Grimm musings: "Game Ogre"
"Game Ogre” had its weaknesses, and those are pretty much the same ones that have been the show’s potholes all along, but it had so much that I loved, I’m willing to overlook those.( I’m not convinced that the stumbling points aren’t just the typical first-season growing pains that a lot of shows suffer from, so eight episodes in, as long as other points are getting stronger, they aren’t that big a deal to me yet.)
I feel like this ep’s big accomplishments were solidifying Hank as a character (which was a significant one, in my book), and establishing that Nick and Monroe’s relationship has moved beyond acquaintances by circumstance into a true friendship.
I’ve been very bothered by how flat and undeveloped Hank has been. He’s Nick’s partner, and he needs to be more fleshed-out, not just to be interesting in his own right, but to provide a balanced parallel dramatically to the Nick/Monroe interaction; those two relationships should mirror each other to show the duality that’s claimed Nick’s life since he came into his powers. “Let Your Hair Down” made a bit of progress on the Hank front; it gave him some history and depth, and a little more meaningful screentime, but it did so by removing Hank from Nick, and that can’t be the only way Hank isn’t in Nick’s shadow. “Game Ogre’s” story for Hank did a much better job of setting up some truly defining facets of the character, and in showing Hank and Nick interacting in a way that altered their dynamic for the better.
I like the moral ambiguity that was introduced to Hank’s character through this case, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there’s nothing more godawful boring than the by-the-book cop character, or for that matter, any character who’s squeaky clean-righteous. Finding out that Hank tampered with evidence to prevent a guilty killer from getting off gives him some grit and edge, and, maybe even more importantly, it gives him a place in the overarching conflict of Grimm’s story: holding on to one’s humanity in the face of battling monsters. There is a line to be walked between doing what has to be done to hold the evils and cruelties of the world in check, and making sure that our better angels still rule us. Nick and Monroe’s respective struggles with that balancing act have been showcased, and I like that Hank’s been shown to have his own conflict.
The evolution of Nick and Monroe’s relationship, the other big step in this episode, was just awesome as hell to watch. Whether they’re totally conscious of it happening or not, something is different between these two now. The scene in the beginning, with Nick and Monroe trying to play virtual strangers for Hank and stepping in it, was hysterical. And Russell Hornsby gave us some great moments in his wordless reactions to them. Then of course there was the significance of Monroe being entrusted with the secret of Marie’s trailer, which is, most definitely, a huge development. But for me, the scene that drove home the truth of this connection being a friendship was the one in which Monroe takes the call from Nick when he’s in the hospital. I love, firstly, that we only see and hear Monroe’s side of it; it’s so much more powerful that way than a back-and-forth cut would have been. SWM is always phenomenal, but it’s moments like this when just *how* fabulous he is becomes clear. *This* is the moment when the show makes it clear how far these two characters have come; Monroe’s “What? What?!” to the news he’s getting packs some of the hardest punch of any dialogue in the episode. He’s shocked, and he’s worried, and he drops what he’s doing literally in a heartbeat. What a difference is this unhesitating abandonment of his quiet, peaceful routine (I love that he leaves a meal and a glass of wine sitting on the table - that was so well-staged) to rush to Nick at the first word that he’s hurt from Monroe’s surly, grudging responses to Nick showing up on his doorstep earlier in the season, or for that matter, from his grumpy response to Nick’s call at the opening of the ep.
“Game Ogre” also gave us what I felt was the most menacing villain yet, on par with the blutbad mail carrier with pedophile tendencies in the pilot. The violence of this episode felt different - less fantastic, and somehow more disturbing for that. Rather than being an animal out of myth, Stark, an ogre, was much more like the embodiment of human evil amplified. He’s a hired killer by trade, and he gets off on torturing people. The fact that he put Nick in extreme physical danger may have been a part of that menace; any villain who doesn’t just pose a threat to the hero but actually lays hands on him and does damage is on a different level. And the violation of the attack happening in Nick and Juliette’s house - a place that has thus far been a sanctuary - makes it feel different, as well.
I liked Juliette in this one; we see her get a little more fleshed out, too, but I still need more of her to make her feel like a complete character and not just an accessory to Nick. Still, what screentime she had in this one was well-spent. You have to love that when Nick tells her to run, she does - to draw Stark away from him. And the girl throws a mean pot of water - it’s worth noting that Juliette’s the only one who makes Stark scream.
The scene between Nick and Juliette in the hospital gave me a lump in my throat; I think this was one of DG’s best moments all season. His vulnerability and guilt here are heartbreaking. But given how Juliette handled herself in this one, I think Nick might find it wiser to let her into the fold where his Grimm identity is concerned; these two make a formidable team.
I knew going in that Monroe was going to be taken into Nick’s confidence regarding the trailer. What I wasn’t expecting was his reaction once he was inside. I was waiting for him to be creeped out by the extent of Marie Kessler’s Shit I Kill Things With collection, or even a little pissed at seeing the tools of her trade amassed, knowing they’d been used against not only his people, but his family. I wasn’t expecting him to be exhilarated, to be not just impressed but in starry-eyed awe. I thought he was going to have an orgasm when he took the rifle out. And I think that, in conjunction with his demeanor in the wake of killing Stark, is important. This was, I believe, one of those little reminders the show gives us that there is a part of Monroe that is a killer. He doesn’t seem as rattled by killing Stark as might have been thought; he actually seems, in those last moments after talking to Nick, like he’s coming down from a high, cooling down after a rush. I wonder if Monroe got a little taste of something in this ep that will rouse the wolf a bit.
Random fabulousness:
“Oh, I get it. Be cool. Wear pants.”
“I spilled the water.”
“Yeah, you did.”
“I wonder where he keeps his coffee cups?”
Monroe’s quick prayer for absolution to his dad.