Over the Garden Wall : Existentialism, responsibility and evil turtles

 WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD- IT'S A ROCK FACT!

(Though frankly, if you've not seen it by now, you should)

Patrick McHale's Over the Garden Wall is an amazing little show where there's a lot to be found in terms of details and deeper meanings. Some main themes include loss of hope, death and the afterlife, so, all the cheerful stuff... I'm going to be discussing my interpretation of the show whilst bringing these factors in to account. It may get existential and I may over-analyse... deal with it. 

Over the Garden Wall presents us with the journeys of our protagonists Wirt and Greg, facing challenges in the world of The Unknown (or the afterlife) as they try to figure out how to return home. The strange world of The Unknown offers subtle parallels to the events that led the boys there in the first place and challenges their (well, mostly Wirt's) perspectives of the world around them. I'll focus a little more on Wirt as he is the older of the two and has more struggles to overcome in his adolescent pessimism. He contrasts greatly from Greg as he can no longer see the world from Greg's lighter childish perspective, but we'll see more about their difference in character later. I'll talk about the episodes and the comic special in order, but in order to make things easier to explain, I'm actually going to start with the back story we see in episode 9... so yeah, spoilers.

The back story:

We see Wirt in his room.  In Wirt's room is a book on interior design, a clarinet, sheets of poetry stuck to the wall, and a poster for some kind of band called "The Black Turtles", all stuff that comes up later in the show and shows us a little about Wirt's character. Plus, in my interpretation, those black turtles are a lot more relevent than you might think. It's Halloween, which explains the boys' strange outfits, and Wirt has made a tape for his crush, Sara. After some indecision he finally brings himself to go give her the tape and, as he puts it, step "In to the Unknown"... I think this is a good example of Wirt's character (and foreshadowing). Wirt is a highschool teen, at this point in his life these things are so much bigger to him because his world is still so confined (he's also pretty dramatic), so when things go wrong it really brings him down...  Also, the outcome of his decision is completely unknown to him, and that's daunting. He just wants to know he's making the right decisions. Life is scary, Wirt.

Next we meet Greg, Wirt's younger step brother who has been helping Old Lady Daniels with her gardening in exchange for candy... despite the fact it's halloween. Greg also reveals that he got a rock with a little face on it which he calls his rock fact rock. Greg runs off with the tape and some kids who know Wirt see it and tease him, saying that Jason Funderburker already planned to ask Sara out. Feeling inadequate, Wirt wallows in his misery, before realising they left the tape with the other kids who put it in Sara's jacket and quickly have to rush back to get it. The tape has Wirt's poetry and clarinet on it and Wirt is scared that Sara and Jason will listen to it and make fun of him. If you haven't guessed, Wirt is extremely insecure, something that challenges him later in The Unknown. The two end up following Sara and her friends to a graveyard where they plan to, you know, just do age appropriate stuff that's not illegal... It's at this point where we get the clearest evidence that Wirt and Greg encounter the dead in The Unknown; The cemetery is called "The Eternal Garden" and the grave that Greg hides behind is that of Quincey Edecott, the tea maker we see in episode 5.

The police show up at the cemetery and the kids all run. Wirt and Greg climb up a tree and from there see Sara find the tape in her pocket. Wirt is distraught and, too ashamed to face his problems, he and Greg jump over the garden wall. (HAHA GET IT? GE-...Hngg...). Wirt shifts the blame to Greg, denying responsibility and claiming he and Greg's father keep prodding him to do things he doesn't want to do, like join marching band. The irony of this is that if Wirt did join, he would have gotten to know Sara more, just  like Greg says, but I guess Wirt's uncertainty of what would happen from there got in the way. Greg hears a frog and picks him as their lucky frog just as a train speeds round the corner and the boys realise they are on a train track. They jump out of the way just in time, rolling down a steep bank and into a river where they lose consciousness and enter The Unknown. This means the boys aren't just trying to find their way home, they're fighting for their lives.

There's a couple of other hints in this episode. The lyrics of the song that plays as they fall mention a train, saying "You don't need not ticket, boy, it'll take you when it's time". If we consider the train in this circumstance is a metaphor for death, all we have left to see is if it's the boys time to be taken depending on how they fair in The Unknown. There's also a lot of imagery and metaphors in the show linked with water, this could relate back to the boys drowning. Even the song at the beginning of episode 9 has the lyric "Sinking like a stone", but that could be both figurative and literal, as Wirt clearly isn't the happiest of kids, though he also sees himself as floating through life without direction... You can't really float and sink at the same time, but hey, it sounds about as decisive as Wirt himself.

So, We've got an insecure teen who craves direction, but is too afraid of where it would lead to take action, and a child who acts on instinct, only looking on the bright side of things as he has yet to experience the kind of doubt that comes with growing up. If my interpretation of the characters doesn't have much weight yet, hopefully it will as you keep reading. There's more backing me up in later episodes. So, let's go from the beginning.

The Opening 
Yes, I meant the very beginning (The pilot has been released, but I couldn't find that much to say about it. It's a pilot, so it's mostly just the set up for what would develop into the show). A few seconds in and it's clear there's a kind of dark folksy/fairy tale thing going on. We also see some areas of The Unknown and some of the characters the boys will encounter in the series. Amongst these things is a young woman and her dog. This is Beatrice, looking like she might just throw a rock at that bird that flies by behind her... which she does and it curses her and her whole family by turning them in to bluebirds. Come to think of it, does that mean the bluebird that cursed her used to be human too? Maybe it was Adelaide? If it could talk, that would imply that it was human once, as none of the other animals in The Unknown can talk... I'll get to Fred the horse later. 

