LITTLE ROCK — What is it? Grimm, Season 1, 22 episodes on five discs from Universal Studios Home Entertainment
When? Now
How much? DVD $49.98, Blu-ray $59.98
Grimm, as in “Brothers Grimm” or grim as in gruesome? Either. Or both.
Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli), a police detective in Portland, Ore., is just another blissfully ignorant human until he starts seeing flashes of hideous monsters in the faces of normal people.
He’s unnerved, of course, and is even more so when his Aunt Marie visits and tells him the truth: mythical creatures (or wesen) aren’t figments of our imaginations. They’re real and they’re all around us. Only a select few people can see the creature underneath the human facade and these people, known as Grimms, are tasked with keeping the balance between the wesen and humanity.
His family are Grimms and since Marie is dying of cancer, her powers and responsibilities - gifts - are transferring to him.
His police partner, Hank Griffin (Russell Hornsby), and his veterinarian girlfriend, Juliette Silverton (Bitsie Tulloch), know nothing about all this, just as Nick doesn’t realize his boss, Capt. Sean Renard (Sasha Roiz), has a hidden agenda and quite a bit of wesen clout.
Nick really has no clue what he’s doing, but he does have his aunt’s Airstream trailer full of weapons and reference books and he stumbles upon Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell). Monroe is a blutbad (“big bad wolf”) who curbs his instincts through diet and Pilates and becomes Nick’s semi-reluctant guide to the wesen world.
As Monroe shows, not all wesen are bad or intend to cause trouble. But there are those who want to wreak havoc on humanity and it’s now Nick’s job to stop them.
Each episode has some sort of gruesome crime that bears a dark, twisted resemblance to a fairy tale.
While there are self-contained stories, there’s also a larger mythology and story arc to follow so you have to pay attention and keep up.
Would I like it? Well, it depends on how you feel about horror and fantasy. Did you like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel? Grimm’s producers have resumes that include those cult favorites and there are definite touches of all three in this show, although it doesn’t quite measure up to those series yet.
On the whole, expect creepiness, a certain level of gore and some scares.
Are there extras? Certainly. There are deleted scenes for some episodes, main cast audition tapes, the usual making-of documentary with interviews,a couple of short pieces on the special effects and three “highlight reels” on language, morphing and scares that are intentionally humorous, not educational. The Blu-ray version has an interactive creature guide with clips and definitions, and the packaging also has a wesen dictionary in case you forget what skalengeck (lizard creature) and essigblasse (ingredient for a potion) mean.
New this week: 2 Broke Girls, Season 1; Bored to Death, Season 3; Criminal Minds, Season 7; Fringe, Season 4; TheGood Wife, Season 3; Grey’s Anatomy, Season 8; Grounded for Life, Complete Series; Haven, Season 2; Hung, Season 3; The Office, Season 8; Parks and Recreation, Season 4.
Next week: 30 Rock, Season 6; Absolutely Fabulous, 20th Anniversary Specials; The Big Bang Theory, Season 5; Blue Bloods, Season 2; Kojak, Season 5; Terra Nova, Complete Series; Up All Night, Season 1; The Vampire Diaries, Season 3.
Style, Pages 48 on 09/02/2012