tpel

I've been re-watching season 3, and something struck me as amusing. When Meisner is tailing Adalind in the bar, he makes absolutely no attempt at subterfuge. I mean none; when she looks at him, he just stares right back at her intensely. In the context of that setting, this isn't a terrible strategy. They are in a bar; he could be assertively checking out a pretty girl. OK, a very pregnant pretty girl, but to each his own. What made me laugh was recalling Sebastian's instructions to Meisner about obtaining Adalind's medical records. Sebastian specified that this needed to be done subtly, prompting Meisner to quip something about "not like last time". I think this scene was just meant to show a difference in Sebastian and Meisner's personalities. But now I'm imagining Meisner taking a ridiculously direct approach to everything -- like going into the medical clinic and punching people until someone gives him the record he wants. Hey, he's an assassin, not a spy! A little off the point . . . A while back, I remember OtterMommy (I think) reporting on the sorry state of Grimm fan fiction over at fanfiction.net: mostly odd "ships" and a lot of Nadalind. I decided to see what would happen if I posted something totally different over there: told from Trubel's point of view, not a romance but Meisner/Adalind friendly, very little Nick, etc. I am happy to report that I was not attacked in the comments by an angry hoard of Nadalind shippers :-) But the comments were, while positive, very light on content -- mostly of the "Yay Meisner" variety. Now, I know from previous experience that fanfiction.net is not the place to go if you want a deep critique, yet I have received more substantive feedback when writing for other fandoms. Makes me think that fans who are really interested in writing have given up.

Diana did "meet" her father when she was and infant, when Adalind brought her back to Portland. He held her a couple of times and beamed; it was rather sweet. Of course, no normal child could remember that. But I can kind of wrap my head around the fact that Diana might. She has consistently remembered people she met only during her first weeks of life, including her mother and Meisner. I would, however, expect more surprise on the part of her parents. I don't necessarily want to see more development on the part of the minor characters populating Hadrian's Wall. But you can't have a massive international organization represented by only three people, and then have two of them disappear. I hope that Renard is actually trying to infiltrate Black Claw rather than becoming their patsy. If he was pulling a long con, I can see why he wouldn't tell Nick, Hank, etc. But he might have told Meisner-- seeing that Meisner has already killed two members of Renard's immediate family, he might not want to be third on the list, should Meisner think he's gone over to the dark side. So, the writers have to get Meisner out of the way for a while, so Eve can run amok messing up Renard's plans by alerting Nick to Renard's supposed treachery. The problem is, this just makes Hadrian's Wall seem incompetent. Don't they have any back-up command structure? I mean, suppose Meisner and Trubel were killed, would that mean an experimentally conditioned hexenbiest with minimal social awareness would be running the show? The only thing that could save this is if Renard and Meisner actually planned to leak information about Renard's involvement with Black Claw to the "good guys", to help cement Renard's position with Black Claw. Alternatively, the impression of incompetence would be somewhat lessened if we learn that Meisner and Trubel were called away on some mission of huge importance and were unexpectedly physically unable to communicate with command for a while.

I don't know that hexenbiests generally age fast. I don't think we've been given much indication of this. If anything, we've seen the opposite in Renard's mother, though it was hinted that they might keep their youthful looks via magic rather than as a natural tendency. So I'm assuming that the ritual affected Diana's aging. But it would be funny if this was all an evolutionary adaptation of hexenbiests: they age quickly through the most vulnerable period of development (since hexen-moms can't be depended on to bother taking care of them through protracted terrible-twos and annoying-tweens), then they stay young and beautiful for 50 or 60 years (the better to ensnare and manipulate men to do their bidding), then they morph into Frau Pesch-like crones.

I'm doing a re-watch of season 3 (ah, the good old days ;-) With that in mind, the rapid aging thing doesn't bother me so much. I mean, Diana was born "full term" much earlier than expected -- I think Adalind said it was around 6 months (which, yeah, probably doesn't fit with the actual timing of events on the show). Stefania didn't say in so many words that this was due to the re-hexenbiesting ritual, but she seemed to take it in stride as not unexpected. To me, that set a precedent for rapid aging. I don't get the sense that the writers are hoping we won't notice so much as that her aging is a plot point. Renard and Adalind seem to be taking it a little too well, I'll grant. I mean, if it was my kid I would be worried that this is the hexenbiest equivalent of progeria, and that little Diana will die of old age in a couple of decades!

