These two episodes of Grimm are based on the classic fairy tales, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”.  There are other classic fairy tales incorporated in both episodes of Grimm. For example, in the pilot episode of Grimm, the story stemmed from the classic fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”. However, in the scene where the mailman (perpetrator) imprisoned or restrained the little girl in his basement, he wanted her to eat his chicken pot pie in order to fatten her up before he ate her. This is reminiscent of the classic fairy tale, “Hansel and Gretel” where the witch wanted to fatten up the children before she consumed them.

Grimm’s plots, characters, and storylines differ than the original narratives of the fairy tales/myths in many significant ways. For example, the plots were confusing because the writers incorporated different plots and themes from other stories into the episodes. Another example of the differences is the gratuitous level of violence used in the episodes of Grimm. Some of the scenes were unnecessarily violent and seemed to use violence for mere entertainment. I wonder if the violence was used to simply help enhance television ratings and attract viewers who ordinarily would not be interested in watching a story based on classic fairy tales. Personally, the violence was artistically disingenuous because it failed to connect to the story or create/ give greater meaning to any of the characters.  The violence was all over the place and not connected to the story.

The characters were unimpressive as well as the writing and directing of the episodes. There was an overabundance of unconnected plotlines that left the episodes rather boring and difficult to follow. None of the characters were allowed to develop in any meaningful way that made a viewer like/dislike or even care about them. For example, Aunt Helen’s character didn’t leave me liking or disliking her or even caring about her and her health condition because I didn’t know what to make of her. I didn’t know whether she was a good or bad person. She didn’t get my sympathy or empathy because I was confused about her history. She had ample time to tell her nephew about who he is and of his family but instead choose to keep him in the dark. That made me wonder if she actually cared for him or was there a sinister reason she withheld the information.