At the end of The Grimm Variations, Charlotte, the real-life younger sister of The Brothers Grimm (who were, in fact, only two of many Grimm brothers), remarks that she would like to see fairy tales where the protagonists aren't always good or that take place in different settings. This one line sums up the major problem with the anthology series: an image of fairy tales as sweet and sanitized children's fare. While we're most likely to lay the blame for this squarely at the feet of Walt Disney, the truth is that Wilhelm Grimm began the process back in 1857, when he published the last Grimm-edited edition of Children's and Household Tales. In this edition, which is mostly what people view today as the “original” book, Grimm tinkered with and edited the more authentic tales he and his brother had collected and published back in 1811 to be more (Victorian) child-friendly, possibly seeking better sales. But even then, if you've read any of Grimms' work or that of Charles Perrault or Joseph Jacobs, you'll know that Charlotte's wish is based on a false perception of fairy tales. Even within the early versions of tales adapted here, the lie is put to her statement – after all, a large part of Little Red Riding Hood's story is based on the fact that she's not good, which is why she gets into trouble in the first place. And that's not even getting into the princess from The Frog King or the fact that the prince from Snow White tries to cart off the dead body of a child to keep in his room. This means the basis for The Grimm Variations is fundamentally flawed, both in its folkloric aspects and in its seeming assertion that it's doing something highly unique with the tales it covers, which is untrue.

That's best seen in episode two, the strongest of the six episodes. A retelling of Little Red Riding Hood (ATU333), the episode leans into the sexual predation angle most clearly seen in Charles Perrault's version of the tale type Le petit chaperon rouge. Perrault's moral makes it very clear that the wolf is a human man and that Red has “asked for” his attack by wearing her red headpiece (a cap in French and German variants), which marks her as a bad girl. Folklorist Jack Zipes has theorized that the tale type is about perpetuating the myth that women are voluntary participants in rapes, and both earlier and later variants and retellings of the tale have worked with this theme in a variety of ways. The Grimm Variations' take on the story is perhaps most similar to the Elliot Page film Hard Candy, which features a Red who is taking revenge on the wolf. However, folklorically, it draws most strongly from Charles Marelles' Little Golden Hood, from the Champagne region of France. In that variant, Granny is a witch, and not only does she not get eaten, but she also makes a magic hat that saves her granddaughter rather than endangers her. Scarlet, in the episode, is a vigilante, luring in Gray and giving him a lurid taste of his own medicine. There are feminist themes of women taking back the power that men like Gray try to steal, and Charlotte's comment in the frame narrative that “surely, there must be other wolves” backs this up. The irony that Gray uses the AR Oikumene eyedrops, which take their name from augmented reality and a Greek term meaning “the civilized world,” again demonstrates the episode's grasp of modern readings of the tale, even if it's reliant on variants other than the one recorded by the Grimms.

Unfortunately, that's the only episode demonstrating such a solid grasp of the subject matter. Most of the other episodes rely on gimmicky attempts to reinvent the tales, and while some still focus on the plot points (which is important since that's how fairy tales are categorized in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index), they often miss the point. A good example of an episode that falls in the middle is Hansel and Gretel; ATU327 is nominally about abandoned children who learn to survive harsh circumstances, which typically involve cannibalism. Although that last bit has been taken out for the episode, its The Promised Neverland vibes give it a nice air of claustrophobic fear. Hansel and Gretel are two of many children in what appears to be an orphanage, and they've grown curious about the world outside of it and how other children seem to vanish periodically. It turns out that the school is essentially a safe space for children to shape their curiosity until they are ready to learn the truth of the world, which is a fair interpretation of the original; Grimms' original children learn some harsh lessons about trust and self-preservation. The science fiction component of the episode is interesting, but it isn't used as well as it might have been, especially when compared to its predecessor, Little Red Riding Hood. It is, however, head and shoulders above episode four, which purports to tell The Elves and the Shoemaker.

I say “purports” because the episode mostly feels much more like it wanted to be Rumplestiltskin, but someone either chickened out or got confused. This may come down to the differences between ATU503's German and Japanese variants – in the German; there are only two “good” people who interact with the elves, the shoemaker and his wife; in the Japanese, there tends to be a “good” and a “bad” person, the former of whom is rewarded while the latter is punished. Neither of those versions comes through in The Grimm Variations' retelling, which focuses on an author whose works are no longer selling and a mysterious force, symbolized by a red-haired child, who appears to complete his mediocre novels overnight as masterpieces. It's possible to read this episode as having the author play both the good and bad roles, but that doesn't quite come across, and his lack of gratitude is at odds with the eponymous tale. It's easier to see the child as a Rumplestiltskin figure, turning his straw into gold, but she never asks for repayment, so it's not reliably ATU500, either. The awkward time skip towards the end, which takes us from the Showa era to the modern day, gives the whole thing a bit of a Rip Van Winkle feel, but mostly, the episode is simply a mess, a retelling with an unclear point and little to do with any of several related fairy tales.

The remaining three episodes, which cover Cinderella, The Bremen Town Musicians, and The Pied Piper of Hamlin, are all fairly straightforward retellings of their respective tale types, with a few twists thrown in to satisfy the demands of the anthology. Although the frame narrative feels superfluous, small links exist between each episode, such as the 1920s between episodes one and two, science fiction settings between episodes two and three, and mysterious redheads between the final three. Music is primarily classical, often with a single composer for each episode. That adds to the feeling that these are ancient stories reimagined for our pleasure. (And fans of the BBC Pride and Prejudice may recognize the main background song in Hansel and Gretel as the piece Mary Bennet mangles.) The art is lovely, and while two specific character designs are so CLAMP they hurt (Scarlet and Dog), my only real complaint is that the Grimms aren't period-appropriate, which I recognize as a silly thing to worry about. The animation is generally good, with The Pied Piper of Hamlin having some of the best as Maria escapes her village. It's worth noting that there is sexual violence and one moderately explicit scene of a blow job, and the second episode is very violent.

The Grimm Variations is one of those shows that tries. It almost tries too hard, and the result is that some of the tales are beyond recognition, while others play it too safe, such as The Bremen Town Musicians. It's an interesting watch, but not one I'd recommend based on folkloric interest and best watched simply as an anthology series without the fairy tale connection.