Ain’t That Just the Way? Why Over the Garden Wall should be your Autumnal tradition
Two boys are lost in the woods. The older, fraught with worry and anxiously mired in a place unknown, declares them lost. The smaller, eyes bright with wonderment at this new world, says, “We’re going home!”
Babes in the Woods
Over the Garden Wall — a mini-series produced by Cartoon Network and created by Pat McHale and his team — was slept on when it hit the network in 2014. It flew under the radar of viewers except for those dusty crannies of the internet that noticed the mixture of never-lived nostalgia and witty charm set against the backdrop of eternal autumn and haunting music. The series, which follows two young boys named Wirt and Greg (and their frog, whose name is Wirt Jr, and Benjamin Franklin, and Jason Funderberker, and a host of others) through the unknown as they seek to return to their home and discover why it is they’re lost in the first place. The series is filled with whimsy, dread, and a concentrated dose of autumnal decoration and feeling.
A host of characters peppers the series, each one eccentric and strange, each one worthy of their place in the quick but perennial miniseries. From episode one the series showcases its charms and strengths, immediately dropping Wirt and Greg in a decrepit grist mill where a strange old…
