An Open Letter to Grimm

By Lisa Anderson

Dear Grimm,

I have to say, I’m sorry to see this relationship end.

I’ll admit, I didn’t fall for you quickly. I stopped watching during your uneven first season, but around the second I started hearing scuttlebutt that you had really improved. Giving you a second chance, I caught up, and have since followed your exploits pretty consistently. I’ve watched Nick be reunited with his mother, and his circle of trust expand to include his partner Juliette, his colleagues Hank and Wu, his fellow Grimm Trouble, and even Captain Renard. I have enjoyed watching the romance between Monroe and Rosalee unfold, even when a certain contingent of fandom considered the plot shoehorned and the chemistry forced. I even maintained my sympathy for Juliette through her enchanted attraction to Renard, when other fans wanted that to be curtains for a character they always (inexplicably, to me) hated.]

But now, you’ve gone someplace that I can’t follow.

There were already things in the fourth season that made me uneasy. The episode with the boxers who were bull-wesen had a racist feel to it, and the one with the gender-switching wesen was shockingly transphobic. Between stories involving Juliette and Hank, there was also an icky subtext that no one but a wesen or a Grimm should have any power. But the final straw for me was the plotline with Juliette and Adalind.

At the end of Season 3, Adalind magically disguises herself as Juliette and seduces Nick, for purposes of a spell that cost him his Grimm powers. Let’s be clear: this is rape. It may not happen that way in the real world, but very similar things do. When someone impersonates someone’s usual or intended sexual partner to obtain sex, that’s called rape by fraud and people do get convicted for it.

The fact that a rape occurred in the show is not the problem. After all, it is a police procedural: Nick and Hank have prevented rapes and investigated rapists before. What bothers me is that no one, not even Nick, is calling it what it is. Juliette was even angry at first, which I actually find understandable—after all, she’s been through a lot because of Nick’s Grimm-ness, and he did have sexual contact with someone other than her. But even though she moved on from that, neither she nor anyone else who cares about him is acknowledging how violated he must feel.

Adalind’s storyline after that has just been one mistake after another. She is pregnant with Nick’s child, which would be bad enough by itself. The last few episodes of season seemed intent on trying to redeem her and make her sympathetic, even though she was only saving her own neck by helping solve problems that she caused. Rapists don’t usually get redemption storylines in fiction, for good reason. To top it all off, your producers are implying that with Juliette’s death at the end of Seaason 4, Adalind will be Nick’s new love interest. What kind of Stockholm Syndrome horror is that?

Let’s talk about Juliette for a moment, Grimm, because mistakes were made with her, too. I never did understand why so many of your fans hated her before, but by the end of last season, they finally had reason to. When she turned into a Hexeniest in the process of trying to help Nick get his powers back, it was actually an interesting development that could have gone in some good directions. And I don’t mind that she went darkside, either—after all, she’s got reason to resent everything that’s happened to her because of Nick’s mission. I even could have handled her death or their breakup under different circumstances. But when she burned down Aunt Marie’s trailer and then got Nick’s mother killed, it felt like a bridge too far. It was too far out of character for the sweet, loyal, and resourceful person she’d been before, and it wasn’t the story she deserved.

Basically, Nick’s situation now is that his rapist is having his baby, his lover is dead after having gotten his mother killed (however unintentionally) and destroying his armory/library (intentionally), and his protégé is the one who had to kill her. I know that shows these days like to pile it on, but I’m not used to that level of emotional and mental trauma from you, Grimm. It is, no pun intended, grimdark.

That’s why I won’t be watching when your fifth season premieres tomorrow night Instead, I’ll be following the episode recaps, to see just how your writers get you out of the corner they’ve painted you into. If Nick and Adalind really do become an item, I’m afraid I won’t be watching anymore. In fact, I’m not sure I can deal with the idea of Nick as the parent of Adalind’s child, but based on the trailer, that looks like where we’re headed. If miscarriage and infant death aren’t network-friendly (and really, nothing you did would surprise me at this point), a redheaded Hexenbaby —genetically Juliette’s through the spell that Adalind cast —might be the least sad option.

In case you’re wondering, I’m not the only one who thinks you’ve gone off the rails. I haven’t had to look far online to find incredulity among your fans, especially regarding the rape issue. I’m also not the only one who has quit watching or is considering it. Last seasons’ events are especially damaging in light of how hard it can be for male rape victims in real life to get taken seriously, especially if their rapists were women.

I’m sad that we’re most likely parting ways, because damn, I wanted to see me some baby Blutbaden for Rosalee and Monroe. I’ve really enjoyed our time together, even when you were problematic or just goofy. But as I’ve said, you seem to be headed someplace that I won’t follow, and sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if your path through Portland’s forest park comes to an abrupt end soon.

Sincerely,
Me