Another thing we see in the opening is the woodsman's daughter, staring off into the woods. We know she gets lost, so she must have began losing hope and started turning in to an Edelwood tree. This would be when the Beast would have told the woodsman that he could keep her soul alive in the lantern so long as he fed it Edelwood oil (mirrored at the end with Greg and Wirt). Towards the end of the intro we seem to be under water, this is Wirt and Greg losing consciousness in the lake as the narration tells us about a place "few have seen" called The Unknown, where "long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood". Those long forgotten stories seem to be of long forgotten souls lost in the afterlife, but honestly, this afterlife seems quite pleasant for the most part... excluding all of the things that can kill you.

There's not much of an explicit indication of the time between the events in the intro and the boys' arrival, but at one point we hear that the woodsman has been fuelling the lantern for years, so the current Beast has been threatening The Unknown for quite some time before they arrive, meaning Beatrice and her family had spent a lot of time as bluebirds, too. I'll assume The Beast doesn't just exist in this one instance, but that it can have different incarnations. Like it can be overcome and reduced, but it can also grow and return, it just needs to be continuously kept at bay. I'll get back to this later, and you might start to see where those little black turtles come in. Something we don't hear in this opening as opposed to all the other shorter openings is the faint sound of a train passing by at the end. This is the train that Wirt and Greg were nearly hit by before entering The Unknown. Now I'm going to start looking at the episodes and hopefully explain myself clearly enough for my points to come across.

Episode 1: The Old Grist Mill
Whilst Greg is busy listing all of the worst names for his pet frog, Wirt suddenly realises they have no idea where they are. They've been walking through a dark eerie wood with no recollection of how they got there or where they are going. They come across the woodsman who is collecting wood from an Edelwood tree, but stay hidden until he leaves. This is when Beatrice shows up, offering to help the boys. Also we get our first sighting of one of the tiny black turtles, which Greg sticks a piece of candy to. The woodsman returns, scaring Beatrice away and warning them about The Beast. He takes them back to a millhouse that he found abandoned and had repurposed to grind up the edelwood for oil. This millhouse was abandoned because it's actually Beatrice's house from before her family were turned in to bluebirds. The woodsman explains that everyone has their torches to burn (symbolism!), we later find out that he needs edelwood oil to keep his lantern lit because it supposedly contains his daughter's soul. Wirt tries to make sense of their situation in his own Wirt kind of way. I think the dialogue here is pretty self explanatory:

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just like a boat upon a winding river, twisting towards an endless black sea. Further and further, drifting away, from where I want to be, Who I want to be".

So there's that for existentialism... plus he's pretty much venting like you would to a counsellor, terrified about his life going nowhere. Just drifting, like a child friendly Benjamin Bradock... Wirt is at that age where you start to wonder about life and he's clearly worried about the uncertainty of his future, but he's kind of stuck in a cycle. He feels like he's floating towards a black sea, but he's not doing anything about it because he doesn't know what he can do or how things will turn out, so he just keeps floating fatalistically. Oh Wirt, sometimes you just gotta do things, like Greg, who just sort of goes outside to find his frog... and runs in to a terrifying wolf monster. The boys mistake this for The Beast and try fight it off, realising it followed a trail of candy Greg left behind (The ones he got from old lady Daniels). In the process of fighting it off, the mill is destroyed and the monster is revealed to have been an ordinary dog (Beatrice's dog) turned beastly by consuming the little black turtle that Greg stuck the piece of candy to at the beginning of the episode. This means those turtles are something sinister, like little traces of evil or corruption that can grow in to something much more terrifying. Metaphors!

The boys find out that the true Beast still lurks out there and that they still need to be wary of him as he is the "death of hope". You'd think Wirt might own up to his mistake of letting Greg run off, but instead is quick to pass the blame, just like he did before. The woodsman tells him that as the older brother he is responsible for their actions and taking care of Greg. Wirt doesn't really want to take on these adult responsibilities. He barely takes responsibility for his own "drifting", let alone his younger stepbrother. Even earlier when he hears the dog/monster outside and the woodsman asks where Greg is, he just kinda shrugs like it's not his problem. Wirt, you've got a lot to learn... and Greg, he needs to learn to not goof off so much, I mean, when the monster attacked him he just complimented its beautiful eyes; it's like he didn't know he was in danger (though those eyes become very significant later). This won't be the only time Greg's naive lack of caution gets him in to trouble, it flat out nearly gets him killed later on. 

Episode 2: Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee
Wirt and Greg are looking for a town. Wirt finds a sign pointing to the town of Pottsfield. Now, the name for Pottsfield comes from the term "potter's field" which refers to a place of burial of unknown or poor people who could not afford properly marked graves. So that's more evidence for the whole afterlife thing. Greg finds Beatrice "stuck" in a thorn bush and she tells him that if he helps her she'll be honour bound to help them in return. She refers to them as "lost kids with no purpose in life", which for obvious reasons Wirt doesn't like, and promises to take them to Adelaide, the "good" woman of the woods. Wirt declines and they carry on towards Pottsfield. Beatrice even tries to get Greg to ditch Wirt so they can go to Adelaide on their own. Wirt may be pessimistic, but he's stubborn as hell and she knows it; if she could convince anyone to trust her and go to Adelaide, it's Greg. He hasn't learnt to distrust people yet. 

