Contrary to popular belief, the Unknown isn’t just purgatory or the afterlife. It’s mentioned in the first episode it is simply a land of the lost and forgotten. This has been confirmed by the creator. Forgotten people includes those who are dead (like a rich guy with no family), but also art and stories. It’s why there’s a ton of niche references to old animation and art. For example, the frog boat is based off of greeting cards produced by a company that no longer is around. A lot of things within the Unknown are up to interpretation, speculation is encouraged.
You got the Beast pretty right! It embodies depression and possibly suicide, but not _specifically_ darkness: In his song (I forgot if that's in the show or just on the soundtrack) he sings, "There is a light for the lost and the meek," i.e. the idea of death as an _escape_ from life, seemingly good (light) for those who desire it. "Sorrow and fear, Are easily forgotten, When you submit to the soil of the earth. " As TVTropes puts it further: "Effectively, the Beast is the embodiment of that moment where a person falls so deep into despair and pain, physical or emotional, that death becomes the only salvation in their mind. You know... for kids."
@@WeeLassReacts I'm so sorry to hear that! My most heartfelt condolences! And yeah, Over the Garden Wall is beautifully symbolic! I'll admit, I only got pretty much all of it only by reading stuff post-watching...
A common thing about Wirt seems to be his lack of belief in himself and how others perceive him. For example during the party, he assumed that people wouldn’t want him there because he “wasn’t invited“, and yet when he shows up to the party everybody is happy to see him and greet him warmly. When Sarah starts talking to Wirt and Jason Funderberker shows up, he assumes that she already likes Jason and refuses her invitation to join them at the graveyard (even though we as the audience can tell that she clearly likes him and wants to spend more time with him). Poor Wirt, social anxiety sucks 🫤 Edit: The name of the graveyard is “The Eternal Garden Cemetery,” and at 4:55 you can see Quincy Endicott’s (the rich guy they got the pennies from) name on the gravestone Greg’s hiding behind. Also when the woodsman says “she was never in the lantern, was she beast?” That’s the moment he realized that he’d been grinding up the souls of lost children for *years* based on the lie that he was keeping his own child’s spirit alive. Also bonus fact: during the hospital scene if you go back and watch, Jason Funderberker is actually holding the hand of the person who said “you can hold my hand Funderburker, I don’t care” in episode nine. 😊
The opening of episode 9 is so jarring in the best way possible. There's lots of little hints throughout the series that tell you Wirt and Greg are from modern day (or at least possibly the 70s/80s). You correctly noticed that Wirt and Greg didn't put the same worth in two pennies that other residents of the Unknown did. Another one is how in episode 2 they're trying to find a phone, which definitely isn't contemporary to the time period the Unknown is trapped in. One little detail I love is how you can hear a train during every title card. It's because it was one of the last things Wirt and Greg heard before falling into the river.
@@Super50ldierI don't think so. Wirts giving Sarah a tape and the cop car looks like a 70s-80s body style. Not to mention even the fashion looks more 80s
I’m sure someone has mentioned it, but the gravestone Greg is hiding behind at 4:59 is for Quincy Endicott, who you might remember from episode 5. Make of that what you will…
I dont know if anyone else has talked about this yet, but the whole "losing hope turns you into a tree" thing is likely at least inspired by Dante Alegieri's Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno. Since, in one of the inner rings, there is a forest of trees that are the souls of those who committed suicide. It just really hammers home the connection of the beast to that topic.
popular theory suggests that the Unknown is a sort of purgatory; that Wirt and Greg were teetering on the edge between life and death, and that to succumb to the Edelwood would be to lose their lives; further evidence of this was that in early versions of the series, the Unknown was referred to as "The In-Between," which implies that Wirt and Greg would be 'in-between' life and death. Along earliest versions, the Beast was originally intended to be named "Old Scratch", with a cartoony, Devil-like appearance instead dead bark for a body. The Unknown's various characters and scenery give homage to various historical elements of the past. The Woodsman and his daughter seem to be from colonial times, though the generic nature of their clothing makes it uncertain. Pottsfield references colonial times, as well as the concept of a "potter's field," an unmarked burial ground for the poor. Langtree's haircut implies that she lived in the late Victorian era; the character herself could be a reference to Beatrix Potter, a Victorian-era author who wrote and illustrated books with anthropomorphic animals, including the Peter Rabbit books. The denizens of the Tavern are a likely reference to The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 tales by Geoffery Chaucer; the titles of each story (sans the General Prologue) follow a specific format (ex: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, etc), much like how the inhabitants of the Tavern go by their roles (the Butcher, the Baker, etc) rather than actual names. Quincy Endicott is from the Georgian Era, and Margueritte Grey is from the French Rococo period. The anthropomorphic frogs on the ferry bear a resemblance to the early 1900's, in which stories and illustrations featuring human-like animals in fancy dress were common. Lorna's dress provides an intimation that she and Auntie Whispers are from the mid-1600s, with their Puritan-style dress. Beatrice and her family look to be from the Regency Era. Quincy Endicott is known for selling tea to make his fortune but there is no sign of any civilized areas. Most of the building in the Unknown are alone in the wilderness. The only town (excluding Cloud City) is Pottsfield which is small and rural.
I’m glad you said it was a theory. A lot of ppl I’ve seen who have called it purgatory state it as fact, when it isn’t. Even though the show is very explicit in what the unknown is in the first episode.
Honestly The Unknown being a purgatory makes so much sense. The Beast is so uncomfortable to look at when he's not cast in shadows, but even when he is, he's a different sort of uncomfortable, and I love him. He's an ominous villain. I will never get over how amazing this short series was, it's just so creepy and wonderful. IDK if you've ever seen them but I cannot recommend checking out Amphibia or Centaurworld enough if you want more stuff to watch.
No, it doesn't, if it was purgatory then the Beast wouldn't have said that "All who perish here become trees for the lantern" and Lorna would never have been possessed and the Beast wouldn't have possessed Beatrice's dog.
Now that you've seen the whole show, go back and watch the intro in episode 1 again. You'll recognize all the short scenes now! Also, in episode 9 there are a ton of call backs to the rest of the show. At the party some boys mention the game "2 old cat" which Greg tries to play with the animals (he gets it wrong ofc). In the graveyard the headstones Greg and Wirt hide behind have the name Quincy Endicott on them (the tea mongul). In the hospital in ep 10 you can see Greg shake the frog showing he still has the witch's bell in his stomach. I'm sure there are a few more details like that I'm forgetting. If you're interested, there a bunch of good break downs on YT. My personal favorite part of the show is how they deal with Wirt's paranoia and self delusion. We get the sense he's kind of melancholy and in his own head as early as episode 1, but since the only other things we learn about him are the things he tells us we still have the idea that he's an outcast. When he talks Beatrice about Sara and Funderberker, we feel that he's kind of a loser who other people don't like. But then in episode 9 we see his interactions, and its immediately obvious (without them having to have a character say it) that Wirt is just entirely in his own head! Sure the girls tease him a bit, but they're totally willing to talk to him. The kids at the party immediately welcome him as soon as he shows up even though he "wasn't invited to this party" (according to him). And Sara obviously digs him and finds Funderberker weird - cause he is. Like a lot of kids, a lot of Wirt's loneliness is self imposed, and he has to get out of his own head and chose to live in order to escape that. And so his relationships end up tying back into the Beast and the Unknown. It's so well done and such a good message many kids need to hear. Also, in case you ever get the urge to listen to clarinet and Elijah Wood reciting poetry: th-cam.com/video/t4aHhM624oI/w-d-xo.html Glad you enjoyed the show! It's a yearly watch for me and I love experiencing it with new people.
