Episode 2: “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee”
(1)You, (2) Need, (3) Go, (4) Search, (5) Find, (6) Take (cost), (7) Return, (8) Change
- You, Wirt, are lost in the Unknown with your little brother, Greg, his pet frog and new ally, Bea the bluebird
- Need help to find a way home
- Go to Pottsfield (rejecting Bea’s suggestion: Adelaide of the Pasture)
- Search for people – the village is deserted
- Find a population of creepy pumpkin-heads, cost: their freedom! For a few hours of manual labour – until a more sinister purpose is suspected; are they digging their own graves?
- Take – their freedom; Bea picks the locks.
- Return to their main objective, find a way home
- Change – Wirt changes his mind about Adelaide of the Pasture; maybe she can help.
Thoughts: The cost has shifted from step 6 to step 5, and although the pumpkin people turn out not to have murderous intentions, the escape is still a key point in this story.
This episode is a miniature of the whole series. It says “they’re trapped in a strange place, but they will escape after putting in some hard work”.
Remember the Aristotolean Tryptich? Discussed here in terms of public presentations:
“Tell them what you are going to say, say it and tell them what you said.”
This episode shows us the entire story: The macro level, series sized problem is that they are stuck in the Unknown, so the micro level, episode 2 problem is that they are stuck in Pottsfield. In both cases the solution is work – specifically team work.
Know now that YOU really are Wirt, that’s how protagonists in movies, TV and literature work. You read Pride and Prejudice; YOU are Elizabeth. You watch Lethal Weapon; YOU are Riggs. You watch Over the Garden Wall; you ARE Wirt. So Episode 2 is speaking to the audience, and to Wirt as one and the same entity. It is the episode in which GOD (Patrick McHale, creator of the OtGW Universe) shows you, Wirt, that you will get out of Unknown, but you must be patient, you must work hard, and you must work together as a team. And yes, God McHale says, it will be a creepy, beautiful and mysterious experience. People who seem menacing, may not be… and we have to suppose that the opposite may also be true (more about that in later episodes).
Did Wirt get the message? Well… did you? On first viewing? I did not. Not on a conscious level – perhaps subconsciously the seeds were sewn. The message that the team should work together, stick together and never give up hope is key to the conclusion of the series.
Did Wirt learn that? You’ll find out in episode 10.
So to recap:
Episode 1 opened up the Macro level (series sized) story cycle – it takes a deep breath at step 4 “search” which will play out across episodes 2 to 9 . Episode 1 does conclude it’s own micro level (episode sized) story cycle, but the macro level cycle will not move past step 4 until the last episode, to close the series loop and leave the audience satisfied.
Episode 2 employs the first step of the Aristotolean Tryptich – Tell them what you’re going to tell them. It teaches us that we will get out in the end; our problems will be solved if we learn patience, work hard, value our team and trust the right people.
Next time I’ll look at Episode 3, in which we discuss the sweetness of potatoes and molasses. The finding of lost loves, and that doing as you’re told doesn’t have to be a problem as long as you choose who’s direction to follow, and you are courageous in how you follow those orders… or something like that.
Feel free to comment.
ibewriting 