Wednesday, November 18, 2015

'Lost Boys' -- Grimm 5x03


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Maybe it was just me, but I was expecting a bit more out of this episode. I was kind of expecting it to be a little more like the time when Monroe was kidnapped, but it wasn't anything like that ... in that I was never afraid for Rosalee. Well, to be fair, I wasn't exactly afraid for Monroe either, cuz I think that the writers realize what a good thing they have with Monroe (since he seems to be a fan favorite, and they'd have to be kind of stupid to get rid of him while people still like him), but at least when Monroe was taken, there seemed to be a bit of actual danger there. With this, there was no real danger, and I wanted to feel like there might be a little bit.

I was also kind of expecting that with the gang realizing that these kids didn't have any idea of what they were, that they would make sure that the kids were put into foster homes where they were other Wesen ... or that they would at least appear to make the attempt to help get the kids into Wesen homes; that way, they would learn the rules and history, and the gang wouldn't have to worry about trying to stop them from doing something crazy stupid later on. To just let them go back into the system without doing anything in the way of trying to take into account the fact that they aren't "human" doesn't seem smart. But maybe that's just me.

I'm also wondering if we're supposed to think that the person who was behind the door at the end of the last episode was the kid, instead of Juliette. The way that the kid had bruises on her face when we saw her at the end of the episode made me wonder if we're supposed to think that Juliette isn't there ... even though the writers have done a truly horrible job trying to convince us that she is. Maybe the kid got her bruises from fighting with Juliette? That could make things kind of interesting, with Juliette being all bitter that the kid tried to kill her.

I'm also getting the feeling that we're just supposed to kind of take it on Adalind's word now that Diana's Renard's daughter ... even though I'm still not at all convinced of that (just like we're supposed to take it on faith that his brother is dead, even though he was fine when we last saw him). The way that they try to make things mysterious sometimes, and then, just expect to accept some answer after they (seemingly) get tired of making something a mystery, is a bit annoying.

Also, is anyone else kind of getting freaked out by how Adalind is kind of becoming one of the gang? Sure, now that she doesn't have her hexenbiest abilities, she's saying that she would rather suppress them, but what happens when they come back (cuz you have to know that at some point they will)? She's going to go back to being someone that they can't trust, except now she'll be more of a danger to them, cuz she'll know some of the inner workings of the gang ... besides probably using Kelly against Nick.

'The Art of War' -- SH 3x07


Warning: Spoiler Alert

So, Jenny has become a zombie Anubis monster. Ok. But my question is: didn't the writers already kind of do that already with Irving and War? Are they going to go the way of the SPN writers and start rehashing old ideas? Ideas that weren't all that great in the first place? It kind of seems like they are.

And seeing as how we have now had a second mention of Norse mythology (first with the mention of Hel, and now with the mention of berserkers and mistletoe), it makes me wonder even more if Pandora is hiding out in Helhiem. Sure, Jenny has the shard of Anubis inside of her (and in a way, it might make sense for her to go to the Egyptian afterlife place ... sorry, don't know the name), but with the mentions of Norse mythology for no reason, it makes me get suspicious of the things that might end up happening. Plus, the writers of this show have never really tried to make sense with what they have been doing, so they may try to go into left field with some of the stuff that's going on.

I might also be kind of excited to see what was about to happen with Jenny, if it didn't feel like the writers were rehashing stuff from before, and if the acting from the actress who plays Jenny didn't feel completely stiff this entire episode. Usually, I really like her, but with this stuff ... none of it felt like it was real. It felt more like since she was expected to kind of be a zombie (or would the word we should be using be "vessel"), she didn't have to emote at all during this episode.

With the whole thing with Katrina finally being over, I was hoping that the show would pick up on some of the magic (forgive the pun) that it had when it first started, but it hasn't gotten any of that back. Instead, it's continued to stay stiff. For the most part, I don't think that's the problem of the actors, and is (instead) cuz of the writing. And the sad part of that is that the premise is a really good one, but it just hasn't been completely delivered.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

'Clear and Wesen Danger' -- Grimm 5x02


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I have the feeling that the writers want us to believe that it's the kid that's in the locked room that was at the end of the episode, but I really don't believe that it was her. I think that it's going to turn out to be Juliette. Yeah, I'm even more convinced that Juliette is alive, and that we're being led around by the nose (and the writers really want us to think that she's dead).

Maybe the kid is going to turn out to be in the same place, but somewhere else in whatever facility that dude Nick has been in contact with is camping out in, or maybe she's somewhere else; I'm not really sure where the kid may be.

And the more that I think about it, the more uncertain I am that Chavez was even after the kid. Wouldn't it make a cool twist if they were after Juliette the entire time, after finding out that she had turned into a hexenbiest, and they wanted to use her against the royals? It would certainly be a better plan than using the kid to get close to them, what with the way that the king had a thing for hexenbiests ... what if other members of the family also have things for them, and that "thing" can be exploited by the resistance?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Adalind say last season that she had checked, and the baby was completely human? As in that it didn't have any hexenbiest or Grimm abilities? Or am I completely misremembering what happened? Maybe the writers are just preparing us for changes that may happen later on with him? And maybe the fact that he was named after Nick's mom might also be an indication that he might have some Grimm abilities at some point? Or it's possible that I'm wanting there to be clues, so I'm finding them where there aren't any.

