4. Be bold.
Season two ended on a terrifically promising note, with Nick zombified, imprisoned in a coffin and being readied for shipment to the European castle of Eric Renard, the evil Wesen half-brother of Nick’s police captain. If the writers had trusted this story enough to commit to it, Grimm could have been something this season that it has not been since its first episode: unpredictable.
Instead, we got a pretty unsatisfying wrap-up to that story by the end of the two-part premiere (though admittedly not one as bad as the second season premiere), and now Nick is back in Portland, solving cases. Grimm‘s writers missed out on a truly great opportunity to expand their show. If Nick had been taken to Europe, his sudden exposure to the Royal Family would have been extremely interesting to watch. His friends desperately searching for him or, better yet, struggling to keep Portland’s Wesen under control in his absence also would have made for a compelling hook throughout the first half of the third season.
Grimm is a show ripe with unrealized potential; grittier, more complex storylines could be a great thing for its overall quality. If I were writing the show, I would opt for a more serialized structure than Grimm‘s actual writers currently have – the show’s universe is both certifiably massive and, if they use it properly, conducive to a great many seasons. Personally, I feel like it’s only a matter of time until Nick should be forced to choose between being a Grimm and a cop. He’s managing both professions right now, but the results are inescapably mediocre – without fail, convenient plot contrivances or straight-up holes are essential for Nick to be able to crack cases.
How much more interesting would the show be if Nick was forced to quit the force, or if he was actually hunted by his old colleagues for the many murders he’s committed in the name of being a Grimm? He could commit full-time to being a Grimm, adopt the thrill-a-minute lifestyle of a man on the lam and team up with Wesen pal Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell, one of the cast’s few bright spots) while simultaneously washing his hands of working with Hank (who, as I stated previously, has been obsolete for a while).
Grimm does action and suspense much better than procedural drama and humor, and all of us viewers picked up on that fact way back in season 1. It’s about time the show’s writers figured it out too.
Do you agree with my ideas for fixing current issues with NBC’s Grimm? Sound off in the comments section!
