Thanks to Filipino-American actor Reggie Lee, who plays Sergeant Wu on supernatural TV series “Grimm,” the aswang got top billing in last week’s episode entitled “Mommy Dearest.”

 

You do wonder why creatures from Pinoy folklore don’t get featured a lot, we do have an interesting collection of creepy—and unique— monsters, from the body-splitting manananggal, the deadly baby tiyanak, to the fetus-eating aswang.

 

In Reggie’s interview with The Wrap entertainment news website, Lee recounted his role in helping develop the story, how he gave the writers three mythical Pinoy creatures to choose from, and they ended up choosing the aswang.

 

Reggie is such a fan favorite that when the episode’s end showed him in a state of breakdown, fans took to Twitter worried about his fate—Lee was quick to assure them that he wasn’t leaving the show.

 

Our favorite scenes from the episode:

 

As-wang. When we first heard about the aswang episode, our first question was, are they gonna be calling it the “ass-weng?” Nope. Their pronunciation was spot-on.

 

Pinoys in Portland. The episode focused not just on the aswang, but gave viewers a fictional but authentic glimpse of Pinoys living in Portland.

 

The Manila scene. There was a brief clip of a busy street scene in Manila, complete with roaring tricycles.

 

The Tagalog. In some movies where our language was featured, some of the lines sounded stilted as if it were run through a computerized translator. Here the language and diction were natural, from “Ang baho naman dito!” to “Hoy, ’insan!” Plus points for the pork knuckle bit, too.

 

Aswangs are Mama’s boys, too. In a reimagining by “Grimm’s” writers, a mother-related twist was added to the aswang plot, perhaps a nod to Pinoys being forever Mama’s boys?

 

Catch “Grimm” on JackTV every Monday 8 p.m. Universal Channel every Wednesday at 9 p.m.