9 and 10 are the best episodes no one can tell me otherwise. I love that they quite literally go over the garden wall, the cemetery can be called a "garden" and the cemetery is even called "eternal garden" And Greg acknowledging he was dying, telling Wirt to take the rock back because he stole it and knew he wouldn't be able to bring it back himself. He was a really strong little boy, sacrificing himself for his brother. It feels like the show was made so the big overarching plotline can be interpreted a lot of different ways, it's a really wonderful show
I love the Beast, from the start he have a really kick ass presentation, hiding in the shadow, covered in darkness, always calm yet menacing, almost eldritch. And that's reinforced by how the other characters are scared of him, treat him like a boogey man that reign over the forest and the unknown. But then the truth about the Beast is reveal and it is so great and work perfectly with one of the big theme of this show: *_Things aren't what they seems._* That's probably the most obvious theme of OtGW tbh, almost every episode have some misdirection (the people of pottsfield, the school with the director and the "gorilla", auntie whisper, etc...) but also bigger plot point, like Beatrice, a cute talking blue bird named after the character that lead Virgil and Dante to Heaven in the classic "The Divine Comedy" turned out to be leading the brothers to a trap. The brothers themselves seems like they're from a fairy tale with their weird clothes but it turns out they're modern day children with halloween costume. The whole Sarah and jason funderburker is worth a full essay on how the show use classic tv trope (the sport jock, the popular girl and the nerd) to subvert our expectations (it's not a random choice that Wirt is first sent to a football field to look for them). But to get back to the beast, it's, imho, the best use of that theme in the show, like I said the Beast seems to be an unstoppable monster controlling the forces of the unknown but, when Wirt appli what he learned, it is revealed that the beast is not the master of the forest, he is just a weak and scared lost soul, probably more scarred of his own end than any other character in this "limbo" type place. As soon as his words and intimidation fail he can't do anything, he panic, almost begging for his life. We see that the Beast have no power over the forest or the transformation into edelwood trees, even when Greg is completely at his mercy, he cannot do anything else than give him impossible tasks and hopping the forest eventually take him. The Beast have no real power at all, we never see him actually hurt anyone and he couldn't even take back his lantern from a child that called his bluff. And that's a big reason to why I ended up loving him that much, among all of the terrifying creatures of darkness, the Beast stand out as the monster equivalent of a small dog barking as hard as it tremble. dang that was a lot of words huh. Well anyway I really enjoyed rewatching this classic through your videos ! t'was a ton of fun
OFT I didnt even think about that but your right every episode did subvert our expectations didn't it? And the beast was very powerless in the end, despite being hyped up by the whole show and everyone in it. Very good analysis :D
@@obsidianwolf1999 yeah I hesitate to wrote "relatively" modern but after checking online it seems that the time period is not defined, and it could very well take place around 2010 but it's just that Wirt like old school stuff (and that would explain why Sarah doesn't have a tape player in her home)
There are a lot of parallels between OTGW & Dante's divine comedy. Dante has some parallels to Wirt, seeing as they're both lovesick poets wandering through the afterlife/Purgatory. In the Purgatio specifically he even has a guide named Beatrice! Dante's Inferno has a scene that takes place in Hell's 'suicide forest', where the souls of those who committed suicide (gave up hope) took the form of twisted trees. Sound familiar? TLDR: the beast represents suicide. How fun!
the purgatory thing is one possible interpretation, but it's not the only one, just the most popular and obvious. someone else in the comments already compared The Beast to depression and The Unknown to one's inner world, and i think that's also a valid way to read this
I feel like the beast is the embodyment of depression. It stays far away as long as you are thinking positive, but when you feel lost and fall victim to your negative thoughts it preys on you and it gets harder and harder to find the energy to get away from it the closer you are. Amplifiying all your negative thoughts and echoing them to you in a vicious cycle. Up until you wither away. The woodsman kept a flame of hope for his daughter burning, but while clinging to that hope kept him moving, that flame only created more and more darkness around him. It was really impressive when Wirt pointed out how pointless it is to waste your whole life to cling on to something that is gone and inspired the woodsman to move on.
OTGW is heavily inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy (one of the earliest works of the Italian Renaissance in case you don't know, so it's really old stuff) but it is not a direct adaptation. Obviously the Unknown is some kind of holding place before the afterlife, not necessarilly Catholic Purgatory but something like it. Every single person Wirt and Greg meet there is dead (you can see Quincy Endicott's headstone in the cemetary), some of them died a long time ago as evidenced by their clothes being from different time periods. They all got stuck there for some reason, and as we can see, Wirt and Greg actually helped a few of them move on. I don't know if you noticed, but when Greg shakes Jason Funderberger (the frog) as the camara pans out in the final scene, his belly lights up due to the bell he swallowed in ep. 7, indicating that the Unknown es real and not some kind of internal near-death experience. As for the Beast. The best interpretation I can come up with is, that he is the embodiment of despair and loss of will to carry on. Loved your reaction to his reveal, from the moment I learned, that you are trypophobic, I have been looking forward to that moment. Great reaction to a great and very unique series, a modern classic for sure.
Here's a breakdown of a lot of things: Nearly everyone they met in the unknown was trapped in a prison of helplessness they made for themselves out of fear. The beast was like a spider that preyed on helplessness. The simplest example is with the bell. Auntie Whispers could have helped her at any time, but was too afraid to even think of the solution. She was too afraid of being alone, of not being needed, that she wouldn't allow herself to imagine a solution. Quincy expressed the exact fear, he was more afraid there was no ghost than finding, so he hid from the problem. Everyone at the school kept their problems to themselves rather than facing their fears. Wirt was too afraid of confronting Sarah and failing. Beatrice was too afraid of returning to her family to admit what happened. The woodsman was too afraid of losing his daughter to question the Beast. They were all trapped in their own minds. Wirt and Gregg came along, as outsiders they saw the obvious solutions, and they broke these people from their prisons and freed them from the Unknown. The Unknown is like a purgatory, it exists with people who are on a doomed path due to their loss of hope. They are freed from it by intervention. The beast is like a spider living in the unknown, but the unknown itself is a bigger monster, feasting off of lost souls and turning them into parts of itself as trees. Some characters were something else and don't fit the pattern. Notice how in the tavern episode everyone is introduced except the toymaker. And in the intro of the series he puts toys of all the tavern people on a shelf. Those characters are his creation. He is possibly a lost soul himself, trapped in a dream, wishing his creations to life. Dreaming a purpose for each of them. So they're defined by that purpose. Fred the horse belonged to the highwayman, because he was also a thief. Pottsfield is a reference to a potter's field which is a graveyard. The witches seem to live within the unknown at least partially, it's like a place not connected to anything else. The frogs on the steamship were the ferry across the river, just a necessary step for a hero's journey into hades. Notice that the episode marks the transition from autumn to winter, with the leaves falling, the colors fading, the wind and rain and chill coming in. The snow and ice appears two episodes later. Greg didn't lie, he actually did beat the beast because he never gave up. The cold forced him to stop, but his will to keep going kept him alive.
