[Blind Reaction] Over the Garden Wall Episodes 6-10

The re-direct for my blind reaction to episodes 6-10 of Over the Garden Wall: Lullaby in Frogland, The Ringing of the Bell, Babes in the Wood, Into the Unknown and The Unknown. Links:

Never knew it would be so much fun to watch two kids nearly drown.



Over the Garden Wall and all related characters belong to Cartoon Network and Patrick McHale. My thoughts and opinions are all my own.

[robbywilliamson]

In terms of other miscellaneous details, one thing I noticed is that the train that nearly killed the Greg and Wirt can be faintly heard in the background when the episode title cards pop up. "Come Wayward Souls" the song that the Beast sings in episode 10, deliberately replicates the cadence of "O Holy Night", and it definitely comes off a more sinister. I found these lyrics to be especially chilling: "Sorrow and fear are easily forgotten when you submit to the soil of the earth".


Pottsfield, the town of the skeleton pumpkin people, is based on the term "potter's field", which refers to unmarked graveyards that were used for poor or unknown commoners who couldn't pay for a proper burial. Lastly, the show was originally pitched as an 18 episode miniseries, but time and effort it took to the maintain the quality of its animation resulted it being cut down to 10 episodes. Some ideas they had were deemed to be too dark for Cartoon Network, and the story concepts of the frog ferry and Adelaide were merged into a single episode.

[robbywilliamson]

One of the biggest tip-offs that point to The Unknown being some kind of bizarre purgatory can be found in episode 9. One of the tombstones in the graveyard had the name of Quincy Endicott, (the wealthy tea guy from episode 5), written on it. The Fall season is commonly associated with death, and the transition to Winter towards the end could indicate that the boys were approaching hypothermia. To add to all of this, the show also has several references to Dante's Inferno: Beatrice is named after a character from the story, the boys needed coins to pay for passage on the ferry like the River Styx, and the lost souls who give up on life become trees is a reference to the Wood of Self-Murderers. With all of this in mind, it can be assumed that Greg and Wirt passed over into purgatory during their near-death experience, and that submitting to the forest would have equaled death in the real world. Jason Funderburker (the frog) still had the bell at the end of the series, so it all presumably really happened.

[seesawseesaw]

the frog still has the ringing bell in him once they’re in the hospital, proving that it was somewhat a physical reality

[arellajardin]

I’m glad CN took a chance on this miniseries. It’s unique, atmospheric, and something that normally wouldn’t get made. And I think it opened the door for more miniseries, like Infinity Train.

[sonyafujimoto]

A great reaction to a great series!


The frog boat and meeting Adelaide were originally two episodes that were condensed together when Cartoon Network wouldn't budge on ten episodes, hence how quickly that ended.


When Greg is turning into a tree the song in the background is O Potatus et Molassus, a Latin translation of Potatoes and Molasses.


Quite a bit changed from the planning stage. There were ideas for the ending where the Beast turns out to be Death and Wirt and Greg were scheduled to die but eventually find their way back to life. Another was Wirt having to remain in the Unknown to get Greg back. There were also unmade episodes like a ship sailing over grasslands (cut for not adding anything but it was adapted into a comic) and meeting a man who makes dice from the bones of children (cut for obvious reasons). I highly recommend The Art of Over the Garden Wall.

[the-NightStar]

If you want another show that is very similar in tone to Over The Garden Wall, I recommend Infinity Train next. It deals with themes, it's very smart and entertaining, AND it's a cartoon network miniseries, just like this was.

[robbywilliamson]

I like how the montage in the first episode foreshadowed the events of every episode, and that the ending montage provided epilogues for all lost souls that Greg and Wirt helped in reverse order. For instance, in the first image, Beatrice was shown in her human form alongside the dog from episode 1, where she turns her head to look at a passing bluebird. They also included Lorna arranging the bones of her victims and the Woodsman's daughter, presumably shortly before she disappeared.

[PeppermintLife]

"I'll probably watch this again."
Have fun cause your gonna be like us, watching it every Halloween.

[derangedberger]

On episode 8, the whole cloud city sequence is the beast's manipulation. He showed happy childish things, and came to Greg in the guise of the princess to offer him a wish (a deal), in order to trick him into surrendering himself.

[KingsBard]

So glad you mentioned the soundtrack, it is amazing

[herbiek]

I've watched this series several times over the past five years and this is literally the first time I understood the "fish fishing a human thing" because RD pointed it out. LOL

[sanddry]

Over The Garden Wall is flat out my favorite animated series. The theme, story, music, art. Etc are beautiful! And I love how the beginning of the show ties so well into the ending when you rewatch it

[kykeee]

Notice the tombstone they hide behind in episode 9 says Quincy Endicott, the name of the tea maker they met in episode 5

[BARALover]

The theory because of the song and the poem that share the title(and inspiered the series) is that the kids actually died and all the happy endings are lies. Since in the poem they do end up dieing
The dream episode was the beast manipulating Greg.

[Schornforce]

Auntie Whispers likely didn't use the bell to rid Lorna of the spirit since she was worried that if Lorna no longer needed her, she would leave and Auntie Whispers would be all alone. I think you were right on track, that the spirit cannot attack so long as it's kept busy and focused on other tasks.

Greg's dream is a wonderful homage to the old Fleischer (and other) cartoons.

"So somehow Greg just caused this" or maybe what's going on around him affected his dream? I like the ambiguity throughout the series. What's 'real' and what isn't?

IIRC, you don't tend to read comics, but there are some for this series if you're interested.

[rags-t-richards]

RD's open mouthed horror when the wicked spirit possesses Lorna had me rolling on the floor, if only because I remember having the exact same reaction.

[booklover]

If you go back and watch the intro, you'll see that they foreshadowed every episode.


I love the pumpkin skeleton episode so much, especially after the final episode. The skeletons were of course people who had died, and why they were surprised Wirt and the others wanted to leave, is because people generally don't leave their town.

[numb]

jason funderberker is THE absolute chad

[alyssabullock]

Wow, you're the first reactor to this I've seen who realized the limbo aspect.
Well done, and great reaction! 💙

[tboy]

So lana gets possessed Auntie Whispers uses bell to keep demon distracted and in check but does not get rid of it so that she can be needed by her niece if this show wasn't so short this could be a whole arc