Grimsburg – Season 1 Episode 9 “The Funaways” Recap & Review

The Funaways

In Grimsburg’s Episode 9, Marvin once again proves he is a negligent dad by forgetting Stan’s Hobby Horse Race. Harmony has her own problems to work through. Given her “bear” lineage, she is in prime heat season and is struggling to contain her sexual desires. Wynona promises to help her out by planning a night out in the club.

Stan, struggling to reconcile his father’s lack of involvement in his life, runs into Dr Pentos. The duo connect on the shared neglect. Pentos bemoans the lack of Marvin’s presence in his life.

Before he was in Grimsburg, Marvin would frequent Pentos’ office with unsolvable crime mysteries and his darkest cases. But now, he has stopped doing so. To come up with a solution to both problems, Pentos plans a staged kidnapping. He gives Stan a map to a cabin in the Missing Children Forest, where he will meet Stan with Marvin.

As the couple comes back to the house, Pentos leaves with him in the car. Both parents act as if they have done their part and the other might have made a mistake with respect to Stan.

Due to Harm’s state, she throws herself at Marvin and they engage in a passionate night of lovemaking, all this time unaware that Stan is missing. Stan runs into problems in the forest as he loses the way to the cabin. Instead, he is captured by The Funaways, a group of kids who ran away as children and have now made their new experience a fun one. Although they are old and grown up, they still think of themselves as kids. This is why they do not have any mirrors in the abandoned amusement park they call home.

It is only the next morning that Marvin realizes Stan isn’t home. Harm doesn’t know yet…and she doesn’t need to either, for Marin will solve his disappearance soon. When Harm meets Wynona for coffee, the latter expresses her scepticism at last night’s events. Harm is confident that feelings will not be involved with Marvin. However, Wynona feels otherwise. Feelings will creep in sooner rather than later…even subconsciously without Harm realizing it. 

She challenges Harm to hook up with the first guy at the bar she encounters later that night. But when push comes to shove, Harm chickens out and confesses that Wynona might be right about this. At Funville, Stan has a tough time adjusting to his new surroundings. Things get worse when he is thrust into a “Mortal Kombat” game with an older man, who is out for blood. Somehow, Stan manages to magically defeat him…a first in Funville’s history. This forces the others to recognize him as the “chosen one,” as a prophecy foretold.

Stan quickly grows bored of this whole ordeal and wants to leave. However, he is stopped in his tracks by the wanderers, who insist Stan can never leave the camp. Marvin and Pentos work together to reach the cabin, where they do not find the child. Pentos ruefully confesses that he planned the whole thing to renew his lost acquaintances with Marvin. The detective also falls into the trap when he goes looking for Stan in the forest. Eventually, he is brought to Stan at the park by the kids, who brand him a neglectful father.

In an impressive move, Stan and Marvin almost get away from the funaways. But at the last moment, they get wind of Stan’s plan to escape. Pentos acts as a getaway driver but the car runs out of petrol at a critical juncture. Almost out of hope, Marvin expertly finds a solution by showing the lost kids what they have become using the car’s mirrors. This is how they are able to escape the forest and get back to safety. When they meet again, Harm and Marvin decide not to continue their courtship as it is best for Stan and themselves. 

The Episode Review

Periodically, Grimsburg keeps going back to the family dysfunction episodes to keep the slate fresh. And for some very human reason, it always seems to work well. Episode 9 cradles the theme well in a humorous subplot that is even more special given Dr Pentos’ master criminal brain at work. Alan Tudyk’s delightfully unique character hasn’t had too many outings till now and perhaps this episode will make the writers reconsider their decisions.

Marvin’s lack of self-awareness and involvement in Stan’s life is ironically bereft of the tragic angle that we would have expected in the dynamic. It is a crass outcome but one that doesn’t necessarily affect things that much. This marks an important decision for Marvin’s character that takes the show in a different, albeit exciting direction.