Bree Turner Talks Going Dark for Grimm’s Mid-Season Finale Episode 4.08 – Chupacabra

Debi Moore |

Dec 12, 2014

chupacabras Tonight NBC is airing “Chupacabra,” the mid-season finale of “Grimm,” which features a bloodthirsty legend coming to life. Earlier this week co-star Bree Turner (aka Rosalee) took part in a roundtable interview with a select group of journalists, and to help get you prepped for the mayhem to come, we have the highlights here.

After “Chupacabra” airs, the popular series will enjoy a brief holiday hiatus, returning with new episodes on Friday, January 9, 2015, at 9pm.

Can you talk about any of the Wesen that are coming in the back half of the season or maybe some that you’d like to see that haven’t been on?

Bree Turner: Yes… [we’re mostly] referencing Wesen that we already know, [which] kind of keeps the world familiar to the fans within the story. And there’s a lot of Blutbaden that are coming out that are against our marriage, our mixed marriage. To see different kinds of Blutbaden [is] really interesting… [and to] compare it to how much Monroe has bucked the system in terms of his species and what they’re known for; to see sort of a path that Monroe could have gone down if he wasn’t reformed is interesting to compare.

With this group that is against Rosalee and Monroe’s marriage, how is that to play? Has it been difficult?

Bree Turner: Yes, it’s been very challenging. Very satisfying as an actress, but yes, very uncomfortable. Just even seeing a few episodes ago the [symbol] burning on our lawn… just that visual is so powerful, so upsetting, so deeply upsetting. And you know, when you’re filming at night, you don’t have to imagine too much. You’re just sort of in the moment and you’re right there emotionally because it’s an ugly truth to our history, and to be touching on that… to be able to discuss social issues like this is really powerful.

And… coming up after “Chupacabra”… two to three episodes are on this [topic], single-handedly dealing with this group of people… it just gets so dark. It gets so heavy… our writers are so good, and I’m so happy that they didn’t hold back at all. They really went for the darkness and the ugliness of the subject matter, and you know, [for] Rosalee and Monroe it’s life and death at this point.

breeturner-grimm

In the short time the series has been on, your character seems to have gone through the most transformation. What do you like about the changes, the evolution of Rosalee in this series?

Bree Turner: She was already such a fully formed character from her first episode, which is the reason why I wanted to join the show. I was like, “Wow! You know, from the gate, who she is. And to come to the scene [so] guarded, so many walls up, distrusting, broken, and then to find this new way of living, being friends with the Grimm, and this brave new world that Nick and Monroe were creating here in Portland. Sort of jumping into this friendship and then the eventual romance with Monroe… to see her become vulnerable and to live a life she wanted to live but was scared to live and to feel like she now deserves to be happy, deserves to have this love. And now… as an apothecary, her talent… she’s one of the best I think in the world at this point, and her confidence professionally and with her talents is fully cooking now.

And then what I love about this next arc of Monroe being in danger… a lot of that will actually come full circle in the way that she goes back to… we see who Rosalee is inside, and her street skills are definitely put into action again and her fearlessness and her scrappiness and her die for a cause, die for the man she loves… losing Monroe would absolutely kill her. And also to see the fire within her that she will kill anyone who stands in her way of the people she loves or what she believes in. I’ve been so happy to see this kind of full circle exploration of who she is.

So, what are Rosalee and Monroe’s children going to look like?

Bree Turner: I think that’s a $20 million question. You know, I don’t know. I think that’s obviously something that people are interested in. We’re interested in it, and the writers talked about it, and it’s obviously something that’s in conversation. As you know, we’re way farther ahead [filming] than the episodes are airing. It comes back into conversation again, especially in light of this horrible event that is about to be happening. I think you just have to stand by… It’s something that they’re very interested in finding out themselves, too.

What’s your feeling as an actress on the idea of making Rosalee a mother? Because sometimes that can be an awkward thing on a show where the mother then doesn’t have as much story time or the baby is just never seen.

Bree Turner: Well, I think Rosalee is such a strong character that I can’t imagine she’s going to be putting her skills on the back burner if she chooses motherhood. She’s already been juggling a lot. I’m sure she can juggle that, too. But you know, if this is something that we’re going to go down, I think it doesn’t necessarily have to be straightforward, as most things in our show aren’t; usually they’re filled with twists and turns and complications. And what I love about what we do on our show is we take these magical worlds, these two creatures, these two Wesen having real life problems, and just because they’re not wholly human and they live in this magical kind of world, it doesn’t mean that they don’t deal with the same kind of stuff that regular people deal with. And I think if they choose to be pregnant, it might be interesting to have complications with that journey. I mean, that’s something that a lot of people deal with, and the fact that they are a mixed species, it might not be a straightforward kind of process having a baby. Getting pregnant and dealing with those heavy issues might be interesting to see through the eyes of two Wesen.

