Are you a Lost Girl or a Grimm?

For those of you scratching your heads about the title of today’s post- Lost Girl and Grimm are two new Urban Fantasy TV shows (yes, I know Lost Girl has been on in Canada for years :)- but it’s new to us Yanks, so bear with me ;)). Today I thought I'd look at the two side by side as examples of TV UF.

Urban Fantasy set -up In both of these shows the setting is our world, however there are ancient (fae or Wesen) “others” who have been running around- or running the world- for eons. Lost Girl’s world is based on fae, with the dark and the light pushing each others' buttons. Grimm’s world is filed with Wesen, creatures based loosely on the Grimm Fairy tales- some are cute and cuddly (think were-hamsters) others are evil nasties that will slit you open for no reason.

Character: In both shows the main character was an outsider- someone who had no idea that these sub-worlds existed, let alone that they were an important part in it. Bo (Lost Girl) finds out she’s a succubus, after years of being on the run for mysteriously killing people she sleeps with. Nick (Grimm) finds out he’s a Grimm (an ancient race of profilers who go after other Wesen) when his beloved aunt dies and he “comes into his own”.

Immersion: UF can have the world be focused completely in the “other world”- so it is clearly our world, but we are drawn into the other realm for most events. Lost Girl follows this path with most of Bo’s interactions taking place with other fae, or humans working with fae. The other option in a traditional UF is bits and pieces of the "other world"- Grimm follows this. We see the other world in every episode, however, we’re never completely pulled into it- not yet anyway. The bits and pieces we see are enough to keep the watcher wondering exactly how all the pieces fit together.

End-Game: Not all UF’s have a major end game, but both of these shows are heading to war. The Good and the Bad are coming to a major battle, and Bo (Lost Girl) and Nick (Grimm) are both presented as the key piece in the coming battle.

Humans: One other UF aspect- how are humans viewed. While the Wesen in Grimm sometimes do view them as prey, most of the time there seems to be a separation going on. Lost Girl- not so much. Terms like “Food” and “Meat bag” are commonly used by less friendly fae when talking to a human.

Both shows are different examples of UF in a visual form. Lost Girl is more what would be currently found on book shelves- she’s a succubus folks, lots of sex involved ;). But Grimm shows how UF can range- at its heart, Grimm is a police procedural, it’s just that the world is filed with strange beasts alongside the humans.

I enjoy both shows, and think it’s great that we’re getting more genre material on TV. What about you? Do you watch either show? How do you think they relate to UF novels?

Thanks for coming by!