Grimm, the winner of the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows, had a huge presence at San Diego Comic-Con this year! Naturally, I checked it all out so that I could report back to the Grimmsters and Grimmlins out there. I walked through the Black Forest, got a gaping blutbad wound, explored Aunt Marie’s trailer, got insights into the show from cast and crew, and got to watch the first act of the Season 2 premiere!
What the heck was Wu actually eating? Will Monroe survive the first episode of Season 2? And most importantly, is Captain Renard really a woman?! Find out after the jump.
The Grimm Experience
A friend and I arrived in the thick of SDCC by car, and before I even got to the convention center I was stopped in my tracks by an awesome sight. Aunt Marie’s trailer.
My favorite part of NBC’s Grimm, and there it was, sitting right there on the street and I had the chance to explore it! So, before I even went into the convention center to get my badge, I got in line for The Grimm Experience, which started with a chance to peek around inside Aunt Marie’s trailer. It was really cool, as it featured all the weapons, bottles, film reels, and many other props, including the Grimm Guide, used in the show.
Note: There’s no way Nick’s desk and that big bed he’s got in there fit in an actual Airstream! Oh, TV magic…
Then, fans could walk through the Black Forest, where there were screens and stations that told you about the different wesen on the show. I have to admit, I expected more from this part. It was appropriately forest-y, with lots of dry ice for ambiance, but I was kind of expecting wesen to jump out at me. It could’ve been a bit more interactive. As it was, it was probably best for people who’ve never seen the show before, not for people who are already fans.
Dear NBC—next year, invest in actors in prosthetics. Just sayin’. Scare me.
The gruesomeness I expected from Grimm happened at the end of the Experience, where fans could “Grimm Their Skin” by having professional make-up artists create latex wounds on their bodies that spell out the name of the show. I got the bloody version, while the friend I was with got the bruised version. I was kind of obsessed with mine all day, as it looked so good and so wonderfully disgusting.
The fact that Grimm writer, Akela Cooper, was in line in front of me for that just added to my fangirl experience! That, and the fun Grimm swag! Visitors to the Grimm Experience came away with either an NBC tote bag with Grimm on one side and the new show, Revolution, on the other, or a limited-edition Grimm poster drawn exclusively for Comic-Con.
Grimm Signing at Nerd HQ
Grimm fans were in luck on the Saturday morning of SDCC when the cast of Grimm did a signing at Nerd HQ. The entire cast—David Giuntoli, Bitsie Tulloch, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell, Sasha Roiz, Reggie Lee, and new addition, Bree Turner—turned out for Comic-Con festivities and practically bounced in past the line of waiting fans. They were absolute sweethearts to everyone in line, and made efforts to connect with everyone even though they were doing an autograph assembly line to sign non-personalized posters. Fans could take pictures of them, but not with them. Yet every fan came away happy, because the cast gave everyone their full attention despite the limited signing time.
The best part? When I made my way up to their table to get my poster signed, Bitsie Tulloch, Reggie Lee, and Sasha Roiz all made a huge fuss over me once they recognized my name and the Tor.com affiliation on my badge. I’ve been sending them my Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows columns all season, and they love them! So if I do them again next season, make sure you come on by and comment your faces off, because Grimm is watching!
Grimm Panel at SDCC
And then there was the main event—the Grimm Season 2 Preview panel in Ballroom 6 at SDCC. I think Comic-Con underestimated how popular Grimm actually is. This ballroom was packed and fans had to be turned away. SDCC might have done better to put Grimm in Ballroom 20 (the space second in size only to the behemoth Hall H) and moved the panels for the upcoming new shows Beauty and the Beast and Elementary to the smaller ballroom. Next year, SDCC. Next year.
The panel was expertly moderated by Alison Haislip, who is herself a fan of the show, and the love on the stage—as well as from the audience—was palpable. NBC has posted video of the panel if you’d like to watch it in its entirety:
Here are my highlights:
Acting Master Class From David Giuntoli and Bitsie Tulloch — each of the stars demonstrated their signature performances—Giuntoli his “watching wesen morph” face, Tulloch her “confused face”—to hilarious effect! It’s good to see that they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Captain Renard is a Woman? Bree Turner is having Monroe’s Blutbad Baby?—Grimm‘s showrunners, David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, joked that one of the big surprises for Season 2 is that Captain Renard is actually a woman, which surprised Sasha Roiz most of all. And obviously, Bree Turner’s pregnant belly is nothing but a plot device for the show, as Rosalee is clearly having a blutbad/fuschbau litter! Actually, Ms. Turner really is having a baby (a human one), and Captain Renard is still very much male. Which is just as well, as Sasha Roiz (no offense) would make a horrible looking woman. Thankfully, he’s a good-looking man. What wasn’t revealed was whether or not there will be more gratuitous shirtlessness from the male cast members in Season 2. Someone should’ve asked about that.
So, what DID Seargent Wu eat? — The couch was pound cake, the carpet was cotton candy, the Chap Stick was gummy bears, the Chap Stick tube and the coins were chocolate, and the paper clip… was a paper clip. Because Reggie Lee is a Method actor. A hungry, hungry Method actor.
FIRST ACT OF SEASON TWO OMGWTFHOLYCRAP! — Those in attendance at the Grimm SDCC panel were treated to the first act of the first episode of Season 2. I’m not going to spoil anything (even though plenty of other sites have—you want spoilers, you can go look for them), but I will say that the episode looks amazeballs. There are new saber-tooth tiger wesen that are really vicious; we find out not only more about Nick’s mom, but about what happened to his father; and there’s a violent encounter between Nick’s mom and Monroe! Also, there’s Captain Renard in casual wear looking suspicious even as he’s being really helpful, because that’s just what he does now.
Grimm Q & A at Nerd HQ
And then we were back at Nerd HQ for a Grimm Q & A with only the cast. This was a wonderful event in that it was more informal and laid-back than the SDCC panel. It was also entirely fan-driven, which led to some pretty awesome moments, including one green-haired fan getting a group hug from the entire cast because she didn’t get a poster. It is so clear that the members of the cast of Grimm love each other so much, and I’d say that a big part of the show’s success can be attributed to their amazing chemistry with each other. They are also one of the most outgoing, fan-friendly casts I’ve ever come across!
Saturday at SDCC was Grimm-tastic! Can’t wait for the show to start back up on Monday, August 13 on NBC!
Photos by Teresa Jusino except for the Grimm SDCC panel photos, which are by Emily Heyer
Teresa Jusino is a proud Grimmster. Her Feminist Brown Person take on pop culture has been featured on websites like ChinaShopMag.com, PinkRaygun.com, Newsarama, and PopMatters.com. 2012 will see Teresa’s work in two upcoming non-fiction anthologies, and her “Moffat’s Women” panel will be featured at Geek Girl Con in August! For more on her writing, Get Twitterpated with Teresa, “like” her on Facebook, or visit her at The Teresa Jusino Experience.
