The end has finally come. Over the Garden Wall has reached its final two chapters, and even though it's sad to watch this end, it's worth it to say that all good things must come to an end, and this series was so damn good (pardon my language again). Watching this for the past five days have been worth all the hype, all the wait, and the embarrassing tweets I've sent on Twitter, all the fan-page accounts that I've followed (okay only two, but it's worth it because they follow me back too) and all the tweets that creator Patrick McHale favorited (okay, also only two, but I'm grateful he even faved just only one). So with a heavy heart, hazy eyes and painful fingers, it's time for the final review of Over the Garden Wall.
When we left off, Greg was caught in a trap by The Beast, and Wirt, with no one to blame but himself, tries to look for him, but failed, having nearly died twice befor being saved by Beatrice. And now, he must face his biggest fears: losing his little brother and The Beast. But that won't happen, yet.
First, we begin Chapter 9: "Into the Unknown"
with a flashback of Wirt in his room, painfully saddened, and begins to makes a decision, and that decision is to put on a costume, go outside, and give a mixtape to a girl named Sara, a girl he likes. It's Halloween night. He goes to a football game, when Sara is. Greg comes from a neighbor's house with candy and takes the tape and gives it to her friends, and Wirt snaps. The brothers try to find take the tape (now in her jacket), but are caught and fail. They try again and find her at a party, unsuccesfully going through her jacket again. Later, we meet her date (and Wirt's probable rival), Jason Funderberger, who turns out to be a goofy-looking dude, but she likes him. Later on, they tail Sara, Jason Funderberger and some friends to a cemetery, to no avail on the tape thing. Greg embarrasses Wirt even more, which he finds horrible. Suddenly, everyone is caught by police. Sara and her friends leave, while Wirt and Greg are cornered. They climb a tree to the top of a wall, hoping to run back and go back on their mission, and climb down on the other side. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Wirt goes berzerk at Greg for being in his life (along with Greg's father, whom he doesn't like; they're stepbrothers after all), ruining his life for being around, and wants nothing to him. Then a train comes; Wirt pushes Greg out of the way. And this is where things get worse. Wirt and Greg fall several feet down an embankment and into a river, knocked unconscious.
Wirt then wakes up in a cave surrounded around bluebirds. He's in the tree cove of Beatrice's family. Now that Wirt is back to heath (and eating dirt for treatment), he can now find The Beast and save Gregory.
You see, it all makes sense now. Wirt and Greg are from the 1980s, and the clothes they worn that we thought were normal 1920s garb, was just costumes they wore for Halloween, and that "Garden Wall" they climbed was just the blocking wall of a cemetery they went to with Sara and his friends. And when they jumped over it, they fall several feet behind into the river below, and that jump-started the entire series. The entire series was just Wirt's imagination. And the many things he said here, like him being in high school, him saying "Smell ya Later" to Lorna in a time when no one says this, him embarrassingly saying that he does poetry to himself and plays clarinet, and make more sense because he's a awkward, shy, introverted kid from the 80s. And everything ties together here.
Seeing Wirt in the real world before the start was very endearing and like any teenager going through problems like he has, those problems that he faced felt real and something we all can relate to. His big crush on Sara, the anger and jealousy of seeing her with another guy, and annoyance and intolerance from Greg's antics. Many teens have gone through that (including me) so I applaud the writers for making this chapter so good.
And now the final chapter of Over The Garden Wall, Chapter 10: The Unknown.
Beatrice is flying through the snow and finds footsteps, which bring her to Greg, conversing with The Beast over an item he found for the latter. The wind blows Bea away, causing her to run into Wirt, who's looking for Greg. They then begin their trek to find him.
Meanwhile, Woodsman finds some wood to burn in his lantern, and hears someone singing; it's Beast with Greg, trapped in branches. Beast then tells Woodsman that he has another soul for the light, meaning he's about to...take Greg away. Woodsman begs Beast no to do so, not knowing that the light is souls of children he kept for many years, including what could be his daughter and Greg. Shocked and horrified, Woodsman tries to save Greg .
Wirt and Bea (now with Woodsman's lantern in tow) find Greg in the empty part of the forest wrapped in wood branches. They then are face-to-face with Beast, who plans to finish off Greg when the light in the lantern goes dark. Wirt then learns that the light is Beast's soul and opens the inside, releasing the light and ends the reign and terror of The Beast, along with his life. Wirt then goes to Greg and admits the entire thing was his fault, and that he shouldn't have put the blame on his brother in the first place. Then with the lantern in tow, With goes face to face with Beast, realizing that the only thing keeping the lantern lit wasn't the souls of children, but his own. Wirt opens the lantern, and blows out the light, almost destroying the Beast. He carries Greg and they begin their way. Bea goes home to her family and Woodsman finally kills the Beast to find his daughter.
Greg is saved from his doom, Woodsman is free from The Beast's reign, an Beatrice now has the thing she needs for her and her family to be humans again, Wirt and Greg are finally (and this time, I mean finally) on their way home.
But first, Wirt comes to, grabs Greg and leaves the river, where police and their parents are looking for them. They are rushed to the hospital. This was all Wirt's imagination.
He wakes to Sara, who tells he and Greg are in the hospital. They are just fine, and Greg tell other patients what happened, including Jason Funderberger (not the guy, Greg's pet frog--no, Wirt and Greg's pet frog. Wirt then talks with Sara about the mixtape, but she interjects that she doesn't have a record player. But he says that they can play it at his house. But first, they'll have to get through other mixtapes he made, and then, go all the way to the top, and then they can--oh man! Now I'm typing like Wirt's talking. I guess that's how I write these reviews, I guess.
And in the end,
-Woodman reunites with his daughter,
-Lorna is still enjoying life with Auntie Whistles,
-Quincy Endicott and Fred the horse (now his tea packing horse) being the best of friends
-Beatrice and her family are humans once more,
Wirt and Greg are back home,
Wirt gets the girl, and Greg has a new pet.
You know, expected a big final face-off between Wirt, Greg, Beatrice and The Beast. Although that didn't happen, I was very satisfied with what I had. I'm very happy everyone has a happy ending. Just like I'm happy for this series. Man, this series is good. All the twists and turn that would make your head spin, all the funny moments (80% of them coming from Greg of course), all the shocking twists and the amazing places we've seen, this series has it all.
Final time for Random Thoughts
--Jason Funderburger is such a Fogell from Superbad.
--That rad 80's music from this chapter was so cool beans. I wish that was really a part of the soundtrack.
--HOLY SHIT, THAT FALL.
--I really like Beatrice family. They're so tight-knit and friendly; you wouldn't notice any bad things.. I understand why Beatrice had that self-exile now.
--I'd be lying if I'd say I wasn't like Wirt as a teenager.
--Even in the real world, Greg is boss
--I'be lying if I didn't say I'd cry like hell if Greg died under the Beast's power.
--Sara is a really hot gitl...She is lucky to have Wirt,
--Thank you, Patrick McHale for such a magnificent series. I applaud you, the producers who put this together, the writer for putting together uch a story, the animators for making such beautiful scenery, and the actors for putting so much work and effort into their characters and making them look so complex and believable. I've never seen an animated mini-series before (but I'm sure this won't be the last), and I've never seen one as put-together as this before. I can't think of how much I love this series now.
Well, thank you all for joining me for this 5-day engagement in to the annal of my mind for such a beautful series. I'm so grateful for the love and pageviews I've received and that you've put up with my terrible reviewing skills. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
So, I'll see you next time for the other crap I'm doing.
Goodnight!
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