Why Over the Garden Wall is GENIUS Storytelling

foreign [Music] this show is kind of awesome I didn't even know about Over the Garden Wall until a few weeks ago when my friend Trevor introduced me to it apparently this became some sort of esoteric phenomena that is still incredibly popular among those of my generation who grew up with cable and can watch Cartoon Network unfortunately I was not one of those people we had DVDs remember those Over the Garden Wall is a 10-part miniseries released in 2014 that's quickly become a cult classic I mean holy cow dude look at the Rotten Tomatoes rating I've never seen people agree so much in my entire life usually most TV and movies have a massive disparity between the audience and critics score one way or the other so today I wanted to quickly go over each episode in order pick apart some of the mystery of this show and then toward the end we'll get into the themes and all the meat of this Cinema just a warning this video does contain spoilers obviously for those of you who haven't seen the show and want to which I mean all of you should but if you have seen it make sure to grab a drink and relax as we take a journey into the unknown it's a rock fact I've separated out this intro Montage as its own section because there's just so much to unpack here if you haven't seen the show before you might think that every beginning click from this montage is just strange random things that have nothing to do with each other but it's only on the second watch that you get to see that every single image in the show is intentional now some of them may seem obvious we get to see Mr Endicott who shows up later in episode 5 and is encounter with the ghost you can also see Jimmy dressed up in his gorilla costume performing at the circus and even Greg taking the Rock from Miss Daniel's yard there are just two of these scenes that I really didn't understand until I took a closer look though the first is this one you see here you can pick out The Highwayman and all the other characters in The Tavern in episode 4 but why do they look like statues that's because even though we never see the shelf of toys anywhere else it's the shelf of this guy the toy maker who sings a song for word and at the very end of the series in the final episode's last Montage we see him add work to his collection right next to Beatrice Greg and the Frog the other one that confused me is the boys setting this toy bow down a river these are not characters in the show they never show up in any episode but if that boat looks familiar that's because it's the boat that takes the gang down the river in episode 6. maybe that should have been enough for me but it wasn't I needed to know who those stupid kids were so I did some digging I noticed that the boat just isn't a boat it's named in this Frame we can see the ship is named the McLaughlin Bros and who are the McLaughlin Bros you may ask well they were actually two men John and Edmund McLaughlin who founded a publishing firm under that name in 1858 this company produced and published children's books specifically even working their way into color print later in the company's lifetime these books included many classic fairy tale Adventures that we think of today like Robin Hood robins and Caruso Jack and the Beanstalk Red Riding Hood and tons of others it even included stories about animals playing instruments children getting lost in the woods and a lot of other themes that are found in Over the Garden Wall there are so many references to the McLaughlin Brothers in this show so keep an eye out next time you watch it now when we get to the beginning of the episode you might think that right here is the first time we see Greg and Wert but you're actually wrong it's right here before we even get to the unknown somewhere lost in the clouded panels of History I had a friend point that out to me recently right at the very beginning the boys are sinking into the river that is why I love this short Series so much and I love all short Series in general I would much rather have quality over quantity if you can take a show like friends which has 10 seasons and don't get me wrong I like friends but you have to admit there's a lot of Filler episodes and whatever this is the point is it's somewhat loose structurally you can tell though that with a show like Over the Garden Wall things are really set out from the beginning the creators sat down and knew what they were doing and they did it really well I think that's another great benefit of the medium of Animation as well you're able to have one specific artistic Vision that's carried out and vetted by the creators to make sure there are no loose strings well enough ranting about artistic Vision episode one everyone has a torch to burn and this here is mine right from the first frame Beatrice is looking for the boys someone to lure into Adelaide's trap which normally wouldn't have been a problem except she messed with my boy Frodo that's right the ring bearer himself Mr Elijah would Frodo Baggins is the one who voices Wirt on a real note I think he actually does a really good job here his voice is perfect for an anxious older brother Greg is voiced by this kid that I've never heard of but he does his job really well too I have to admit the first time I watched this show I was so incredibly confused why Greg had Pants full of candy but if you're slow like me it's because this takes place on Halloween and we see later that Mrs Daniels gave him the candy in this episode the two of them run into The Woodsman who's voiced by Christopher Lloyd that's right Greg and wurt meet doc from Back to the Future 21 . I knew I knew that voice from somewhere as soon as he sees them he says well welcome to the unknown boys you're more lost and you realize again just one of those things that when you're watching it again you realize that he means they're on the verge