NBC’s GRIMM is a new drama series inspired by The Brother’s Grimm classic fairy tales. The series, written and jointly created by Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf stars David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell, Reggie Lee, Bitsie Tulloch, and Sasha Roiz. In ‘Tarantella,‘ there’s a man-eater in town; and Nick is forced to confront his Beaver stalkers.

“Instantly the priestess changed into a monstrous goblin spider and the warrior found himself caught fast in her web.”

Gotta tell you, I am in love with the collective creativity of NBC’s writers and producers. Each week each episode goes up a notch on my ‘most inventive Tv series’ list–which is limited to AMC’s The Walking Dead, and of course NBC’s GRIMM. This episode is a grimm’esq adaptation of an 1899 Japanese fairy tale The Goblin Spider. 

In the ancient tale translated by Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo), who traveled to Japan in 1890 as a report writer for a magazine–a job he eventually quit, and became an English teacher in Matsué. In the tale it is said that there are many goblin-spiders in Japan (or there used to be), that looked like very normal spiders during the day. But when everyone was asleep, the spiders would grow to an enormous size and do very bad things. Goblin-spiders are theorized as magical and would take on a human shape to trick people.

In a lonely part of the country a goblin possessed an old temple. The local villages lost many Samurai who tried to enter the temple to rid it of the monster that lived there. One day a brave Samurai sat outside the temple and watched to see what went on. A goblin approached and noticed the smell of a man, yet could not find the Samurai. A priest appeared, playing upon a samisen so beautifully, that the Samurai was sure it was a monster for no man could play so beautifully.

The Samurai leap at the sound and found that it was a priest–but not a priest. The tale then leads to one of deception and it was up to the Samurai to find out just how he was being deceived. I would love to tell you more of The Goblin-spider tale, but it would defeat the purpose of your visit. Let’s get into Friday’s episodeof Grimm. Take note *there be spoilers below.*

Watch out boy, she’ll slurrrp you up!

Lena (Amy Acker) tours an art exhibit where her beauty catches the eye of a young gentleman–who revealed himself as a Fuchsbau (fox-like creature) who instantly pursued her. She tried to turn him down, but her allure proved too much for him to resist. She follows him to his apartment where he attacked her–bad move dude, because it was at that instant, she changed into a Spinnetod (Gimm’s black widow spider) and attacked–he bit off her finger and she forced him to ingest a corrosive liquid spewed from her mouth, which liquefied his internal organs for her to digest. Horrified by her actions, she fled the apartment in tears. Talk about eat and run.

Nick and Hank were called in after the body was found and they are confused at the state of the corpse. It looked as if it had been dead for months. After a few puns and ‘finger collecting,’ and after the coroner discovers spider venom in the corpse, Nick looks for answers in his aunt’s trailer. He finds out about an ancient spider-creature on a Japanese scroll with rough translations written around the corners.  Still confused, Nick had to call in an expert.

She’s a man-eater!

Monroe didn’t know much about Spinnetods, but he knew of someone who did. They visit a vessen’s home–a place where retired or older creatures live. When they meet Charlotte, a 26-year-old Spinnetod, who looks much older, and she tells them why creatures like her kind has to kill. Spinnetods suffer from an accelerated aging process. In order to retain their youthful appearance, they have to kill three men every five years to prevent the aging process. She lives where she does, and look as she does because she refused to submit to temptation.

Unfortunately, Lena is unable to accept old age–with two men already dead, she doesn’t have much time–Nick and Hank must move quickly.

Eventually, the investigation leads to Lena and her family. Her daughter tried to trade a watch from one of her mother’s victims for a bike. When the principal from her school called the police she told them that she “found” the watch. When the detectives and their team movie in after some forensics identifies Lena as the killer–she was just about take her last victim. Alas, she was caught in a fishing net–her own web of disappointments for missing out on her last kill. While in prison, Lena is no longer the youthful woman she was just the day before. She sat alone in her cell, an old woman.

In the end…

This was a heartbreaking episode. Lena’s character truly did not want to harm the men–but such as the nature of the beast, she had to do what she needed to do for her family. Her husband was also a Spinnetod and the reason he wasn’t dead, was because she truly loved him, and her family. He accepted what she had to do and allowed the killings to happen.

What I am truly enjoying about the series so far is that the writers and producers aren’t afraid to challenge viewers by depicting complicated family matters. Remember the episode where the repairman noticed Nick as a Grimm, he went and told his family and friends. When things began to get out of hand–two of the beaver children ‘egged’ his house–Nick had to go to the source, and had to intimate the men–warning them to stay away from his home, and his family and he’d do the same.

Tarantella was another great episodes from the folks over at NBC’s Grimm. Excellent choice of leading characters. Each episode proceeds naturally. Although I still have the same reservations for a few of the show’s characters–I am confident NBC will continue to impress.

The writer’s know exactly what they are doing from character, and story standpoints. They give enough each week to keep us continually interested in the series, without over doing explanations why the way things are–the show proceeds naturally;  like what goes on in the show could happen anywhere and in any town that could be found anywhere.

Next week, a murder leads Nick and Hank to an underground fight club in “Last Grimm Standing” Friday, February 24th 9/8c on NBC

Source NBC