TV Review: Over the Garden Wall

Watch| Youtube  Rating| 4 Stars

Starring| Elijah Wood (Wirt), Colin Dean (Gregory), Melanie Lynskey (Beatrice)

Buy Links| Amazon

This is, according to most of the internet and all my friends who have seen it, one of the best shows ever.  I didn't watch it for any of them, though.  I didn't find out that so many had seen it until after I had already devoured all 2 hours of the show.  And my reaction: it was very good, but it wasn't the best.

Over the Garden Wall is about two brothers, Wirt and Gregory, who find themselves lost in the woods and must find their way home.  They find themselves pulled into strange adventures and meet many strange people and animals.  Also accompanying them is Beatrice, a talking bird.

The plot of the show was very basic, though interesting.  Very little changed from episode to episode, structure-wise, but each story felt like a unique fairy tale.  Throughout the whole thing there was an overarching story, that's chipped away at slowly throughout.  Even in the end, the viewer is left with a sense of unease and unsettlement at the way things played out- happy, but a bit rocked.  Permeating the whole story is a very halloween feeling, that's perfect for this time of the year.

The characters were surprising.  There's only a few that actually have speaking parts, and even less that are main characters.  Yet the three (okay four) that taken center stage are rememberable.  I really enjoyed them and watching them grow and change and figure out what the important parts of life actually where about.

While I did predict the ending three or four episodes into the series, it was still fulfilling, just not surprising.  Which is why I didn't feel like this was more than a four star show.

The animation was charming, too, and I really do wish there were more episodes to enjoy.

One thing that I find super cool is the community that has sprung up around this show.  People have started to treat it as if there are hidden messages and secrets and a bunch of a metaphors- and hey, there might be! but I don't really have any theories.  I just enjoy watching everyone else's theories.

So, I do recommend this series.  And it's not expensive to buy, either, so you won't have to break the bank to really enjoy this.