We’ve all heard or read Grimms’ fairy tales at one point or another in our lives. But what you know is not exactly accurate. Whether it was Snow White or Hansel and Gretel or Rapunzel or Cinderella we are more familiar with the cleaned up versions of German natives Jacob and Wilhelm’s tales. The original tales are dark and scary and in other words not something that Disney would make an animated film out of or parents would read as a bedtime story to their kids. The television producers behind the successful series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel have brought the original tales to the small screen with a twist.
A homicide detective working in Portland named Nick Burkhardt (played by David Giuntoli) one day on the job begins seeing things he cannot explain. Before he begins to believe that he is going mad his Aunt Marie (played by Kate Burton) comes to town and tells them that he is a descendant from a long line of Grimms. This means that he can see what others cannot; Nick will be able to tell who is a creature masquerading as a human. Obviously this blows his mind and complicates his life immensely.
Nick’s plate is full because Portland seems to be a hotbed of Wesen activity and criminality. At first he keeps his ability and the existence of Wesen secret from his partner Hank (played by Russell Hornsby) and girlfriend Juliette (played by Bitsie Tulloch) but that becomes too much and he has to divulge everything to them. On top of all this in season three Nick has to deal with the fact that his captain, Captain Renard (played by Sasha Roiz), is also Wesen and a member of a royal family in Europe and that one of his best friends, Monroe (played by Silas Weir Mitchell), is a Wesen who is marrying another Wesen named Rosalee (played by Bree Turner).
This dangerous position is made even more so by the fact that last season his love Juliette (played by Bitsie Tulloch) was killed and his mother (played by May Elizabeth Mastrantonio) was beheaded. With all this loss fresh he now has to decide what he wants to do with his life going forward. Oh, and did I mention there is also the mind blowing news that he is the father of a child with a creature he once hunted, Adalind (played by Claire Coffee)? Yeah, there is that too.