The season cliffhanger of NBC’s Grimm, spanning the last two episodes, was a fun descent into traditional Voodoo zombie lore. Reanimated corpses and Voodoo curses in a series-appropriate wrapper made for a nicely satisfying zombie distraction.
For those that don’t watch the show (which is good-not-great-but-better-than-a-lot) the premise is that we share our world with a vast menagerie of fairy-tale species called “Wesen”. Only a select few, the “Grimms”, can distinguish these creatures from normal humans. Our hero is a cop that needs to balance his sense of justice with his newly awakened talent. The show has always struggled for wide appeal but has found a dedicated audience. It just ended its second season and been safely renewed for a third.
While it generally focuses on traditional German mythology the show does, as here, take detours now and again. In this case we get a nice dose of Haitian Voodoo. Baron Samedi, or Baron Saturday, is the Voodoo spirit of the dead. He’s noted as a raucous spirit fond of drink, women and obscenity. Here he is, we discover, a “Cracher-Mortel”, a fish-like Wesen whose toxic sputum creates rampaging zombies under his control.
Of course as a season finale, this is a cliff-hanger so probably isn’t where new viewers should start watching. On the other hand, it may be the only chance you’ll ever have to see a zombie horde attack Portland, Oregon.
