Once Upon A Very Grimm Time

What are the odds of two fairy-tale shows airing the same season? The writer in me imagines the originator pitching the concept, being turned down, pitching it elsewhere and being accepted, and the place that turned him down tweaking the concept and developing it in-house.

But that’s just my inner Wicked Stepmother talking.

There’s been some debate on lists I follow as to which one to watch, which one is better — Kind of a Team Grimm v Team Emma thing. I like both of them. They’re very different, for all the similarity of concept.

ONCE UPON A TIME:  Somewhere in the multi-verse, there’s a world in which all our childhood storybook characters are real and interact. There seems to be some connection to Disney and Barbie, based on the costumes, characters and commercials. I find this rather amusing, actually. The Wicked Queen (Snow White version) curses everybody to live in a horrible world (ours) in a small town named Storybrooke (ha ha), where time stands still and nobody remembers their past except The Wicked Queen (modern name: Regina). The modern names also amuse me: Snow White is Mrs. Blanchard, Jiminey Cricket is Dr. Hopper, Rumplestiltskin is Mr. Gold.

And another thing: Rumplestiltskin is played by Robert Carlyle, who played Hamish MacBeth on BBC. Any show that can make Robert Carlyle look BAD has some serious makeup mojo going.

OUAT is a soap opera, with a story more-or-less wrapped up every episode but a long arc plot that thickens satisfactorily.

GRIMM: In our very own world, the monsters from the old fairy tales — as well as ones that didn’t make the cut and we’ve never heard of — are real. Grimms are a bloodline of humans who can, if their aunt is sick or something (I didn’t get that quite clear) can see the monsters who walk among us, pretending to be people. Our Grimm is a cop who acquires two partners: his regular cop partner, who knows nothing of this, and a reformed werewolf, played by Silas Weir Mitchell. Forgive me, I have to pause and giggle because the werewolf is played by a guy with Weir as his middle name. I’m sorry. Yes, I really am that childish. He does a brilliant job, as he always does.

GRIMM has a tendency to bloody violence, although of the heat-of-battle and necessary-victim kind. Like the werewolf going berserk and tearing a bad guy’s arm off and then being all “Oops….” It really tends to be a little dark for my taste, but I’ll squint and watch it for Silas and for the kick-ass babe battles between two female monsters, each of whom claims to be “the good one”.

I recommend both, if only because I love the fantasy riffs, especially two such different riffs on the same basic theme.

Marian Allen
Fantasies, mysteries, comedies, recipes