They arrive in Pottsfield after stepping in a few pumpkins and find the place seemingly deserted. Wirt's stubbornness really begins to come in to play here with Beatrice as she offers a kind of conflict and insecurity that Greg doesn't; unlike Greg, she questions his authority while having a fair amount of her own, she even seems more confident and in control than he is. Wirt wants to believe amongst all the confusion he knows what he's doing, despite not being all that confident about it. They eventually find the townspeople in a barn celebrating the harvest in pumpkin costumes.

At the celebration, one of the guests tells Wirt he's too early and that it doesn't seem like he's ready to join them yet. When he tells her they're just passing through, she tells him folks don't tend to pass through Pottsfield. Well, that's ominous, but it also means Wirt and Greg aren't ready to die yet, so that's good, right? After disrupting the peace, all three are sentenced to a few hours of manual labour. Wirt seems to be kidding himself, he thinks just by completing the tasks they've been given they'll be closer to getting home, when really they'll just go back to wandering the woods aimlessly. Wirt even considers staying in pottsfield, it's a nice safe option without conflict and he likes avoiding conflict... and responsibility. When digging in a field, Greg finds a skeleton, it's at this point Wirt admits to not knowing what he's doing and asks Beatrice to help, fearing they're being made to dig their own graves. Turns out they were digging up more residents for the town; all the residents are skeletons underneath those pumpkins.

Going back to the whole "Potter's field" thing, the townspeople may all be skeletons due to them having been buried in unmarked graves. Most of the people in The Unknown appear as humans, but as skeletons these people seem to only be identifiable by their fellow Pottsfieldians, still giving themselves more distinctive appearances in wearing the pumpkins. The episode ends with the three leaving to find Adelaide as we learn Beatrice has her own reasons to visit her. She's still pretty vague about it at this point, but we later find out it's to return her and her family to normal in exchange for two child slaves. Though in fairness, she did just think she wanted some yard work done.

Comic special

I'm placing the comic between episode 2 and 3 as it ends with Greg singing "Adelaide parade" and that's how episode 3 begins. The comic opens with Wirt and Greg being led through the wood by Beatrice with Wirt feeling a strange comfort in being lost. He finds the world of The Unknown simpler, "Just follow the bird", far from the fear of responsibility and, as he puts it, "Far from the mistakes and regrets of my past". I assume he's mostly talking about making the tape for Sara, but with Wirt being as insecure as he is, it's not unlikely for this to be his outlook on his life in general... he's a very negative guy.

They come across a large field and four bizarre sailors (A general, a round guy, a grenadier and a baby) sailing in a giant bicorne and end up having to sail with them after Greg decides to join their ranks. This is a good example of the difference between the brothers, Greg is more of an opportunist, jumping in to things with only positive expectations, Wirt on the other hand worries and over-thinks things; so much so that the boat-... bicorne nearly leaves him behind. Hmm, he joins the others just so he doesn't get left behind and continues to do what Beatrice says... He definitely believes Beatrice knows what she's doing. They just sail off in a way that makes no sense to him at all... and he still goes along with it. Metaphors?

We get another contrast in character as Greg discusses war with his frog, he thinks it's going to be fun with songs and stuff... Oh, Greg. Now, it's probably important to mention that the sailors are crazy and make as much sense as their ship, so they choose to do battle against a cow they find in the field. Wirt is just lost in his thoughts, daydreaming over the side of the boat, but one of the sailors assumes he's watching out for enemies and tells him he'll make "Lieutenant". Meanwhile Greg is called a coward (Cow-ard?) for not wanting to fight the cow and for "losing" a flag he was never given in the first place. This is when the sailor starts to tell Greg to be more like Wirt, saying he could make "Captain" this time, despite the fact he didn't really do anything. Wirt is probably the kind of guy that people expect a lot from, like he'll achieve something great, but that he doesn't need to do much in order to get that praise. He's the older brother people could use as an example of what Greg should be, making it seem like he knows what he's doing in life when really, like most teens, he doesn't, adding more pressure and creating more insecurities for him. 

The ship crashes in to an apple tree. The sailors want to fight it, prompting Greg to pick up an apple and throw it at the tree, causing it to "retaliate" as even more apples fall from it. They retreat, Greg again being told to be more like "Major" Wirt and just do as he's told. Greg starts to think they'll never find any good enemies to fight, fearing he might be an enemy himself. Despite Wirt having risen through the ranks with no real effort, he's still focussed on Sara, still insecure about the tape and wishes she could see what he's become as opposed to what she knows him as in real life. Beatrice takes advantage of Wirt's willingness to do as he's told and they change the course of the ship whilst everyone else is sleeping. Beatrice tells Wirt to head east towards the moon, she also tells him he's like Greg. Offended, Wirt disagrees, saying he's the complete opposite, staying out of trouble, avoiding conflict and wanting to stay out of people's lives. He must not want people to think he's weird for playing clarinet, having a knowledge of interior design and liking poetry; he doesn't trust people to be accepting of his personal decisions... not surprising since Beatrice is pretty blunt about things, (though their back and forth's are hilarious). 