One thing, in schooltown blues we are informed about the true nature of Wirt, he may look like a pushover but underneath that pushover attitude he'sa stubborn jerk, and that's what saves him from the beast in the end. He is not going to accept the beasts offer because he's far to stubborn to let his brother die. Also we see Wort is a pushover mostly when it comes to Greg, it's not really that he's a pushover but that he deep down loves his bbrother.
something not mentioned yet is that the intro from the very first episode features a scene from every other episode/character. You can actually find a combined version of the intro and the final montage in episode 10 on youtube
Oh, but the memories this show summons up. Carving pumpkins with my mother and sister, swinging slowly in the porch swing-bench while enjoying the chill and orange leaves, visiting my grandmother and coming away with more fudge than I should eat. Sitting by the fireside with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, looking out the window as it gets dark earlier than it did the month before. Little things, all of them, inconsequential even. But they feel so big now, important in a sort of way. I don't have the wisdom to understand why, but maybe I don't need to. The Unknown was a purgatory of sorts, indeed. You can even see the names of some of the folks Greg and Wirt met there on the gravestones in the cemetery during EP. 9. As for The Beast? There's only theories, really. Personally, I think he's the feeling of being Lost. All through their journey, Greg and Wirt had to keep their spirits up to keep moving, couldn't let it get to them that they weren't home. It's only when they gave into despair, into The Beast's games, that they stopped. Gave into being far from home and all they know, into being Lost. Some fun tidbits, they had an opera singer voice The Beast, something you could've guessed from his song, Come Wayward Souls. The Woodsman was voiced by Christopher Lloyd, otherwise known as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. And lastly, Wirt was voiced by none other than Elijah Wood, Frodo Baggins himself. It's been fun dancing this swirl with you, Mosc. Thanks for the golden memories!
I love the pacing of this series. In the first episode you're thrown into the Unknown with so many questions - not just about the surroundings, but about Wirt and Greg. How did they get there? Why are they dressed like that? Why does Greg have a teapot on his head? But as the series goes on, so many strange things are introduced, become almost ordinary, and then are left behind, that you forget all about those questions and just accept Wirt and Greg as they are. And then, right as you've forgotten that you even had questions, episode 9 explains everything about episode 1 perfectly! (And when I watch it again every year, I can't believe it wasn't obvious from the beginning. It's autumn, and these two kids are wandering around wearing costumes and carrying a lot of candy. Of COURSE it's Halloween!)
I'm so glad you reacted to this I probably would have never watched this show otherwise, it's probably one of my favorites and it's been very memorable.
Gonna miss these reactions edit: wirts mixtape(for sarah) is somewhere on youtube... probably not "reactable" but its the prefect blend of weird and sweet.
I remember I got my friend to watch this with me years ago and he said, "I'm not sure what to think about that show but I can't stop thinking about it."
to me, The Beast represents giving into your anxieties and letting them control you. His control over the Woodsman was entirely manipulative of the woodsman's anxieties that his daughter was trapped in the lantern, when really all along this whole time she had been in the cabin waiting for him to come home (this is shown in one of the comics that follows the Woodsman's daughter). If he had taken a step back and just thought more about it, maybe he would have checked back sooner before immediately jumping to the worst and abandoning his home to do the lantern's bidding. The beast made his situation seem so much more dire than it really was. The Beast's line earlier in the show of "There is only MY way" is a perfect example of how someone's anxieties and worries can make people think there is no other way. He is the perfect antagonist to someone like Wirt, an anxious mess who snow-balls his issues in his mind when in reality, it wasn't that deep. His character progression shines in the ending where he takes a step back and assesses the issue. It could be argued that "Wait. That's dumb." is a bit anticlimactic for the final face-off with the villain, but sometimes that's the hardest thing to do, to step back and just Think before immediately jumping to the extreme solution. There is always a choice, and as the Woodsman said before the Beast interrupted, "There has to be another way"
this reaction series was so fun to watch, you picked up on so many details and put the pieces together and it was so cool to see. also, i like how you're willing to pause shows or go back to look at things, not enough reactors do that, imo. and i'm glad you enjoyed the series!
So now that you’ve finished it I can mention that Over the Garden Wall is a modern retelling of Dante’s inferno. The nine episodes of the series parallel the nine levels of hell.
Loved watching you react to this series! It is just SO good on so many levels, and I'm glad you were able to pick up as much as you did. HAVE you watched any of the video essays on it since? Curious what you may have picked up since. But gosh it's all just...so good. Also can't believe you put up THAT image as the thumbnail when you yourself have trypophobia, do you like torturing yourself?
One theory is that this story is similar to "the Inferno"(with Wirt representing Dante and Greg representing Virgil). The story is about a man travelling through hell to rescue his lost love Beatrice from the Devil(who is called the Beast in some scripture). Episode 1: The gates of Hell, where a wolf and tiger pursue Dante(a poet)through a dark forest. (The dog possessed by the turtle). Episode 2:Limbo, where King Minos gives judgement to the damned(Enoch, the "Pumpkin"leader, says he absolutely MUST punish the boys). Episode 3:Lust(the teacher is absolutely left unable to teach because of her fixation on Jimmy Brown for breaking her heart). Episode 4:Gluttony(Greg is constantly hungry throughout the time at the Tavern, grabbing plates of food, though we never see him eat. Episode 5:Greed(Quincy Endicott is all about the money, not caring one bit for the product he sells and simply grows his mansion). Episode 6:Wrath(Wirt is betrayed by Beatrice and takes the scissors that would free her family in rage) Episode 7:Heresy(Auntie Whispers and Lorna both appear as Puritans and Lorna constantly must work to keep herself free. Episode 8:Violence(the war between the North Wind and the Cloud Kingdom is adorable, but think how it would look with blood spatters! Episode 9:Fraud(Halloween is about being someone else, but also, Wirt feels undeserving of Sara's affections, despite initial confidence(thereby feeling like a fraud) Episode 10:Treachery. People in this ring of hell are transformed into trees(much like the Edelwood)and this is where the Devil is banished. (Also, the Beasts lies about the Woodsmans daughter are revealed). Some stuff thats revealed in the comics: The Beast lied to the Woodsman and said his daughter was gone. The Woodsman believed him and went into the woods without going home, too afraid to be alone. His daughter was alone for a long time waiting for him to come home. The comics are pretty great too, if you care to find them. You can see the kids sinking in the beginning of the first episode during the opening narration. Pottsfield is possibly a play on "Paupers Field"(aka a mass grave). They need two pennies to pay for the ferry(similar to the payment to Charon from Greek myth). You see all the characters in the intro setting up the series(Greg taking the rock, the Woodcarvers carvings of the people of the Tavern, Endicott seeing Marguerite Grey, the "Gorilla"at the circus, Lorna sorting the bones and the Woodcarver and his daughter(I think they have it back to back somewhere on TH-cam).
