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+--- Thread: Nick (/Thread-Nick--2315)
RE: Nick - Nightschade - 03-01-2016
There's been a lot of interesting discussion on this thread about Nick's behavior, so I thought that I might also throw in my opinion. I have some background in social psychology and human behavior in general interests me. I think there have definitely been some instances in the show where Nick's behavior has seemed a little off to me. This season in particular, he seems to mostly just be going along with things without any strong emotional reactions to arguably intense situations.
However, in my opinion, this unequivocally does not make him a sociopath. Words like sociopath and psychopath have been used so often in popular culture that the colloquial understanding of what they mean has been perverted from the actual diagnostic definition. And yes, calling somebody a sociopath is a diagnosis. Sociopaths are not just people who display a lack of emotional response to situations but they actually lack the ability to empathize with others and therefore display both antisocial behavior and the lack of ability to care about anybody. Nick is far from a sociopath.
Arguably, nicks behavior could be explained by all of the things that he has already gone through making him emotionally numb.
RE: Nick - irukandji - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 12:39 PM)Nightschade Wrote: Arguably, nicks behavior could be explained by all of the things that he has already gone through making him emotionally numb.
Can you explain what you mean by 'emotionally numb', Nightschade?
RE: Nick - New Guy - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 10:04 AM)irukandji Wrote:Hi Irukandji,(03-01-2016, 09:59 AM)New Guy Wrote:(03-01-2016, 09:19 AM)irukandji Wrote: Nick has no desire to uphold the law unless it suits him. He's happier taking the law into his own hands and has done it many times. That's what is known as a corrupt police officer.Hi Irukandji,
In regard to corrupt law enforcement, Nick, Renard, Hank, Wu, Chavez, Weston Steward and others have operated outside of procedural rules. That is grim in real life, but in Grimm it is Friday entertainment. Viewers can decide who is good or bad. I enjoy watching the "bad guys" get whacked, even if the methodology of the whack indicates corruption.
New Guy
Oh, for sure, none of them are innocent. But in terms of accountability, I hold Nick as the worst of them all.
To me, it's not about the good guys versus the bad guys. It's about the bad guys versus the bad guys.
You have a point.
For example several on this Forum are wondering if BC or HW are the bad guys. IMO, they are both very bad.
A lot of TV drama is bad vs bad. Boardwalk Empire is (IMO) such a show. Yet, my wife and I enjoy watching it even though some scenes are too raunchy for us.
New Guy
RE: Nick - irukandji - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 01:34 PM)New Guy Wrote: Hi Irukandji,
You have a point.
For example several on this Forum are wondering if BC or HW are the bad guys. IMO, they are both very bad.
A lot of TV drama is bad vs bad. Boardwalk Empire is (IMO) such a show. Yet, my wife and I enjoy watching it even though some scenes are too raunchy for us.
New Guy
Hi New Guy-
I've never watched Boardwalk Empire, but my sister said almost the same thing you did, word for word. I never watched Deadwood until last spring, and I absolutely loved it so I may have to give Boardwalk Empire a try.
In a way, I'm with you on the BC & HW issues. I'm just waiting to see just how HW issue turns out. I'm hoping I'm wrong but an organization that tortures a woman in order to make her a weapon doesn't sit real well with me. Plus, I never have a good feeling about Meisner whenever he comes on. As for BC, I'm still waiting for the official word on what their objectives are. I know we've gotten tidbits, but I would like to hear it from the official head of that organization. There has to be one somewhere.
With all this talk of Nick's mental state, I have been wondering how the creative team will end the series. HW and BC just seem to be dragging along and the end of the season isn't too far off now. Remember when Lin brought up that it could all end with Nick being completely insane and all of this being a figment of his imagination? I almost wonder if they're going to do something along that line with how slow the storylines have been.
RE: Nick - Nightschade - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 12:50 PM)irukandji Wrote:(03-01-2016, 12:39 PM)Nightschade Wrote: Arguably, nicks behavior could be explained by all of the things that he has already gone through making him emotionally numb.
Can you explain what you mean by 'emotionally numb', Nightschade?
Sure! I just mean that after all of the stressful situations he's been in, he's kind of undergone a habituation response. That basically means that after being barraged with situations that have taxed upon him emotionally, he no longer displays strong emotions to those sorts of situations, and thus his overall emotional response appears numbed. In psychology habituation has been illustrated to occur after repeated presentations of extreme stimuli. Basically, when so many bad things happen, they eventually begin to have less and less of an effect.
RE: Nick - syscrash - 03-01-2016
The show patterns Buffy in a lot of ways. The both have the same writers. In the final season they used the season climax to end the show.
In two episodes the they did not answer the questions. They just closed the stories by creating reasons. Seven season it was all about the slayer. They ended with it is not about a hero, we are all heroes. Her arch enemy who became her ally, then friend, then lover. Sacrifices himself for the greater good. They left it open for future episodes.
