Grimm review – 2×11: ‘To Protect And Serve Man’

Courtesy of NBC

An old case of Hank’s (Russell Hornsby) has Wesen connections in yet another perfunctory case of the week on Grimm.

Let’s bitch it out…At this point we’ve now reached the halfway point of Grimm’s second season and it’s looking more and more like the series aspires to be little more than Law & Order: Monster Squad. As a result the success of the show is determined by your interest level in the particular case of the week. This week initially seems promising because it delves into one of Hank’s old cases, but quickly devolves into a generic police investigation to find the guilty party before the wronged man is killed on death row. There are moments of note here and there (the high number of Wesen in prison for one), but in general we’ve seen this a thousand times before. The show doesn’t even have the gall to actually kill the death-row inmate to demonstrate that life in the Grimm universe doesn’t always have a happy ending. It’s as though the show is taking its cues from Once Upon A Time or something.

So setting aside the procedural element, the sole remaining topic of discussion is Renard (Sasha Roiz) and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch). We helpfully learn from Juliette’s random BFF that Juliette is just as unhelpfully fixated on Renard as he is on her and that obsession apparently = drinking in this show. This leads to the heavily publicized scene in which the pair visit – and promptly mack in front of – Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell). And thus a domestic cliffhanger is introduced to carry us over into next week. It’s all just so yawn-worthy.

Other Observations:

• Remember last season when Sgt. Wu (Reggie Lee) had a story? This season he gets to stand at a convenience story crime scene and utter lines like “Clean-up on aisle four”. Wow…that is just…sad
• Looks like Rosalee (Bree Turner) is coming back from maternity leave her aunt’s house soon. Hurray!

How do you feel about the balance of mythology vs procedural case of the week? Are you excited for the fall-out on the Juliette/Renard front? And where the eff is Adalind (Claire Coffee)? Comment off below.

Grimm airs Fridays at 9pm EST on NBC