People say "halloween is over when the decorations are put out". My halloween is over after the end of this channel's series. Thank you all for spending the holidays with me
You really had the series more figured out than me, for one! All the elements came in my head, and I mostly brushed them aside. The only thing I was thinking in the finale was that Wirt _was_ being stupid for a moment: he could just cut Greg from the tree and carry him home, which he did! He didn't need the Beast for that, or anything really I suppose a small lesson I learned from the show: take things out of context. Specifically, get ideas out of your own head. Everything makes sense in there, but taking them out exposes the weirdness or kookiness of it all, and lets you see the truth. Something pointed out about a recurring theme of the show is that nothing is really as it seems. And to me, that means everything was in the wrong place and the wrong time. Which made it all *look* spooky and scary, and to an extent it's all still strange and unfamiliar, but it wasn't really. So, be cautious but never afraid of the odd occurrence, and you might just peel back the veil and see it for what it is.
I can't let go of the feeling that the brothers never returned home. Over and over again reviewing the animated series and reactions, I still believe that paradise is at the end. Not a house.
I agree. The song ends with "the loveliest lies of all." I think it's a way of inferring that the boys actually did die, but that this is the happiest outcome.
@@mikelentz833 I always interpreted "the loveliest lies of all" as a reference to the unknown itself -- a place that wasn't exactly real, but was exactly the right place for Wirt to go on the journey that he needed to go on and to regain his hope. Just another reason this show is so good, there are so many ways to interpret it :D
I remember when my friend first recommended to me Over the Garden Wall and said to watch in the "right order", starting at 9 and then 1 through 10. If I did, I'd probably murder them
Now we reached the and if you wanna know the main inspiration of this cartoon is Dante's Inferno they share alot of similarities and each episode represents the 9 hells but if you want a full explaination here the vid th-cam.com/video/MBg8tQvATIA/w-d-xo.html
I would highly recommend you check out the comics It tells about all the other adventures Wirt and Greg had in the Unknown It also sheds light of the origins of The Woodsman and his daughter as well as Manny the Talking Horse
Ok so I have a theory I just can't get out of my head.. so when we see the scene of Wirt and Greg fall into the water when first going into the unknown, and THAN at the end of the show after the lantern isn't lit anymore, we shift to them in the water again. And then there in the hospital. And for some weird reason, Sara still has her halloween face pant on.. for me idk abt anyone else but that tells me that everything in the unknown never happened and its still halloween. And the two had just been missing for a few hours. Idk it seems possible but kind of stretched 🤔 idk tell me if yall agree
In the last scene the frog still has the bell glowing/ringing inside him when he's shaken, so the unknown was definently real on some level. Time probably works very differently there though, which is why you have modern kids encountering pagan festivals, victorian style mansions & a steamboat all in the same place.
The unknown is some type of "purgatory", more like a place where the forgotten or lost goes, that's why there are people for victorian eras (also a grave with the name of someone in the cementery that appeared in episode 5, because he was forgotten). Also you can call "being lost" as a metaphor for depression/anxiety, which Wirt def had. It's very likely they did went to a "in between" realm but time is just different
This whole show had a kind of Wizard of Ozish meets eighties teen movie vibe. I mean come on, he made her a mixed tape and the cop car was definitely 80's. She liked him but, he never picked up on any of the little hints. So eighties!
One thing you did miss on Episode 9 is that the name on the grave is one that we've seen elsewhere in the show... (Don't want to say to much, because it is a treat when you realize it)
@@SrVerataro Wrong, the Dog was possessed by the Beast and Lorna was possessed by an evil spirit which is impossible for that to happen in the afterlife or purgatory. And the Beast literally says "All who perish here become trees for the Lantern!"
Contrary to popular belief, the Unknown isn’t just purgatory or the afterlife. It’s mentioned in the first episode it is simply a land of the lost and forgotten. This has been confirmed by the creator. Forgotten people includes those who are dead (like a rich guy with no family), but also art and stories. It’s why there’s a ton of niche references to old animation and art. For example, the frog boat is based off of greeting cards produced by a company that no longer is around.
A lot of things within the Unknown are up to interpretation, speculation is encouraged.
Ohhhhhhh that totally makes sense :D
The Unknown is neither the Afterlife nor Purgatory. It's just another dimension.
He also mentioned he never intended to explain the black turtles, and just leave it up to interpretation.
@@hankhill4101 What are you talking about?
@@Super50ldier Did...did you even watch these videos?
"My rock-facts rock, I stole it Wirt. I stole it from Mrs. Daniels' garden. I'm a stealer, and that's a rock fact..." i cry every single time 😭
You got the Beast pretty right! It embodies depression and possibly suicide, but not _specifically_ darkness: In his song (I forgot if that's in the show or just on the soundtrack) he sings, "There is a light for the lost and the meek," i.e. the idea of death as an _escape_ from life, seemingly good (light) for those who desire it.
"Sorrow and fear,
Are easily forgotten,
When you submit to the soil of the earth. "
As TVTropes puts it further: "Effectively, the Beast is the embodiment of that moment where a person falls so deep into despair and pain, physical or emotional, that death becomes the only salvation in their mind. You know... for kids."
OMFG thats.... so morbid but in a really poetically beautiful way??
I lost my brother to the beast this year it seems then
@@WeeLassReacts I'm so sorry to hear that! My most heartfelt condolences!
And yeah, Over the Garden Wall is beautifully symbolic! I'll admit, I only got pretty much all of it only by reading stuff post-watching...
A common thing about Wirt seems to be his lack of belief in himself and how others perceive him. For example during the party, he assumed that people wouldn’t want him there because he “wasn’t invited“, and yet when he shows up to the party everybody is happy to see him and greet him warmly. When Sarah starts talking to Wirt and Jason Funderberker shows up, he assumes that she already likes Jason and refuses her invitation to join them at the graveyard (even though we as the audience can tell that she clearly likes him and wants to spend more time with him). Poor Wirt, social anxiety sucks 🫤
Edit: The name of the graveyard is “The Eternal Garden Cemetery,” and at 4:55 you can see Quincy Endicott’s (the rich guy they got the pennies from) name on the gravestone Greg’s hiding behind. Also when the woodsman says “she was never in the lantern, was she beast?” That’s the moment he realized that he’d been grinding up the souls of lost children for *years* based on the lie that he was keeping his own child’s spirit alive. Also bonus fact: during the hospital scene if you go back and watch, Jason Funderberker is actually holding the hand of the person who said “you can hold my hand Funderburker, I don’t care” in episode nine. 😊
The opening of episode 9 is so jarring in the best way possible. There's lots of little hints throughout the series that tell you Wirt and Greg are from modern day (or at least possibly the 70s/80s). You correctly noticed that Wirt and Greg didn't put the same worth in two pennies that other residents of the Unknown did. Another one is how in episode 2 they're trying to find a phone, which definitely isn't contemporary to the time period the Unknown is trapped in.
