Grimm

Kyle’s Review

Usually, I try not to reveal too many spoilers – creating a secrets page that you can opt to click on – but I can’t avoid spoilers with this particular episode of Grimm. You’ve been forewarned. Continue at your own risk.

Grimm turned the corner with this episode. This entire season has teetered between good and not-so-good, but “Tribunal” accomplished a lot: the gang’s back together in a most exciting way, Wu continues to shine as his character gains depth, and Juliette finally gets the attention she deserves.

Let’s start with the gang getting back together. Team Nick rescues Monroe from the Wesenrein – or Nazi Wesen – just before they plan to stake him. It’s always a good sign when Nick uses his detective and police skills. It’s even better when he has to shift gears to his Grimm duties. And boy does he ever get Grimm on those Nazi Wesen’s hind quarters.

Nick has help of course. The two least likely sources are Wu and Juliette. We’ll get to Juliette in a bit, but first, we’ll tackle Wu. I still like how Wu isn’t as quick to accept the Wesen world as Hank. Oddly enough, I thought – based on how the characters behave – that Wu would be more receptive of another world than Hank, but I’m glad to see a distinction between these two. Even though Wu struggles with this knowledge, he holds his own both in combat and the interrogation room. I just wish he retained some of the comedic value he had in previous seasons, but I don’t begrudge him growing.

Then we get to the most pleasant surprise in Grimm this season: Juliette. I haven’t cared for Juliette as a character the last three seasons, and I’ve cared even less about Nick’s and Juliette’s relationship, but Juliette’s transformation into a Hexenbiest has me tuned in. We get clues that a “made” Hexenbiest isn’t too uncommon, so this occurrence tracks with the Grimm lore set in seasons past. And it’s no small thing that Juliette gains her powers as an adult. Most Wesen are raised to fear others and hide who they are. They even understand their abilities, so it’s nice to see a character struggle, trying to play catch-up in the Wesen world. Her relationship with Nick has to suffer, too, and I can’t wait to see how this happens.

Verdict: “Tribunal” is quite possibly the turning point Grimm needed for a great season—both for its main storyline of rescuing Monroe and for the development of two characters.

Constantine

Kyle’s Review

This episode of Constantine had a lot in it. I liked that Chas drove this story. I wondered how he gained his immortality, and “Quip Pro Quo” did a great job of delving into his backstory.

But backstory means a lot of flashbacks. Most of these flashbacks worked, but I didn’t buy Chas’s wife Rene resenting Chas for not being around. Sure, his aiding of John Constantine mimics a police officer saving lives, and relationships don’t always end well for people in this line of work, but Chas died and came back to life. This miracle makes Rene come off as ungrateful.

Chas on the other hand becomes a more likeable character than he already was. We find out that his desire to help people has deeper meaning than just helping out John Constantine. He feels guilty about how he obtained his 47 lives (more on this in our secrets page), and it’s this focus on Chas that makes this week’s episode of Constantine great.

Constantine throws in some other geeky goodness into the mix. I enjoyed Felix Faust as the antagonist. Maybe his inclusion in this episode means that he’ll return to the comics.

Verdict: Constantine may have fell short in its second part to its midseason cliffhanger, but it finds solid ground with this Chas-driven, heart-felt episode.

Dig deeper into the netherworld with our Constantine secrets. But we warn you; they contain spoilers.

Bob’s Burgers

Kyle’s Review

Logan, Louise’s arch enemy who only appeared in the first episode of season three, returned in this weeks’ Bob’s Burgers, so this week focused on Louise.

I like Louise, but I don’t dig Logan. He’s too much of an entitled creep to stomach. His mother Cynthia is just as bad, and she played a major role in this episode, too. And to make matters worse, the put-upon Bob has to give up his second calling of gardening to remove Logan and his mother from the situation.

We have a quip pro quo situation. Bob gets a garden box at the community garden, while Logan gets to work at Bob’s Burgers and his mother can write an essay about the horrible things Logan doesn’t have to do at the restaurant. See what I mean? Entitled. Soon, Linda’s at Cynthia’s throat and Louise is at Logan’s. Throw in some of Tina trying to get the skinny on the boy’s locker room, and you get an episode that retreads old jokes and is a little light on laughs.

But Gene had a few shining moments. He makes a statement early on about Logan joining the crew, “Finally, another sausage at this party.” It was crude, but he tried to bond with Logan for the rest of the episode, desperate to have another male figure, and that drew my attention to the fact that Gene doesn’t have a lot of male friends. I know Gene loves his sisters, and he’s comfortable around girls, but I hope they don’t abandon Gene’s search for a friend.

Verdict: If you can get past Linda’s and Louise’s cattiness, you might find a deeper story with Gene.