‘Grimm’ is a procedural cop show that follows Detective Nick Burkhardt who suddenly finds out that he comes from a long line of Grimms – hunters who are descendants from the Brothers Grimm (the original creature world profilers) who rid the world of the evil creatures that walk and live among us. The creatures have the ability to look human but a Grimm can see their true form. The fairy tales that we read as children are really not fairy tales at all, but true stories of these beings. In the show, we follow Nick as he struggles with balancing his new found position with what he used to think was the “real world.”

The premise is quite simple, but seven episodes into the series and not much is known about the characters and their place in the grand scheme of things. Granted, the show is basically a cop show with a twist. A crime happens with a fairy tale overtone, Nick and Hank go through the motions to solve the crime, and the crime is solved. The overall story arc involves Nick as he discovers and learns what being a Grimm really means. In the meantime, he must hide this new power from his partner Hank and fiancée Juliette least they think he needs to be placed in a mental facility. While trying to balance between the life of a human cop and the life of a Grimm, there is something dark and sinister plotting against him.

To help Nick navigate the new found waters of being a Grimm profiler is Munroe, a reformed Blutbad who happens to be a wolf-like Grimm creature. Munroe is my favorite character so far he adds just enough comedic levity to offset the severity of the crimes seen in the show. His internal struggle to help a natural enemy of his kind and not to get too involved is well played by Silas Weir Mitchell. The episodes that feature Munroe seem to be the most enjoyable ones as Mitchell dominates the scenes he’s in. I’ll be curious to see where Munroe’s internal struggle takes him as I’m sure he’ll have many more times when he has to choose sides (like in the episode ‘The Three Bad Wolves’).

From the very beginning we know that Captain Renard is different. He enlists the help of Adeline (who happens to be a creature) and together they try to thwart Nick before he finds something that his aunt seems to know, but hasn’t told him yet. Renard obviously has some type of high rank among creatures because in ‘Lonelyhearts’, he was upset that a Reaper, who came into town for vengeance against Nick, didn’t know who he was and was told him he should be kneeling before him.  Not enough has been shown about Captain Renard or his motivation as to why he is against Nick (and since patience is not one of my virtues, not knowing is quite frustrating to me). Part of me watches the show just to find out what that deep dark secret is and will it destroy Nick?

While we wait until all this unfolds, we can look forward to more fairy tales (I hear Hansel & Gretel will be featured soon), the appearance of another Grimm (played by Titus Welliver from ‘Lost’) and we’ll get to see Amy Acker (‘Angel’) as the Black Widow. I also hear that Nick’s fiancée will also find out who/what he really is so that will be a nice change to the show’s dynamics.

The idea of having a crime of the week based on a fairy tale is fun and I’m hoping it won’t become too tiresome as I do enjoy seeing the fractured fairy tale in action. Each episode has been slowly introducing the audience to each character (a lot was learned about Munroe in the last two episodes ‘The Bad Three Wolves‘ and ‘Let Your Hair Down’) and I look forward to the one that will give us more background on Captain Renard (if there is one).

I love watching ‘NCIS’, and ‘Grimm’ has that same flavor. But what makes the former gel better is that it does spend a little more time on the principle characters (even for a moment) at the beginning of each episode. While lately it seems that the series has been focusing on the “fairy tale of the week”, what will set this show apart is when we really start finding out more about what it means to be a Grimm, how Nick handles it and what is Captain Renard up to? As individual episodes go, ‘Grimm’ is entertaining but the last few episodes feel as though they have strayed away from the major story arc. I’m hoping that when the show returns on Friday, January 13, the pace will begin to pick up and focus a little more on Nick’s journey like the first three episodes did.