One little detail I love is how you can hear a train during every title card. It's because it was one of the last things Wirt and Greg heard before falling into the river.
There are from the modern day Era like 2014.
@@Super50ldierI don't think so. Wirts giving Sarah a tape and the cop car looks like a 70s-80s body style. Not to mention even the fashion looks more 80s
@@schoolsenpai773 She said that she doesn't have a tape player. That doesn't prove it is in the 70s or 80s.
@@Super50ldier cop car and general fashion still apply
@@schoolsenpai773 Nope
I’m sure someone has mentioned it, but the gravestone Greg is hiding behind at 4:59 is for Quincy Endicott, who you might remember from episode 5. Make of that what you will…
I never caught that! Very nice!
When luz did a backflip and killed the beast I freaked out tbh
"NOW EAT THIS, SUCKAH!"
I dont know if anyone else has talked about this yet, but the whole "losing hope turns you into a tree" thing is likely at least inspired by Dante Alegieri's Divine Comedy, specifically the Inferno. Since, in one of the inner rings, there is a forest of trees that are the souls of those who committed suicide.
It just really hammers home the connection of the beast to that topic.
The Beast literally said "All who perish here become trees for the Lantern!" Meaning that all who die become Edelwood trees.
The whole show is arguably at least in part, a modern Americana riff on the divine comedy.
popular theory suggests that the Unknown is a sort of purgatory; that Wirt and Greg were teetering on the edge between life and death, and that to succumb to the Edelwood would be to lose their lives; further evidence of this was that in early versions of the series, the Unknown was referred to as "The In-Between," which implies that Wirt and Greg would be 'in-between' life and death.
Along earliest versions, the Beast was originally intended to be named "Old Scratch", with a cartoony, Devil-like appearance instead dead bark for a body.
The Unknown's various characters and scenery give homage to various historical elements of the past.
The Woodsman and his daughter seem to be from colonial times, though the generic nature of their clothing makes it uncertain.
Pottsfield references colonial times, as well as the concept of a "potter's field," an unmarked burial ground for the poor.
Langtree's haircut implies that she lived in the late Victorian era; the character herself could be a reference to Beatrix Potter, a Victorian-era author who wrote and illustrated books with anthropomorphic animals, including the Peter Rabbit books.
The denizens of the Tavern are a likely reference to The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 tales by Geoffery Chaucer; the titles of each story (sans the General Prologue) follow a specific format (ex: The Knight's Tale, The Miller's Tale, etc), much like how the inhabitants of the Tavern go by their roles (the Butcher, the Baker, etc) rather than actual names.
Quincy Endicott is from the Georgian Era, and Margueritte Grey is from the French Rococo period.
The anthropomorphic frogs on the ferry bear a resemblance to the early 1900's, in which stories and illustrations featuring human-like animals in fancy dress were common.
Lorna's dress provides an intimation that she and Auntie Whispers are from the mid-1600s, with their Puritan-style dress.
Beatrice and her family look to be from the Regency Era.
Quincy Endicott is known for selling tea to make his fortune but there is no sign of any civilized areas. Most of the building in the Unknown are alone in the wilderness. The only town (excluding Cloud City) is Pottsfield which is small and rural.
Quincy’s grave can be seen in the cemetery Wirt and the other kids meet at!
I’m glad you said it was a theory. A lot of ppl I’ve seen who have called it purgatory state it as fact, when it isn’t. Even though the show is very explicit in what the unknown is in the first episode.
@@ma.2089 Exactly, it's not actually purgatory.
i think langtree's clothing looks a little more edwardian than victorian (especially her Gibson Girl style bun) but that's just me
Honestly The Unknown being a purgatory makes so much sense. The Beast is so uncomfortable to look at when he's not cast in shadows, but even when he is, he's a different sort of uncomfortable, and I love him. He's an ominous villain. I will never get over how amazing this short series was, it's just so creepy and wonderful.
IDK if you've ever seen them but I cannot recommend checking out Amphibia or Centaurworld enough if you want more stuff to watch.
No, it doesn't, if it was purgatory then the Beast wouldn't have said that "All who perish here become trees for the lantern" and Lorna would never have been possessed and the Beast wouldn't have possessed Beatrice's dog.
Now that you've seen the whole show, go back and watch the intro in episode 1 again. You'll recognize all the short scenes now!
Also, in episode 9 there are a ton of call backs to the rest of the show. At the party some boys mention the game "2 old cat" which Greg tries to play with the animals (he gets it wrong ofc). In the graveyard the headstones Greg and Wirt hide behind have the name Quincy Endicott on them (the tea mongul). In the hospital in ep 10 you can see Greg shake the frog showing he still has the witch's bell in his stomach. I'm sure there are a few more details like that I'm forgetting. If you're interested, there a bunch of good break downs on YT.
My personal favorite part of the show is how they deal with Wirt's paranoia and self delusion. We get the sense he's kind of melancholy and in his own head as early as episode 1, but since the only other things we learn about him are the things he tells us we still have the idea that he's an outcast. When he talks Beatrice about Sara and Funderberker, we feel that he's kind of a loser who other people don't like. But then in episode 9 we see his interactions, and its immediately obvious (without them having to have a character say it) that Wirt is just entirely in his own head! Sure the girls tease him a bit, but they're totally willing to talk to him. The kids at the party immediately welcome him as soon as he shows up even though he "wasn't invited to this party" (according to him). And Sara obviously digs him and finds Funderberker weird - cause he is. Like a lot of kids, a lot of Wirt's loneliness is self imposed, and he has to get out of his own head and chose to live in order to escape that. And so his relationships end up tying back into the Beast and the Unknown. It's so well done and such a good message many kids need to hear.
Also, in case you ever get the urge to listen to clarinet and Elijah Wood reciting poetry: th-cam.com/video/t4aHhM624oI/w-d-xo.html
Glad you enjoyed the show! It's a yearly watch for me and I love experiencing it with new people.
This show was really good.
It's a rock fact!
9 and 10 are the best episodes no one can tell me otherwise.
I love that they quite literally go over the garden wall, the cemetery can be called a "garden" and the cemetery is even called "eternal garden"
And Greg acknowledging he was dying, telling Wirt to take the rock back because he stole it and knew he wouldn't be able to bring it back himself. He was a really strong little boy, sacrificing himself for his brother.
It feels like the show was made so the big overarching plotline can be interpreted a lot of different ways, it's a really wonderful show
I love the Beast, from the start he have a really kick ass presentation, hiding in the shadow, covered in darkness, always calm yet menacing, almost eldritch. And that's reinforced by how the other characters are scared of him, treat him like a boogey man that reign over the forest and the unknown.
