Grimm or Once Upon a Time

[Banshee16]

She did have one or more stiff drinks at the mayor's house right before leaving. I assumed that the cop smelled it on her breath, and saw no other reason for the crash.

As for not raising a fuss, I think it was very much a "well, this day has been excessively weird so far, waking up in the drunk tank is pretty much par for the course by now".

Based on what happened in the second episode, I figured the mayor "encouraged" the sheriff to arrest her after the car accident.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Yes, but that leads to the 2nd point of my original post: The woman didn't think it was unusual.

It reminded me of watching a B movie where some teenagers witness a murder or something. They call the cops, but when they show up, they don't investigate or even listen to what the kids are saying. Instead, they immediately accuse the kids of using drugs (or doing something else illegal) and threaten to arrest them.

It's a case of people who don't act like people because you just want to get the plot from point A to point B.

The kid shows up and claims to be her son, kid wants to be driven home, she meets someone who says the kid is crazy, and she wakes in a drunk tank after an accident. Her reaction isn't to question anything. She just sort of shrugs and goes along with it.

Like I said, I stopped watching at that point because I found it annoying. It felt like a big rush to keep the story moving.

I know, I know, people will say, "The episode got better". But I didn't like the storytelling style enough to stick around.

I have no problem with anyone else enjoying it, I just didn't like it.

In the second episode, I felt some of that stuff starts falling into place a little more. Not perfectly, but her actions make sense, and you can see she's got some thought behind them.

As to Grimm, I liked that. It's still early days....but I liked the humour, and I liked the "tone" better than that of Once Upon a Time...even if I felt that the idea behind Once Upon a Time was more original.

Even if Grimm is just a latter day Buffy remake, starring the Big Bad Wolf instead of vampires, I still think it could have legs. As Pan's Labyrinth showed, you can get a really great horror bent out of fairy/faerie tales, and there are a *tonne* of creatures who could be featured. If nothing else, it gets us aware from the current vampire/werewolf/witch paradigm we see in some other programs. It's got a whole "these children's stories weren't fables....they were warnings" type of vibe, which could end up being cool.

I got a hoot about the big bad wolf marking his territory, and this sarcastic comment about the main character thinking he needed silver bullets to kill a werewolf.

Banshee

 

[Gronin]

I enjoyed Once Upon a Time more than Grimm but at this point I am willing to give both shows a few more episodes.

Once Upon a Time just seemed to have a more interesting overall storyline. If Grimm turns into the "bad of the week" I will probably jettison it.

 

[Dire Bare]

I don't get why humming the victim's iPod song convinces a police man to shoot down a suspect whose house you just broken into. I was hoping for something more... clever. Maybe the cop/Grimm showing the werewolf something red and putting him off his game, or something like that.

It didn't.

Spoiler

Humming the song convinced him to break in - 'cause, you know, you figure mailmen who live out in the woods and do their own needlepoint and who apparently normally listen to classical music on their stereos probably aren't just *randomly* also fans of the Eurythmics.

The shooting was because the guy cut the lights, assaulted them in the dark, and then tried to run.

Or, that's my take on it anyway.

I agree with Umbran that the bad guy humming the song was a clue, not the reason why our hero's partner shot him. Still, he couldn't have just shot him in the leg? The guy was running away and the cop was in no immediate danger at that point. These two are made out to be pretty good (as in quality) cops, and that part didn't sit well with me.

 

[Dire Bare]

As for Once Upon A Time, I was looking forward to it, but I only watched half of the episode. Everything seemed a little forced. The kid shows up and she takes his word for it that he's her son and drives him home. And then she gets in a crash trying to avoid a wolf and wakes in the drunk tank?

That's when I turned it off. I thought that was just too stupid. Even if they did explain why a cop would assume that a person in a car accident was drunk and why he didn't take that unconscious person to a hospital, the fact that the woman didn't raise a stink over it bothered me. I think the normal reaction of that person would be, "I was in a car accident and you threw me in jail?! What the @#$%!&* is wrong with you?!"

Maybe it's just me, but one of my nitpicks is that I can suspend disbelief, but I hate when characters act in a stupid way just to move the story along.

Finally watched the pilot tonight.

I had no problem with Emma believing Henry. She didn't at first, but he had his details straight and she DID give up a son for adoption ten years ago. Not a stretch, IMO. And, of course, with the fairy tale theme, Emma is drawn to Henry despite her tough girl, loner persona.

