Oh the nodes are definitely added alright.  When I replace 
CreateEntityAtArea(x,"servant_grunt_noSound.ent","gruntSpawn",false);
 with 
SetEntityActive("mazeGrunt_preplaced",true);
 it works just fine... leading me to conclude that you can't create functional enemies in this way.  I've even tried doing 
SetEntityActive(x,false);
SetEntityActive(x,true);
 right after it's created, but that didn't do anything.
Hang on a sec, I've got another theory I want to test out: jens jens jens jens jens.  Now let's sit back and see what happens.