Island of Dreams (Grimm)

The episode was viewed by 4.15 million people, earning a 1.2/4 in the 18-49 rating demographics on the Nielson ratings scale, ranking third on its timeslot and eight for the night in the 18-49 demographics, behind Dateline NBC, Shark Tank, Primetime: What Would You Do?, CSI: NY, Blue Bloods, Undercover Boss, and 20/20.[1] This was an 18% decrease in viewership from the previous episode, which was watched by 5.05 from a 1.5/4 in the 18-49 demographics.[2] This means that 1.2 percent of all households with televisions watched the episode, while 4 percent of all households watching television at that time watched it.

"Island of Dreams" received positive reviews. The A.V. Club's Kevin McFarland gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "I'm now willing to accept just how average Grimm can be as a positive. There are a great many television shows on the air right now that use the same kind of structure as this one. But honestly, I'd rather watch Grimm over Bones, any part of the CSI franchise, and pretty much anything other than Psych on USA. That isn't because of humor, or character chemistry, but because Grimm has to build a world, and I find the slow widening scope of Nick's forays into the Wesen world more interesting than the standard male/female cop pairing that slowly builds into romance, or the usual ripped-from-the-headlines case structure."[3]

Nick McHatton from TV Fanatic, gave a 4.2 star rating out of 5, stating: "Overall, Grimm's first episode back wasn't the best it has ever done – especially as a stand-alone episode. The case wasn't particularly interesting, but this doesn't feel like one that can be taken as anything other than the beginning of the rest of the season. There was a lot of set up, and I'm excited to see where it goes."[4]

Shilo Adams from TV Overmind wrote, "'Island of Dreams' was okay, but it wasn't quite the episode I hoped for coming off of yet another hiatus. It felt more transitional, the chess pieces tentatively being moved around and setting up a big go-to move later on. The events depicted here, from Rosalee's flirtation with Monroe to Adalind's cookies of doom and Wu's decidedly different mental state, could be major players going forward, but for now, it was an episode that underwhelmed me a bit as a whole. A lot of it was done before and in an episode that featured a lot of callbacks, the original material had to be on point. Unfortunately this time, it was on point – a dull, dull point."[5]