But then the truth about the Beast is reveal and it is so great and work perfectly with one of the big theme of this show: *_Things aren't what they seems._*
That's probably the most obvious theme of OtGW tbh, almost every episode have some misdirection (the people of pottsfield, the school with the director and the "gorilla", auntie whisper, etc...) but also bigger plot point, like Beatrice, a cute talking blue bird named after the character that lead Virgil and Dante to Heaven in the classic "The Divine Comedy" turned out to be leading the brothers to a trap. The brothers themselves seems like they're from a fairy tale with their weird clothes but it turns out they're modern day children with halloween costume.
The whole Sarah and jason funderburker is worth a full essay on how the show use classic tv trope (the sport jock, the popular girl and the nerd) to subvert our expectations (it's not a random choice that Wirt is first sent to a football field to look for them).
But to get back to the beast, it's, imho, the best use of that theme in the show, like I said the Beast seems to be an unstoppable monster controlling the forces of the unknown but, when Wirt appli what he learned, it is revealed that the beast is not the master of the forest, he is just a weak and scared lost soul, probably more scarred of his own end than any other character in this "limbo" type place. As soon as his words and intimidation fail he can't do anything, he panic, almost begging for his life. We see that the Beast have no power over the forest or the transformation into edelwood trees, even when Greg is completely at his mercy, he cannot do anything else than give him impossible tasks and hopping the forest eventually take him. The Beast have no real power at all, we never see him actually hurt anyone and he couldn't even take back his lantern from a child that called his bluff. And that's a big reason to why I ended up loving him that much, among all of the terrifying creatures of darkness, the Beast stand out as the monster equivalent of a small dog barking as hard as it tremble.
dang that was a lot of words huh. Well anyway I really enjoyed rewatching this classic through your videos ! t'was a ton of fun
OFT I didnt even think about that but your right every episode did subvert our expectations didn't it? And the beast was very powerless in the end, despite being hyped up by the whole show and everyone in it.
Very good analysis :D
Techically the 2 brothers are from the late 70s or 80s. Since that was when cassete tapes were popular
@@obsidianwolf1999 yeah I hesitate to wrote "relatively" modern but after checking online it seems that the time period is not defined, and it could very well take place around 2010 but it's just that Wirt like old school stuff (and that would explain why Sarah doesn't have a tape player in her home)
@@obsidianwolf1999 Actually, the two brothers are from the 2014.
@@Spyko- Exactly
There are a lot of parallels between OTGW & Dante's divine comedy. Dante has some parallels to Wirt, seeing as they're both lovesick poets wandering through the afterlife/Purgatory. In the Purgatio specifically he even has a guide named Beatrice! Dante's Inferno has a scene that takes place in Hell's 'suicide forest', where the souls of those who committed suicide (gave up hope) took the form of twisted trees. Sound familiar?
TLDR: the beast represents suicide. How fun!
That's just a theory and not confirmed. The Unknown is a physical world and the beast is just an ancient entity not the devil himself.
@@Super50ldierHow do you know that The Unknown is a physical world or that the Beast isn't the devil?
Small correction
Dante's guide was named Virgil, Beatrice was the name of the girl Dante was in love with
the purgatory thing is one possible interpretation, but it's not the only one, just the most popular and obvious. someone else in the comments already compared The Beast to depression and The Unknown to one's inner world, and i think that's also a valid way to read this
I feel like the beast is the embodyment of depression. It stays far away as long as you are thinking positive, but when you feel lost and fall victim to your negative thoughts it preys on you and it gets harder and harder to find the energy to get away from it the closer you are. Amplifiying all your negative thoughts and echoing them to you in a vicious cycle. Up until you wither away.
The woodsman kept a flame of hope for his daughter burning, but while clinging to that hope kept him moving, that flame only created more and more darkness around him.
It was really impressive when Wirt pointed out how pointless it is to waste your whole life to cling on to something that is gone and inspired the woodsman to move on.
OTGW is heavily inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy (one of the earliest works of the Italian Renaissance in case you don't know, so it's really old stuff) but it is not a direct adaptation.
Obviously the Unknown is some kind of holding place before the afterlife, not necessarilly Catholic Purgatory but something like it. Every single person Wirt and Greg meet there is dead (you can see Quincy Endicott's headstone in the cemetary), some of them died a long time ago as evidenced by their clothes being from different time periods. They all got stuck there for some reason, and as we can see, Wirt and Greg actually helped a few of them move on.
I don't know if you noticed, but when Greg shakes Jason Funderberger (the frog) as the camara pans out in the final scene, his belly lights up due to the bell he swallowed in ep. 7, indicating that the Unknown es real and not some kind of internal near-death experience.
As for the Beast. The best interpretation I can come up with is, that he is the embodiment of despair and loss of will to carry on. Loved your reaction to his reveal, from the moment I learned, that you are trypophobic, I have been looking forward to that moment.
Great reaction to a great and very unique series, a modern classic for sure.
The woodsman's story was always my favourite whenever I watched this series. I always rewatch it on Halloween; it's my tradition every year.
I HAVE THAT TRADITION TO!!!!
8:13 And you call yourself an idiot, tsk tsk
You are really really good at _getting_ things, Mosco. Don't sell yourself short!
Here's a breakdown of a lot of things:
Nearly everyone they met in the unknown was trapped in a prison of helplessness they made for themselves out of fear. The beast was like a spider that preyed on helplessness. The simplest example is with the bell. Auntie Whispers could have helped her at any time, but was too afraid to even think of the solution. She was too afraid of being alone, of not being needed, that she wouldn't allow herself to imagine a solution. Quincy expressed the exact fear, he was more afraid there was no ghost than finding, so he hid from the problem. Everyone at the school kept their problems to themselves rather than facing their fears. Wirt was too afraid of confronting Sarah and failing. Beatrice was too afraid of returning to her family to admit what happened. The woodsman was too afraid of losing his daughter to question the Beast. They were all trapped in their own minds.
Wirt and Gregg came along, as outsiders they saw the obvious solutions, and they broke these people from their prisons and freed them from the Unknown. The Unknown is like a purgatory, it exists with people who are on a doomed path due to their loss of hope. They are freed from it by intervention. The beast is like a spider living in the unknown, but the unknown itself is a bigger monster, feasting off of lost souls and turning them into parts of itself as trees.
Some characters were something else and don't fit the pattern. Notice how in the tavern episode everyone is introduced except the toymaker. And in the intro of the series he puts toys of all the tavern people on a shelf. Those characters are his creation. He is possibly a lost soul himself, trapped in a dream, wishing his creations to life. Dreaming a purpose for each of them. So they're defined by that purpose.
Fred the horse belonged to the highwayman, because he was also a thief.
Pottsfield is a reference to a potter's field which is a graveyard.
The witches seem to live within the unknown at least partially, it's like a place not connected to anything else.
The frogs on the steamship were the ferry across the river, just a necessary step for a hero's journey into hades. Notice that the episode marks the transition from autumn to winter, with the leaves falling, the colors fading, the wind and rain and chill coming in. The snow and ice appears two episodes later.
Greg didn't lie, he actually did beat the beast because he never gave up. The cold forced him to stop, but his will to keep going kept him alive.
