The following contains spoilers for The Grimm Variations, now streaming on Netflix.

When it comes to Netflix anime, while there are licensed properties on the streaming service such as Naruto and Boruto, there are some intriguing original series as well. The Castlevania series, as well as Baki Hanma and Blood of Zeus are a few examples. They are all meant to help the streamer create diversity and attract viewers from different walks of life, whether they like video games, old-school manga and anime franchises, or Greek mythology.

The Grimm Variations is another new property, meant to latch onto those viewers who love fairytales. It reworks the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, but with sci-fi and modern horror twists. Episode 3, "Hansel and Gretel," riffs on the former, working in a stunning twist to subvert what the brother and sister mean to each other. In the process, it dials down into existential dread, the purpose of humanity, and how far some will go to create a utopia.

How Does Netflix's The Grimm Variations Flip The Script on Hansel And Gretel?

The Grimm Variations Turns Hansel And Gretel Into Remixed Wanderers

• The Grimm Variations Episode 3 is directed by Jun'ichirō Hashiguchi.
• It aired Apr. 17, 2024 and its run time is 46 mins.

In this chapter of the anime anthology, Hansel and Gretel are at a boarding school. Their father (Papa) and mother (Mama) are strict disciplinarians who teach them about the planet. Any insubordination is met with punishment, including the inquisitive siblings being left out in the woods on some nights. Their teachers can't stand inquisitive children, so they believe temporary abandonment in the cold forest will create more docile kids. But as the children roam, they encounter a mysterious old woman.

She looks like the witch from the Hansel and Gretel lore. Fans would remember the kids' step-mother convinced the father to abandon them in the woods. They used pebbles to return home, but on the day they used breadcrumbs, the birds ate them. It resulted in them getting lost, staying at the witch's cottage, and being fattened up, so she could cook them. They fought back, though. Bravely, they ended up tossing her into the burner, fleeing with her jewels and then reuniting with their father.

The step-mother died, so they used the gems to live happily ever after. In this anime, it feels like the cold parents have indeed doomed the siblings. However, the witch feeds them, literally, and then mentally, by encouraging them to ask questions. They include, is the world round? What's the force field on the edge of their playground? When they return home, using the special candy she gave them, the story is inverted. The parents don't provide answers. They continue to toss them out. Thus, the children's wandering has a high calling, allowing them to feed on information from this witch — someone who seems more like a shaman than anything else in The Grimm Variations Season 1.

What is Hansel And Gretel's Mission in The Grimm Variations?

Hansel and Gretel are on a Quest to Learn About Their True Destiny

• The original Hansel and Gretel story was published in 1812 as part of Grimms' Fairy Tales.
• It was set in medieval Germany, and has been adapted into various media.
• These adaptations include the opera Hänsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck, which was first performed in 1893.

After one last trip to the woods, their candy opens a portal and takes them to a spaceship. Their mother turns out to be a robot, chasing them down. They escape, which leads to the sage admitting that they are part of a special salvation project. Shockingly, the Earth became uninhabitable, so they were kept on ships in space for years. This breeding project raised new children, smarter and stronger than before. They were in simulations and AI-run projects, akin to The Matrix movies.

Moving from the farm's digital construct to the ship is a move taken from sci-fi shows such as 1899 too, where environments and realities are meant to fool and condition people. That drama aside, Hansel is now ready to go down in a pod. He's mature, he understands the way of the world, and he should be ready to help develop the planet again. The witch-shaman was testing them all along to see who was worthy of this responsibility. Hansel never expected such a big mission to be tossed his way.

But the witch confirms that based on the questions he asked, and how his mind worked, he is prepared. He underestimates himself, but it will all make sense once he gets down to the "blue orb." Hansel accepts this mission, thinking he will have his sister with him. He's finally ready to go to his new home, but Gretel won't go. Specifically, she can't go. It stuns Hansel, but Gretel has a secret of her own. It's one that fans of The Sixth Sense would love.

What is the Big Twist at the End of The Grimm Variations' Hansel & Gretel?

The Episode Confirms Gretel is a Figment Of Hansel's Imagination

Gretel starts to fade away. She confesses she was all in his imagination. She was meant to help him work through his trauma, the isolation, and to provide him with company. Hansel can't believe it. But she makes it clear, he is prepared to be a hero. She firmly believes in him and has no doubt he will do great things. It leaves him crying because he can't imagine life without his best friend. In time, Hansel heads down to Earth where he meets other students like Fritz.

He thought they were killed, but they were just chosen earlier to go down, work the fields, boost agriculture and make things ready for the others in the Netflix anime. This cleverly subverts the concept of siblings needing each other. In the source material, they stuck by each other through thick and thin. They protected each other in the woods. They fought against their stepmother and the witch. They even pleaded with their father to take care of them. They were a true unit.

Well, this dramatic anime episode makes them a part of each other in jaw-dropping fashion. Admittedly, more insight could have been provided into their backstory, how Gretel came about, and what trauma and torment Hansel endured to conjure her up. It would have resonated better to see if Hansel had parents or if he was grown in a lab, ergo his inner-desolation and the lack of connecting to other students.

Gretel was also seen eating in the witch's room, so it's uncertain if the sage helped design her, giving her charges a soulmate and bond to help Hansel with the transition. That way, showing how their love began would have placed the relevant context into why Hansel and Gretel became this seemingly-inseparable sibling pairing. There does seem to be genuine love on the ship, too. Father is seen caressing Mother's robotic shell after a door crushed her.

The witch hints Papa is human, so there is obviously an interspecies romance brewing, much like the Westworld series, that could have been explored. It would have been poignant getting to know the couple more and how they coped knowing they had to be mean to their kids. Some of the students may even have been robots meant to guide the humans along. That would have been quite a story to dissect, remixing what Pluto, Astro Boy, A.I. and other stories with kids being droids and cyborgs have accomplished over the decades.

This story is very rife with potential, speaking to various factions, their programmed pre-set lives, fate and if they can change their higher calling. It leaves The Grimm Variations with room for a prequel story. Or more can be told in The Grimm Variations Season 2, should follow-ups be greenlit as the witch keeps testing other kids. Hansel might not like kids being mentally conditioned in anguish and lies, so he could rebel to free them.

Simply put, this hub as a beacon and a last bastion for humanity is enthralling stuff. Other ships can even have different simulations that riff on different fairytales. Snow White and her seven dwarves, or Sleeping Beauty could be interesting stories to see how young men and women cope before they are sent down to Earth. As it stands, "Hansel and Gretel" is very thought-provoking, proving how these fairytales have so many possibilities to be turned into more nuanced narratives.

All eight episodes of The Grimm Variations are now available on Netflix.