Zerstörer Shrugged

The episode was viewed by 4.14 million people, earning a 0.8/3 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking third on its timeslot and fifth for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Dr. Ken, Dateline NBC, Last Man Standing, and an NCAA Tournament.[1] This was a 4% increase in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 3.96 million viewers with a 0.8/3.[2] This means that 0.8 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 3 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.

"Zerstörer Shrugged" received positive reviews. Les Chappell from The A.V. Club wrote, "While I still think it would have been interesting to see more of Zerstörer and the Other Place throughout the season, 'Zerstörer Shrugged' does a lot to make the Destroyer live up to his reputation. His entrance heralded by a flock of dead bats, diving through a mirror in Olympic style, human beings swatted away as if they were less than said bats, a flood of terrifying analogies in the Grimm diaries, Diana genuinely terrified for the first time in her young life: the sense of dread and impossible odds builds well over the episode’s run time."[3]

Kathleen Wiedel from TV Fanatic was more critical of the episode, giving it a 1.5 star rating out of 5, stating: "It was understandable in the sense that the series is at an end, drama, loss, high stakes, and so on, but it just felt so sudden and pointless due to the lack of intelligent behavior earlier in the episode. Of course, it would've made for a completely different story if Nick just drove off, leaving Zerstörer hiking after him. (It's not like Mr. Skullface can drive, right?)"[4]

Sara Netzley from EW gave the episode a "A" rating and wrote, "Going into the finale, we now know the final battle’s going to involve Zerstörer going after the stick and/or Diana and/or Kelly, and Nick definitely had incentive to protect all three. But if bullets don’t stop the guy, what do they have left?"[5]

TV.com, wrote, "So overall, 'Zerstörer Shrugged' did what they did last week. It pretty much put everything into place for the series finale. Zerstörer has been established as really really tough, because a) he's even more bulletproof than he was last week, and b) he kills two Team Grimmers. We learn that he not only wants Diana but Kelly. Although again, not with any foreshadowing or lead-in, but just having Diana having a prophetic dream. What's the point of featuring lots of page flipping if it doesn't find basic plots like 'Devil's Child Bride's Brother is Also Important.'"[6]