Bears Will Be Bears (Grimm)

"Bears Will Be Bears" is the 2nd episode of the supernatural drama television series Grimm of season 1, which premiered on November 4, 2011, on NBC. The episode was written by series creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, and was directed by Norberto Barba.

Plot

Opening quote: "She looked in the window, and then peeped through the keyhole; seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the latch".

A couple break into a house where they start having sex. The owner of the house arrives and they escape. The boy is attacked while trying to escape but the girl, Gilda (Amy Gumenick), escapes. In hospital, Nick (David Giuntoli) is treated after being attacked by the mysterious woman (Claire Coffee) with a neurotoxin called PhTx3. With help from Hank (Russell Hornsby) and Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz), they discover the woman in videotape but can't identify her. They're then notified about the girl in the house and head there. Sergeant Drew Wu (Reggie Lee) informs them that the owners, Frank (Currie Graham) and Diane Rabe, reported a breaking in the house. Meanwhile, the boyfriend, Rocky (Alexander Mendeluk), is revealed to be held in a cave by the creature.

They interrogate Gilda, who admits she and Rocky sneaking in the house. Marie (Kate Burton) calls him to visit her, where she explains there's an organization trying to kill the Grimms and asks him to not let them get in the trailer. Returning back to the Rabe house, they run into the Rabes' son, Barry (Parker Bagley), and Nick watches as Barry shifts for a moment into his creature form.

Upon examining Marie's trailer, Nick discovers a bear claw very similar to another seen in display at the Rabes' home. He visits Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), who tells him it's a claw from the Jägerbar that's used for rituals to remove parts of a victim, which is called a "roh-hatz". Renard, in an attempt to make the woman's attempt to kill Marie easier, removes Marie's protective custody. Nick asks Monroe to watch over her.

Gilda is released and heads to the Rabes' home, thinking they have Rocky. As she threatens Diane, she's knocked unconscious by Barry in his Jägerbar form. Nick then confronts them, acknowledging they're Jägerbar, stating that Barry and his friends plan to kill Rocky for the ritual. He and Frank head to their location while Hank discovers Gilda's car hidden in the forest. Monroe confronts Marie about the Grimms killing his grandfather and is then attacked by two men who were sent to kill her, but he manages to defeat them in his Blutbad form.

Frank and Nick arrive at the cave but they're gone. Gilda and Rocky are then running from the boys. Nick fights them off and they watch as Diane (in the shape of a bear) falls into a spike pit the boys built. Barry, his friends, Rocky and Gilda are arrested. A man tries to kill Marie in the hospital but he takes the knife and makes him stab him. Nick arrives and Marie dies in his arms. The episode ends as Nick and Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) visit Marie's grave as a creature watches them from distance.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 6.01 million people, earning a 1.8/6 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, marking an 8% decrease in viewership and ranking first in its timeslot and second for the night, behind Blue Bloods.^[1] This means that 1.8 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 6 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.

Critical reviews

"Bears Will Be Bears" received positive reviews. Amy Ratcliffe of IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.5 out of 10 and wrote "If these initial episodes are any indication, the show will put a modern spin on a classic fairy tale each week. The procedural aspect makes the creatures feel more like supernatural occurrences than bedtime stories, but it works. The translation isn't heavy-handed either. By that, I mean they don't slap you in the face with the fairy tale hints. They embed signs and symbols into the story, and you can tell which story they're interpreting. It's so enjoyable that I will forgive them for the unfortunate choice of Papyrus font in the opening scene."^[2]

The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "B-" grade and wrote, "That the mounting pressure doesn't show in this second episode is a relief, because tonight I thought Grimm managed to use its case of the week to start an interesting conversation about family tradition, and was a slight uptick from last week's premiere. Mostly it has the last half of the episode to thank for that, where an influx of Silas Weir Mitchell helped the plot threads with Aunt Marie and the police chief move along with Nick and Hank’s case."^[3]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 3.9 star rating out of 5, stating: "'Bears Will Be Bears' did show some improvement over the premiere, allaying some of my frustrations with the pilot, and even adding some rather deep themes of family versus cultural values and when is it time to move away from them, if ever. That type of weekly theme feels almost necessary in a show like Grimm since it’s based on fairy tales – we're all supposed to learn something from them, right?"^[4] Melissa Maerz of EW stated: "Mama bear must be proud. This week's episode, 'Bears Will Be Bears,' was a clever twist on Goldilocks and the Three Bears that explored the tension between cultural values and family values. Nick's forced to answer the question: What happens when one is at odds with the other?"^[5]

References