EPISODE 9: OF MOUSE AND MAN

I am impelled, not to squeak like a grateful and frightened mouse, but to roar..." - John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men". The title makes it no secret that this episode is based on John Steinbeck's classic book "Of Mice and Men." It tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, twodisplaced migrant ranch workers during the Great Depression.

George Milton is an intelligent yet cynical man, and Lennie Small is a man of large stature and great strength but with mental disabilities. Lennie's love for soft things conspires against him, mostly because he doesn't know his own strength, and eventually becomes his undoing.

EPISODE 10: ORGAN GRINDER

"We shall see the crumbs of bread... and they will show us our way home again." - Hansel and Gretel. "Organ Grinder" is based on Hansel and Gretel, a well-known German fairy tale originally published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. When a young brother and sister, Hansel and Gretel, wander into the woods, they take a slice of bread and leave a trail of crumbs to follow home. However, they find that the birds have eaten the crumbs, and they are lost in the woods.

Similarly, in "Organ Grinder" the brother and sister vagrant teens leave a trail of puka shells when they're dragged into the forest to have their organs harvested.

In the original tale, the children come across a house made of candy, where an old woman lures them inside with the promise of soft beds and delicious food. Similarly, the homeless teens in "Organ Grinder" are lured into a white van with the promise of a stable job. In both stories, the enemy seeks to kill their captors; the witch intends to eat the children, while the Geiers intend to harvest their victims to sell their organs on the Grimm black market.

EPISODE 11: TARANTELLA

"Instantly, the priestess changed into a monstrous goblin-spider and the warrior found himself caught fast in her web." - The Goblin Spider. "Tarantella" is based on "The Goblin Spider," an ancient Japanese short story. According to the tale, there used to be many goblin-spiders in Japan. During the daytime, they looked just like common spiders; but very late at night, they transformed into huge spiders and were capable of awful things. Goblin-spiders also have the magical power of taking human shape so as to deceive people.

While Spinnetod Lena does morph into a huge spider creature that ruthlessly kills its victims, unlike the Goblin Spider, she feels guilty for her crimes. The Spinnetod is humanized; while she doesn't want to blindly kill, her nature makes it nearly impossible to restrain herself. The Grimm writers also raised the stakes by introducing the rapid aging curse, making the decision for the Spinnetod even harder.