A few days ago I finally watched Over the Garden Wall, a mini-series that premiered four years ago to much acclaim (including winning an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program). Many fans of Gravity Falls also seemed to love this series, if the incredible fan-art like this is anything to go by:
And with a ten-episode structure, and each episode clocking in around 11-minutes, Over the Garden Wall is also a very easy series to binge. It takes you as long as a feature length film to watch the entire thing, and it was originally adapted from a short film called Tome of the Unknown. So after thinking it over, here's my review of it (definitely NOT spoiler-free):
The series revolves around two half-brothers (or maybe step-brothers?) Wirt (the elder one) and Greg (the younger one). They appear lost in The Unknown, a place characterized as, "Somewhere lost in the clouded annals of history, lies a place that few have seen - a mysterious place, called The Unknown", and are trying to find their way back home. Along the way they encounter very strange characters such as a mysterious Woodsman, skeletons dressed like pumpkins, a school teacher who teaches animals, a tavern of townsfolk, a mad tea lord, talking frogs, multiple witches, cloud people, and talking bluebirds. All of them warn Wirt and Greg to beware the terrible Beast that haunts the forest and their journey home. Eventually, it is revealed that the Unknown is a Limbo-like place where Wirt and Greg have gone to after being knocked unconscious and falling into a lake on Halloween. They are really from a contemporary time period, and their odd appearances are explained as their costumes. The story concludes with Wirt mustering up the will to make it back to the land of the living to rescue his brother, while the characters in the Unknown have had their lives changed for the better after Wirt and Greg's adventures.
Artistically, the show is breath-taking. The character designs wouldn't look out of place in a Miyazaki film, while the setting clearly owes a lot to western fairy tales like those of Hans Christian Andersen.
I also like that musically, there's an old 1920s big band feel to it, like an homage to the early days of animation, combined with an operatic style of music, fit for a grandiose tale (emphasized by the fact the voice actor for the Beast is actually an opera singer). It may not be "A Whole New World", but I like that the music seemed to match the tone of the world.
Which, speaking of, tonally I thought the series did a decent job of balancing it's light-hearted, sillier aspects with it's rather cynical, grim, and scarier undertones. However, there were a few times where I thought the tone didn't quite resonate correctly with me. I think this could've easily been fixed with the pacing. The design of the story means that each adventure happens at almost a breakneck pace. 11 minutes is barely enough time to establish the conflict, let alone the middle and resolution afterwards.
Some stories do a great job of working within their limited time constraints. I think the third episode, and the last three episodes (which, to be fair, is kind of cheating since the last three should really be treated more like a three-parter single story) are where the story really shines at the pacing the creators have set. The third episode feels like it should be contained, and it has a decent link to the preceding story. The second episode ends with Wirt and Greg moving on from a town, while the whole episode feels like it has a firm story arc in place that is self-contained while also developing the characters. Wirt is shown to be a stubborn push-over, and his character is more fleshed out as a whole for the audience. Meanwhile, the on-going narrative of a failing schoolhouse meant to teach animals and a teacher's lost love strike the tonal balance of wonderfully weird, slightly dark, and always humourous just right.
However, the other seven episodes just feel rushed to me. It seems like they have a whole world to explore, and we're getting a fraction of a fraction of a peak into what it could be. To be fair, I think that means the creators did a great job at establishing the in-story universe. However, I honestly expected the story to be even darker than it was (a la The Book of Lost Things). I wasn't upset with the reveal that the Unknown was Limbo, but I think they shortchanged how much they could do with the idea.
For instance, the characters of the Woodsman and the Beast were - by far - the most interesting of the entire cast. The Beast's manipulation of the Woodsman's character to grind up the lost souls of children - transformed into Edelwood trees - into oil to keep a lantern lit (which actually possesses the Beast's soul) was a great revelation. I like that, as side characters, you want to find out more about them, and that the entirety of their story is somewhat shrouded in mystery and implications. And their darker narrative tonally fits well with the darker side of the entire series.
Thus, I think it is with the main protagonists of Wirt and Greg that they could've done something - more? I'm not quite sure that's the right word, but I found myself frustrated with their chemistry as characters until the very last episode. Wirt is an average teenager, with a poetic soul and an overly anxious mind. However, he constantly blames his brother for their predicament until the very end of the series. Although I like the arc, the rapid switch to acceptance of responsibility felt rushed and under-developed to me. Similarly, Greg's silly, odd character never listens to or gets angry with Wirt over their situation. His naive faith in his brother's ability to lead them home is charming, but I think that's why the switch to him being "leader" (and honestly a better one at that) in the eighth episode feels weird. His optimism is never questioned (or his listening skills), which feels like an unhelpful contrast to the developmental journey Wirt needs to go through.
Overall, perhaps, the thing that bothers me most about the series is how much potential I think it has - interesting characters (particularly the secondary ones), a great world that feels fully fleshed out, and an opportunity to do something new. However, the actualised stories all feel a little hollow due to the rushed pacing and under-developed character arcs. Indeed, I think the last three epsiodes feel the strongest because they feel like a cohesive mystery rather than a series of shorts that just have the same characters. And if there is a theme or a larger message throughout the series, I feel as if it was slightly lost on me.
All of that being said, though, there is something to consider that I haven't stopped thinking about the world of Over the Garden Wall since watching it a few days ago. Although it left me feeling dissatisfied, I can't deny that I appreciate everything that's right about it - predominantly in the scale and scope of their ambition to make a darkly funny children's series that's clever and interesting and engaging. However, it's no Gravity Falls.
3.5/5
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