Quick Thoughts: GRIMM, "The Good Shepherd"

After a short hiatus, Grimm was back to its familiar Friday night timeslot, and unfortunately it didn't start off on the strongest of notes.

One of the many flaws of this week's episode was the case-of-the week which was a bit on the nose even for this show. You see, apparently there are sheep like Wesen in the Grimm world, so why not make them religious with a herd mentality, and to be even more clever let's have the reverend by a wolf. See what I mean? It was by no means the worst idea this show's ever had (I think there was a mouse episode that I've tried to repress), but having a wolf amongst the sheep was just lazy.

On top of that, "The Good Shepherd" was almost devoid of any real tension. Sure, it had some creepy moments like the sheep bludgeoning the wolf to death, but Grimm's at its best when it has the audience on the edge of their seats, and things were too predictable this time around. Matters were not helped by the fact that Nick's a Super Grimm how can take out a horse assassin single-handily which also undercut the drama, but we're used to that by now. At the end of the day, it didn't feel like there were any stakes for the characters to meet, and that'd be fine if this wasn't the first episode back from a break AND a return to its old stomping ground. But we got some good Monroe moments and some Portland Timbers love, so it wasn't all that bad.

Even the serialized components didn't quite land like Renard's pulling of Nick's strings and the continuation of Juliette's amnesia arc. Honestly, I've given up on the latter ever really captivating me, although there were some okay moments this time around, but I still have high hopes for the families trying to kill Nick and what does Renard have to do with it story line. I just hope future episodes give it more lip service than a few brief scenes, and I'm sure they will... it just would've been nice to get them during this one.

I'm still trying to figure out what NBC's strategy is when it comes to Grimm. One the one hand, I'm a little shocked that this would be the show's episode back because it wasn't the strongest outing, but it was the most accessible due to an easy to follow case-of-the-week and only a sprinkle of mythology. I can actually see how "The Good Shepherd" could draw in new viewers, but I can also see it turning off a few too. Ah well, it was nice having it back either way.