OK, so Eve tells the gang that Renard is dirty . . . and they just believe her? I can't even blame her for this. It's not like she didn't tell them exactly how she came by this "knowledge" -- she told them she got it from Rachel. Which proves only that Rachel believes that Renard is on the Black Claw train. Which is exactly what Renard would want her to believe, were he running a long con in order to infiltrate Black Claw. I'm not saying that Renard's motives are necessarily pure, but how is it that it never occurs to these so-called detectives to look beyond the obvious? I'm not sure I get the complaints about if Diana is so powerful (now), why didn't she do "x" months ago. She is still a very young child, and months ago she was even younger. She may be powerful, but just figuring out her powers now. And perhaps she was happy living with Kelly, and content to go wherever Meisner took her. It's just that now that these living situations have been disrupted by Black Claw, she is happy to see her Mom and Dad. I agree that her loving greetings were a bit over the top. I can buy that she recognizes them and feels positively toward them, but this was a bit much.

I had never watched this show before three weeks ago, and generally have little interest in sit-coms. But I've watched the last three episodes for William Fichtner, and have been pleasantly surprised by the writing and the regular cast. I assume that Fichtner isn't going to be available long-term, but I'm already kind of invested in Bonnie and Adam's relationship. When he was acting like a jerk at the meeting, I was afraid this was the show's way of writing him off. But then they worked it out -- Yay! WF's expressions while watching that video were priceless.

I fear those hands are now cold and dead. This "family man" business is perplexing me. When Rachel first brought it up a few episodes back, I assumed that she was just using it as a pretense to dangle the prospect of reuniting with Diana over Renard's head. Surely, I reasoned, no political strategist could consider the hot mess that is Renard's family life to be a political advantage. But now they seem to be going with it. Maybe Rachel is just really bad at her job.

One concern I have about the writers pitting Meisner against Nick (beyond just the occasional conflicts of interests and methods) is that, frankly, Meisner is more engaging than Nick at the moment. So I'm afraid that, in order to keep the audience on the side of the lead character, the writers would engage in a character assassination of Meisner -- you know, make him into more of a mustache-twirling villain than a pragmatist with an agenda.

No Budalind! Think of Bud's sweet wife who bakes pies! And his kids, gnawing away on the furniture! How dare Adalind wreck such a happy home! I quite like the idea of Meisner and Adalind in a romantic pairing (not a triangle), but I fear that ship has sailed, or rather, it has been sunk by a bigger, uglier 'ship'. Hypothetically though, the nice thing about MMadalind is that the writers wouldn't feel the need to whitewash Adalind's character to make her an "acceptable" mate. They are not exactly the same, morally speaking. He tends to have good large-scale goals, but do awful things to achieve them, while she can be amoral-to-evil in both her goals and actions. But he's dark gray and she's black with flecks of white, so close enough. And I think they brought out the best in each other when they were together. Furthermore, with regard to the resurgence of Adalind's biestiness, Nick says he'll deal with it if it should happen, while I have more faith that Meisner would actually deal with it. I don't find him annoying, but I agree that there are changes in his role that I don't care for. In past seasons, he got stuff done. Now he spends too much time monitoring situations and managing personnel. And, on a totally shallow note, I think they've changed his appearance a little, making his beard fuller and his hair darker. I prefer the more trimmed beard and the lighter hair . . . out in the daylight . . . with snow falling . . . Sorry, got distracted :-)

I think Black Claw are supposed to be the Big Bad right now, but they're not working so well dramatically. A completely faceless terrorist organization could generate a certain amount of menace, or you could showcase some charismatic leaders of the movement. The show seems to be trying to chart a middle route: we've met some Black Claw folks, but they're not very memorable. I kind of liked the bird-guy, but he was just a hired gun, and he's dead now. Rachel doesn't inspire much interest, and the guy who is supposed to be in charge (at least locally) . . . honestly, I can't even remember his name. He was badly cast: he looks too much like Meisner, at least in the dim lighting of many scenes. Their voices/accents are different enough that an attentive viewer can sort it out, but it hardly makes for a striking role. I could see Meisner being something of an antagonist for Nick. They are both against Black Claw, but would likely disagree on methodology. Nick used to be rather morally upright in his methods, though that's faded a bit, and Meisner will do whatever it takes to achieve his ends. I just don't want them to be romantic rivals in some awful triange involving Adalind. While I prefer MMadalind to Nadalind (OK, I think I prefer just about anything but Budalind over Nadalind) it's out of character for Meisner to let that kind of thing seriously distract him. I think his attitude would be more like, "Let me know when you're done playing house with the Grimm, and we'll talk." Heh -- I think a lot of us share that attitude ;-)