Because we are coming up on a break in the show, can you briefly give us a sneak peek of what we can expect when the show picks back up? Not just the Monroe/Rosalee storyline; is there anything else interesting that stand out for you?

Bree Turner: We’re on a bullet train down to some heavy, very dark territory with this mid-season finale. It’s absolutely life and death for Monroe and Rosalee… and for everyone for that matter.

Juliette – her storyline gets so crazy good. I’m so excited for what the fans are going to see out of Juliette. It is going to be out of left field, and no one will expect the straight shot that she is on with her new awareness of certain things in her life, her new reveals.

And then Adalind – she and Viktor, as you’ve seen, are teaming up. And you know, two bad guys are way stronger together than they are apart. So they’re joining forces, and that connection Adalind has with Nick and Juliette just gets more murky.

So it’s some very exciting stuff coming up once we come back in January.

Grimm - Season 4

Can tell us a bit more about this “life and death” situation that’s ahead?

Bree Turner: Well as we’ve been teasing the last several episodes, there’s a group of extremist, fundamentalist Wesen called the Secundum Naturae Ordinem Wesen, and they are basically the KKK, a group of horrible, despicable monsters that have targeted Monroe and Rosalee as an abomination of their union because they’re mixed species couple. They’ve been doing these violent acts towards the couple, but in this mid-season finale, by the end of the episode, you see that there’s no more teasing, that they have now fully entrenched themselves into our home and our world, and one of us has our life dangling in the balance. It’s very scary… this is a major storyline for the second half of the season dealing with will they even physically survive this terror attack? How are they going to respond to being on the front line of change? And can their relationship really hold up to this? This isn’t like the in-laws not liking you. This is very, very serious life and death stuff. So very scary, very hard to shoot, and very satisfying. We’re thrilled and simultaneously sick to our stomachs the whole time, but I think the fans are going to really enjoy it.

Would you say this is the darkest place that “Grimm” has gone to?

Bree Turner: Yes, for sure. I would say for sure, yes. And I love it because I think our writers always make that turn where it gets a little too light or a little too funny or a little too casual… which is so great to give us some breath in the series, you know, so it’s not all intense. But right when we’re about to get a little too comfy, they just throw this nasty curveball at us, and I think it’s constantly keeping the fans on their toes and they think it’s really fun.

Is there someone in the cast that you haven’t worked a lot with yet and would like to spend more time doing scenes with?

Bree Turner: Yes, I would probably have to say it’s Reggie [Lee, who plays Sergeant Wu]. You know, it’s almost like there’s sort of three separate worlds happening in “Grimm.” There’s the Adalind world, the procedural world, and then there’s the Wesen world. And up until now… I would have said it would have been Claire [Coffee, who plays Adalind], but we had that nice arc with her last season. Reggie is such a beautiful actor and person… our time together has always been super enjoyable. As you can see, we’re on a trajectory with him, you know, [getting him] in the loop and a part of the Scooby gang, and I’m really looking forward to more screen time with him.

Do you have a favorite episode so far?

Bree Turner: Honestly? I think the “Chupacabra” episode this Friday was one of my favorites. There’s so much packed into this episode, [but] it’s not confusing; it’s a tight episode, well written, well directed. There’s a lot of payoffs at the end of it, and it’s very emotional.

“Grimm” Episode 4.08 – “Chupacabra” (12/12/14; 9-10pm)
A BLOODTHIRSTY LEGEND COMES TO LIFE — An unsuspecting traveler brings a blood-sucking legend with him to Portland, and Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) find themselves investigating the gruesome trail of “El Chupacabra.”

Meanwhile, Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) prepare to leave for their long-overdue honeymoon as they are met with more threats regarding their marriage.

Elsewhere, Viktor (guest star Alexis Denisof) and Adalind (Claire Coffee) decide to take a trip of their own, while Wu (Reggie Lee) decides to confront Nick about what he has been seeing. Bitsie Tulloch and Sasha Roiz also star.

For more info visit “Grimm” on NBC.com, check out some InstaGRIMMS on Instagram, “like” “Grimm” on Facebook, and follow “Grimm” on Twitter.