Beatrice leaves Wirt to steer the ship for the night, allowing him to recite some poetry to himself. He refers to himself as "A misplaced soul sailing parts unknown with the hope, and the dread, of returning home". Again we get the sailing imagery, but we also see he's not even sure if he wants to go back to his ordinary life and take responsibility for what he has done and has yet to do in life. He keeps sailing until sunrise and sees an enemy ship... It's a wash tub. He's too timid to wake the others and is so fixed on following Beatrice's orders that he crashes straight in to it. I feel like it's another metaphor, Wirt literally won't stray from a course he's been told to follow because he's afraid of making his own judgements. In his eyes, Beatrice knows what she's doing and he has no reason to question her, even if it means steering towards incoming obstacles. It Turns out the enemy tub is being manned by Greg who is apprehended. The sailors marvel at finally winning a battle and Wirt is promoted to "General", only to be instantly discharged for supposedly trying to undermine the original general's authority simply by being promoted... because people can be awful and make no sense and have double standards.

So the sailors set off, leaving Wirt, Beatrice and Greg behind. Beatrice tries to find out if they've gotten any closer to Adelaide, but they're actually back exactly where they started. Wirt took Beatrice's directions literally and followed the moon as it moved across the sky, because common sense was outweighed by the fear of doing something wrong... but he did something wrong anyway. They keep walking and Greg starts singing.

Episode 3: Schooltown Follies
Here we have a happier more Greg centric episode! We start supposedly where the comic ended, with Greg still singing as they continue walking. Wirt keeps trying to tie his shoe, but leaves it everytime Beatrice tells him to hurry up. Beatrice tells Greg to be more like Wirt, "Just always doing what you're told, just a pathetic pushover who relies on others to make all his decisions". We've already seen some examples of Wirt's supposed lack of will power, but in this episode we see his stubborn side. Greg says being like Wirt doesn't sound fun:

"The world is a miserable place, Greg. Life isn't fun"

"Then I'll do what I need to do, I guess"

Being the optimist, Greg takes the news pretty well, knowing he can contribute to making the world better. So already he's dealing with this in a better way than Wirt would. It's in Greg's childish non-overthinking-angsty-teen way of viewing the world that he has the strength to pull through and keep a positive mindset. He wanders off without the others and searches for a way to make the world a better place. Wirt and Beatrice come across a schoolhouse and look inside for Greg, but find a bunch of animals being taught by Ms. Langtree instead (None of these animals talk, by the way). After being patronised by Beatrice, Wirt decides to do exactly what the teacher tells him to just to spite her. Ms. Langtree doesn't really teach anything, she mostly just laments about her boyfriend who she thinks has left her...

Whilst Wirt is busy being stubborn, Greg is with bunch of animal students playing hooky. We also see another little black turtle, which one of the animals quickly kicks away; it's like it knew it was a threat. Greg decides to play "too old cat", based on a game of "One old cat, two old cat" he overheard being talked about back at the halloween party. Greg clearly has no idea what the game is, he just thinks it sounds fun and involves actual old cats. As he and the animals search for old cats, they come across a "gorilla" that's been on the loose. They manage to knock out the gorilla before running inside to join the others for lunch. The lunchroom is a really dull setting; it's grey, Ms. Langtree is playing sad music on the piano, and the students are stuck eating bland plain mashed potatoes. This is the perfect opportunity for Greg to make the world a better place, lightening the atmosphere with a song about potatoes and Molasses. We also see that the animals are talented musicians, and Greg is the one to help them realise they could make more light out of their dull situation rather than submit to it. Even Wirt joins in, though in his own way, of course. He could have grabbed a Clarinet and started playing, but that's much more of a Greg kind of thing to do. Wirt instead just kind of plays along by tapping a spoon on some glasses, that way he's part of it, but not drawing too much attention to himself.

The music is interrupted by Ms. Langtree's father as he confiscates the instruments for
distracting them from their purpose, teaching animals to count and spell, and sends them all to bed. Greg feels a little downhearted, thinking he just made things worse. This would be where someone like Wirt would give up, but Greg is the optimist, remember? Instead of giving up, Greg realises he just needs to work even harder. Beatrice starts to get annoyed with Wirt, but she realises he's not just a pushover after all. He'll not only do as he's told just to make a point, he'll do as he's told because he finds security in it; he's not being pushed around, he's sticking to what he knows, even if it means he's still just "drifting".

Greg steals the instruments back and sets up an aid benefit the next morning. All the animals play in a band and people give them money, and life seems to be as sweet as potatoes and molasses. Then the "gorilla" shows up again. Wirt trips on his still untied shoelace and falls on the "gorilla", revealing it to be Ms. Langtree's boyfriend who got stuck in a gorilla suit after performing in a circus, this also being the reason he was gone for so long... okay then. So he and Ms. Langtree are together again, the school is getting money, the animals are doing something they're good at and Wirt finally ties his freakin' shoe... after Beatrice tells him to. Damn it, Wirt!

