02-12-2016, 06:25 PM
(02-11-2016, 06:51 PM)syscrash Wrote: I am one of the viewers that likes the Juleitte / Eve character. But I have wondered why. I understand a lot of the objections. But I also understand what we are objecting too was needed to make a point or to define a position. But even with that there was something about the character that seemed off, she just didn't fit. It is not that she is human in a wesen world either which was my first observation.
So I have broken the character down into each of it's transformation.
Juliette started as the girl next door girl friend. Plain no excitement, they where the couple that had been together for so long they took each other for granted. They just knew they would be together forever. This is the Juliette though boring we loved her. She was the girl everyone would want as a friend.
Then came the suspicious girl friend. Naturally, Nick was hiding a secrete. Except the suspicion came off as jealousy, and a lack of trust from Juliette. The lack of passion in their relation gave us the impression of Juliette acting as though there is someone else. This is where I first started to feel the conflict. You seeing a reaction without bases. It is the first time you think if only Nick would... problem would be solved. In hind site I see why they did it so they could get to where they are now. Just a poor road to travel.
Then they throw a wrench into the works with the memory arc. Where you would expect Juliette being forced to remembering Nick and having her suspensions answered would bring them closer together. It actually pushed them farther apart. Now she was no longer his girl friend she was more his partner. Juliette was no longer the girl next door. She was a girl on a mission for answers vowing never to be in the dark again. Would have been great except to Nick she was still his girl friend, the girl next door. The girl who he did not want involved in the world of wesen. And that is where it began the complete disconnect between Nick and Juliette. It's also where the writers hit a wall of what to do with her. I see a list of attempts to define Juliette as follows. They tried her using her medical training (exploding stomach episode), they tried using her intellect and education, (synchronicity explanation, turning a liquid into gas), they tried her as a fighter (Alicia's husband). It got to the place we did not know what Juliette was or why she was important. If they meant it to show a range of talents it did not come off that way.
Then came the hexenbiest angle. With this they found a way to remove her from under Nick. make her a standalone character. Plus add the action figure component to compete with shows like Arrow, Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, super girl. A lot better solution then Zombie Nick all the time or Uber Grimm. Will explain why later.
Now we are left with viewers who are all over the place with the direction of Juliette. The show killed off the lovable girl next door, long before her hexen transformation. The more she got into being a wesen fighter the less she became Nicks girl friend, his support, his anchor. The more she became Juliette the one some cam to love and some came to hate. Many took the death of the lovable Juliette hard and could not except Action-ette, who helps solve crimes. Especially since in doing so she is breaking away from Nick not working with Nick. Some love her because now she is doing something.
Like in real life you have a friend that was studious, quite, and very conservative person. One day you see them and it is tattoos, piercings, and talking about wanting to be an MMA fighter. They are still you friends but you past judgement, and morn the change. While pointing out the parts of the new person you don't like. Which could be the exact same characteristic another of you friends have that you find fully acceptable. We have enough trouble with our own changes let alone another's. Unless there change is for what we deem is for the best.
Growing a character is one thing. Nick and the others, except Adalind are growing. Juliette and Adalind transitioned. They had the same problem on Buffy. Before she died we saw her growing into being a slayer. But she was always a teenager that was a slayer. When she was resurrected, gone was the teenager, gone was the human, she was all slayer, with one goal in mind. Control the hell mouth. At that point she was clear. Being a slayer was what she was born to do, what she was going to die doing, it was her life. All the other concerns she had no longer mattered. The result, the show went on for two more seasons. but started burning up fast. It went from there can only be one, she was the chosen one, to more then one, to ending with whole bunch of slayers. Kind of killed the chosen aspect.Which was the reason for Buffy's sacrifice. I see the same with Eve. She will start out special. Then there will be others. The same with Nick when it was the Grimm is passed down through the family, and a Grimm is special, The show was much better because you saw Nick as special. He did not need to Zombie out to be seen as special. Then they added Trubel, then Roleck, his mom comes back. Now being a Grimm is like who's not a Grimm. It is no longer special. We need to see Nick do something to prove he is special. By the end of season three the show had started to pick up momentum of going bigger and bolder. Instead of building on what was established. As a viewer I like the bigger and bolder. It gives that instant rush. But I realize they can not maintain that and the show will die. You build a foundation, an rely on that foundation to provide the twist and turns you can last. But that would not make for a good Friday Night show. Friday night they want edge of your seat TV.
I see this show going like Buffy. Season 6 likely. Season 7 I doubt it. They will make season 6 if the go for the short game. Continue to ramp up the action and characters knowing they are going to burn out. If they try for longevity, they would have to move from Fri Night. They would need to cripple characters abilities and powers. Go back to the excitement being how the character interact and play off each other and not rely on what the character does. Zombie Nick is nice but would burn out really fast. Because seeing a lot of zombie Nick requires, having a what after zombie Nick. Because zombie Nick soon becomes seen that.
Monroee and Rosale don't do anything it is their interaction with each other. It is how they handle the situations. The same with the early Juliette before it became about what Juliette could do. It was how she interacted with Nick. It was the watching her grow into someone who knows about wesen. We see it in Wu we see it in Hank. Because these two do not deviate from the basics and rely on their ability interact, they never get boring. Everything that happens we wonder how will Wu and Hank react. Are we waiting to see Eve's supper powers or are we waiting to she how Wu and Hank react to working with Eve. How may times can you watch Eve through a guy. But you never git tired of Wu snark, or expressions (when Sean woged, pricelss Wu).
That's why I found reptile dysfunction lacking, the reactions where off. Was like the writer was afraid they would oversell the setup. Compared to Rosale's "she a freaking Hexenbiest". Hearing Eve saved Monroe by taking out 20 wesen in about a minute. You would have expected a memorable response. The Ripper party line was great classic Rosalee. I guess I expected way more response to the news, of the one. Who tried to kill us is back from the dead with more power then anyone has ever seen. I kind of expected someone to find that extremely shocking. But this another supersizing day at the office attitude is shows the penalty of the show pushing the what is normal.
Her is what I say the show is heading for the finish line. I say put the pedal to the floor. If the wheels come off so be it. but go out having one heck of a ride. The kind of spectacular fiery finish people watch over and over again. We never re-watch the checkered. It's the car flaying through the air hitting the wall. Since they never planned to finish the race go out in style lets us remember you well. Buffy ended as a train wreck, but we remember, and I re-watch.
That was very thorough analysis of the show overall and Juliette in particular, well done. I don't agree with your entire view of the meaning of all the sequence of events, but it is full of keen observations. One of the things I failed to put together was the show runner's intentional buildup to a future desired outcome; I merely took events as the requirements of the moment. Have to study on that idea for a while.
The one thing emerges as a stand-out any way you look at it, imo, is that Juliette has undergone a relentless and continual metamorphosis throughout the history of the show. No other single character has been through so much turmoil by a long shot. In a nutshell I'd characterize it as a tortuous journey from being the victimized to becoming the one who victimizes others. Grievous oversimplification, I know, but you get the idea.
The concept that things on Grimm may be heading for a short future and a big finish because of how the writers have conceived characters who are evolving into such super-charged versions of themselves that the time is fast approaching when they can't follow their own acts is brand new to me. But worth thinking about.
"The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation." Bertrand Russell - printed on a beer mat in "Shaun of The Dead".