Grimm: 4x07 “The Grimm Who Stole Christmas”

“I have but to swallow this, and be for the rest of my days persecuted by a legion of goblins, all of my own creation. Humbug, I tell you; humbug!”
 

Monroe: “Ooh, it smells like a... Like a pungent, vinegarish, glandular, musky kind of, yeah, a chamber pot.” 

This was a Christmas episode and quite frankly it was sort of meh… and it left me with some questions, all starting with “What was the point of….” – please, fill in the blank. Or don’t. That depends on your take on this episode. Let’s compare notes.

Reign: 2x09 “Acts of War”

Catherine: “These next moments of your life will either define you as a victim or a powerful queen untouched by a failed assassination attempt.” 

Oh, my! Reign just grew up into something painful and dark. It is no longer fun games, silly dances and children playing royal house. It crossed the line and became realistically harsh and adult.

Grimm: 4x06 “Highway of Tears”

“There is no mercy in you. You cut off the heads of men and women and these you wear as a garland around your neck”

 

Nick: “I can see them again. It worked. The peace and quiet we never had is over.”

It started right were we left off – with a burning cross and a burning desire to re-Grimm Nick.

Reign: 2x08 “Terror of the Faithful”

Francis: “I've learned there are unintended consequences for our actions, where we end up harming those we swore to protect.”

So it begins. 

Grimm: 4x05 “Cry Luison”

“A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth.”

Juliette: “ You need to be a Grimm again.”

Don't get me wrong, I like Theresa a lot, I do, but it's about time Nick got his Grimm powers back. 

Reign: 2x07 “The Prince of the Blood”

Lola: “What is it about you and baths?” 

What is it, indeed? 

Grimm: 4x04 “Dyin' on a Prayer”

“Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay! Will you then bring me down to dust?”

Nick: “Uh-oh.”

Monroe: "No, no, hear us out, and then you can "uh-oh.""

That was literally the best part of an episode. I wish we have spent more time focusing on the main problems instead of ping-ponging all over the place. I know they can’t tell us all the answers right away, otherwise the season will be extremely short. I just wish we had more scenes at Spice Shop, those were so much fun. I wish we had more Sean, he had nowhere near enough screen time. At least the case of the week wasn't boring and the next episode shapes to be much better.

Grimm: 4x03 “Last Fight”

“Stars, hide your fire; let not light see

my black and deep desires”

Theresa: “That's right, dude. Grimm here.”

I don’t know why, but when I heard the title of this episode I thought it would be the last fight for Trubel. Why? I have no idea. Instead we got a quite possibly a bright dark future for her in Grimm-type covert ops. Talk about Grimm recruitment process.

Reign: 2x06 “Three Queens”

Catherine: “It is a masterful exploitation of a weakness.”

It was somewhat a silly episode, but I sat through it with a huge smile on my face. Sometimes it is not about dead coming back to haunt you, it is not about plots, murders or plague. Every once in a while we do need a light funny episode or the Reign’s version of it.

Reign: 2x05 “Blood for Blood”

Francis: “The throne doesn't judge what a man believes in his heart. We only judge what he does with his hands.” 

Alright, show of hands: How many of you expected Greer to turn on the runaway bride mode, and more importantly how many of you knew exactly who the mysterious guy with a small butterfly-shaped birthmark on his forearm is? That many?

Grimm: 4x02 “Octopus Head”

“A Man’s real possession is his memory.

In nothing else is he rich,

In nothing else is he poor.”

Nick: “Be careful!”

Trubel: “I know. I'm the only Grimm in town.”

She might be the only Grimm in town, but she is not the police. After she confirmed the suspect is Wesen, there was no reason why Hank and Nick couldn't run the surveillance themselves. Instead they left her there with no car, no money, no weapon (granted, she doesn't need one), so she could do their police work for them. Come on! 

Reign: 2x04 “The Lamb and the Slaughter”

Kenna: “We were forced to be together anyway. What a surprising journey that was.”

You can judge by the lateness of this review how very unimpressed I was with this episode.

The theme of this one was people forcing themselves to do things they didn’t want. That usually isn’t pretty.

