TV: Grimm

Lately, I've been spending Friday nights re-watching Grimm with a friend. It’s such a fun and slightly cheesy supernatural show that I watched when it originally aired with commercials and a week or more in between episodes (that's live TV for those of you who only know how to binge!). It’s set in Portland, but there is a diversity of people shown that may or may not be true to life. I love that when you see people of color they’re not all in subjugating rolls. POC are playing positions of power, they're not always the first to die, and other cultures' myths and folktales are included, so Wesen (half human half creature supernatural beings) are POC, too. I find that part uplifting and something I only now am noticing as I re-watch.

I love the story. I like how they mix folktales of the world in with the modern life of today. Now that I am able to pause at the beginning, I can read the quote they show and try to place the story. I am highly annoyed at how long it takes for Nick, the main character who is a Grimm descendant and a Portland cop,  to reveal to Juliet (his girlfriend) and Hank (his partner) about the world of Wesen and his abilities to see them. Holding back helpful information is just an annoying trope that is often used in movies and TV shows that bothers me. My favorite character is Rosalie because she is logical and doesn’t just jump on things when they happen. AND because she’s an apothecary, which is cool, and she seems to enjoy helping people. I also love Wu because he gets the funny lines and he gets really interesting side story arcs. 

I stream this on Amazon Prime. 

Movies: Dark River (2017) and Wild Mountain Thyme (2020)

What these two movies share: Images of the beautiful English countryside, farms, farm animals, rain, two people who don't communicate well and don't know how to deal with their emotions in a healthy way. They are two very different movies though. Dark River being a sad drama and Wild Mountain Thyme a funny romance. 

Dark River, 2018 ***

A sad story about a woman who returns to her family farm after running away from the man then the memories of her father‘s abuse. She struggles with her brother for control of the farm, but no one wins. Starring Ruth Wilson who I recognize from so many things, especially Luther and Jayne Eyre, and Mark Stanley from many things, too, especially Game of Thrones and Sanditon, and only in flashback scenes as the abusive father, is Sean Bean, also of Game of Thrones fame. Trigger warnings: Sexual abuse and sheep shearing, which can be scary to some. Don't judge. I watched this on Amazon Prime. 

Wild Mountain Thyme (2020) **** kept popping up in different algorithms and lists because I clearly love  romance movies and British shows. Yes, I do know this movie is set in Ireland. So there. I finally watched it and was so anxious with the characters acting out in such a lovely way the stereotypical act of hiding emotions of human connection while overly expressing emotions that cause or maintain rifts that is soooo associated with British (and Irish) people. But this was as much heartwarming as it was heart-wrenching. I can watch Emily Blunt and Jamie Dornan over and over in this movie. Surprisingly, Christopher Walken and John Hamm show up as an excellent and entertaining supporting cast. 

Reviewer Christie Lemire sums this movie up well:

"A slight from childhood, which we see in an early flashback, and the rights to a small piece of land connecting their families’ properties serve as insurmountable obstacles to the fact that they’re clearly meant for one another. Besides knowing everything about each other, sharing decades of history and enjoying a lively chemistry, they’re the only single, gorgeous people of their age around. And so we must wait 102 minutes for them to acknowledge they’ve secretly been in love with each other all this time."

Trigger warnings: Christopher Walken being himself while pretending to have an Irish accent. 

I watched this on Hoopla. 

Photo by TimHill