Board Thread:General Grimm Discussion/@comment-24399666-20151206191036

Ok. So this will be long. There are a lot of things to discuss, and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure where to begin. :)

So, for the past several episodes, the show has been clearly steering towards a Nick/Adalind ship (rather than let the characters decide their own feelings, but that's a gripe for another day), and possibly Adalind/Meisner as well, and hopefully towards building a friendship between Nick and Meisner (they do have a lot in common).

As I've said elsewhere, I do ship Nick/Adalind (provided that they build it until it makes sense, even given their history - that's really all that I ask when it comes to anything in fiction), but I'm also ok with Adalind/Meisner, especially in the short term (in fact, that would considerably help the Nick/Adalind ship in the long term, if she has a relationship with Meisner first).

So that's where I'm coming from, but that's not really what this post is about. But the rest of this post won't make as much sense if you don't understand where I'm coming from, so I figured I'd better include it. :)

So far, they have been doing a fairly decent job of rewriting Adalind's character, in a way that makes sense. They have done this by making her entirely dependant on Nick for everything, and therefore deathly afraid of getting on his bad side. And I do mean she is dependant on Nick for everything. Her security, being able to stay with Kelly (because Nick really could take him away at any time, and aside from appealing to the law, there's not much she can do about it, and even if she appealed to the law... he has a steady job and she doesn't), food, clothes, her life... she's entirely dependent on somebody who has excellent reason to hold some serious grudges against her, if he chose. She's walking on eggshells.

Which is... a way to go... I mean, it works, I guess. In the sense that it fits her character, while making her somewhat sympathetic at the same time. This can go a long way to getting many reluctant viewers behind the Nick/Adalind ship.

There's just one little problem. They're making Adalind into another ball and chain, just like Juliette was before Chupacabra. That's... it's a total misinterpretation of the fans' wishes! Writers, if you're going to cater to our wishes in the show, at least interpret them correctly! People who have been pushing for Adalind over Juliette for years were doing so, largely because Adalind wasn't a ball and chain! She was a powerful and independant person in her own right.

I remember when I was so hyped, in the months between the air dates of Chupacabra and Wesenrein, because Juliette was turning into a Hexenbiest. Finally, the show had found a way to have Nick be with a Wesen (or a Biest). A powerful woman who's powers could complement Nick's powers (as opposed to mirroring them, as, say, Trubel does). They had done a somewhat decent job of giving Juliette some agency in the past couple of years, but this meant that she and Nick could actually protect each other, instead of Nick just protecting her all the time. We could see a partnership between two people who were different, but equal. It could offer up some world-building opportunities (as we could learn more about the instincts that drive Grimms and Wesen). It could usher in a new, interesting and difficult, dynamic for the two of them (as they navigate the waters of working around those instincts in order to stay together). It would even have been completely in keeping with the show's themes of diversity and acceptance.

...But then they made Juliette uber-powerful, when pretty-much required that they make her a villain. ''sigh. ''And then they made her a villain with almost no in-show explanation. double-sigh.

But now, they have another chance, with Adalind. It's a different dynamic - there's a lot of bad history for not just Nick, but for us as well, to get past. But they are doing a fairly good job of getting past it, by... making her... passive. Malleable. Dependent. Not Nick's equal, in any way.

Now, again, it is in character, at least given Adalind's character ever since S3 (but, dammit! I want the S2 Adalind back! Not the villainess, but the smart woman who had agency, and who was able to plot rings around Renard!) And it's extremely possible that this is just short-term. Adalind has stated a few times now that the suppression potion doesn't last forever. So she will be a Hexenbiest again.

My worry is that, by then, she will have been written so passive for so long, that she'll just be... well, again, NOT Nick's equal.

I really just want to see Nick partnered with somebody who is not another Grimm, but who is nevertheless his equal, in power, in personality, and in agency. I want to see Nick with somebody who complements him, rather than mirrors him or ties him down. I want to see a powerful woman who's on Nick's side, who Nick actually needs, just as much as she needs him.

And I want it to be believable from an in-universe perspective. I'm willing to wait, if the show gives me faith that it will happen.

There. That's what I want, in a very long nutshell. :) That's not too much to ask, is it? :)

Thoughts? 