And if the resistance now has Diana and Juliette (and possibly the kid), I'm wondering if they might be planning on using them in conjunction with each other. After all, the two of them are both really powerful in their own right, and using them together would certainly make things interesting.

But then, maybe I'm just seeing what I'm wanting to see. Maybe it really is just the kid in that locked room. If it were Juliette, dude would probably have been hurt much worse if/when he came out of that room. He might have survived without an issue if it were the kid (having had more training than she has in how to fight).

Hopefully, we'll find out pretty soon who's behind that door, so I can stop speculating.

'This Red Lady from Caribee' -- SH 3x06


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Sooo ... Jenny is the new Death? If they do it correctly, I guess it could be alright, but I have the horrible feeling that it might turn the way that Irving turned out (where it was something that would have been really awesome, but ended up being a complete let down).

I almost have the feeling that they are going to end up using Jenny to get ahold of Pandora in whatever underworld that she's in. In a way, I kind of hope that she ends up being in Helheim, but that's only cuz of how much I love Norse mythology ... but on the other side, I really hope that it isn't Helheim she's in, cuz of how much I love Norse mythology (and I don't want the writers to mess things up).

But if Jenny turns into the new lieutenant of the Big Bad (the way that Bram was), that would make someone else attached to Team Witness working for a Big Bad. I suppose that it makes a certain amount of sense to come at the people attached to Team Witness, but I'd like to see someone who isn't attached to them be working for the Big Bad. It might make Abbie and Ichabod make stupid mistakes to know that someone that they care about is in danger, and that is smart on the bad guy's part, but ... I just want it to be someone that they don't know ... and for it the Big Bad to feel like more of an unbeatable threat than Pandora seems to be.

Yeah, I don't really think that Pandora is that much of a threat. So far, even though she seems to be a magic user that could actually cause some damage (unlike Katrina), she has been really underwhelming. A part of that might have to do with the fact that I don't care for the actress, and I am really unimpressed with her ability to "act".

Monday, November 2, 2015

'The Grimm Identity' -- Grimm 5x01


Warning: Spoiler Alert

Wow. Talk about working a little too hard to make us believe that Juliette is dead. And the more that the writers tried to drive it home that she really was dead (and how awkward it seemed when they kept trying to drive it home that Nick thought she got on the helicopter, but she didn't) makes me positive that she's alive. And that's not even counting my regular skepticism with not believing that a character is dead unless we actually see that character die on screen (and not even always believing that they will stay dead if we do actually see them snuff it ... like Sam and Dean Winchester).

I got the feeling that they want us to think that she's dead so that it will turn in this huge reveal that she's still alive, and that we're supposed to be shocked when it happens. But if it hadn't played out so awkwardly (and they hadn't tried to drive it into the ground), it might have ended up being the surprise that I'm sure that they are wanting it to be.

And I still really want to find out that the baby is biologically Juliette's. There was such a big deal made last season about how no one knows how much fallout there will be from the spell that Adalind used to become Juliette that it makes me think that we still haven't seen the end of it yet. And how much fun would it be to find out that baby!Kelly shares absolutely no DNA with Adalind, and for Juliette to find out that baby!Kelly is actually her child (from a DNA standpoint)? It would certainly make for an interesting thread in the plot.

Soooo ... it's the Resistance that kidnapped the kid and took Juliette along. What exactly do they have planned? It's obviously something against the Royals; it's just a question of what. Whatever they have planned, I don't have the feeling that it's going to work, cuz the writers would not be so silly as to get rid of the threat that the Royals pose. So, she may end up being freed before the season is up.

'Dead Men Tell No Tales' -- SH 3x05


Warning: Spoiler Alert

I was not terribly keen on this episode. A big part of that may have to do with the fact that I don't watch "Bones," and I have absolutely no desire to pick it up (as it does not interest me in the slightest). So, no, I didn't watch the "companion" episode of "Bones" that may have made some of the dialogue make a bit more sense (like Not!Angel knowing Corbin).

Also, it seems rather weird to me that the show that they picked to do a crossover episode with was "Bones," as the two shows don't really seem like they have much in common. The fact that one seems to rely so heavily on science, and the other is so much about the supernatural made the episode feel a bit jarring to me. It made a bit more sense when there were crossover episodes of "The Pretender" and "The Profiler" (I think that was the name of the show; I watched "The Pretender" but not the show they had the crossover with ... but I do remember it was about an FBI profiler).

It didn't really feel like all that much happened in this episode, other than finding out the reason why New York burned, and that Betsy Ross was a little more badass than we have already found out.

Captain Skinnyjeans starting up a new romance ... God help us. If this turns into Ichabod & Katrina part 2, I think I'm going to lose it. The writers seems to be kind of on point with Abbie and her FBI buddy, and keeping things interesting between the two of them (without getting to the point of making me want to stab someone with an electric pencil), but they've already proven that they don't seem to know what the fuck they're doing when it comes to Ichabod (and they're leaning that way with Jenny as well). What's been going on between Ichabod and his new love interest already has me getting impatient. I almost have the feeling that the writers have the idea that since he's from the past, the romances between him and someone else might be charming (or even a bit funny, in a "man out of time" sort of way), but they have a tendency to lean toward irritating ... at least to me, anyway.

I have a really bad feeling that the writers aren't going to pick things up in such a way that they're going to keep their viewership up. I have the feeling that the show may get the axe pretty soon, and I can't say that I'd be entirely sad about that. The premise is solid, but the execution isn't always what it could be.