NBC had a double wallop of cheese last night on their new “scary” Fridays. The fact that this is the scariest thing on broadcast TV—-while even basic cable gets away with the likes of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story—-is mildly amusing. [How long until Hannibal comes back again?]
“Grimm”…While both shows went heavy on the cheese, I think most people will be more willing to forgive a third-season show like “Grimm” that they may be stuck watching because they’re a too-loyal TV viewer. [Not that I personally know anyone like that.] This is the first new Grimm episode in overĀ five months (an eternity for a mediocre broadcast show that only keeps us hooked through inertia and a regular fix of episodes) and I can’t say the show is “better than ever.”
Our titular Grimm Nick spent the first half of the episode in a coffin and the second half as a “zombie” version of himself on a flight to an Austrian castle, and that’s pretty much the most interesting development. Literally the first ten minutes were spent showing us things we already saw in last May’s season finale. Then the other “zombies” were quickly subdued and discovered to be no great threat, and even the creepy voodoo priest who can morph into a blowfish wasn’t as worthy a nemesis as we assumed. Oh well…it’ll take at least five more episodes this bad in a row before I finally quit watching for good. And “Grimm” is really bad about splicing in one good episode into every two bad ones. Grade: C+
Dracula…Bad. I could spend a lot of time talking about Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ trademark over-acting (in The Tudors he seemed to think pouty lips meant charming and psychotic rage could stand in for anything else) or the completely by-the-numbers conspiracy/revenge plot but who really cares? This episode was light on the scares and heavy on the clunky exposition and I just can’t say all the convoluted plotting really drew me in. Grade: C-