Leave It to Beavers

"Leave It to Beavers" is the 19th episode of the supernatural drama television series Grimm of season 1, which premiered on April 27, 2012, on NBC. The episode was written by Nevin Densham, and was directed by Holly Dale.

Plot

Opening quote: "Wait!" the troll said, jumping in front of him. "This is my toll bridge. You have to pay a penny to go across."

Nick (David Giuntoli), with Monroe's (Silas Weir Mitchell) help, begins his training as a Grimm in the use of weapons. Meanwhile, in a bridge in construction, Sal Butrell (David Zayas), a Hässlich, meets with Robert Grosszahn (Traber Burns) for a debt of money. Grosszahn refuses to pay him so Butrell kills him by drowning him with cement. A man, Arnold Rosarot (Kevin Carroll) watches the events and calls the police but Butrell notices him and goes after him. Arnold barely escapes.

Arnold flees to John Oblinger's (Kyle Vahan) house. Nick and Hank (Russell Hornsby) investigate the scene and Wu (Reggie Lee) tells them they found his phone and his last appointment was with someone dubbed "S.B.". They interrogate Butrell but he denies his involvement. Nick discovers he's a Hässlich and when they leave, Butrell tells two men that they need reapers to kill Nick as he's a Grimm. Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) later invites Monroe to dinner after having saved her.

In Germany, a man, Yannick (David Loftus) sends two reapers, Junkers (Chino Binamo) and Reaper (Henri Lubatti) to kill Nick despite Renard's (Sasha Roiz) warning. Nick meets with Arnold's friend, Bud (Danny Bruno) to meet with a group of Eisbibers to turn against the Hässlich but they, out of fear, refuse. Butrell is then kidnapped by the reapers to know about Nick. Nick then calls him, demanding him to meet him at the station as Arnold testified.

Nick and Hank arrest Butrell after the testimony, but the reapers go after Nick and the Eisbibers. Nick lures the reapers and they fight. A reaper accidentally beheads one of the reapers before Nick kills him. He then calls Monroe in cleaning the bodies. Later, Nick arrives home to discover the Eisbibers send gifts. The episode ends as Yannick receives a package from Nick: the reapers' heads with a note saying "Next time send your best".

Reception

Viewers

The episode was viewed by 4.33 million people, earning a 1.4/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking second on its timeslot and sixth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind 20/20, Shark Tank, CSI: NY, Blue Bloods, and Undercover Boss.^[1] This was a 6% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 4.56 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

"Leave It to Beavers" received positive reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "About two thirds of the way through 'Leave It To The Beavers,' one of the beaver Wesen tells Nick that 'bravery isn’t in our nature,' but our hero refuses to believe that ancient standard. He's still relatively new to investigating matters of the Wesen world, and wants to believe in change; that any creature, like Bud, the first beaver he encountered, can muster up enough bravery to stand up to anything, from bridge trolls enforcing archaic tradition to Reapers out collecting heads. Though there is a moral built into that conversation, and the episode at large, it's hard to believe that this show would reach for an episodic moral over darkly lit action sequences, which inevitably pop up in the last ten minutes this week. It's a thrilling conclusion to an episode filled with a lot of talking and stunted inaction. Over the back half of this season, I've gone from wanting this show to succeed while feeling frustrated at how it squanders potential, into largely enjoying everything with a few reservations. That trepidation was more pronounced tonight that it has been the past two weeks, but still, I'm very pleased with the progress."^[3]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.8 star rating out of 5, stating: "'Leave It To Beavers' is the episode we've all been waiting for. In many ways it is the perfect episode to transition towards the end of the season. So many of its plot culminations are moments we've been rooting for and wanting and waiting to see since the beginning of the series."^[4]

Shilo Adams from TV Overmind wrote, "The most frustrating episode of television is one that has all the elements to be great yet doesn't quite gel. You see the potential on the screen and keep waiting for that moment when it all clicks, but there's something about it that keeps it from feeling complete. It could be something relatively minor that undoes its quality, like a momentary writing lapse or a misused character, but it tends to come down to execution. Put simply, the episode doesn't get pieced together properly, typically leaving things a bit uneven or lacking compared to what they could have been. After a string of improvement, 'Leave It to Beavers' became that type of episode for Grimm."^[5]

References