Besides the cute stuff, the video also includes a discussion by the commentators of what exactly Meisner is. As one of them puts the options: Wesen, Grimm, or Badass Normal (i.e., human). One of them was adducing evidence for the Grimm hypothesis. Puckler didn't weigh in on the question; either he doesn't know or he's not saying. Personally, I think 'Grimm' is the least likely option. It would mean that two separate groups that very much wanted a Grimm on their side -- the Resistance and Hadrian's Wall -- overlooked the fact that there's one standing right there. I've been re-watching season 3, and when Renard meets with the various Resistance factions, one of his selling points for why they should let him join is that he has a Grimm. That would be an odd selling point if there was another Grimm sitting across the table from him. And we know that Meisner's father was killed by the Royals, so his family is known to the Resistance (probably Dad was a member). If Dad was a Grimm, you would think they would know about it. Of course, Meisner could be the Grimm version of a Squib, I guess: a non-Grimm from a Grimm family. That would explain why he knows so much and might have been trained in fighting since birth.

I came across this wonderful video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2z8h80wWPk Apparently this show gives detailed analyses of Grimm episodes (the video is like 50 minutes long). This one is focused on "Rat King" and their guest commentator is Damien Puckler. The regular commentators are two guys and a gal, and the gal is totally in love with Meisner. Damien Puckler takes her adoration with good humor. He also does other fun things like correcting pronunciations of German words and giving shout-outs to stunt men in a fight scene.

I'm thrilled that Grimm was renewed. Yes, it makes me crazy sometimes. But having just lost my other Friday night show, Sleepy Hollow, I want to hang onto Grimm a bit longer. (Yeah, I know that Sleepy Hollow wasn't cancelled.)

I totally agree. Actually, I did find the scene to be pretty funny, mostly due to the awesomeness that is Sasha Roiz. But I agree that what's problematic about the scene isn't so much the scene itself. Taken on its own, it could be considered an amusing examination of ambiguous consent. The problem is that the show has a history of condoning sexual exploitation, and in the context of this history, playing lack of informed consent for laughs sets off alarm bells.

That might be an understatement. She physically pushed RenEve down onto the bed, and RenEve was very obviously not into it. Of course, Renard is a big guy. He could have shoved her away. And RenEve never outright refused -- Sasha just had this great deer-in-the-headlights expression, like Eve was trying to process the situation. The mildest interpretation I see for both of their actions was that Eve arrived with no intention of having sex with anybody, and when the situation arose, she was kind of mentally paralyzed. So she was swept along by Rachel's aggressive advances, until she was saved by the bell of impotence. From Rachel's perspective, both she and Renard know that theirs is not a relationship of love and affection; they are upfront about the fact that they are using each other. Thus, if her partner doesn't seem enthused about sex, but also doesn't refuse, well, that means he's decided that putting up with it is the action that best furthers his agenda at the moment. In other words, he consents, albeit a bit reluctantly. I disagree, in principle, but agree with this instance. What I mean is, I think one of the most fascinating functions of fiction -- whether written or filmed -- is writing about or portraying ideas that we struggle to define. It's kind of what makes great literature great, to me at least. On a generally well-written show, having this sort of multi-layered sexual exploitation occur, where it's hard to place blame because nobody is behaving well, can be thought provoking. I agree, however, that these writers probably shouldn't go there, because we can count on them to ignore little things like psychological plausibility and consequences.

I hope they give us some cool explanation for where Trubel and Meisner have been, because, lacking that, the writers' reasons for their absence are so obvious that they take me out of the show: (1) Eve had to be without "adult" supervision so that she could do her body-switching shenanigans (because, despite the fact that HW personnel sleep in jail cells, there seems to be no supervision of them when their boss is away). (2) Meisner had to be out of the picture so that Renard and Adalind couldn't take the obvious route toward finding out more about Diana's whereabouts: talking to him. Sure, he told Renard that he didn't know her exact location, but that doesn't mean he has no useful information on the subject (i.e., who might know).

I think Renard's desire to be mayor is secondary to his desire to infiltrate Black Claw. Whether the latter desire is so that he can bring Black Claw down, or take it over, remains to be seen. I don't think Meisner knows what Eve is up to. He probably told her to monitor the situation, before he and Trubel went off to God-knows-where. Now I'm picturing Eve reporting to him over video-chat: "And then I transformed myself into Renard and met with his Black Claw contact and almost had intercourse with her and . . ." Meisner, at the other end, just stares dumbfounded at her tale, every now and then saying "You did what?!?", while Trubel, in the background, cracks up. I loved Eve-as-Renard. Sasha Roiz is awesome. I didn't even mind the failed sex scenario because RenEve's facial expressions were so perfect. I'm glad they didn't do the deed, but I thought the misrepresentation squickyness on Eve's part was balanced by the fact that Rachel was aggressively ignoring the clear signals that her partner did not want to have sex.

