Grimm, Season 3, Episode 1, “The Ungrateful Dead”
Written by David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf
Directed by Norberto Barba
Airs Fridays at 9pm EST on NBC
This week, on Grimm: Nick gets a double dose, Juliette keeps her cool, and Adalind powers forward
The Grimm premiere picks up right where last year’s finale left off. Actually, that’s not quite right- it rewinds a bit, replaying those final moments with the added perspective of Renard, who apparently was just off camera, lurking and overhearing enough of his brother’s dastardly scheme to be able to thwart it, at least somewhat. There’s a bit too much retread, but this is more understandable in a premiere. Otherwise, the setpiece at the docks works very well, giving each of the characters enough to do and providing an entertaining, engaging backbone for the episode.
Unfortunately, it’s still surprising and refreshing to see such independent, driven, and capable female leads on a network genre series. More shows should take a page from Grimm’s approach. Monroe may take lead in the fight, as the resident Blutbad, but Rosalee’s right in there, looking powerful next to him, and Juliette keeps her head about her, once again proves herself resourceful and doing everything she can to help the team. Other female leads become single-minded when their significant other is in danger. Juliette does what she can to help Nick, he’s clearly her priority, but as soon as she can do no more for him, she rolls up her sleeves and focuses on helping Rosalee and Monroe make as much antidote as possible with nary a complaint. Doing anything else would never cross her mind, and that’s just one example of why she’s a great character and such a perfect match for Nick.
Speaking of Nick, his fate is left hanging this week; we’ll undoubtedly have more to say about him after the next episode, but he works well here, pushing the drama forward. The makeup for him is simple, but effective, and given how frequently the show relies on CGI, this different approach is appreciated. Nick looks different enough for us to know what’s wrong but not so much that we’re ever allowed to forget that this is our hero potentially killing innocents.
Elsewhere, Adalind discovers the path to regaining her powers is more complicated than she thought and this, along with the lingering Royals drama, will likely be touched upon further in part two of this premiere. She remains a lot of fun and the show has a strong sense of this, letting this arc go a little bigger than another series might. Claire Coffee is delightful, hamming it up just enough and providing a much-appreciated comedic counter to the Nick drama. We leave off this week with another patented Grimm title card, “This ain’t over yet”, and if next week’s conclusion is as entertaining and satisfying as this premiere, we’re in for a strong start to the season.
What did you think of this episode? Anyone else enjoy coffin-bursting Nick? What’s next for Adalind? Think we’ll get Nick back next week? Post your thoughts below!
Kate Kulzick