of literal death not just being lost in the woods you guys might not have noticed this either but when he brings them into the mill he says I found those Homestead abandoned and that's because it's actually Beatrice's house we see her and her family in this house in the end montage and just look at the decorations in the house they're all birds even the sack of potatoes has a bird on it and also when they get attacked by the dog and they cure him what's left is actually Beatrice's family dog if you just rewind a little bit and look at the intro he's right there also a tiny thing the little piece of candy that Greg uses to distract the dog it was stuck on worst cloak the entire time man I love when artists love their art oh wonderful Horrors one thing about this episode is that you truly see how desperate Beatrice is the whole time she's trying to get the boys to follow her to Adelaide's house even at the beginning when Greg finds her in the bush you start to realize that she probably put herself in there on purpose to intentionally have a reason to stay with the boys talk about some serious evil scheming once the squad reaches pottsfield and finds the harvest party the pumpkin lady tells word this I mean to join us yet that only makes sense later because we find out they're all skeletons so it makes sense that Wert who's still alive doesn't belong there at the end of this episode as well Enoch even says oh well you'll join us someday that's morbid Cartoon Network we've strayed far from the days of Regular Show also while we're on the subject if all of the people in pottsfield are skeletons what the heck is Enoch well if you look in the final episode Montage apparently it's the cat yeah What on earth does that mean someone tell me I'm confused I wish they expanded more on that because I'm totally lost is the cat the ultimate moral Arbiter of the Justice in pottsfield and the entire afterlife why is the pumpkin a cat I need to know also this is totally irrelevant but they gave Beatrice a tiny shovel and it makes me laugh it could also be hinting that she used to be human one of the most interesting things I found out about this episode is that a Potter's field is actually the name for a mass grave where they used to bury poor people in a field with that in mind it makes a lot more sense that they dig up the skeletons from the field this town is built on and named after a giant grave I guess the world really is as sweet as potatoes and molasses this one starts off with Beatrice urging the boys to go faster she won't even let work tie his shoe since she supposedly says she has to repay her debt she even says this well just focus on getting you guys to Adelaide so I can wash my hands of this whole Affair I mean it seems innocent enough on the first watch Until you realize that she's plotting against them the whole time and usually when someone references washing their hands of an ordeal it's because they've done something wrong or unsavory turns out that was her plan all along kind of hilarious to see the dynamic of Greg and Wert when they arrive at the school building immediately Greg leaves he doesn't want any part in that word however despite Beatrice and I suspect because of his nerdy personality willingly sits down at school the teacher even tells him to go to the dunce box at one point and that's weird but he's wearing a hat that looks oddly like a dunce cap even though he's obviously the smartest one there I mean his only competition is animals what do you expect this episode is full of little things like the picture above the piano the reference to a wild gorilla right at the beginning even the fact that the cat plays clarinet which in the first episode Greg calls word Kitty as soon as the father walks in everybody's first thought is who gave this man the keys to the gym but I mean when you think about it he goes into the woods alone and takes off his coat revealing that he's actually a small guy I mean the joke is kind of stupid on itself I mean oh a big guy turns little but he's not just exposing himself by taking off his coat what he's talking about is actually how he's kind of a fraud and he puts up all this money to educate these animals and it's not really going anywhere I mean if you think about it it's kind of a deep moment and then it gives us this incredible line okay I think he's asleep let's go steal his stuff the end of this episode also gives us the first inkling that Beatrice has started to sympathize with the boys she even tells him to tie a shoe which she wouldn't let him do at the beginning of the episode I'm The Highwayman in my opinion this is the second strangest episode in the series it's kind of a fever dream I'll tell you which one I think is the weirdest later don't worry it's coming there are just so many things that I noticed about this episode that are strange like why is the shopkeeper wearing a pendant of herself also Greg never pays for any of the food that he takes and my man was eating some food also this line for the horse nice the horse your acquaintance like it kind of makes me chuckle but I'm also unreasonably mad because it's not even clever the most random thing but it definitely made me laugh the first time I watched it there are actually a couple things that I really like about this episode though first of all The Highwayman is an interesting character to me not because he's random and quirky although that's cool too but don't get me wrong I think it's just interesting that he's built up as such an intimidating point in the episode he's looming over them even from the beginning and the other Tavern people just cheer him on and laugh it off maybe it's just another implication that there's no longer any reason he has to kill anyone because presumably he's already dead also the horse Fred which says that's stupid line that's the highwayman's horse Highwaymen traditionally always