Over the Garden Wall Review

Ok, I am rarely as late to the party as I was on this one. I remember when the original airing was going on for Over the Garden Wall. I missed the first couple days of the airing so I chose to hold off and watch it later. I’m not sure if I have seen it aired since, it has to have but I haven’t caught it. Finally, I sat down and watched it and it was absolutely brilliant. So brilliant that immediately I knew had to inform everyone caught under a rock, like me, to how great it is.

Basic Plot

For anyone who has never seen Over the Garden Wall I will give a basic plot overview without spoiling anything. I add the “without spoiling anything” because the last couple of episodes have way more impact the less you know. Basically, the main characters of Wirt and Greg are lost in the woods trying to find their way back home. Along the way they meet a mysterious Woodsman who warns them of a Beast that takes wayward children from the woods. Later they team up with a talking bird named Beatrice that, again without spoiling anything, is not what she seems. Each episode introduces a new interesting cast of characters for Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice to interact with. The episodes feature musical numbers throughout, which usually didn’t feel forced. All that said Over the Garden Wall is dark. The overall setting is beautiful but creepy and the Beast is terrifying. I don’t really know why this was marketed as a kid’s show. I guess the designs of Greg and Wirt are kinda cute and a number of the songs were cute as well, but still that doesn’t make this a kid show. Even as far as the songs go, most of them have dark undertones as well. Basically, if you have ever read some of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the real versions that were trying to scare kids to learn the lessons in them, that in a nut shell is what you get with Over the Garden Wall. Brilliant but dark.

Characters

Wirt is the overall main character. Being the older brother he feels responsible for Greg. This leads him to end up being overly cautious and pessimistic for the most of the story. I believe his name is a pun on “worry wart.” It comes off strange that in trying to be responsible for Greg he ends blaming Greg for their predicaments. For the most part though, he is a fairly mature character, particularly as the journey goes on. His overall appearance design is very unique and well done. Obviously, the first thing everyone sees is his over-the-top gnome hat and navy cape but there’s also his suspenders and non-matching shoes that just fit the overall aesthetic of the show.

Greg is the younger brother of Wirt and the deuteragonist of the story. He is basically exact opposite of Wirt. Where Wirt is constantly worrying and pessimistic, Greg never worries about the consequences and is constantly optimistic. They acted as a great counter balance to one another. It is clear throughout the story that even though they are very different they do deeply care for each other and when push comes to shove will do anything for one another. With his positive attitude he is constantly coming up with uplifting fun songs on the fly. Greg’s design is fairy-tale-esque. He looks like what I expect Hansel from Hansel and Gretel looks like, except with tea kettle on his head. Short, plumpy, and green overalls.

Beatrice is your tritagonist of the story. She is a talking bluebird. Towards the beginning of the story she is emotionally distant from the brothers with a sorta off-putting attitude. Over the course of the series she eventually opens to them a bit. She is shown to be very clever and caring over the course of the series. Her motivation, which I’ll avoid spoiling, makes her kind of a tragic character overall. That said, from her back story, she kind of deserved what she got, just not the additional ramifications of it. Her emotional distance is in an attempt to help further her goal of rectifying her own mistakes. This makes her one of the strongest characters I’ve seen in a while.

Greg’s Frog is a pet frog that basically was the fourth protagonist. His name changed in every episode which basically was a recurring joke. Being a frog, he was a mostly silent character but he was almost as integral to the plot as the brothers were. He was the accidental driving force to many conflicts and resolutions throughout the story.

The Woodsman is a complex character. At his core he is a good guy, in fact, he warns the brothers about the Beast on several occasions. That said the Beast completely manipulates him without him realizing it for most of the story. His motivation is very tragic, not to spoil too much, but less we say his daughter means everything to him.

The Beast is your mysterious antagonist. He is well-versed and manipulative. Part of the mystery of him is that you don’t see his real form until the last episode. All you get prior to that is a shadow silhouette. He is purely about self-preservation and doesn’t care who he has to suffer for that to happen. Overall he is calm, cool, creepy, and terrifying. He is a villain worthy of recognition.

Additional thing to note, each episode features their own minor characters and there is a lot of attention to detail for each them. This series pulled out all the stops with the characterizations of all its characters, no matter how small a role. Also of note, the voice casting of everyone is great and nearly spot-on.

Setting and Themes

The setting for Over the Garden Wall is a very diverse collection of places all within The Unknown, which is the name of the woods. Our heroes see everything from two mansions that share a tea farm to a schoolhouse for animals and finally a creepy tavern with people who all need work. The overall color scheme of Over the Garden Wall is fairly dark using different shades of gray for accents which fit quite well the story aesthetic.

The story as I’ve stated is fairly dark. The world of The Unknown has in it witches, cannibalistic spirits, turtles that turn normal animals into beasts, oh and the Beast. And that’s just the bad stuff it also has dancing skeletons, pretentious frogs, and clearly a significant economic gap between the rich and poor. The economic situation is so bad that the rich guy’s mansion is so big he can’t remember which room is which yet everyone at the tavern has no work and a schoolhouse owner is selling the school’s instruments to keep the school afloat. This is not a place you want to be. It’s kind of vague where or what The Unknown is but you can basically figure it out if you watch, it’s not a rocket science theory. The final comment I will say, there is a lot you will miss on your first watch through.

Get out of there Shemi.

Summary

As I have said Over the Garden Wall is one of the best recent shows I have seen. The visuals have an unusual aesthetic that is very beautiful. Each character is unique with their own equally unique back stories. The story, albeit a little dark, is extremely compelling and you will almost instantly want to watch it over again to look for things you missed that could have hinted to where the plot was going. In a world where every show is cookie-cutter this stands out for its uniqueness and creativity. I can’t say enough about it except, if you have about 2 hours of downtime please do yourself a favor and watch this. If you have seen it then watch it again, it is that brilliant.