Episode 4: Songs of the Dark Lantern
The three end up at a tavern and need to ask for directions. Wirt starts being self conscious again and says he'll only go in if Beatrice is the one to ask. Unfortunately for him, after the tavernlady forces Beatrice out, he has to be the one to ask for directions. The tavernlady asks Wirt who he is, but she doesn't just mean his name; everyone in the tavern has their own kind of label: "Butcher", "Tailor" ect. Here's another point for Wirt's existentialism and overall lack of confidence; yes you're you, Wirt, but who are you really? What are you? This works on a general level too. Wirt is clearly a bit of a wallflower, he doesn't exactly know how to define himself yet and doesn't like labels, but still, everybody's something right? He's just himself and feels that's a good thing to be, even if he could stand to be more confident about it. Like the highway man, he's confident with who he is... a creepy murderer.

Wirt does what most people do in a situation where everyone looks scary; he goes to the nicest looking person. He goes to a toymaker who gives him the label of Lover. Despite the fact this is a mistake in the current situation, it's pretty accurate regarding Sara and Wirt's struggle to admit he likes her. The song that follows is like people teasing him for his crush, making a bigger deal out of it than necessary; this is one of Wirt's biggest insecurities playing out if front of him. He's so afraid of other peoples reactions to most things about himself and doesn't want to be the centre of attention. Wirt is pushed by the others to sing his "Love song", but instead uses this opportunity to sing about needing directions.  After this, he is given the label of "Pilgrim" and likes it. It's the first little glimpse of optimism for him as he's told he's the hero of his own story and that he can take charge and finally steer that metaphorical boat he drifts in so aimlessly. Responsibility!
  
Wirt and Greg tell the people in the tavern about some of their adventures, eventually mentioning The Beast, which everyone is taken aback by. They all know of The Beast, but this is the first time we get a more detailed example of the threat The Beast poses. He preys on lost souls, lying and aiming to keep them lost in The Unknown, breaking down their hope to turn them in to Edelwood trees to make oil for his lantern. The Beast is the death of hope itself, any overpowering negativity that consumes a person, causing them to be lost in darkness forever unless they can best him. The boys learn that the dark lantern, now in the hands of the woodsman, is usually carried by The Beast itself and this gives them a reason to question if they can really trust him, especially considering he gave them directions that seem to have gotten them even more lost.

They hear Beatrice scream outside, and Wirt uses his newfound confidence to take a horse from the stable and save her. They stop by an Edelwood tree, visibly covered in the distorted faces of the lost souls it contains. They find the woodsman; he's clearly trying to help, but they see Beatrice unconscious on the ground and mistakenly assume he's turning her in to an Edelwood tree. They attack him, grabbing Beatrice and kicking the lantern from the woodsman's hand, setting the Edelwood tree alight. They ride off towards Adelaide. Beatrice awakens and we see that Wirt finally managed to get some directions from Fred. That's the horse. Like Beatrice, he can talk. Considering he also knows about Adelaide, I'm assuming he was once human, and did something bad to be turned in to a horse. Because of his fascination with stealing in the next episode, he probably tried to steal something from Adelaide...

Lastly, we see The Beast asking to take to the lantern back from the woodsman as he's running out of Edelwood trees; if he takes it back, the woodsman will lose hope and become part of the wood himself, though he doesn't know that yet. The woodsman won't give up so easily, he fought The Beast for the lantern in the first place and still believes his daughter's soul is inside. The Beast goes to follow Wirt, Greg and Beatrice.

Episode 5: Mad love 
There's not as much to be said about this episode, you know, other than the fact that they're in the mansion of the man whose grave they hid behind... Does that mean Margeritte Grey's grave was the one next to it? Anyway, they ended up at this mansion because they need to board a ferry to get to Adelaide, but to do so they need two pennies (like the river Styx). Beatrice, and Fred of course, want to steal the money from the owner with Wirt and Greg posing as his nephews. Quincey Endecott, the tea maker owner of the mansion, is going a little bit crazy because he thinks there's a ghost in his mansion (HA! It's funny because they're all dead! Haha...no?) so Greg and Fred go with him to investigate while Wirt and Beatrice look for some pennies.

They manage to get stuck in a closet and end up just having to deal with each other for a while. This means Wirt actually opening up about stuff... to Beatrice of all people. He tells her he has a crush... and that's it. Also that he plays clarinet and whispers poetry to himself in his room at night. These are some of the things Wirt is most insecure about, but Beatrice reassures him that he shouldn't think those things are weird (though the poetry part is kinda weird), but they make him who he is, they're character traits. We also get the reveal of Beatrice's story (I know I've already mentioned it), that she used to be human and that throwing a rock at bluebird got her and her family cursed, so yeah, she's got a little more going on that Wirt. Beatrice is trying everything she can to set things right, not even allowing herself to go home to her family until she does so. She made a mistake and she's taking responsibility for it rather than wallowing, something Wirt could learn from her.

They feel a breeze from a loose board and pull it open to get out. Once they're free, Wirt notices there's something off about the room. The interior design. He's got a book on it, so he knows what he's talking about, mmkay? The design is french rococo, not fitting in with Quincey's Georgian style, which leads them to realise they're actually in a different mansion. After Greg and Fred accuse Quincey of having murdered the "ghost" who was haunting the house, Beatrice and Wirt show up with Margeritte Grey, Quincey's neighbour and business competitor. It turns out their mansions are so big, they connect, and they mistook each other for ghosts. As thanks for helping them, Greg gets two pennies, and Fred even decides to stop stealing in favour of becoming an honest hardworking tea horse. All seems well until Greg takes the pennies and throws them in to a fountain because he disagrees with Quincey saying that he has "good sense", instead stating that he's got no sense at all... Well, he's certainly honest... No sense, no cents. Ha ha! I'll see myself out.