rode on horses you can also see them right here on the opening Montage next to The Highwayman it also makes total sense because Fred is a total klepto in the next episode all he wants to do is steal for Mr Endicott I want a steal but he eventually gets some Redemption and he becomes his official tea horse toward the end of this episode we also get a lot of good information regarding the status of the Beast and The Woodsman as well as the woodsman's ultimatum to keep the lantern lit and why he doesn't Wert even says you were the Beast all along which I guess in a sense is true he's the one keeping the beast alive unknowingly and grinding up the trees of lost souls to keep the lantern lit also not until editing this did I notice the connection that Wert fights the so-called Beast being The Woodsman by blowing out his Lantern which is exactly how he fights the real beast in the end what are you implying my equine friend this episode I really see is the turning point in the relationship between Beatrice and the boys especially work without this episode she probably would have gone through with her plot but they got stuck in the armoire and have to spend time together it may sound cheesy but I think they're getting at something pretty deep here a person I look up to once told me that it's impossible to love something you don't understand and I think she was right if you don't understand a person's motivations it makes it very very difficult to love someone based off their actions however since Beatrice and Wert end up spending so much time together they begin to bond and share secrets and this is even where we begin to see more about Beatrice's backstory and how she becomes a bluebird we can see in this episode that Beatrice really begins to have doubts about what she's doing to the boys and of course in the next episode she tries to save them even offering herself as a servant to Adelaide off topic but kind of related this is one of my favorite lines of the entire show it's like French Rococo style that doesn't really seem in line with endicott's Georgian sensibilities it made me unironically start wheezing the first time I heard it because I was laughing so hard I don't know maybe I'm just a nerd Mr Endicott is by far my favorite character in this entire show he's so wacky and fun and you never know what he's gonna say next I think that's why him and Greg get along so well my favorite line of his is actually toward the end of the episode where he says this there are other things these Filthy Hands have done to make this money I'll never steal again I swear and yet right after that it's revealed that he didn't actually kill anyone so it begs the question what did he do at night when the lake is a mirror if you're like me your first question when you get to this episode is how did they get on the boat because at the end of the last episode Greg throws the coins into the fountain that's pretty quickly addressed though when the boat security chases them down for not paying also just think about how dark this sequence is these guards are literally tripping on children and nobody seems to care except the parents once there's the accident in the band even despite his worries that he confides in Beatrice wurt picks up the bassoon and begins to play we learn in the last episode that workplace clarinet and even though bassoon isn't exactly a clarinet it gives him confidence because he's playing for a group of people but also that nervousness is reflected because in reality he's worried about Sarah listening to his clarinet music also if you're Enchanted by the Frog's deep bass voice and didn't listen to the lyrics listen to it again in my opinion the only person that he could be singing about is work he is content to be slightly forlorn sometimes it's easier for us and in this case work just to let it lie even if you're not content in episode 9 he even says no I just want to wallow in misery that sort of contentment is not real edifying happiness but instead it's someone who's willing to settle for being slightly unhappy for fear of losing what good they do have in their life I know I've definitely felt that before but you eventually have to get out of that run after they get off the boat and Adelaide is revealed as evil we found out that she's just another servant of the Beast luring people in to be trapped in the unknown forever from this point on every episode seems to get darker and less cheery we're genuinely revealed himself to someone Beatrice who he thought cared about him and she betrayed him however what I really appreciate about this show is that they don't dwell on that for too long there's another Channel I like called for Less Productions and you should definitely go check him out but he often talks about this whole liar revealed Ploy that's overdone in film instead of having some big confrontation about this the gang splits up and both parties have to reconcile this by themselves in fact there's never a huge confrontation instead once they get back to the point where the two groups reunite each one is wrestled with the Betrayal on their own the reading of the battle commands you this episode begins off with the boys running into The Woodsman again and he gives them this word of advice spirit and you shall be safe from then on Words resolve starts to crumble and they get closer and closer to being turned into Idlewood trees The Shack where they meet Lorna and anti-whispers is nothing super special just a creepy old house but what they find in there is very interesting first of all they aren't welcomed by anything special except this basket of turtles the black turtles in this series are somewhat of an enigma to me my current thought is that their emissaries of the Beast and they have some sort of dark magic they at least turn Beatrice's dog crazy in the first episode and it could be the reason that anti-whispers is