Happily Ever Aftermath

"Happily Ever Aftermath" is the 20th episode of the supernatural drama television series Grimm of season 1, which premiered on May 4, 2012, on NBC. The episode was written by series creators David Greenwalt and Jim Kouf, and was directed by Terrence O'Hara.

Plot

Opening quote: "And they lived happily ever after." Bernard Aidikoff (David Williams), a man involved in a Ponzi scheme commits suicide when the police arrives to arrest him. Arthur Jarvis (David Clayton Rogers) and Spencer Harrison (Tom Wright) are worried their money may be lost as they invested with Aidikoff. They decide to ask money from Jarvis' wife's stepmother, Mavis Kerfield, who declines, Later that night, Mavis is killed by a creature which emits a supersonic scream to kill her.

While Nick (David Giuntoli) and Hank (Russell Hornsby) investigate, Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) begins investigating Nick's parents' death. The detective informs Nick that the suspects of their deaths were the three thieves who tried to get the coins and a man named Akira Kimura. While questioning Arthur and Spencer, Nick discovers Spencer is a Murciélago. Apparently, Arthur's wife, Lucinda (Amanda Schull) had a strained relationship with Mavis and her stepsisters Tiffany and Taylor.

Nick and Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell) discover the Murciélagos can make a screech that can kill a person in an excruciatingly painful way. The only way to stop it is an artifact called the "Murciélago Matraca", which emits a counter sonic noise. Nick and Hank identify Spencer as a suspect and arrest him while Lucinda kills Tiffany with the same supersonic scream that killed Mavis. Spencer confesses the murders but when Hank leaves, tells Nick that Lucinda is the murderer. Spencer tries to calm Lucinda whom he has known since she was a child but she goes to kill the last remaining Kerfield in her way, Taylor, who has always been afraid of Lucinda and is drinking heavily. Mavis's will left the fortune to her daughters but in the event all three predecease Lucinda she will inherit her father's $52 million fortune. When Jarvis tries to stop her, she claws his face and runs out after telling him she never loved him. He is despondent and gets drunk, the scratch marks visible on his handsome face.

Nick and Hank arrive as Taylor is tormented and about to be attacked in her home by Lucinda and use the Matraca to make her jump out of the house. Spencer is forced to kill her but she kills him before dying herself. Nick and Hank bring the Murciélago Matraca to Renard (Sasha Roiz) while Nick begins investigating Akira Kimura.

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 4.73 million people, earning a 1.4/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking first on its timeslot and fifth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Blue Bloods, 20/20, Undercover Boss, and Shark Tank.^[1] This was a 9% increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.33 from an 1.4/4 in the 18-49 demographics.^[2] This means that 1.4 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.

Critical reviews

"Happily Ever Aftermath" received mixed reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "C-" grade and wrote, "Cinderella is an odd choice for Grimm to use as the inspiration for an episode. It doesn't have any creatures to use as Wesen, and it's difficult to substitute any of the characters to solve that issue. Sure enough, 'Happy Ever Aftermath' is unquestionably the worst episode of Grimm's first season, and spoils a nice run of episodes heading into May sweeps. I guess my biggest problem with 'Happily Ever Aftermath' is that nobody recognizes the case resembles Cinderella exactly. I get that every case Nick deals with has a creature from some kind of folklore, but when he investigates this case with Hank, he has to make that connection. Somebody has to note that the case involves a stepmother and stepdaughter in the exact same setup as one of the most ubiquitous fairy tales in popular consciousness. I figured at least Sgt. Wu would make some kind of offhand comment about it, or that literally any character one the show would make a passing mention to how a great many of their cases resemble popular folk tales. Many of Nick's encounters with Wesen happen away from the police or don't draw direct attention to their equivalent Brothers Grimm tales, but like the Three Little Bears episode all the way back in the fall, this particular hour had too many similarities to go completely unnoticed."^[3]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.0 star rating out of 5, stating: "It's been a long time since Grimm actually had a true procedural case, that didn't have any serial elements baked into it. I'm a little sad 'Happily Ever Aftermath' decided to return to Grimm's roots a little bit."^[4]

Shilo Adams from TV Overmind wrote, "Grimm went a little left in 'Happily Ever Aftermath' and while it didn't completely deliver, veering away from the events of last week and giving a fairly tired set-up to an intriguing case, it made up for it in ambition, the use of Juliette, and the callback to earlier episodes. I don't expect Grimm to suddenly become something other than a supernatural procedural, but when you're that bound to a specific structure, episodes like this help to expand what it can do and keep the show fresher. Every aspect of Grimm can make for a fairly good episode when executed well and given the spotlight, but relying on the same ratios of content and the same beats every week could make for a higher burn factor. There's only so many times that it can do the same thing in the same way and it be interesting, so something like 'Happily Ever Aftermath' gives Grimm a little more room to try new things and keep us on our toes. If that kind of growth means taking a flawed-but-pretty-decent episode every now and then, so be it."^[5]

References