Episode 6: Lullaby in Frogland
In this episode we see that the three have snuck on the ferry (filled with frog people) to get to Adelaide without paying. The ferry they're riding on is actually seen in the first opening as a toy being played with on a river, so they've all shrunk down to frog size in this episode. Even Greg's frog is taller than him now... The Unknown is a strange place. Everything finally seems to be working out as they get closer to getting home, but Beatrice is bothered by something, that something being that she is beginning to feel guilty about lying to the boys after having bonded with them. The boys are still completely unaware that she is tricking them and Wirt is happier than ever, he even joins in with Greg's singing and actually manages to laugh. Wirt, you okay? This obviously only makes it harder for Beatrice and will only make it all the more painful when they find out. Eventually the three (or four including the frog) are caught for sneaking on and have to hide. 

They hide under Wirt's cloak, using the frog to pretend they are a member of the band on the ferry. Beatrice tells Wirt to face his problems instead of hiding, but I don't think she's just saying that. It might not seem like a good day to get arrested by frogs, but if it delays them getting to Adelaide, she's fine with it. After the bassoonist is knocked overboard (Frogs are really slippy), we get a little more of Wirt dealing with his insecurities, particularly in his clarinet playing skills. He has to replace the bassoonist, because DOG, THOSE FROGS REALLY LOVE THE BASSOON! At first Wirt doesn't want to play, saying it'll get them kicked off the boat, but Beatrice "reassures" him that she wants to hear him play, as do Greg and the frog. About Beatrice's "reassurance", I think she only wants him to play because she thinks it'll get them kicked off, then they can't get to Adelaide. She really cares about them now.

Wirt starts playing, their frog starts to sing and everybody loves it. Wirt thanks Beatrice for "supporting" his music, but she's actually pretty let down to find out that he's good at playing. This means they're still on course for Adelaide's house. The ferry reaches it's destination and the frogs all get off and start to bury themselves in mud to hibernate. Beatrice stalls the boys by making them wait until tomorrow to see Adelaide and we later see Beatrice and Wirt talking about Sara. Beatrice tells him that he sounds like a loser back home, again trying to get him to stay and not even bother trying to get back. Wirt, obviously, is easily swayed, which is sad because it means he sees that little worth in his life on the other side.

Whilst the boys are sleeping, Beatrice flies off to Adelaide and they eventually wake and follow her. She offers herself in their place to get the scissors to "snip away", ouch, her family's wings to make them human again. Wirt and Greg find her in the house and Adelaide traps them. Beatrice opens a window, the fresh night air killing Adelaide, but Wirt and Greg have already cut themselves free with the magic scissors. They run off, leaving her behind. Wirt may have had trust issues before, but now he really doesn't know who to trust. First the woodsman, now Beatrice. They walk off in to the fog, trying to find their own way home.

Episode 7: The Ringing of the Bell
Winter is approaching and the boys still have no idea how to get back. On their way to find shelter, the woodsman warns them that The Beast is ready to claim them, but only if they lose hope. If they give up on finding their way home, or fighting for their lives, The Beast will take them and the boys will die. They come across an old broken down house. Usually Wirt would be the cautious one, but in this case he wants so much to feel like he knows what he's doing that he just goes in, it's Greg who questions going in... you know, considering most other houses they've been in haven't exactly been welcoming. Wirt had to man the helm, so he's manning the helm, he's just steering headlong in to obstacles again...

Inside the house, Greg finds baskets filled with those tiny ominous black turtles. Seeing as they clearly have some kind of connection with The Beast and even had the ability to transform Beatrice's dog in to a monster, this seems a little unsettling. I didn't mention her before, but there was a girl in a catacomb in the first opening. Well, that's Lorna. The work she's doing to keep herself busy is arranging the bones of the people she has devoured under the influence of a demon... Nice.   Lorna enters the room after sorting the bones and warns the boys that Auntie Whispers is coming and they hide amongst the turtles. Our initial impression of Auntie whispers is that she is evil; she mentions people being devoured alive, commands Lorna with a bell, and even eats the black turtles without them having any effect on her. She must be pretty evil, right? After Auntie Whispers goes to sleep, the boys emerge and Wirt makes a plan for them all to escape together. Wirt even seems to have a little thing for Lorna for a bit, almost like he's letting go of Sara...

The frog runs off upstairs and Greg follows, waking Auntie Whispers. They lock themselves in a room away from her as she warns them that Lorna will devour them. It's revealed that Lorna is possessed by an evil spirit and Auntie Whispers had been using the bell to control it. Keeping Lorna busy prevented the spirit from making her eat people. Well boys, it was nice knowing you. Wirt and Greg jump out of a window and escape, and we see that the frog swallowed the bell. They ring the bell/frog and command the spirit to stop making Lorna do bad stuff... and also go away and don't come back. The spirit leaves and Lorna is saved, but this also means that she won't need to stay with Auntie Whispers anymore; she never wished the spirit away herself out of fear of being alone and no longer needed. Lorna decides she will stay with Auntie Whispers as they warn Wirt about Adelaide, who it turns out is Auntie Whisper's sister, which explains something:

It's no mystery that Adelaide wasn't really the "good" woman of the woods that Beatrice said she was, she's more of the wicked witch in this case. This means the real good woman of the woods is actually Auntie Whispers, which would explain why she collects the black turtles. With the turtles being little adorable blobs of parasitic evil that can corrupt people, Auntie Whispers collects them to prevent them from finding hosts; she can eat them without being affected just because she is a force of good in The Unknown. She eats evil, that's kinda badass.

