A "Grimm" Dilemma

I'm slowly starting to become a bad influence on my wife because I'm turning her into a critical TV watcher and I don't think that's a good thing, haha. Last year she introduced me to NBC's "Grimm" and we watched the 1st Season. Previously, I wasn't interested in "Grimm" for various reasons (one of them being that it didn't look all that good and I was pretty much burned out by supernatural creature slayer shows thanks to "Supernatural" and all the nonsense that happened after Season 5...). But for Kim, I was willing to give "Grimm" a shot (despite being on NBC) and was delighted to find that it wasn't bad. Unfortunately, like most things people introduce me too, the quality has slowly started to decline and she and I both starting to notice some glaring issues in the world of "Grimm" that I'm going to list here. So let's get to it;

In the first season, Nick was given a Key and told to protect it by Aunt Marie as well as his mother. As the series progressed Sean Renard, Nick's half-Zauerbiest Captain managed to obtain The Key. Why ? Because pressure was put on him by The Royal Families to do so. Sean revealed to Nick that he was on his side and returned The Key to Nick, retelling it's history and what it's likely to unlock. Sean speculated it was The Sword Muhammad, The Nails That Held Jesus On The Cross, The Secret Of Alchemy...at this point, I'd settle for it being the key to a better plot. After 3 Seasons, The Key was NEVER brought up again by ANY character AT ALL. Please keep in mind that Sean's brother Eric (a member of the Royal Family) left Austria to get Nick and The Key! However, the reason for Eric's arrival in Portland and assassination is NEVER mentioned or discussed.

This was important at one point in time.

Instead all the focus of this season has been relegated to Adalind's baby...who's special for some reason. Aside from being Royal (and according to Grimm.wikia, The Royals are Human and not Wesen therefore their blood is no different from anyone else's) Adalind's baby appears to have powers above and beyond the average Hexenbiest...why? Also everyone seems to be after this royal baby, why? Just to speculate, is it so they can stake claim to royal inheritance ? Maybe, but were that the case, why not just kill Adalind? After all she was human for a good portion of this season. Is it so they can unleash her baby's unusual power? Okay, but then how'd they know her baby would be so powerful? What's the criteria for determining that? What I'm trying to say is that Adalind's baby has taken center stage in "Grimm"'s main plot thread but we don't exactly know why?

This baby is...the chosen one or something?

Worst yet, is that the central character of the show, Nick, is NOT involved in this plot thread! The events in regards to Adalind, her Royal baby and so on don't even involve Nick. Nick hasn't even been mentioned by Viktor and Viktor isn't even interested in Nick...aside from the fact that Viktor's cousin Eric went to Portland and attempted to kidnap Nick ALL FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING THE KEY! But no, Viktor is interested in Adalind's baby (for some reason) and we're supposed to accept it. In the upcoming episode Nick will become involved in this plot thread, but even then it has VERY little to do with him and he only becomes involved circumstantially. Meaning Nick is not required. And while Adalind staying with Nick will be an interesting conflict, it still doesn't address the fact that Nick is ultimately useless to the major story thread, and that's REALLY saying something when your main character is not needed in the major story thread.

James Frain just can't catch a break, can he? I love him anyway.

Another issue, and this is an issue Kim (my wife) pointed out is that Wesen are EXTREMELY inconsistent in their culture. In the episode "Once We Were Gods", Rosalee (a character Kim CANNOT stand and I don't blame here) expressed that it was disrespectful for Humans to display Wesen artifacts and dead Wesen in museums and that an organization called The Beati Paoli were people who defended Wesen culture. The problem with the logic is that Humans aren't supposed to know about Wesen and therefore wouldn't know they were disrespecting Wesen. So right off the bat, the logic just collapses like a house of cards in a tornado.