so dang ugly well maybe it's just because you're ugly ugly in my mind I see this hinting at Christian theology where there is a devil being the Beast or Satan and the turtles are like the other demons that are his command I could be totally wrong so by all means correct me in the comments it's also interesting that Lorna calls the boys her Turtles both before and after she's revealed as possessed by the evil spirit come out my titles I'm sorry my turtles also this voice acting is impeccable follow me follow me I gotta be honest though there are two things about this episode that really bother me first of all the fact that Auntie Whispers tells them to avoid her sister Adelaide it just seems so unnecessary and useless provided that they already encountered Adelaide if this episode had been before the previous one there could have been some tension and doubt between Beatrice and the boys but there's nothing secondly it's absurd how Wert just uses the Bell to banish the evil spirit like you're telling me that anti-whispers has never thought of that before come on come on man I am the queen of the clouds okay I won't keep you waiting any longer this in my opinion is the wackiest episode in the series right off the bat Wert is losing hope even though the wood's been told them they would have to stay strong to survive the Beast he's betrayed and he feels like they're never gonna make it home as they're falling asleep Greg recites this poem similar to how his big brother would do almost a prayer of sorts once Greg has taken up into this Cloud City he's met with a fever dream of all these characters singing honestly I thought it was kind of creepy like what is this guy are there more foreign do think it's quite cool that Greg finally gets his wish from a lady surrounded by birds when he asked Beatrice who was a bird for a wish in episode 2. I think this whole Escapade into the clouds as one of two things either one this is where we finally jump into Greg's head whereas most of the episodes are From wart's perspective or two it's still from work's perspective and he's just dreaming that Greg would imagine this stuff one thing I wanted to ask you guys about that I've been thinking about for a while I'm not sure about do you think the queen of the clouds Could Be the Beast Greg seems to make a deal with the devil so it's possible that the Beast was really behind this whole episode and he's the one manipulating Greg another reason this could be true is that the queen is the one who says to Greg that word is too lost the Beast has claimed him already which is an interesting thing to say considering that work wakes up and frees himself from the Ada wood branches could the queen just have been the Beast disguised as the queen to manipulate Greg into making a deal with him I haven't made up my mind about that one but let me know in the comments is the dove never to meet the sea for want of the odious Mountain this episode no doubt has the most critical part in the whole series it helps to tie everything together and explain so much of what we've been witnessing for the last eight episodes in fact when the creators were making the show originally this was the first episode however they decided to move it to Ninth Place seeing as all of this from the beginning would have been ruined and a lot of the mystery would have dissipated as a really smart choice by the creators the beginning scene where we start off in words bedroom even as a song about sinking like a stone we find out lots of little details like why Greg has candy in his pants where he got the rock and even who Jason funderburker is this is really the episode that makes the series I mean for crying out loud look at wert's room you even see a black turtle poster on the wall something his mind probably latched on to as he was sinking in the river the graveyard is called the Eternal Garden which is quite suiting for the title considering the accident happens just over that wall and if you look close enough while they're in the graveyard Greg even hides behind Quincy endicott's grave what I find most interesting about this episode though is the commentary on wirt's personality he starts off as a nervous anxious nerdy teen at stark contrast from what we see just in the last episode and it really makes this last line hit harder that Wert says to Beatrice's family you'll be no good to your brother dead I was never any good to him alive either this is such a huge step for his character but you wouldn't have known that as the audience unless they showed you this episode it's not something small when someone admits to being wrong especially this sort of deep self-insight the work that climbed over that wall and fell into the river is not the same word who would go into that storm with the Frog and look for his brother are you ready to seek full Darkness if it wasn't clear enough by now it's fully revealed in this episode that the edelwood trees are lost souls that have been claimed by the Beast the Beast is manipulative and evil all for his own good he even uses that line that Greg repeats several times throughout the series but for his own game anything is possible if you set your mind to it right this episode is ultimately what ties up the show with a nice bow Wert finally faces his fear against the Beast and also takes responsibility for his brother like The Woodsman told him at the beginning wurtz eventually given the ultimatum either become the new Lantern Bearer or let his brother die but he doesn't fall for it though all his intimidation tactics the Beast is not able to scare word anymore because he knows the truth this episode seems to be completely about fulfilling the things that people need to do The Woodsman says that the lantern is his burden to bear and ultimately he is the one who blows out the lantern killing the Beast Wert fulfills his responsibility to his brother in saving