Grimsburg – Season 1 Episode 12 “Younger Games” Recap & Review

Younger Games

In episode 11 of Grimsburg season 1, Lieutenant Kang is dead. The hard-boiled distant grasshopper is no more. He is killed by a mystery man in the dead of the night in a bowling alley. Interestingly, the man wanted to steal a shiny necklace he was wearing which had some coloured potion in it. The station seems unperturbed by his demise.

Marvin is emotionless but perhaps hiding his real feelings. Martinez wants to jump on the opportunity and wants to take Kang’s place. Meanwhile, Summers and Wynona are charmed by the arrival of a new replacement, Lieutenant Ravi Kumar, whose perfect life makes the former a little jealous.

Martinez ropes Summers into a plan to get Ravi out of the station. His answer is to install a whoopee cushion on his chair. Although Martinez is sceptical about it, the plan unexpectedly works…but destroys Ravi completely. It takes Summers a lot of time to actually see the repercussions of his actions. However, he soon realizes he was wrong and apologises to Ravi, who goes berserk when he learns about the cushion.

Marvin goes out to clear Kang’s apartment but discovers that he is still alive. Kang reveals that he cannot die. His immortality flows from the potion he has hung around his neck. When he shows Marvin another potion, he instantly drinks it. Kang lashes out in anger saying that the blue one makes you younger, while the other – the one that the man stole – makes you older. Now, they must find the other potion before Marvin dies of “young age.” The duo investigates the alley where Kang was stabbed to find a petal from a rare flower.

Marvin knows exactly where it grows and the duo make the journey. They find abundant evidence of the man plotting to kill Kang and take his necklace. It is some Dutch guy named Van Der Sloop. As Kang and Marvin are discussing his motives, Sloop walks into the apartment. He is instantly alarmed and runs off. Although Marvin can now use his physical prowess to catch him, he instantly goes to a pub to experience his youth again. He looks so young that an officer cuffs him for drinking.

Kang is frustrated and has to kill himself to vacate the pub and free Marvin. If they don’t act timely, Flute will die. Marvin is finally turned into a kid of Stan’s age. The two spend some time together at the house, although Harmony thinks that Stan has made a friend. He encourages Marvin to use his criminal mind and figure out what’s wrong. Marvin realizes that the killer placed a fake body in order to throw off Kang and steal the blue potion as well. 

The man has Kang tied up in the basement but Marvin arrives in time. However, due to his slight size, Kang has to intervene to save him. But it is too late. Even though he has both potions, Marvin is all set to die. As he is about to vanish in Kang’s arms, the lieutenant sheds a tear. It goes straight into Marvin’s mouth and he is back to his normal age! Kang’s DNA helped restore the order of things. 

The Episode Review

It is an aberration but the new episode of Grimsburg is fun! It goes against all notions of continuity and whatever the makers have built till now. But given that is nothing too substantial and patchy, this episode works perfectly.

The subplot, which will have no bearing on future episodes, takes inspiration from The Man Who Walked the Earth to give us an immortal Kang. It would have been nice to see him recount his experience and work that into the scheme of things. But even in its current shape, this episode is spot on.