My issue with "Grimm" came early on when I realized that Wesen don't exactly have names. What I mean is this: Why is a "Blutbad" called a "Blutbad" ? Is that a name The Grimms made for them OR is that what they call themselves? I doubt the Grimms asked them "Hey, what do you call yourselves?". So my question is why are The Blutbaden calling themselves Blutbaden if that's the name The Grimms gave them? Maybe they don't call themselves Blutbad, maybe they call themselves something else but the Blutbad name is what Grimms call them. Because if you notice, every Wesen and Grimm have called a certain Wesen a certain name based on their language. For the most part the vast majority of Wesen have Germanic names, which makes sense since Grimm is a Germanic name, the early Grimms spoke German and gave the Wesen German names. But would an African Blutbad still call himself a Blutbad despite the fact that he doesn't know German and hasn't encountered a Grimm to know what he's called?

Making too much sense caused Monroe to woge.

Staying on the topic of Wesen culture, how is it that Wesen appear to have this uniculture and yet, Wesen are for the most part Human and therefore are susceptible to cultural differences just like every other human. So would an India Blutbad act the same as an American Blutbad? Would an Irish Geier act the same as a Mexican Geier? Can a Maushertz ever be brave? Can a Seelengut be an absolute jerk? Can a Blutbad be friends with a Bauerschwein? I don't know and it seems weird because if Wesen have been around THAT long, you have to then account for the people like Hitler (who according to "Grimm" was a Blutbad). What about all The Jewish Blutbaden? Did he hate them too? Like Bruce Wayne in "Batman Forever",  "It just raises too many questions.". Also in regards to "Jay" Wesen drugs, if none of the actual substances are illegal by human standards then why do Wesen "Jay" dealers function as if they're actually dealing legitimate drugs? I mean who's gonna bust them? Wesen police? Then they'd have to explain why they arrested a man who was selling jars of mold to people.

It's prescription, I swear!

These are just some of the things I'm starting to notice about "Grimm". But back to the characters. When the first season began Sean Renard was one of my favorite characters, he was cold, calculated and a commanded respect. In one of his introductory scenes, Sean demanded the scythe from a Reaper (are all reapers Hasslichen?) and cut his ear off, I was convinced that Sean was a bad ass and at any given moment he'd do something AWESOME! Unfortunately that day hasn't come and I doubt it will since it appears that Sean is only capable of hiding in his office and talking on the phone. And while he is involved in the main plot thread of Adalind's baby, he appears to be doing VERY little else...and that sucks because his character had SO MUCH potential.

The last awesome thing he's ever done.

What's angering my wife is the character of Rosalee and how she effectively neutered Monroe. Kim really liked Monroe's dorkiness, but once Rosalee entered the picture, Monroe quickly became a bigger pansy than he was before, often looking to Rosalee for approval and permission to accompany Nick. And speaking of Rosalee, she comes off as a know-it-all and a busy-body, constantly butting her way into conversations and people's lives, constantly expounding on Wesen culture. But at least she contains useful information. By far the worst character on this show is UNDENIABLY Juliette. Juliette is NOT Wesen, NOT a Grimm, NOT an officer of the law, NOT training in any sort of combat (she's fired a gun once or twice but big deal), she is a Spanish speaking Veterinarian and she INSISTS on helping Nick in his cases and adding her two cents in EVER SINGLE CONVERSATION! Sure, Juliette's vet skills might be able to help in cases involving more animal-like Wesen but when it comes to Wesen like Hexenbiest, Seigbarste and so on, she is EXTREMELY inept to deal with them and I wish she would just go away.

In conclusion, I like "Grimm", I do, but if this show doesn't evolve in some way by either moving away from the procedural formula or paying off some of the plot-points they established earlier on (like The Key, Nick's heightened senses, Nick's Zombie abilities) and start answering some questions like who EXACTLY are The Royals, how'd they become aware of Wesen and what do they have to gain from Adalind's baby (if anything at all), I seriously have to re-evaluate my watching of this show. I have it on my list of shows to review here, and I'll be doing written reviews of Season 4 when it begins, but I'm not expecting to be blown away or impressed by the finale. Time'll tell. Here's to hoping.