him both in the unknown and in the real world and of course Greg fulfills his role by naming the Frog yeah and you were there too Jason funderburker and so the story is complete and everyone is satisfied with the ending the series is so fun and Goofy on the surface and I love it I'll be honest normally I'm not a huge fan of the whole random equals funny kind of humor but for this it works I think that knowing these boys are in some sort of limbo or at least a dream state as their higher bright function decays allows me to enjoy the sort of off the cuff humor and totally out of nowhere jokes because I mean that's how a Dream works you know you'll be riding a horse into the night and suddenly you're in a mansion those kind of things just happen in your dreams I think it's safe to say that Wert and Greg's characters are very closely tied if I had to choose one as the quote-unquote main character it would definitely be Wort purely because he is the one who has most character development over the 10 episodes the dynamic between them is something they learn to navigate even in such a short time and their main conflict can be boiled down to a few things I think one that Wert feels like Greg is the problem in a complicated family situation they allude to it a few times but wert's Mom remarried Greg's dad and therefore Greg is his half-brother which I can't personally relate to but I understand that it would be very difficult in some ways two word is just an That Awkward phase he's what maybe 14 15. I remember that time and not so fondly things are hard girls are scary and you've got this awful bowl cut that makes you look like a meme kid it's pretty rough this is all despite the fact that Greg obviously loves and admires his older brother he and word stepped out and even tried to get him to join the marching band so he can hang out with Sarah but instead Wert finds this annoying that said work does make a lot of progress throughout the series by the end he's willing to talk to Sarah and even invites her over but what I appreciate is that it's not done in a cliche way he's not all of a sudden super confident and ready to take on the world I mean change takes time Greg also develops as a character throughout the series just to a lesser degree he admits to stealing the Rock and not only does work begin to take care of him better but Greg allows his big brother to love and care for him whereas at the beginning he's running off and getting lost constantly if you've been living under a rock you may not have noticed that Greg is obsessed with music several times throughout the series he sings songs directs bands and for goodness sake he even rose with a guitar in this episode and even though he's not very good at it he does it with confidence because he wants to mimic his older brother who's a good musician you might even say that word is probably envious of his childish boldness he also recites poetry just like his big brother and spits out these rock facts every once in a while which even though they're not true mirror this strange intellect of his brother worked I might tick off some people by saying this but Greg is not a particularly deep character he does however fulfill his role very well in the first episode The Woodsman gives him his burden to bear in naming the Frog finally in the last episode he completes that task in the meantime here are all the names that he calls the Frog I just thought it was funny we talked a little bit about this at the beginning of the video but what I love about animation and specifically short series animation is that every single detail is laid out beforehand we've covered a lot of things already but one of the most important ones I've left out until now mostly is the imagery of water and sinking this is obviously integral to the entire series but in every episode there is some kind of imagery of Greg and Wirt sinking into the river I alluded to it earlier but for instance when Greg throws the two pennies he's given in the Endicott Mansion they sink down and are swallowed up by a huge fish it was a whole mountain of coins at the bottom of the murky water there's no doubt in my mind that this reflects the two boys sinking into the river to be devoured by the Beast there's just so many things that point toward this reality I do however have one big complaint about this show Adelaide is just such an underused character I think that the creators really wanted to spend more time on the Beast and the big bad of this show but it just feels like we completely wasted the first four or five episodes until he gets to Adelaide and then she's killed within like four minutes she does help to drive the plot along I guess and it's the whole reason that Beatrice is even in the show so honestly if that's my biggest complaint we don't have much of a problem it's been said the animators are the ultimate actors because they sculpt what we see from the ground up and this series is no different in a show with a run time of under two hours the animators give us just enough and develop the characters just a little bit so that we want to see more of who they are I don't have much else to say except that I want more series that are as clever and thought out as this one there's nothing left up a chance and every single time I watch it I notice more and more things that were left there by the animators to find so be sure to stay hearty and Body in spirit and I'll see you next time Over the Garden Wall [Music] thank you

Channel: FiveDollarFilms

Views: 564,984

Keywords: movie review, film, Over the Garden Wall, Storytelling, good filmmaking, Wirt, Over the Garden Wall Review, fall tradition, halloween, cartoon network, FiveDollarFilms, FDF review, FDF Over the Garden Wall, genius storytelling, A_Civilian, Evan Bowers

Id: rgmaUsVWVBw

Length: 24min 32sec (1472 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 05 2022