Grimm: Pilot

"Pilot" is the premiere episode of the supernatural fantasy series Grimm. It was directed by Marc Buckland and written by David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf based on a story by Stephen Carpenter. It first aired on NBC on Friday, October 28th, 2011. In this episode, Portland police detective Nick Burkhardt discovers that he has inherited a strange, mystic family lineage. As revealed by his terminally ill aunt, Marie Kessler, Nick is one of the last of the Grimms - hunters who have the ability to perceive supernatural creatures known as Wesen in their true form. At Marie's urging, Nick is forced to take up the family's responsibility of hunting down the bad Wesen that exists in the world. Though his partner, Hank Griffin, is unaware of this strange turn of events, Nick finds an uneasy ally in Eddie Monroe - a werewolf blutbad, who plays a key role in helping him solve the murder of several young women in the area.

Synopsis
In Portland, Oregon, a young college student named Sylvie Oster goes out for her morning jog. Wearing a red jacket and an iPod, she runs down Sweetbriar Trail near Talon Creek. A dark figure suddenly lunges from the bushes and attacks her. Sylvie screams in agony and terror as her music continues to play.

Meanwhile, homicide detectives Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin are outside of a jewelry store where Nick has just purchased an engagement ring for his fiancée, Juliette Silverton. The two quip with one another before receiving a call about the body found on the trail. As they prepare to leave, Nick notices a well-dressed blonde-haired woman leaving a building. As she turns her head towards him, her features take on a monstrous countenance that only Nick appears to notice.

They arrive at the scene where a local police officer briefs them on the scene. They find the girl's severed leg as well as her iPod and a pink Nike sneaker. They gather the evidence and discover a boot print. Nick orders a cast of the print to be made. When they get back to the police station, Nick notices another individual who bears the same fearsome features as the woman outside the jewelry store. Again, nobody but Nick seems to notice. Nick returns home that evening to find that his aunt, Marie Kessler has come to visit Juliette and he. Marie is dying of cancer and at best has only two months to live. When they get a moment in private, Marie takes Nick outside and explains his bizarre family heritage to him. Before she can go into great detail however, a creature named Hulda leaps out and attacks Marie with a scythe. Despite being terminally ill, Marie demonstrates great fighting prowess and manages to stab Hulda in the back. Nick finishes him off by firing several shots from his firearm at him. He then attends to his aunt who is lying wounded on the ground. Marie tells him that his parents were not killed in a crash - they were murdered. She hands him a green pendant and tells him to guard it with his life, then passes out. Nick calls in Hank to collect Hulda.

Nick goes to the hospital later to visit his aunt, who has regained consciousness. She tells him that the "fairy tales" are true and that he is one of the last of the Grimms. He can see supernatural creatures in their true forms. The nurse comes in and tells Nick that his aunt needs to get her rest.

He goes to the police station where Hank tells him that they ran Hulda's prints and that he also goes by the name of Mister Lindon. He is an accountant from Boise, Idaho, but is wanted for assault, rape and murder in Chicago, Illinois as well as Florida.

Later that night, Nick tries to sleep, but is awakened by a disturbing nightmare. He goes out to his Aunt Marie's trailer parked outside and uses the pendant, which is actually a key, to unlock her armory as well as a book describing the Wesen - the supernatural creatures that exist in the world.

Hank gets a match on the boot print found at the crime scene, which is their first real clue towards solving this case, but they still have a long way to go.

Meanwhile, a postman walks down a surburban street making his deliveries. He sees a young girl named Robin Howell wearing a red sweater walking near by and changes his direction and begins walking towards her.

Nick and Hank get the call that the little girl has been abducted. They speak with her grandparents at 4753 Hildabrand Road and Captain Renard breaks down the search pattern covering Berkeley Park and the surrounding environs. During the search, they find Robin's backpack. Nick and Hank go out to Hildabrand Road where he sees one of the neighbors, Eddie Monroe, collecting his mail. Nick watches Monroe's facial features change and is convinced that he is the one who abducted the little girl. Nick charges the man and tackles him into his house. They hold Monroe aside while police officers do a sweep of his house. However they turn up nothing. Even though Monroe fits the profile, there is not a single shred of evidence by which to charge him.

