Grimm "Heartbreaker" Review

Grimm’s sleepy pacing has been the worst aspect of the series since the beginning. The Royal Family accomplished nothing in almost four seasons of being the most major villain in the series. Two Princes were introduced. Both Princes did nothing. One Prince died off-camera; the other Prince left almost off-camera. Prince Kenneth, the mysterious new family member headed to Portland, seemed destined to follow the anticlimaxes of the previous two Princes. One would expect even less results with Kenneth. I wanted him to concentrate more on an aquarium than on the search for Nick’s mother and the royal baby. Kenneth, of course, gets results. He’s a brute. He kicks ass, kills, and threatens-the complete opposite of the previous two Princes. The penultimate scene involves a fight between Kenneth and Renard. Renard discovered the corpse of his informant, Sam, and wondered would Kenneth tell Renard of his importance to the family. No, Kenneth says, because Renard must know of his, Kenneth’s, importance to the family. Should he continue to resist providing information about Kelly, well, Renard will die.

One may pass out from the change in the Royal family pacing. The speed and action with which Kenneth acts is heretofore unseen in Grimm. Kenneth calls out Adalind on her lie about the identity of her second baby’s father. Adalind requests that Kenneth kill Juliette. One is amazed Juliette lives by episode’s end. Of course, Kenneth may only act in “Heartbreaker” because he’s a new character different from the previous two princes. He leaves Renard bleeding on the ground. Kenneth seemed the character type to drag Renard away and torture him until he provides solid information about Kelly and the important baby. He doesn’t, because it’s inconvenient to the plot. Kenneth threatens, tortures, and kills characters one will not remember, because those characters have no life, no vitality, no identity aside from plot device; but Kenneth will not maim or harm any developed character, i.e. any of the main characters.

The case-of-the-week involved an unfortunate woman who reacted to any guy who felt sexually aroused by her by releasing a deadly toxin that would break the guy’s heart. The case is a rare instance of the writers doing a modern adaptation of a fairy tale. The writers have veered away from the original premise of the series. Bella involuntarily kills men who want to date her. The first guy is uncomfortably forward with her. The second guy tries to rape her. Both won’t back off. Attraction to Bella isn’t a death knell as much as not taking no for an answer. Her mother and her grandmother suffered brands to their face after rapes that resulted in death. The grandmother didn’t want her granddaughter to continue killing men, and she didn’t want her to become a victim of rape. She tried to brand her face, telling Nick when he stopped her that he wouldn’t help Bella by stopping her. There’s darkness to Bella’s story. Her mother and her grandmother bear the scars of their past traumas. Rosalee concocts an antidote to Bella’s fatal rejections so that Bella won’t kill any more men and so that she can experience love and physically touch another human being. The conclusion of her story is silly but sweet.

Juliette continued to behave sourly towards Renard and Nick. Her scene with Nick, in particular, showed a nasty side of her. She told Nick she wanted to take her stuff from the house. Nick’s phone rang during their conversation. Juliette spit on his “I love you” laden dialogue. Earlier she threatened Renard if he did not help her. Juliette feels frustrated by her new unasked for hexenbiest nature, which came about from a life she never asked to join. “Heartbreaker” ties together stories about things people didn’t ask for. Kenneth didn’t ask to track down a woman and a baby, but he had to because he gets results. Bella didn’t ask for men to like her knowing that if they did she killed them. Things happen. The characters dealt with it in different ways. The story will go on violently for some, unhappily for others, and happily only for the few.

Other Thoughts:

-Nick e-mailed Trubel who e-mailed him in an uninspiring exchange of messages. “Everything’s fine here,” is what Nick writes in response to, “How are things?”

-Wu’s so into Wesen cases. He whispered over the line that he thought the death of the biker was Wesen related.

-Dan E. Fesman wrote the episode. I don’t remember who directed tonight’s episode.