Although he is currently my favorite character, I certainly wouldn't argue that Meisner is a good person. He has goals which may be positive in the big picture (stop the Royals, stop Black Claw), but he is willing to do horrible things to attain these goals. The "conditioning" of Juliette was one of those horrible things. However, he does seem to have the ability to attach to certain people. He had a girlfriend whom he apparently cared for, he grew to like Adalind, and I sensed a positive vibe between him and Diana. I think it is psychologically plausible that he would be able to torture someone he doesn't know, but prefer not to be placed in that position with respect to a cute kid he feels positively toward. I'm not saying his overall behavior is ethically defensible, just that keeping Diana away from himself and Hadrian's Wall is a good decision.

I think making sure that he, personally, has no idea where Diana is is one of the most ethically decent things that Meisner has done on this show. I don't know if there was an overlap in time between his working for the Resistance and working for Hadrian's Wall, but given how soon afterward he was practically running a chunk of Hadrian's Wall, he must have at least been in communication with them at the time he killed the king and grabbed Diana. Thus, he may have known that they were in the business of capturing and "conditioning" hexenbiests . . . particularly "special" hexenbiests that could be used as weapons to fight against Black Claw. Wouldn't it be great to get one young, especially if she is growing up at a rapid pace? If Meisner has any interest in the welfare of the child he delivered, he would want to keep her as far away from his current employers as possible. And that means he should know nothing about her whereabouts himself.

I think Nick's character development has fallen victim to the show's arbitrary moral categories. For whatever reason, the writers wanted to make Nadalind happen, so they pretend that what Adalind did wasn't so bad. Similarly, the writers wanted Robo-Eve to happen, so they pretend that what what was done to Juliette wasn't so bad. And they hope the audience accepts these moral declarations, at least enough so that we don't find the other characters' reactions implausible. Nick is now following a script where what Adalind did was regrettable but not heinous, and where Juliette's transformation was just something that happened, and he is reacting accordingly. He's not the only one; the other characters seem to have drunk the kool-aid, too. At least with regard to Juliette/Eve they show some distrust for Hadrian's Wall.

Yeah, I find this baffling, too. Nick might have been done with Juliette as a girlfriend when she committed the atrocities noted above, but that shouldn't stop him from being a decent human being and showing at least some concern about further atrocities committed against her. In my experience, that's just not how people work. Even if you grow to hate someone whom you recently loved, it takes a while for indifference to set in. And it is not just an abstract issue for Nick et al: they are considering working with Hadrian's Wall, the people who tortured and brainwashed her. I remember Renard asking about Diana, but I don't remember him specifically asking to see her. Anyone know the exact dialogue here?

I'm not loving the prospect of Wu-the-werewolf. But the writers will score big points in my book if they have Rosalee make reference to a brilliant apothecary over in England who brewed a potion that suppressed lycanthropic insanity -- sadly, he can't help them, as he is recently deceased. (Yes, "my book" is Harry Potter ;-) Oh yeah, that's right -- until recently, Renard had another avenue he could have used to get Diana back: contact the woman who is caring for her, via her son. I guess one might suppose that Renard was satisfied with Diana's placement while Kelly was alive, and only became concerned after she died. Though given the suddenness of his interest, I'm not sure the timing tracks.

Yeah, Nick's talent for picking the absolute worst hiding places for important things continues unabated! I don't know that telling Nick would help all that much, but telling Meisner, or whatever other contacts Renard has within the Resistance, might. Has Renard even tried telling the supposed allies who have his daughter that he wants her back? Now, it might be interesting if he did, and they said 'no'. Perhaps the Resistance wants to use her as a bargaining chip, or perhaps Meisner believes she is safer where she is than with the father who apparently forgot about her and the mother who lives with a Grimm who seems to be a magnet for the death and suffering of those around him. That would be interesting. But Renard considering working with Black Claw, and having clandestine meetings with Adalind, doesn't make much sense before trying the most obvious route to getting Diana.

From the Nick Burkhardt thread, some missed opportunities with regard to Diana: Obviously, these are just my personal preferences; Darklazr has offered a more violent and permanent way of tying up the loose threads. What is frustrating is that the writers had all kinds of options, since they actually had some interesting secondary characters on the periphery of the Diana story-line who could have been brought into play in organic ways. Instead, they just kind of forgot about the kid, and now that they've remembered, it looks like they are bringing her back into the mix in an artificial way.

Heh -- yeah, that would work too, Darklazr! And it has the advantage of being consistent with current story-lines, whereas my ideas are not. Though I kind of like the more upbeat aspects of my suggestions, a hexenbiest bloodbath does have a certain appeal ;-) I'm copying my post over to the "everything wrong with Grimm" thread, as it is more about missed opportunities than about Nick Burkhardt.