Grimm Forum

Danse Macabre

Episode: 1x05
Air Date: December 8th, 2011
Synopsis: Hank and Nick check out the death of a teacher and discover that one of his students is involved: Nick discovers that the presence of a new Grimm is having repercussions on the creature community.

Resources
Episode Summary (Grimm-Fan.com)
Screen Captures (Grimm-Fan.com)

Thank Grimm it's Friday! The Grimm Rewatch continues with the fifth episode, Danse Macabre. What are your thoughts?

I liked this episode alot. The young boy whose dad was an exterminator looked like he was actually playing the violin. The piece he played (heard it a few times during the show) was so beautiful - think it may be titled something like "Danse Macabre".

Hank was cute in his aversion to rats. Pizz gag at the end was funny.

Alright, so this episode was a complete trip for me! One of the guest actors in this episode is someone I was friends with back in high school. I'm definitely happy to see him moving forward in his acting career, and I think it's awesome he got a part on the show, but it was just so strange seeing him in it! lol

Aside from that, I thought this was a great episode, and it moved at a good pace. However, I have a question. When the music teacher got killed by the rats, it was the three kids that put them in the car. So, were they just normal rats that killed the music teacher?

Great episode, and remarkably close to the Grimm fairytale "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"
(Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin)
There are several hints in this direction when you take a closer look. The school's name is "Von Hamelin Music Institute" (you can read it on the cloth Woo pulls out of the boy's car). The Reinigen first catch rats, later children as revenge for being cheated. It's really rare that they work so close along the original, and I like the way they adapted it. The illegal rave scene, it fits so well in the spirit of the fairytale.
My favourite part of the episode is Bud being introduced. When I saw the episode the first time, I was really feeling sorry for him. He's so sweet!

The Reinigen family's name is "Geiger", the german word for "Violinist", I like that. But "Reinigen", hm. In german it's a verb and means "to clean". Poor choice. OK, they catch rats, so they clean buildings of vermin. But "to clean" just doesn't work as a name.

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(06-14-2013, 08:44 PM)GrimmForum Wrote: [ -> ]However, I have a question. When the music teacher got killed by the rats, it was the three kids that put them in the car. So, were they just normal rats that killed the music teacher?

I think it was said that the teacher had some heart desease, the kids just wanted to scare him but his heart couldn't cope the stress.

(06-14-2013, 08:44 PM)GrimmForum Wrote: [ -> ]Alright, so this episode was a complete trip for me! One of the guest actors in this episode is someone I was friends with back in high school. I'm definitely happy to see him moving forward in his acting career, and I think it's awesome he got a part on the show, but it was just so strange seeing him in it! lol

Aside from that, I thought this was a great episode, and it moved at a good pace. However, I have a question. When the music teacher got killed by the rats, it was the three kids that put them in the car. So, were they just normal rats that killed the music teacher?

Which one is your friend?

The coroner suggests that the rats didn't kill him. The heart attack did. So after he was dead the rats fed on his corpse. and I guess there were a lot of them and they were hungry.

This is an interesting episode for me. When I first saw it, I thought it was another lame attempt at Criminal Minds meets Grimm Fairy Tales. However, this episode has remarkable replay value. Nearly all of Monroe's scenes are classic, and the kid reinigen is a very sympathetic antagonist/protagonist.

I also want to point out that the kid reinigen recognized that Nick was a grimm without grimming out (i.e., his father did, but he didn't). Food for thought.

Great Quotes
Wu: I guess they're gonna have to face the music.
Hank: Really? You went there?
Wu: Somebody had to.

Monroe: The only bleeding heart I've ever had was a...I mean that's in the past, just saying...."

I really enjoyed this episode. I liked seeing Nick and Monroe trying to help this kid and show him that just because he is a Grimm Nick is not like the others. I liked seeing Monroe trying to help despite it being awkward food chain wise.

My favorite Grimmepisode. And we see Monroe again or better the first time as a social worker for Wesenteens

Did some research on the musical piece "Danse Macabre". It was written for orchestra and violin by a French composer, and was called a "poem tone" of all things. There were lyrics (which were apparently replaced by the violin section) that apply remarkably well with the episodic theme of man-imposed class conflict, which is reduced to equality by death.

I'm really enjoying rewatching the first season and this is turning out to be my favorite episode so far.