Netflix's Disenchantment is set in a mystical land that's filled with magic and all around weirdness. There are aspects of the story and the world that are more than a little reminiscent of the classic fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson and the Brothers Grimm. One fairy tale in particular that involved two kids, a witch and a candy house popped up in an episode that made the tale even darker than the original story it's based on.
"Hansel and Gretel" is a German fairy tale first published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in the early 1800s. It tells the story of two children who are abandoned in the woods by their parents. They are captured by a witch who lives in a house made of cake and other goodies and plans to eat them. Gretel outwits and kills the witch before she can cook them. The brother and sister then escape with the witch's treasure and everyone lives happily ever after. Except for the witch, but she sucked.
The story has been adapted dozens and dozens of times over the years. The Simpsons used it as the basis for one of the segments in "Treehouse of Horror XI." Naturally, Homer got the raw end of that situation. The 2013 movie Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters showed the kids all grown up and working as mercenary witch hunters, as the title suggests. It didn't do great at the box office, but the movie is regarded as a cult classic these days.
In Disenchantment, Part 1, Episode 5, main character, Bean, is sent right into the proverbial candy lion's den, but with one hell of a twist. While trying to prove her father King Zøg wrong about her, Bean takes a job apprenticing for Stan, Zøg's executioner and torturer. That's how Bean meets Gwen, a babbling old crone she feels a kinship with. At the same time, Elfo runs off into the woods and ends up at the candy house, which is now in the care of Hansel and Gretel.
This time, there is a huge role reversal. It turns out that the brother and sister duo are the cannibals. They have eaten a lot of people, and their next target is Elfo. Eating him technically would not be an act of cannibalism since Elfo is an Elf/Ogre hybrid and not a human, but that doesn't making cooking him like a Christmas goose in a Charles Dickens story any less wrong.
Luckily for him, Bean and Luci come to the rescue. They track him through the woods and to the candy house. After rescuing him, Bean discovers the siblings' secret basement abattoir where they butcher their victims for consumption. But Bean is not someone felled by fear. Candy battle axe in hand, she kills Hansel and Gretel. The act also frees Gwen from her curse, restoring her sanity.
Bean, Luci and Elfo make their escape, and blow the candy house up on their way out. Unfortunately, they don't know the house belongs to Gwen and her sister is still inside, something that might eventually come back to bite them in their respective butts. Regardless, this bleak depiction of "Hansel and Gretel" reached a new level of horror for the classic fairy tale. The only thing darker was what happened to the famous siblings after they died.
Early in Part 2, Bean and Luci head down to Hell to rescue Elfo. In the depths of Perdition they run across Hansel and Gretel who are being eternally tortured by repeatedly watching video of their deaths. Bean and Luci move on quickly, but the well-deserved horrors Hansel and Gretel are being subjected to must linger in their minds. Well, not Luci's as he doesn't feel guilt as a general rule, but their punishment will weigh heavily on Bean, whether she admits it or not.
The first two seasons of Disenchantment are currently streaming on Netflix. Season 3 premieres on Jan. 15.