That evening, Nick consults his aunt's book. Marie cannot offer him any further guidance, for she has slipped into a coma. He finds dozens of sketches in the book, including one that resembles Monroe. Unwilling to give up this lead, Nick returns to Monroe's house.

He finds Monroe in the back yard urinating on his fence - "marking his territory". He waits until he goes back inside then begins surveying the perimeter of the house. Monroe bursts through the window and tackles Nick. He knows that Nick is a Grimm and wanted to get him back a little for assaulting him earlier. He punctuates the moment by saying, "You're paying for that window by the way". Afterward, he invites Nick in for a beer. Monroe explains that he is a blutbad - a term that has been vulgarized to mean "big bad wolf". However, Monroe is a reformed blutbad citing that he is not that big and is "done" with the "bad thing". Once Nick is satisified that Monroe is not the kidnapper, he pushes him to help him on the case. He is convinced that another blutbad is responsible for abducting her. Eddie doesn't care for socializing much, but some part of him feels that he needs to help Nick out. Meanwhile, the postman brings Robin Howell to a small cabin nestled in the middle of the woods. He locks her in a cellar room and offers to make her a chicken pot pie. He wants to fatten her up for later.

Nick and Monroe take Monroe's Volkswagen Beetle down a narrow road through the woods. Monroe hands his head out the window as he drives so he can up with the scent of the other blutbad. They stop on a bridge and get out of the car. Monroe coats Nick and himself in Wolfsbane so as to make their scent from the kidnapper. They walk through the river until the Postman's cabin is within their field of vision. Monroe's proximity to the other Blutbad is making it difficult to control his transformation. He tells Nick that he cannot follow him any further or else he risks losing himself to the beast and possibly even harming an innocent.

Nick calls Hank and tells him that he found where the little girl is being held. Hank arrives, but is disturbed by the fact that Nick didn't call in any other back-up. Nick wipes Hank down with Wolfsbane, but doesn't explain why.

They go to the cabin and speak with the postman, who invites them in. He is agreeable and soft-speaking and cooperates completely with their search. Hank scans the cabin, but finds no evidence of foul play. As they prepare to leave, Hank overhears the postman humming a song to himself. It takes him a few moments, but he recalls it as the same song that was playing on Sylvie Oster's iPod on the day she was killed. They rush back into the cabin. The postman assumes his blutbad form and attacks. The postman then tries to escape, but Hank shoots him. As he falls down dead, his features return to normal. Hank never got a good look at him in blutbad form. Nick canvases the cabin once again and finds Robin in the cellar. She is alive and well.

The following day, Nick goes to the hospital where he talks to Marie, who is still in a coma. A blonde-haired doctor comes in with a syringe and prepares to inject Marie. It takes Nick a moment, but he recognizes her as the creature he saw outside the jewelry store. He stops her from injecting his aunt, but the woman stabs Nick in the arm with the needle and then escapes.

The next day, the blonde woman goes into a dark alley where she meets her contact - police captain Sean Renard. She tells the captain that she failed to kill Kessler. He tells her that she'll just have to try again.

In the hospital, Marie opens her eyes.

Notes & Trivia

 * This episode is available on disc one of the Grimm: Season One DVD and Blu-ray collections.


 * This episode is the first television work of actress Joy Flatz, who plays Sylvie Oster.


 * This episode is the first television work of actress Tierra Valentine. She also plays a character named Jenny Lee in the season two episode "The Other Side".


 * This episode is the first television work of actor Casey Vann, who plays the angry perp in the police station whose face morphs into a Wesen known as a Skalengeck. His name is revealed as Cecil in "Island of Dreams".


 * This episode is the first television work of actor Mark Lewis.


