Where Angels Fear to Tread

The thing I really love about over the garden wall is it knows what it's meant to do. It's a story, and at the heart of every story is interesting characters. Each scene, each place they go to is just a backdrop for the brothers and Beatrice. They aren't events of the plot or a part of the story's timeline, they're just plot devices for the characters to build off of. The first episode is probably the greatest of them all just because it does all of that so perfectly. We start off knowing nothing. We're thrown into a storybook with a narrator that only tells us we're in a world of the Unknown. And then suddenly we're watching two kids lost in the forest. We know nothing about them, and we don't need to. A few seconds later we get small glimpses into their characters. Greg wears a pot on his head, throws candy on the ground from his pants, and is easily excitable. And Wirt is worried about their situation and obviously wants to keep them safe. We know nothing about these two and then suddenly in a few seconds we know their personalities. We don't need to know details about their lives because they aren't necessary, they're extraneous, the icing on the cake.

In a lot of ways this makes me think of shows that have done this well. When I think of Adventure Time or Steven Universe I think of their parents and the mystery behind them and I know there's something to that but I'm not going to know until it happens. And until that point, it doesn't really matter to me. These sorts of shows don't really pull off that same level of icing on the cake-itude. Then I think of Avatar and realize just how perfect it was in a similar way. We start off with two siblings fighting who find a kid in an iceberg. We don't care who this kid is or why he was in an iceberg but we like him. He's goofy and fun and kind. And we love him for that, we dont need more information. Then we learn he's the avatar and suddenly that adds to his character. Not only is he some goofy kid, he's also the most powerful being in the world. Then 6 episodes later we learn why he was in the iceberg. We learn about how he ran away and the tragedy that followed. And it was evocative. This one mistake both doomed and saved the world. And we didn't need that information, but there it was. And it made the series so fantastic for it. It was the perfect icing on the cake.

Now here we are with over the garden wall. As episodes pass we get more and more glimpses into the characters. We see who they are and love them for it. And a few episodes later we get the fluff, the icing. First episode, Wirt talks about his lost love. We don't have context, we don't know what he's talking about. For all we know he's being dramatic and philosophical and he's just talking about being lost from home - his love. But now we know he loved a girl. And now we learn they're actually stepbrothers. We don't need these pieces of information, but they tell their own story that makes it so much better. And, as Beatrice so eloquently put it, they're character traits. They're not defining or condemning, they're traits. Finn in adventure time is, at times, defined by his womanizing and parental issues. But for Wirt and Greg it's just another story to be told. Yes, for Wirt, it's a pretty big plot point, but it's still not *about* this idea.

And then we have Beatrice. She starts off as what seems like a joke. And then she joined them and she grew on us. She appeared selfish but she stayed with the brothers and helped anyway. And just as the brothers grew on her and us, she grew on us too. We liked how she was caring and sarcastic and easily disconcerted. And then we learn more. We learn about her quest to save her family. And then we see it was a trap, but a remorseful one. And we feel bad. Because all of that was still just more details that made it that much more interesting. It gives us more of a reason to be invested and care and enjoy the show and characters for what they are. It's perfect.