Grimm: 4x01 “Thanks for the Memories”

“Knowledge is power”

Nick: “It's weird, you know, not being weird anymore, just being a regular cop”

Welcome back Grimmsters! It’s season 4! Finally! 

Grimm might have lost the tradition of finishing the season and starting the next one with the endless “to be continued” loop, but one other tradition lives no matter what. Every season finale and next season opener Nick’s house gets trashed. Someone always brakes in, someone is always getting shot at or doing the shooting, vases and furniture end up broken and sometimes someone dies. This time it was all of the above. 

Reign: 2x03 "Coronation"

Francis: “I want the same world as you do, the better one. And the only way to build it is together. We do greater things when we act as one, when we trust each other as equals. This is not a coronation for a king. It is for a king and queen.” 

For an episode called “Coronation” the coronation took only about 3 minutes of its entire length. But the ceremony itself was not as important as the state of mind and state of marriage of our royal couple by the time they got to that finish line. They went into it together, hand in hand, united by the idea of making this world a better place and being different kind of rulers.

Reign: 2x02 “Drawn and Quartered”

“Same thing happens every plague. Justice suffers and dies with the rest of us.” 

The plague has come and has already gone, the pandemic didn’t last as long as it might have been expected. Things have pretty much come back to normal. The loved ones were buried and  people were dancing and drinking and celebrating the safe return of their King. 

Reign: 2x01 "The Plague"

Catherine: “Welcome to your rule, my queen. And welcome to the real France.”

Mary on the throne of France, alone, gazing at an empty throne next to hers…. What a haunting image of things to come, because it will almost always be like that, well of course if history is any indication here.

Reign started its sophomore year on quite a strong note. The theme followed the main idea behind the season one finale: power shifting to two young kids, who just starting to get a grasp of what being a ruling monarch is.

Grimm: 3x22 “Blonde Ambition”

“Turn back, turn back, thou pretty bride,

within this house thou must not abide.

For here do evil things betide.”

Trubel: “If you could choose to be a Grimm or not, what would you do?”

You don’t need to be super strong to take out a Grimm, all you need is a woman. Here it was “chercher la femme” in action. Prep some potion, smoke some fumes through the witchy hat, add sex to the mix and you got yourself a recipe for Grimm no more. What a simple way, although a bit easy, not to mention ridiculous, but who cares? It’s the consequences that matter.

Reign: 1x22 “Slaughter of Innocence”

Henry: “Betraying someone you love blackens your soul. It's a weight you carry all of your days.”

It seems as almost every single television series this year decided to pass on the big cliffhanger in their respective season finales. All the shows that I watch tied up the plots nicely, opened doors for new possibilities and strangely didn’t leave me hanging. I kept thinking about times when every season of Alias ended with me saying “Wow!” followed by “How am I ever going to wait until fall?” This year I haven’t said it once. 

Reign’s first season finale wasn't an exception, as it left things in quite an organized manner. No ‘on the edge of the seat’, no ‘I can’t wait to see what happens next’. Well, I do want to see what happens next, but I CAN wait.

It doesn’t mean I didn’t like the episode. I liked it quite a lot. It felt a bit slow, but at the same time appropriate, since the episode took its time and paid attention to every character and each story and sub-plot somehow was nicely brought to an end. The episode resolved the main issue, set up several new developments for the next season; it surprised me few times, and it even had a total OMG moment that I didn’t see coming. Let's look at an episode more closely.

Grimm: 3x21 “The Inheritance”

“‘No,’ said the King. ‘I had rather die than place 

you in such great danger as you must 

meet with in your journey”

Rosalee: “I have this feeling something awful is going to happen.”

Of course it will. It is a finale, a wedding with all sorts of wesen attending, not to mention two  Grimms, and that very special guest in disguise that no one invited. Hell will certainly break loose. But I believe that will be the next episode. Let’s catch up on what happened in this, penultimate one. 

Reign: 1x21 “Long Live the King”

Francis: “There are risks that you take... for the people that you love. You used to know that.”