RE: Nick - irukandji - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 02:38 PM)Nightschade Wrote: Sure! I just mean that after all of the stressful situations he's been in, he's kind of undergone a habituation response. That basically means that after being barraged with situations that have taxed upon him emotionally, he no longer displays strong emotions to those sorts of situations, and thus his overall emotional response appears numbed. In psychology habituation has been illustrated to occur after repeated presentations of extreme stimuli. Basically, when so many bad things happen, they eventually begin to have less and less of an effect.
Thank you, Nighschade, for the explanation. My father was in law enforcement for almost 40 years and talked about the exact same reaction you described, so I know it can happen. However, I don't think that's what happened with Nick.
This has nothing to do with that, it's something else I was thinking of. I'll try to keep it short. Aunt Marie enters Nick's life, bringing the trailer filled with all of the interesting things. She starts to tell Nick about being a Grimm, then comes the warning to dump Juliette. Immediately Nick begins embracing becoming a Grimm even though he has no earthly idea what a Grimm is.
Nick was not considered an extremely young man when this occurred and he never seemed to me to be one who's easily impressionable. So what do you think would cause a man to suddenly change course and embrace something so strange?
RE: Nick - Nightschade - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 05:23 PM)irukandji Wrote:(03-01-2016, 02:38 PM)Nightschade Wrote: Sure! I just mean that after all of the stressful situations he's been in, he's kind of undergone a habituation response. That basically means that after being barraged with situations that have taxed upon him emotionally, he no longer displays strong emotions to those sorts of situations, and thus his overall emotional response appears numbed. In psychology habituation has been illustrated to occur after repeated presentations of extreme stimuli. Basically, when so many bad things happen, they eventually begin to have less and less of an effect.
Thank you, Nighschade, for the explanation. My father was in law enforcement for almost 40 years and talked about the exact same reaction you described, so I know it can happen. However, I don't think that's what happened with Nick.
This has nothing to do with that, it's something else I was thinking of. I'll try to keep it short. Aunt Marie enters Nick's life, bringing the trailer filled with all of the interesting things. She starts to tell Nick about being a Grimm, then comes the warning to dump Juliette. Immediately Nick begins embracing becoming a Grimm even though he has no earthly idea what a Grimm is.
Nick was not considered an extremely young man when this occurred and he never seemed to me to be one who's easily impressionable. So what do you think would cause a man to suddenly change course and embrace something so strange?
This is a very interesting thought Irukandji! And I must admit, something I haven't even really thought about. I think I'm so used to watching supernatural shows and the acceptance of the supernatural that it never even occured to me to find it strange that Nick accepted everything so quickly. I can't say I really know why he did. But I can speculate that maybe because of how often he saw wesen during his work and the way they reacted to him, he just kind of decided to roll with the punches. It's not a great explanation, but you really stumped me
Now I'm hoping that this is something that the writers choose to explore further.
RE: Nick - Robyn - 03-01-2016
Quote:This has nothing to do with that, it's something else I was thinking of. I'll try to keep it short. Aunt Marie enters Nick's life, bringing the trailer filled with all of the interesting things. She starts to tell Nick about being a Grimm, then comes the warning to dump Juliette. Immediately Nick begins embracing becoming a Grimm even though he has no earthly idea what a Grimm is.
Nick was not considered an extremely young man when this occurred and he never seemed to me to be one who's easily impressionable. So what do you think would cause a man to suddenly change course and embrace something so strange?
Wouldn’t part of Nick’s seemingly easy acceptance be because this information, as unimaginable as it sounded, came from someone that had played a vital role in his upbringing, and with whom he shared an absolute trust?
His reaction would have been much different if some woman had shown up and said hi, you don’t know me but I’m your aunt Marie and I have something to tell/show you about your heritage.
Marie warned him to end his relationship with Juliette for her good, but Nick didn’t. Nick instead tried to keep one foot planted in the Grimm world and one foot planted in the normal/his old lifestyle world.
Perhaps Marie was right after all. As time went on Nick’s foothold in the Grimm world became stronger as his foothold in the normal world weakened. It seems the more Nick embraced being a Grimm, the less safe Juliette and their normal life became.
RE: Nick - irukandji - 03-01-2016
(03-01-2016, 07:56 PM)Nightschade Wrote: This is a very interesting thought Irukandji! And I must admit, something I haven't even really thought about. I think I'm so used to watching supernatural shows and the acceptance of the supernatural that it never even occured to me to find it strange that Nick accepted everything so quickly. I can't say I really know why he did. But I can speculate that maybe because of how often he saw wesen during his work and the way they reacted to him, he just kind of decided to roll with the punches. It's not a great explanation, but you really stumped me
Now I'm hoping that this is something that the writers choose to explore further.
Thank you, Nightschade! I'm not phrasing this very well, but the way he embraced this whole Grimm thing so wholeheartedly almost reminds me of someone obsessed. Does that reveal anything about Nick's mental state?
Robyn, thanks for your response. I was trying to put the trust issue in perspective, but I keep coming up with a dead end on this. It would have really made sense if Kelly began indoctrinating him at a young age. Then when Marie took guardianship, she then could have taught him more about the books and shared her knowledge with him.
It seems strange to me that Nick never knew until near age 30. I keep wondering what was it about Nick that kept his mother from telling him at all, and made Marie refrain from telling him until he was well into adulthood.