It’s official. NBC’S GRIMM has won me over. Well, that happened last week within the first two minutes of the pilot, of which, Amanda Mac and I butted heads over in the typical, boys are better than girls, Angel is better than Buffy argument.
(UPDATED AND EDITED– 11/06/11)
*SPOILER ALERT!*
GRIMM is the closest thing to Joss Whedon’s and David Greenwalt’s ANGEL (1999-2004). I am so excited, I have decided to start to do a weekly series on it.
Anyhow, this 2nd episode, “Bears Will Be Bears”, was a fantasy/drama/detective story spin off of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Rather than keep the viewer bored in a simple, modern re-telling, GRIMM’s Goldilocks had several twists, including implications for critical race theorists and anthropologists. Although the series itself takes place in predominantly white Portland, Oregon (it’s reputation), “Bear Will Be Bears” could function as a conversation starter pertaining definitions of culture, notions of identity, and how we deal with our ancestors in our day to day living. For example, Nick’s partner in the police department, Hank, who is black, was talking to a family under suspicion for murder, who just happened to have a lot of artifacts in their homes. Hank was able to correctly identify the culture where the totems came from because, as he put it, “the second wife was a cultural anthropologist.” At first, I was afraid GRIMM would go to far in making this episode just the stereotypical “the Natives worship totems, and therefore they are evil” horror story, but it turned out to be much more than that. Hank then goes on to say in the conversation, when the idea of respecting ancestors was brought up, “I had to respect mine or else I couldn’t sit down for a week.” (editted: Thanks AMM for the heads up!)
There is a wild animal in all of us, according to Eddy Munroe. Will our ethical actions ever be able to overcome our tribal loyalties? Should this even have to be a question in the first place? Interestingly enough, Munroe also found himself struggling with his identity as a Blutbad (big bad wolf) and as a friend of a Grimm (his sworn enemy). Munroe felt compelled out of obligation to kill Marie, out of concern for dinner conversations during Thanksgiving.
Lastly,the lawyer (and father) for the family under investigation tells Grimm, “You have never had your history taken away from you.” Of course, this is both referring to Native American heritage (along with their land) as well as the struggle between the Grimms and the other creatures of the night. This ought to inform us about how our knowledge of our own histories are important in shaping our identities.
Still, this episode raised the question, “Which is more sacred, human loyalties or human life?”
