Grimm benefited mightily from the decision, a couple seasons ago, to air the first few episodes early and give the audience something new and exciting to watch before the fall season onslaught.  I suspect the uptick in popularity of the series was at least partially due to this gambit; showing the audience, new and returning, that the quality was ramping up was important.

 

So it’s a little strange for Grimm to start premiering this late in the fall, when so many viewing habits have already formed.  It’s equally unfortunate that Grimm is starting off with a multi-episode premiere, like so many other genre series decided to do this season, because it doesn’t give the season as solid a start as one might hope.  Parsing through the implications of the third season finale is much appreciated, yet the cliffhanger leaves a few things a bit too open-ended.

 

Nick’s status as a senses-hobbled Grimm is still not entirely defined.  He can’t detect Wesen, which is a fundamental issue, but what about all those other abilities he has gained over the past few years?  Are those gone, too?  Serving as a mentor for Grimm-in-training Teresa may work for a while, but this is Nick’s story, so it’s going to feel out of place for this status quo to remain for too long.

 

It doesn’t help that Nick is stuck trying to negotiate the fallout from the shooting at his house without Captain Renard, who is apparently dying.  I doubt that will stick, as the very end of the episode telegraphs, but it also means that one of the more enjoyable elements of the series is sidelined at the moment.  Add to that some intrigue involving the Royals and their perspective on Nick, and there are a lot of items that are lingering in the background with insufficient depth.

 

One thing that will need to be handled very quickly is Wu’s status as an outsider.  He knows that something is up, he knows he’s being kept out of the loop and lied to repeatedly, so I can’t imagine that he’ll let that linger for too long.  And it’s about time he was brought into the fold.  Wu stands as the most potent example of how keeping people in the line of fire in ignorance of the Wesen is a bad move.

 

So much of interest is happening to the main cast that the “case” taking place with Cthulu Face seems a bit unnecessary.  I’m not sure I remember much about it at all, nor am I particularly interested in how it will spill over into the next episode.  Thankfully there was enough happening in the background (including Juliette acting sensibly about the whole Adalind/Nick fiasco) that it doesn’t detract too much from the whole.  But it does contribute to a somewhat weak start to the season, which is worrisome.