turn to in order to google up what you're dealing with, then smacking it down, was getting to be a well worn crutch. So they burned it up.
So now we have something Nick has always leaned on in being this Good Grimm being threatened too. In the past he's repeatedly said and shown that he's only going to be up in the face of wesen when they transgress, by killing and/or by revealing themselves to the world. That lets him stop being a general boogeyman and instead be acting in the interests of a wesen civilization that wants to live undetected. If that gets upset, what then? So far the people looking to reveal themselves are pretty awful but we had our first look this week at two apparently law-abiding citizens who are comfortable with what their daughter is doing with this organization that wants to shrug off the yoke.
I'm not sure the show is smart or subtle enough to pull it off, but I'd be interested to see Nick have to confront whether he's willing to be violent with wesen just to keep the secret, absent other antisocial stuff.
posted by phearlez at 10:23 AM on February 5, 2016
Or maybe the Royals are the next slaughterfest as the Claw tears down everything we knew
...Then would Renard become "king"? Maybe then Portland would be the center of everything. And, of course, Renard becomes a target.
posted by amtho at 8:39 AM on February 6, 2016
...Then would Renard become "king"? Maybe then Portland would be the center of everything. And, of course, Renard becomes a target.
posted by amtho at 8:39 AM on February 6, 2016
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
I still think it is a horrifying idea to put Nick and Adalind together romantically, but now that they have a baby it is now inevitable and has to happen regardless of logic or years of horrible past history, power-stealing, and murders. So, fine, I give up, they're adorable. But just wait until the teen years when poor Kelly finds out exactly how his parents got together.
So Eve is a robot? A very creepy soulless robot?
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:28 AM on January 30, 2016 [1 favorite]