Hi, guys! In addition to TV that is actually good, Grimm is back. I don't care if you didn't miss it- you get a recap anyway.

Last night’s episode was pretty straightforward, with "straightforward" being a nice word for "boring." There was this ogre who went to jail. He got out of jail, and started killing the people who sent him there. After that, the plot just lurched forward like every other police procedural, and eventually two of the good guys had a showdown with said ogre. They shot him with magical ogre poison, and then the big dude died. The end. There was no B plot, sub-story, or character or world development. Grimm triumphantly returned from the holiday break with a nondescript, listless filler episode.

However, it was a nondescript, listless filler episode that took place in Portland. THAT'S HERE! Hit the jump to find out which parts of our fair city got splattered all over network television last night.

Early in the episode, the ogre antagonist disposed of a body part by hucking it into the Willamette river, just below the east side of the Hawthorne Bridge. That's a terrible place to dispose of evidence. Anyone attempting to do so would be handily spotted any of the various hobo-flocks, drum circles, and roving bands of jogging enthusiasts that seem to spontaneously self-generate in that space. The underside of the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge would be a far better evidence dump, as everyone seems to forget that given piece of engineering exists.

Colonel Summers Park made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance, and was referred to as a “city rec center on twentieth and Belmont.” The exterior of Montgomery Park also got itself on television, albeit labeled “Treeview Hospital,” (as opposed to any of Portland's tree-less views) and the climax took place near the Ross Island Bridge. The characters also name-dropped Portland no less than four times during the episode. If I’d done a shot every time they mentioned what city they were in, I would have enjoyed myself more.

I’ve said earlier that I kind of want to like Grimm. I really do. For Grimm, I have the misguided affection that one would show a suicidal kitten, and I’d love to be able to support locally-grown supernatural TV thrillers. The show is at its best (such as it is) when it embraces the fantasy elements and owns up to being sugary nerd-fodder. Last night’s episode could have been virtually any other cop show on TV, though, and it was just fucking dull.

Monroe the Werewolf continues to be a charmingly hirsute gentleman, though. If all of the characters were as well put together as him, then the show would have a fighting chance.

Another new episode of Portland-based mediocrity looms next week. Hopefully it will feature less cop stuff and more monsters. I shall of course watch it, so you don’t have to.