For a penultimate episode this one felt disjointed. The task of the last few episodes is usually to tie up the loose sub-plots and to introduce new ones that will be developed in the next season. I think it somewhat failed at both.

Grimm: 3x20 “My Fair Wesen”

“No longer a dark, gray bird, 

ugly and disagreeable to look at, 

but a graceful and beautiful swan.”

Hank: “Yeah, we can say she's a, uh... criminology student?”

Family could be a lot of things and have different meaning for different people for different reasons. For Nick family means a lot. He lost his parents at a young age, but he did know the comfort of having someone who loves you unconditionally. It makes sense that he brought Trubel home. Knowing how hard it must have been for her not having anyone who she could share this horror with, and most importantly no one who could understand, explain and help. They are distantly related [emphasis on distantly], albeit through centuries; they do share a bloodline and a Grimm gene, therefore are a family.

Reign: 1x20 “Higher Ground”

John: “Are you sure you know what you're doing? Those men are rumored to have carried out the massacre of your countrymen. They're monsters.”

Mary: “Indeed they are... but they're my monsters now.”

The “Higher Ground” will always stand out by being an episode where Mary lost her innocence, quite literally. Not only she ordered to kill Hortensa, she also employed the very monsters that killed her countrymen. Mary crossed that line and went ahead past it full speed. It was delightfully ruthless and kind of scary. Mary Queen of Scots, ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived.  

Grimm: 3x19 “Nobody Knows the Trubel I've Seen”

“Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen,

nobody knows my sorrow”

Teresa: “They call me Trubel.”

I bet! Young girl with powers to see and fight monsters without knowing why or how, constantly questioning her state of mind, she must have been trouble alright! Back in season two we learned that women know of their Grimm-abilities sooner than men. Unlike Nick’s mother who had her father to explain the Wesen world to her, unlike Nick who had his aunt, poor Teresa didn’t have anyone. How is she still sane, beats me!

Reign: 1x19 “Toy Soldiers”

Henry: “Are you even pregnant yet? Could you possibly be any less use to France?”

For a rather unimpressive episode it did lay the foundation for the future, at least I see it that way. Or maybe I have to stop looking for similarities between fiction and actual history.

Grimm: 3x18 “The Law of Sacrifice”

“The Queen was terrified and offered the 

little man all the riches of the kingdom, 

if only he would leave the newborn child alone”

Mama-Grimm: “Sometimes we have to sacrifice what we love most."

Well, this was brutal.

Reign: 1x18 “No Exit”

Francis: “What happens when being a good king means being a bad husband?”

I think this episode was about relationships. All the couples were under magnifying glass this week. Between them I'd say they covered pretty much everything from disgust to love with genuine concern, care, respect, suspicion, doubt, humiliation and sacrifice in between. Someone got 'tied up' and someone got 'locked up'. With so many couples getting together and breaking up or just arguing the state affairs were shifted to the background and I honestly couldn't tell you exactly why Mary had to go to Scotland or why the Pope's new envoy came to French court. I mean I could, but what the fun in that? Let's talk about love. 

Grimm: 3x17 “Synchronicity”

“In all chaos there is a cosmos,

in all disorder a secret order ”

Nick : “It's good to see you, mom."

After a carnival-disaster, that was last episode, we thankfully got great, fun and dynamic one. It was like a reward that we Grimmsters deserved.  

Reign: 1x17 “Liege Lord”

Mary: “I may live in France, but I have the heart of a Scot.” 

And Boy, did she prove it!

How I Met Your Mother - Series Finale

Ted: “And that, kids... is how I met your mother.”

Those two finally under one umbrella. As train passes by, Ted says these words. Fade to black. That's how I choose to believe the series ended.

Reign: 1x16 “Monsters”

Henry: “Lady Greer, well done with that kitchen boy. That nasty gossip is the first interesting thing I've ever heard about you.”

Salty goodness! How did I love this episode? Let me count the ways….  It is entirely possible that I loved every single minute of it. 'Cinderella a la Reign' plot, Henry’s mad behavior, Bash/Francis relationship, not to mention sparks were flying again between Mary and Bash, numerous new couples were formed and the future of several characters was arranged and rearranged again. YUM!!! Let’s talk.