One thing, in schooltown blues we are informed about the true nature of Wirt, he may look like a pushover but underneath that pushover attitude he'sa stubborn jerk, and that's what saves him from the beast in the end. He is not going to accept the beasts offer because he's far to stubborn to let his brother die. Also we see Wort is a pushover mostly when it comes to Greg, it's not really that he's a pushover but that he deep down loves his bbrother.
something not mentioned yet is that the intro from the very first episode features a scene from every other episode/character. You can actually find a combined version of the intro and the final montage in episode 10 on youtube
You not being able to resist singing "Into the Unknwon" has made me very happy, I'll have you know :3
Oh, but the memories this show summons up. Carving pumpkins with my mother and sister, swinging slowly in the porch swing-bench while enjoying the chill and orange leaves, visiting my grandmother and coming away with more fudge than I should eat.
Sitting by the fireside with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate, looking out the window as it gets dark earlier than it did the month before. Little things, all of them, inconsequential even. But they feel so big now, important in a sort of way. I don't have the wisdom to understand why, but maybe I don't need to.
The Unknown was a purgatory of sorts, indeed. You can even see the names of some of the folks Greg and Wirt met there on the gravestones in the cemetery during EP. 9.
As for The Beast? There's only theories, really. Personally, I think he's the feeling of being Lost. All through their journey, Greg and Wirt had to keep their spirits up to keep moving, couldn't let it get to them that they weren't home. It's only when they gave into despair, into The Beast's games, that they stopped. Gave into being far from home and all they know, into being Lost.
Some fun tidbits, they had an opera singer voice The Beast, something you could've guessed from his song, Come Wayward Souls. The Woodsman was voiced by Christopher Lloyd, otherwise known as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. And lastly, Wirt was voiced by none other than Elijah Wood, Frodo Baggins himself.
It's been fun dancing this swirl with you, Mosc. Thanks for the golden memories!
The Unknown is not purgatory, the bell was physically in the frog's belly.
I love the pacing of this series. In the first episode you're thrown into the Unknown with so many questions - not just about the surroundings, but about Wirt and Greg. How did they get there? Why are they dressed like that? Why does Greg have a teapot on his head? But as the series goes on, so many strange things are introduced, become almost ordinary, and then are left behind, that you forget all about those questions and just accept Wirt and Greg as they are. And then, right as you've forgotten that you even had questions, episode 9 explains everything about episode 1 perfectly! (And when I watch it again every year, I can't believe it wasn't obvious from the beginning. It's autumn, and these two kids are wandering around wearing costumes and carrying a lot of candy. Of COURSE it's Halloween!)
I'm so glad you reacted to this I probably would have never watched this show otherwise, it's probably one of my favorites and it's been very memorable.
Been waiting for this! Thanks so much for watching this wonderful series
Gonna miss these reactions
edit: wirts mixtape(for sarah) is somewhere on youtube... probably not "reactable" but its the prefect blend of weird and sweet.
the woodsman was always the protagonist to me. I love his character. what a wonderful performance too from christopher lloyd
I remember I got my friend to watch this with me years ago and he said, "I'm not sure what to think about that show but I can't stop thinking about it."
to me, The Beast represents giving into your anxieties and letting them control you. His control over the Woodsman was entirely manipulative of the woodsman's anxieties that his daughter was trapped in the lantern, when really all along this whole time she had been in the cabin waiting for him to come home (this is shown in one of the comics that follows the Woodsman's daughter).
If he had taken a step back and just thought more about it, maybe he would have checked back sooner before immediately jumping to the worst and abandoning his home to do the lantern's bidding. The beast made his situation seem so much more dire than it really was.
The Beast's line earlier in the show of "There is only MY way" is a perfect example of how someone's anxieties and worries can make people think there is no other way. He is the perfect antagonist to someone like Wirt, an anxious mess who snow-balls his issues in his mind when in reality, it wasn't that deep. His character progression shines in the ending where he takes a step back and assesses the issue.
It could be argued that "Wait. That's dumb." is a bit anticlimactic for the final face-off with the villain, but sometimes that's the hardest thing to do, to step back and just Think before immediately jumping to the extreme solution.
There is always a choice, and as the Woodsman said before the Beast interrupted,
"There has to be another way"
this reaction series was so fun to watch, you picked up on so many details and put the pieces together and it was so cool to see. also, i like how you're willing to pause shows or go back to look at things, not enough reactors do that, imo. and i'm glad you enjoyed the series!
So now that you’ve finished it I can mention that Over the Garden Wall is a modern retelling of Dante’s inferno. The nine episodes of the series parallel the nine levels of hell.
How?
5:50 the graveyard is called the eternal garden and the jumped over the garden wall.
14:40 here you cut out but you can see the frog is still glowing.
I always wondered if the joke about Sara not being able to listen to the tape is connected to the Adventure Time episode "The Gift That Reaps Giving".
Each episode except E9 represent a different level of Dantes Hell and that's a rock fact!
The Unknown is not purgatory or the afterlife.
@@Super50ldier and rock facts are untrue, I’m pretty sure that’s the joke
@@Super50ldier just because something isn't something, doesnt mean it aint similar
it’s more of a theory.. A ROCK THEORY!
Loved watching you react to this series! It is just SO good on so many levels, and I'm glad you were able to pick up as much as you did. HAVE you watched any of the video essays on it since? Curious what you may have picked up since. But gosh it's all just...so good. Also can't believe you put up THAT image as the thumbnail when you yourself have trypophobia, do you like torturing yourself?
:')
The thumbnail was HARD. it still makes my skin crawl LOL but... need the click bait-yness
One theory is that this story is similar to "the Inferno"(with Wirt representing Dante and Greg representing Virgil). The story is about a man travelling through hell to rescue his lost love Beatrice from the Devil(who is called the Beast in some scripture).
Episode 1: The gates of Hell, where a wolf and tiger pursue Dante(a poet)through a dark forest. (The dog possessed by the turtle).
Episode 2:Limbo, where King Minos gives judgement to the damned(Enoch, the "Pumpkin"leader, says he absolutely MUST punish the boys).
Episode 3:Lust(the teacher is absolutely left unable to teach because of her fixation on Jimmy Brown for breaking her heart).
Episode 4:Gluttony(Greg is constantly hungry throughout the time at the Tavern, grabbing plates of food, though we never see him eat.
Episode 5:Greed(Quincy Endicott is all about the money, not caring one bit for the product he sells and simply grows his mansion).
Episode 6:Wrath(Wirt is betrayed by Beatrice and takes the scissors that would free her family in rage)
Episode 7:Heresy(Auntie Whispers and Lorna both appear as Puritans and Lorna constantly must work to keep herself free.
Episode 8:Violence(the war between the North Wind and the Cloud Kingdom is adorable, but think how it would look with blood spatters!
Episode 9:Fraud(Halloween is about being someone else, but also, Wirt feels undeserving of Sara's affections, despite initial confidence(thereby feeling like a fraud)
Episode 10:Treachery. People in this ring of hell are transformed into trees(much like the Edelwood)and this is where the Devil is banished. (Also, the Beasts lies about the Woodsmans daughter are revealed).