For obvious death related reasons, the warning about Adelaide is a little late, but it gives Wirt a painful reminder that he was tricked by Beatrice and can't trust her. This also reminds him that they are no closer to getting home. Despite having done good and helped people, Wirt goes back to feeling lost and hopeless without a plan as The Beast looms ever closer... Literally, he's stood nearby watching them. 

Episode 8: Babes in the Wood
Here we have another Greg centric episode, and this one provides us with the most to talk about him. As Beatrice looks for the boys, they are drifting (hey, more drifting imagery) along a lake in a wooden outhouse. Talk about a poop deck... Is the outhouse a metaphor for life or how they're feeling? Maybe, I don't know, Whatever. Greg is still hopeful that they can find their way, but Wirt is right back to where he started, if not lower, seeing their fate with The Beast as inevitable (just a little side note, this entire time Wirt's in shadow). They hit land and Greg thinks they're almost home, but Wirt is now convinced they are lost forever, blaming Greg for them getting lost in the first place. He's clearly not about to take responsibility for the situation, so gives up completely, sleeping at the foot of a tree. He's pretty much just waiting for The Beast to take him, just waiting for death...

Greg decides to take on the responsibility of being the leader and finding their way home, so rests besides Wirt to dream up a good plan. It's in Greg's dreamland that we see the deeper extent of his childish optimism. I don't mean to paint his childishness in a negative light, it's clearly a very good thing as it keeps him hopeful and gives him motivation, and Wirt would benefit so much from trying to see things in the same way, but it's not that simple. Bringing someone back from the darkest corners of their mind isn't as easy as telling them to cheer up, and pushing through struggles is more than just being positive and believing that you can make it.

In his dream, Greg is taken to Cloud City, where everything is all jolly and cutesy and in the style of a 1920's cartoon. Cloud City is filled with colourful animals and angels cheerfully awaiting his arrival and everything is overly happy. There's also a disturbing dog thing, which I suppose shows us that not all of Greg's mind is sunshine and rainbows... just like 98% of it. The people of Cloud City break out in to song about how "everything is nice and fine all the time" and everybody's really happy and perfect and all that glittery vomit. Again, Greg being as positive as he is is great, but he's a child and therefore, very naive. Being positive and assuming everything is fine will prevent him from being dragged down like Wirt, but it will also prevent him from seeing the real problems at hand and focussing on fixing those problems. Just ignoring the bad things doesn't make them go away and given the fact that the boys' lives are on the line, that's a dangerous thing to do. 

Greg ends up knocking open a gate which reads "Do not open", releasing the old north wind and bringing sadness to Cloud City. This isn't just the cold weather getting to Greg, this is the part of his mind that he usually keeps locked away, the negative side of him that we never see. I think Greg realises that pretending everything is okay doesn't make it so, and his fight with the old north wind shows this. He bottles away these negative feelings to regain his usual happy demeanour and really try to make things better. Greg is visited by the Queen of the clouds who will grant him a wish for saving Cloud City. He wants to wish for himself and Wirt to be sent home, but Wirt has become too lost and is turning in an Edelwood tree, ever closer to being consumed by The Beast. Greg, quite painfully, realises that not everything is possible if you set your mind to it, and has to think of a way around it. Greg wishes for himself to be taken in place of Wirt, still believing that everything will be okay in trusting that The Beast will show them the way home. Like I said, blind optimism can be a dangerous thing, he doesn't even fear The Beast. He trusts him.

When Wirt awakes it has begun to snow and Greg has already left. For the first time, Greg going missing is no longer an inconvenience to Wirt; he is much more aware of the dangers of The Unknown and The Beast has become a genuine threat. This is the worst thing that could happen and Wirt knows it now. He tears the branches from himself and goes looking for Greg. He slips on a frozen lake, hitting his head falling through the ice. Damn, not everyone can say they drowned twice. Wirt is fished out in a net by Beatrice and a giant fisher-fish... just..yeah. He's fine, though.

Episode 9: Into The Unknown
This is where we see all of the stuff that I mentioned at the beginning of this entry, but it carries on a little bit after that, so this'll be short.

Wirt wakes up inside a tree filled with Bluebirds. They, of course, are Beatrice's family, and Wirt finds out that Beatrice has still yet to return to them. Wirt leaves the tree with Greg's frog to go out in the snow storm and look for Greg, finally taking a bit of responsibility.

Episode 10: The Unknown
Beatrice finds Greg with The Beast. Greg doesn't lose hope easily, so The Beast attempts to use fairy tale style riddles to try and make him give up. He gives him the seemingly impossible task of catching the sun in a small cup, but Greg solves it with forced perspective. The Beast keeps working Greg out in the snow because he knows that's the only way to break him, to physically exert him to the point exhaustion and hypothermia. Greg is convinced that if he just waits and is hopeful, things will work out in the end. I don't think it's like he knew Wirt would find him either, I think it's more like he thought if he could just keep his head held high, The Beast would disappear and no longer threaten him. Again, good sentiment, but it doesn't always work; sometimes you gotta fight!

