14th February 2012 09:00:00
We Recommend: Grimm
Review of Grimm, the new US import series on Watch about a policeman killing fairytales.
Making its UK debut last night on the Watch channel, Grimm is a new fantasy-detective series from the US, in which a cop hunts down fairytale-themed monsters. He does this not merely because he loves his duty, but because he is a “Grimm”. Yes, a descendent of the famous Brothers.
So is this going to be the awesome Big Bad Wolf of its genre, or merely Red Riding Hood? (That seems the right way round to me.)
One of the minds responsible for Grimm is executive producer David Greenwalt, best known for his work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, and the rotting corpse-scent of those shows is all over this new one, as a Chosen One engages in heavily choreographed fights with chaps in thick prosthetics.
Of course, Grimm isn’t the only fairytale-loving series to emerge from the States this year, we also have Once Upon A Time coming to Channel Five in a few months. But that’s more about the charm and quirkyness. In Grimm, the fairytale creatures are there to be killed. Except for one guy, the token reformed informant. He’s a bit like Angel, only not as attractive.
As pilots often tend to be, the debut episode of Grimm is a bit clunky, and doesn’t have time to do much characterisation or charm in its rush to get everything set up by the end. The police elements, including the disapproving boss and smartarse non-white partner, come across as a bit generic.
But they’ve got plenty of time to expand on that in later episodes. For now, as I said, this might be of interest if you find yourself desperately missing Buffy, or if YA supernatural is really your thing. I’m not sure I can recommend Grimm to a general audience yet, though – maybe if it grows a sense of humour or gets really disturbing.
Grimm is on Watch at 9PM on Mondays. More information on Watch's official site.
So is this going to be the awesome Big Bad Wolf of its genre, or merely Red Riding Hood? (That seems the right way round to me.)
One of the minds responsible for Grimm is executive producer David Greenwalt, best known for his work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel, and the rotting corpse-scent of those shows is all over this new one, as a Chosen One engages in heavily choreographed fights with chaps in thick prosthetics.
Of course, Grimm isn’t the only fairytale-loving series to emerge from the States this year, we also have Once Upon A Time coming to Channel Five in a few months. But that’s more about the charm and quirkyness. In Grimm, the fairytale creatures are there to be killed. Except for one guy, the token reformed informant. He’s a bit like Angel, only not as attractive.
As pilots often tend to be, the debut episode of Grimm is a bit clunky, and doesn’t have time to do much characterisation or charm in its rush to get everything set up by the end. The police elements, including the disapproving boss and smartarse non-white partner, come across as a bit generic.
But they’ve got plenty of time to expand on that in later episodes. For now, as I said, this might be of interest if you find yourself desperately missing Buffy, or if YA supernatural is really your thing. I’m not sure I can recommend Grimm to a general audience yet, though – maybe if it grows a sense of humour or gets really disturbing.
Grimm is on Watch at 9PM on Mondays. More information on Watch's official site.
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