Grimm: 3x16 “The Show Must Go On”

“Under such conditions, whatever is evil in

men’s natures comes to the front.”

Monroe: “I hate carnivals, they give me the creeps.”

I’m with Monroe on this one. Carnival came to Portland and my God, was it boring! The idea itself wasn’t that bad. Wesen as slaves at the carnival forced to woge over and over again for the entertainment of the crowd. But it took SO much of screen time, the show was repeated like three times. Why? It felt like it took ages to solve this one and even Rosalee going undercover didn’t save the situation.

Reign: 1x15 “The Darkness”

Nostradamus: “Evil is not a thing. It is not a condition. It is a choice.”

Our actions certainly define us. Bash was ready to stay and risk his life to protect Rowan and her family. Francis in a way feels responsible for Lola after their ‘that kind of night’ together and he wants to make sure she finds happiness. Mary pretty much covered all spectrum of emotions from guilt of keeping a secret to jealousy that made her push Lola into a loveless marriage to regretting her actions ten minutes later. Then of course there was Henry. What the heck is going on with him? I’m not entirely sure where they are going with this, but I’m already not a fan of this new development. Within the space of few minutes he lost all his appeal, gained too much of delusion of grandeur and quite frankly scared me a bit.

Grimm: 3x15 “Once We Were Gods"

“You shall not become corrupt,

you shall not become putrid,

you shall not become worms.”

Monroe: “But we were Gods once. What happened?”

So, lots of Egyptian gods were Wesen. That's why they are depicted as animal-like creatures on the tomb walls. That actually makes sense.  

L for 'Lucky Lizard'

"A to Z from Sol" – your guide to some well-known or less-known interesting and unexpected facts about wine. Maybe you will learn something new, maybe you will remember something you have forgotten, either way read on and as always feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

 

What does “Lucky Lizard” on the wine label mean? That was one of the questions we were asked during one of our regular quiz/tasting session. We were shown the picture of an Australian white wine, but were told that the wine doesn’t matter, what matters is the label. Much to our surprise a totally off the cuff answer we gave turned out to be a correct one.

There are so many lizards in the area that sometimes they get caught in the press, but the plate of the press doesn’t go all the way down leaving a little space on the bottom. That gap is enough for lizard to survive the crushing force of the press. Thus the name of the wine, “Lucky Lizard”.

I suppose only experts and operators of the press can know this for sure, so if you are one of them, let us know if there is any truth to this story.

Reign: 1x14 “Dirty Laundry”

Mary: “And so the politics and backstabbing begin.” 

I always avoid spoilers, but I caught a glimpse of Olivia’s return on some of the sites and quite honestly was dreading this episode. After such a strong previous episode it is naturally to dial things down a bit, but having an episode centered on Olivia didn’t sound good at all. What a nice surprise that it wasn’t. She had very little screen time, and when she had some she was mostly out of it. What we had instead was a fantastic episode; bad decisions, hurt feelings, harsh words and even some deaths, so it was no where  near “light”, but  I was smiling like an idiot throughout this whole Bohemian affair. Catherine was spectacular as usual, and of course we had our love triangle that is a triangle no more, except it sort of still is.

Grimm: 3x14 "Mommy Dearest"

“I am going off to a house and entering it like a snake…

I will devour their babes and make their hearts ache. ”

Wu: “What the hell is that?”

Grimm is not a horror television. It is somewhat scary, but it is not horror. I remember I found pilot to be quite frightening, but they have dialed it down a bit since then. Having said that, this wesen could easily give nightmares, it and a scary baby.

Reign: 1x13 “The Consummation”

Marie de Guise: “Your magic has changed. How silly and marvelous.”

Well, that happened.

Grimm: 3x13 "Revelation"

“Still, after a short time the family’s distress again worsened, 

and there was no relief anywhere in sight.”

Monroe: “Oh, what, you got a few more cultural clichés for me to live by, or what?”