 * The blond-haired Hexenbiest is later revealed to be Adalind Schade.


 * It is implied that Hank Griffin has been married four times.


 * The hospital that Marie Kessler is admitted to is the Spruce Medical Center. The name is not revealed until "Bears Will Be Bears".


 * The Blu-ray includes deleted scenes which shows that Juliette Silverton was originally a barrista at a trendy Starbucks-inspired coffee shop. In the series however, she is a veterinarian.


 * The name of the supernatural creatures in this series are Wesen. In this episode, four different Wesen are presented.
 * Hulda, who is a Hässlich; also a Reaper.
 * Cecil, the angry perp at the police station; a Skalengeck.
 * Eddie Monroe, who is a Blutbad.
 * Adalind Schade, who is a Hexenbiest.

Allusions

 * This episode focuses on the fairytale of "Little Red Riding Hood", a French children's story whose origins date back as far as the 10th century. The most familiar version however, written by the Brothers Grimm was published in the 17th century. Both of the postman's victims in this episode are wearing red sweaters or "hoodies". Robin Howell's name has the same initials as Riding Hood and her surname may also refer to a wolf's howl.


 * Hank Griffin refers to Nick Burkhardt as a "Happily ever after" guy. The phrase is popular amongst many fairy tales and folklore, upon which this series itself is largely based.


 * The song that is playing on Sylvie Oster's iPod is "Sweet Dreams" by The Eurythmics. Hank Griffin gives his own rendition of the song's chorus in this episode. The Marilyn Manson cover of the song is played at the end of the episode.


 * Nick tells Hank that he already "cried wolf" to his superiors. This is a reference to the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf", which is one of Aesop's Fambles.

Bloopers

 * When Eddie Monroe stops his Volkswagen on the bridge, he turns the headlights off, but in the next two shots (from the side), the VW's lights are still on. The shot after (where Eddie and Nick are fording the stream), the VW's lights are off again.

Quotes

 * Nick Burkhardt: Hank, what are you doing?
 * Hank Griffin: Testing out the new equipment and getting a picture of you while you're still young and innocent.
 * Nick Burkhardt: Oh, well, I'm getting married once, not four times.
 * Hank Griffin: Oh, you're a happily ever after guy.
 * Nick Burkhardt: Yeah.

....
 * Hank Griffin: What's that song?
 * Nick Burkhardt: "Sweet Dreams."
 * Hank Griffin: Eurythmics. One of their better. "Sweet dreams are made of these. Who am I to disagree?"
 * Nick Burkhardt: I didn't know you couldn't sing.

....
 * Doctor Rose: Did you know about the scars?
 * Nick Burkhardt: What scars?
 * Doctor Rose: A lot of them look like knife wounds. They're all over her body. What line of work was she in?
 * Nick Burkhardt: She was a librarian.

....
 * Monroe: Look, I don't want anymore trouble, okay? I'm not that kind of blutbad. I don't kill anymore, I haven't in years.
 * Nick Burkhardt: Wait. What did you say you were?
 * Monroe: Blutbad. Vulgarized by your ancestors as "the big bad wolf." What, did you just get the books tonight?
 * Nick Burkhardt: You know about the books?
 * Monroe: Of course I know about the books. We all know about the books. You people started profiling us over 200 years ago. But as you can see, I am not that big, and I am done with the bad thing.
 * Nick Burkhardt: Well, how do you...?
 * Monroe: How do I stay good? Through a strict regimen of diet, drugs, and Pilates. I'm a reformed blutbad, a wieder blutbad. It's a different church altogether.
 * Nick Burkhardt: You guys go to church?
 * Monroe: Sure. Don't you?

....
 * Nick Burkhardt: What's that?
 * Monroe: Wolfsbane. So he won't scent us.
 * Nick Burkhardt: You're kidding me, right?
 * Monroe: Not if you want to stay alive.

Opening quote
"The wolf thought to himself, what a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful..."

- The Brothers Grimm, 1812