Some stuff thats revealed in the comics: The Beast lied to the Woodsman and said his daughter was gone. The Woodsman believed him and went into the woods without going home, too afraid to be alone. His daughter was alone for a long time waiting for him to come home.
The comics are pretty great too, if you care to find them.
You can see the kids sinking in the beginning of the first episode during the opening narration.
Pottsfield is possibly a play on "Paupers Field"(aka a mass grave).
They need two pennies to pay for the ferry(similar to the payment to Charon from Greek myth).
You see all the characters in the intro setting up the series(Greg taking the rock, the Woodcarvers carvings of the people of the Tavern, Endicott seeing Marguerite Grey, the "Gorilla"at the circus, Lorna sorting the bones and the Woodcarver and his daughter(I think they have it back to back somewhere on TH-cam).
I'm one of the tombstones you can see Quincy's name on it, People say that wart and Greg went through Dante's Inferno Nine Circles of hell
People say "halloween is over when the decorations are put out". My halloween is over after the end of this channel's series. Thank you all for spending the holidays with me
Definitely enjoyed it full view and lk ,, 👍
Greatest twist of all time: its an elephant costume
You really had the series more figured out than me, for one! All the elements came in my head, and I mostly brushed them aside. The only thing I was thinking in the finale was that Wirt _was_ being stupid for a moment: he could just cut Greg from the tree and carry him home, which he did! He didn't need the Beast for that, or anything really
I suppose a small lesson I learned from the show: take things out of context. Specifically, get ideas out of your own head. Everything makes sense in there, but taking them out exposes the weirdness or kookiness of it all, and lets you see the truth. Something pointed out about a recurring theme of the show is that nothing is really as it seems. And to me, that means everything was in the wrong place and the wrong time. Which made it all *look* spooky and scary, and to an extent it's all still strange and unfamiliar, but it wasn't really.
So, be cautious but never afraid of the odd occurrence, and you might just peel back the veil and see it for what it is.
Fun fact Patrick mchales wife has trypophobia I think that's why the beast was only shown for a split second lol
I've been WAITING for this one 🤩🤩
I can't let go of the feeling that the brothers never returned home. Over and over again reviewing the animated series and reactions, I still believe that paradise is at the end. Not a house.
I agree. The song ends with "the loveliest lies of all." I think it's a way of inferring that the boys actually did die, but that this is the happiest outcome.
@@mikelentz833 True. I get goosebumps from the ending of the song
@@mikelentz833 I always interpreted "the loveliest lies of all" as a reference to the unknown itself -- a place that wasn't exactly real, but was exactly the right place for Wirt to go on the journey that he needed to go on and to regain his hope. Just another reason this show is so good, there are so many ways to interpret it :D
Great reaction! What a finale!
I remember when my friend first recommended to me Over the Garden Wall and said to watch in the "right order", starting at 9 and then 1 through 10.
If I did, I'd probably murder them
Now we reached the and if you wanna know the main inspiration of this cartoon is Dante's Inferno they share alot of similarities and each episode represents the 9 hells but if you want a full explaination here the vid th-cam.com/video/MBg8tQvATIA/w-d-xo.html
I was really hoping you would catch Quincy Endicott’s grave in the cemetery!!
I'm not sure if you noticed, but the entire time, the moon is always in the same phase.
4:55 Quincy Endicott!
I would highly recommend you check out the comics
It tells about all the other adventures Wirt and Greg had in the Unknown
It also sheds light of the origins of The Woodsman and his daughter as well as Manny the Talking Horse
This series is said to be an overview of American Mythology.
15:02 dog from first episode.
0:34 you’re a dork and I’m honestly here for it
:3
If you go back and watch the beginning of the first episode- yeah 👍
Ok so I have a theory I just can't get out of my head.. so when we see the scene of Wirt and Greg fall into the water when first going into the unknown, and THAN at the end of the show after the lantern isn't lit anymore, we shift to them in the water again. And then there in the hospital. And for some weird reason, Sara still has her halloween face pant on.. for me idk abt anyone else but that tells me that everything in the unknown never happened and its still halloween. And the two had just been missing for a few hours. Idk it seems possible but kind of stretched 🤔 idk tell me if yall agree
In the last scene the frog still has the bell glowing/ringing inside him when he's shaken, so the unknown was definently real on some level. Time probably works very differently there though, which is why you have modern kids encountering pagan festivals, victorian style mansions & a steamboat all in the same place.
That doesn’t explain the bell in the frog’s stomach though ;)
The unknown is some type of "purgatory", more like a place where the forgotten or lost goes, that's why there are people for victorian eras (also a grave with the name of someone in the cementery that appeared in episode 5, because he was forgotten). Also you can call "being lost" as a metaphor for depression/anxiety, which Wirt def had. It's very likely they did went to a "in between" realm but time is just different
@@longgonelocust2333 Yeah, and it makes no sense for a girl and a dog to be possessed by entities in purgatory.
@@may0kyra No, being lost mean being dead which is why lost souls become Edelwood trees.
This whole show had a kind of Wizard of Ozish meets eighties teen movie vibe. I mean come on, he made her a mixed tape and the cop car was definitely 80's. She liked him but, he never picked up on any of the little hints. So eighties!
If it was the Eighties, she would've had a tape player, though. Everyone did. Age of the Sony Walkman and all.
Yessssssss!!!!👻🎃💀
One thing you did miss on Episode 9 is that the name on the grave is one that we've seen elsewhere in the show... (Don't want to say to much, because it is a treat when you realize it)
Yesss it’s here
12:15 I love the subversion here.
Fun Fact: The creators revealed that they modeled the final design for the Beast after Trypophobia.
The Beast lies, we know this, but what lies he tells!
Spooky time! :D
7:20 how dare you say that about jason thunderburger! He was designed to look like the creator himself, Patrick McHale.
After rewatching i figured it out what i think i saw. I've never noticed that before (kicks the trash can so no one can hear what I'm saying)...
I clicked so fast, I think I broke my mouse
the ending montage was a parallel with the intro
The Beast represents weakness
Divine Comedy, layers of hell 8 & 9: Fraud... and Treachery
th-cam.com/video/GwwHsvMmino/w-d-xo.html
@@Super50ldier th-cam.com/video/MBg8tQvATIA/w-d-xo.html
@@SrVerataro Wrong, the Dog was possessed by the Beast and Lorna was possessed by an evil spirit which is impossible for that to happen in the afterlife or purgatory. And the Beast literally says "All who perish here become trees for the Lantern!"
@@SrVerataro th-cam.com/video/SJ4Xqvl_Al0/w-d-xo.html
Just treat yourself and take time off to watch it again.
epic reaction :v
You should check out centaur world
Have you read Dante's Inferno? Because most of the easter eggs are for that.
th-cam.com/video/GwwHsvMmino/w-d-xo.html
You should pause when you wanna comment on something, you miss a lot of little details because of that.
Im pretty sure the beast is just satan