Nick lives! So do Monroe’s parents! Not that I was worried that any of them would get eaten up.  Did you? To be honest I wasn’t thinking much of that last scene of the previous episode because it seemed it aired ages ago.

B for "Bordeaux mixture"

"A to Z from Sol" – your guide to some well-known or less-known interesting and unexpected facts about wine. Maybe you will learn something new, maybe you will remember something you have forgotten, either way read on and as always feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Bordeaux mixture (fr. bouillie bordelaise) 

Mix copper sulfate with slaked lime in right proportions and there it is! Famous and effective fungicide, used by winegrowers to prevent infestations of all sorts (downy mildew, black rot etc.). Invented in the Bordeaux region of France (thus the name) in the late 19th century, this bluish liquid is sprayed on grapes, but only as a preventive measure, apparently it doesn’t work if you use it after the fungus had been found.

France being France there is of course a less scientific but much more romantic story about the origin of la bouillie bordelaise. As the legend goes thieves were a nightmare for wine-makers at that time, so to prevent them from stealing grapes, winegrowers came up with this special liquid. Light blue color of the mixture made the grapes look  less appetizing for thieves. How credible this story is, that’s for you to decide.

Reign: 1x12 “Royal Blood”

Lord Hugo: “I marvel that you could have been brought up at court and still understand it so poorly.”

Yes, that certainly is a recurring theme. Neither Mary, who spent all her somewhat adult life in a convent, nor Bash, who’s been at court yet barely paid any attention to anything that was happening there, know what to do, how to rule the country and, most importantly, how not to rule the country. So far those two have been making one bad decision after another. All in all Mary and Bash seem to have bitten a lot more than they can chew.

Reign: 1x11 “Inquisition”

Catherine: “There are times when lies... lack sufficient power.”

Wow! And all of a sudden Reign is not a guilty pleasure anymore. Because I don’t feel any guilt, none whatsoever. That good it’s gotten. 

 

Reign: 1x10 “Sacrifice”

Isobel: “Don't kings have to make awful decisions sometimes? Betray their friends for the good of their country? Don't they have to be nice to people they'd much rather hit with a shovel? Then I can’t recommend Bash”

With Catherine imprisoned in the tower, Diane hiding in Paris and King Henry traveling to Rome, the kids were left to rule the country and what a beautiful adventure it was.
 

Grimm: 3x12 “The Wild Hunt”

"Come back in the evening, I’ll have the door 

locked to keep out the wild huntsmen.”

“Will you... Marry me?”

Now, this is more like it. Definitely an improvement after last week’s glitch.

Grimm: 3x11 “The Good Soldier”

“Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 

hand for hand, foot for foot”

Monroe: "Life is the scale upon which is measured the depth of a man's soul." 

Well, there are great episodes, there are good episodes, there are so-so episodes, and then there is that.

What a total boring disappointment it was! This review might not only be very late, but also brief (maybe).

Reign: 1x09 “For King and Country”

Francis: “Long may you reign”

Talk about a comeback! Absolutely stunning hour! Masks were torn off. Secret plots were revealed. There were so many unexpected turns of events that I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. Reign is getting better and better!

Reign: 1x08 “Fated”

Mary: “I’m walking away from France” 

And she did. That was a fantastic and heavily packed hour. We had a blissful morning after, one very romantic proposal, the possibility to claim the English throne, the death of someone, if not beloved, but certainly fairly lovable and departure of three main characters. Those are just the highlights, the episode contained lots of delightful scenes yet it played out very organically and didn’t feel crowded.

Reign: Pilot

“Mary, you are the Queen of Scotland”

This is a retro review of a pilot episode, so there will be no spoilers about the future episodes. However I will be talking about the events of the pilot, so if you still haven’t seen it, go watch it first, then please come back to read and comment.

The pilot episode of “Reign” turned out to be very addictive and highly entertaining. Sometimes pilots can be over packed with information to the point that it makes it difficult to watch, this one did a good job of setting up the scene for the season. It presented a world of interesting, diverse and gorgeous characters. It also gave us a captivating story that has pretty much everything one can wish for - love, intrigues, political plots, murders and some supernatural\mystery elements.