I do agree that putting her in the drunk tank seemed off, but Storybrook, Maine is a place where the folks are strange and things happen for a reason . . . again, it's the fairy tale theme happening again. And she does criticize the sheriff for arresting her by claiming she was not drunk . . . she did only have one drink, and didn't finish it at that (unfortunately, it was an evil APPLE drink!). I didn't find her reactions to waking up in the drunk tank off at all . . . but it would have made more sense to have her wake up in a hospital bed . . . but does Storybrook have a hospital? I'll let that one go pretty easily.

Still, I think I like Grimm better. We'll see how each show goes after a few more episodes. The whole, "everyone from all the fairy tales, including Disney's add-ons, lived in one place in fairy land and all hung out, and now they all live in one small town in Maine" thing doesn't do it for me. I'd be more comfortable with the same story, but with a looser adaptation of who exactly lives in fairie. And, worse, the evil queen's evil plan to destroy all hope is to send everyone to . . . . Maine? Never been there, but . . . Heh, I'm sure they simply meant the mortal world, but, sheesh, it ain't that bad in the real world!

 

[Kzach]

Yes, but that leads to the 2nd point of my original post: The woman didn't think it was unusual.

Well yes, but it's her destiny to be clueless for the sake of plot advancement

Anyway, I have to say I rather enjoyed the second episode. So many twists and turns and cool little moments. Carlisle is brilliant as Mr. Gold. And I totally loved the chainsaw bit

 

[Hand of Evil]

Two shows in on Once Upon a Time and liking it more than Grimm. While the writing has some holes, the acting is starting to shine. Plus, there are some interesting twist and turns.

Grimm, I will watch--it does come on after Chuck.

 

[Umbran]

Yes, but that leads to the 2nd point of my original post: The woman didn't think it was unusual.

See below...

It reminded me of watching a B movie where some teenagers witness a murder or something. They call the cops, but when they show up, they don't investigate or even listen to what the kids are saying. Instead, they immediately accuse the kids of using drugs (or doing something else illegal) and threaten to arrest them.

It's a case of people who don't act like people because you just want to get the plot from point A to point B.

Ignoring the kids and just assuming they're on drugs is, in my experience, well within the realm of "people acting like people." In the medical profession, there's a saying, which is the moral equivalent of Occam's Razor - "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." If you're a cop, and you have bunch of incoherent kids running around on a weekend night in the woods, claiming to have seen a guy in a hockey mask with a chainsaw, what's more likely? Really?

The kid shows up and claims to be her son, kid wants to be driven home, she meets someone who says the kid is crazy, and she wakes in a drunk tank after an accident. Her reaction isn't to question anything. She just sort of shrugs and goes along with it.

The kid shows up *on her birthday*. A birthday she spent catching a sleazebag, and alone. Then she has a talk with someone who says the kid is crazy. Then she has a talk with the kid's legal mother, who is kinda creepy and off-putting. Then she has an accident.

Which all says "overload" to me.

She wakes up in the drunk tank, after an accident, but she's unharmed. After all that has happened, does a smart person who understands how legal systems and the actual persons of authorities work think that raising a fuss is going to be of any immediate use whatsoever?

But, overall, she's thought stuff was unusual enough to stick around for a week, even after being threatened....

No, she doesn't react as an "average" person would. But, an average person would make a lousy story, as they'd just have ignored the, "call to adventure". This is not a police procedural, and she's not an average person herself. She's a fairytale, raised in the mundane world. She's not average. She's a heroine. Expect her to act like one.

 

[Villano]

Ignoring the kids and just assuming they're on drugs is, in my experience, well within the realm of "people acting like people." In the medical profession, there's a saying, which is the moral equivalent of Occam's Razor - "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras." If you're a cop, and you have bunch of incoherent kids running around on a weekend night in the woods, claiming to have seen a guy in a hockey mask with a chainsaw, what's more likely? Really?

No, no, I'm talking about movies in which teenagers witness a realistic murder, like someone getting shot. One movie I saw had teens witness a gang shooting and the cops dismissed the kids and threatened to arrest them (which leaves the kids on their own, trying to escape the gang who want to kill them because they are witnesses). I mean, what sort of city cop treats the idea of a gang shooting as if it's some sort of fairytale? That's what I mean by people not acting like people.

 

[Banshee16]

I agree with Umbran that the bad guy humming the song was a clue, not the reason why our hero's partner shot him. Still, he couldn't have just shot him in the leg? The guy was running away and the cop was in no immediate danger at that point. These two are made out to be pretty good (as in quality) cops, and that part didn't sit well with me.

Aren't cops trained to shoot for the body? My brother had a cop take him to the shooting range, and on his first day shooting a gun, ever, he was apparently shooting better than many members of the force (according to the cop). My understanding is that they shoot for the body, as targeting individual limbs is much more likely to result in a miss.

Banshee