The Institute reimagines one of the book’s most disturbing moments– And it’s darker than the original 

**Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for both Stephen King's book and MGM+'s series The Institute. Reader discretion is advised.**

While Stephen King readers are accustomed to brutality and horror in his works, the new audience of MGM+'s The Institute might have found the events of episode 4 disturbing.

The latest adaptation from King's horror-verse, based on his 2019 novel of the same name, follows young children with psychic powers, who are being abducted and experimented on in the titular Stranger Things-style lab.

The Institute Episode 4 saw Dr. Hendricks conducting a series of new and darker experiments on Luke and other children to determine whether he has telepathic and telekinetic powers. Following a series of harrowing experiments on Harry, he loses control and hits Greta with a dumbbell.

While this tragic event is directly adapted from the book's pages, it featured one major change, which made this death even more disturbing and dark.

More on this in our story.

How did MGM+'s The Institute change Greta's death from King's novel?

The Institute Episode 4 featured one of the most disturbing moments from King's book, adding another brutal death to the author's horror verse. However, achieving an impossible feat, the MGM+ series managed to make this disturbing death even more brutal and tragic.

Episode 4 featured the introduction of Greta and Gerda, twin sisters and the newest subjects for the titular facility, who were abducted from their home. Book readers already knew what was coming with Greta's introduction, who was accidentally murdered by Harry. In King's book, after Harry returns to his room following a series of experiments, Greta and Gerda are there to support him.

However, the story takes a dark turn when Harry starts to have seizures (a side-effect of the experiments) and accidentally kills Greta by slamming her head into the wall.

This disturbing event was put into motion in The Institute Episode 4, after Harry finds Greta and Grenda in his room, following his return from Dr. Hendricks' experiment. While the two sisters are consoling him after the harrowing experiment, Harry loses control of himself and hits Greta with a dumbbell.

Unlike his book counterpart, Harry does not suffer any seizures, which resulted in Greta's murder. Instead, something overpowered Harry, following which he lost control of his mind and murdered the innocent girl.

Harry's actions are far darker in The Institute than in King's novel

While The Institute adapted Greta's tragic death faithfully from King's novel, this minor change made the show's events even darker.

Since Dr. Hendricks had already come under the scrutiny of Sigsby for submitting a watered-down version of the reports, this might be the beginning of The Institute's mysteries to unfold in front of everyone.

In addition, while Harry suffered seizures in books, the outcome of the experiments is far darker in the show, which resulted in him losing control over his mind and body. Harry's raging outburst, which resulted in Greta's murder, suggests the volatile side effects of these experiments on the children's minds.

These experiments not only affect their mind and body by resulting in seizures, but can also take deadly turns, like in Episode 4, where Harry forgot his humanity. This torture on a child's mind, all in the name of science, can have lasting effects on a child's innocence and can even make them killers.

This change, albeit minor, makes the actions and experiments of the titular facility even more questionable, and it would be interesting to see what effect Harry's action will have on the story.

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