Wirt and Beatrice find each other and Beatrice tells him where Greg is. Meanwhile, the Woodsman is down to his last few pieces of Edelwood and is struggling to make oil to keep the lantern lit. He hears The Beast singing nearby. His song is basically made up of lines telling you that bad things disappear if you give up and die...nice and mocking. The woodsman sees Greg turning in to an Edelwood tree and realises he's been using lost souls to light his lantern this whole time without knowing. EDELWOOD IS PEOPLE! As he goes to release Greg from the tree, The Beast tries to take back his lantern, but the woodsman fights him off. 

Wirt and Beatrice find Greg and quickly try to free him. Greg thinks he has beaten The Beast, but his body is succumbing to the cold. Seeing Greg as broken down as he is makes Wirt finally take responsibility for their situation, owning up to it being his fault that the two ended up lost in the first place. Greg also owns up to something; his rock fact rock that he had this entire time actually belonged to Old lady-, wait, young man Daniels. It was a garden ornament that he stole when helping her with her yard work. Greg feels guilty for what he did and must have had this on his mind the whole time and so, this is the final thing that could break him completely. Not only that, but he tells Wirt to give the rock back for him; Greg has given up. He knows he might not make it anymore and The Beast will claim him after all.

The woodsman collapses nearby from his fight with the Beast. The Beast tells Wirt that Greg is too weak to leave and will become part of the forest, but that if he agrees to become the new lantern bearer and take over from the woodsman, he can keep Greg's soul alive inside. Wirt reluctantly agrees before realising something is up. He doesn't want to wonder around aimlessly lost for the rest of his life, he's not going to be dragged down anymore! He is getting out of there! He's grabbing a freaking oar and giving his ever drifting boat his own direction! Wirt realises that it's actually The Beast's soul inside the lantern and that it's obsession with bringing down others is to keep it's own soul alight. It's what keeps it alive. It thrives on other people's loss and misfortune and that's just sad. The Beast threatens Wirt with facing true darkness unless he obliges, but Wirt notices something; The Beast's eyes. 

They look familiar, don't they? It has the same eyes we saw when Beatrice's dog was corrupted by a black turtle. I think The Beast is more than just some evil corrupting force, The Beast itself is corrupt. It's true form is revealed to be an edelwood tree, covered in contorted faces like the one we saw in episode 4. Taking this in to account along with it's eyes, I'm under the impression that the Beast is an edelwood tree (maybe even the woodsman's daughter?) that has gained sentience from the corruption of one or many of the black turtles around The Unknown. Think about it, we've seen that they can change people and everyone else is wary of them. My assumption is that they corrupted the souls making up the tree, making them vengeful and creating The Beast, dedicated to dragging everyone else down with them. The Beast is literally kept alive by the loss of others, even forcing the burden of the lantern on to other people instead of doing it itself. It's all the bitterness of the black turtles, smaller pieces of darkness growing into something more monstrous, though not as threatening as it would initially seem. The Beast is just as scared and weak as it's victims and, gazing in to it's eyes, Wirt sees this. All he has to do is blow out the flame and take away it's ability to manipulate others through fear.

Wirt gives the lantern back to the Woodsman, this is his problem to face, Wirt's got his own responsibilities now. Wirt frees Greg and gives Beatrice the scissors to turn her family human (he's had them since Adelaide, but he was sorta mad at her). The beast sill tries to get the Woodsman to do his dirty work for him, to "cut down" those who have already perished, but the woodsman blows out the lantern, still believing he'll never see his daughter again. The Beast is destroyed. Wirt says goodbye to Beatrice, and suddenly regains consciousness in the lake, taking Greg and pulling him out of the water. Later, Wirt wakes up in hospital, and the first thing he does is ask where Greg is. Responsibility! Greg, naturally, is his chipper self again, telling the others about what happened in The Unknown. What's cool about this is that it shows all of the events were real; we even see the magic bell is still in the frog's stomach. So everything seems fine for our protagonists; Wirt even refers to the frog as "our frog", he's not embarrassed by being around Greg anymore. Wirt is even more confident when talking to Sara about the tape... well, a little bit. He manages to tell her that they can listen to it at his house, but that they should listen to some other tapes first. Don't want to come across too strong, you know?

Finally, we get some glimpses back in to The Unknown. We see the woodsman alone back at his house when his daughter appears from the inside, no longer lost. This either means she was The Beast or this bit was added in for executives who thought it would be too sad if she never returned... We see the other inhabitants of The Unknown, too, including Beatrice and her family having returned home and become human again. They're over having been bluebirds, but still tease her about it. Last of all, we see Greg putting back his rock fact rock in Mrs Daniels' garden; just like Wirt, he owned up and took responsibility for his actions. Now there's something about the final lyric in the song that plays over the ending: "The loveliest lies of all". What exactly are the loveliest lies of all? Fictional stories? Rock facts? Hmmm. I don't have an answer.

So, there's my interpretation of Over the Garden wall. I hope you found this interesting... I know it's kind of abrupt, but I don't really know how else to end this entry, so... play me out, Jason!

*Intense frog music plays*