Grimm: "Bad Teeth" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

With "Bad Teeth," Grimm kicked Season 2 off in a rather bloody fashion, but ultimately we were left with what felt like half an episode. Things certainly picked up on the show last season with the idea of the "Royal Families" being thrown into the mix - along with the Adelind-hexing-Hank multi-episode arc - but those elements didn't help this premiere episode from feeling, well, toothless.

It also now seems like Juliette, the show's version of Sleeping Beauty, will eventually wake up and conveniently not remember anything from the Season 1 finale involving Nick's confession. Which is a shame because I actually thought that the scene between them in the trailer was done really well. There's nothing worse that watching your show's hero be looked at, and perceived by, the woman he loves as tragically insane. Anyway, I guess, in the midst of her coma, Juliette is "Eternal Sunshining" (second time I've used that movie's title as a verb in a review this week) Nick and the events leading up to her cat scratch fever. The question now remains: How far back will her amnesia go? Will she just forget all the bad stuff about Nick? Or will she forget him entirely, giving Nick an ultimate "out" of the relationship that his Aunt warned him about?

Reoowwrr!

Hank wasn't used much in this opener; still fidgety and shaky after witnessing two beasts that he shouldn't have. The real focus of this one was Nick and his long-thought-dead mother, Kelly (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), reconnecting and Nick having to come to terms with the fact that she, and Marie, lied to him. Heh, if only Nick watched more TV shows that had the "dead parent" premise. They almost always lead to one, or both, of the parents being still alive, don't they?

I have to say, at first it kind of felt like Nick wasn't nearly surprised enough to see his mother. Sure, the situation was awkward, but he just sort of seemed to roll with it. Maybe he's just used to rolling with so much crazy crap in his life that his mom coming back from the dead was no big whoop. The two of them didn't really seem to bond though until they got into Marie's trailer and looked at old weapons and dusty tomes. She basically revealed that she faked her death to protect him, but that seems like something Marie should have told him before she died. You know, make it a package deal. "You're a Grimm AND you're mom's still out there killing Fuchsbaus."

So what brought Kelly to Portland? Those rascally Coins of Zakynthos, of course. That need to be destroyed "One Ring"-style, back on the island they where they were forged. The cliffhanger at the end, which was still weird to see since it basically cut off in the middle of what should have been the third act fight, didn't leave me with much anxiety. Nick's killed two Reapers. And on the off chance that he couldn't handle to the French cat monster (which is supposed to be worse than a Reaper) his mother's still around to save him. Akira's dead now; poisoned in his cell. But it was strange to see him tell Renard that there were two Grimms now and then have Renard...make a mental note of that and then walk away. It was a very TV thing to do even though it would have made more sense for Renard to take a few steps back and say "Say what now about two Grimms?"

"Bad Teeth," like the Season 1 finale, felt like it was dealing with too many things that it wasn't going to be able to solve in the allotted time. I have no problem with a story staying open for a few episodes, but here all of the stories are staying open. And Nick didn't even really get to be a badass in this one other than threatening Adelind's mother. On the bright side, True Blood's James Frain popped up as someone across the sea in a castle, torturing some poor bastard for the Royals. I believe, other than Renard (who's more "shadowy" than evil) Frain's character might be this show's first attempt at a "big bad."

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and IGN. WARNING: No Nudity!

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com