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Wilfred finale

#1

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

Any of you crazy mofos watch the entire run of Wilfred? The ending was one of the best series finales I've ever seen. I actually couldn't fall asleep last night for thinking about it, and I've got a smoothie like Ryan's for my nightly sleep meds.

Also the first time I couldn't go hug the kitties after watching something about pet-related sadness, because I knew I'd lose it completely. As it was I still cried when I saw them this morning.


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#2

Gryfter

Gryfter

Wait.... the last season of Wilfred aired.... WTF DVR!!!!


#3

Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Wait.... the last season of Wilfred aired.... WTF DVR!!!!
A-GREED, I knew nothing of this! Season 3 had like a million commercials, this had zippo! Freaking ridicks.


#4

Gryfter

Gryfter

A-GREED, I knew nothing of this! Season 3 had like a million commercials, this had zippo! Freaking ridicks.
Upon researching, I found out what's up. FX moved the show to FXX so since my DVR was set to tape on FX.... I get no Wilfred. :(


Guess I will have to wait until Netflix gets the last season.


#5

Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

Upon researching, I found out what's up. FX moved the show to FXX so since my DVR was set to tape on FX.... I get no Wilfred. :(


Guess I will have to wait until Netflix gets the last season.
Season 4 is on demand, which I just shot-gunned...and yeah that finale was amazing. Just...damn.


#6

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

Yeah, FX really treated the show like shit. I follow the executive producer on Twitter -- he used to do a lot more writing, most of the best episodes are his including both parts of the finale -- and he's answering questions about the fate of the show very politely. But if you read between the lines, I think he's pissed off. As far as he's been told, there's no box set coming out, no extras on the DVDs, and then of course there's the thing where they aired the final season on lame old FXX. They've never exactly been my favorite channel but Christ, that was an unbelievably rotten move.

As for the finale:

How in the hell do you kill the title character halfway through the first part of the finale, and then find yourself with a wonderfully happy ending where the main character accepts that he's utterly bonkers? "Rollercoaster ride" is such a cliche but I can't think of any other way to describe watching it. Wilfred turning back into a real dog after he dies just about slew me. And then there were those really disturbing, creepy moments where Ryan sees his life with total clarity, talking to a mutt and using the shock collar on himself. That's one of the things that kept me from sleeping.

I also love the way they settled some of the loose ends a viewer might not even remember. Like Kristen's drawing of "Wilfred" -- it's never said explicitly, but that whole explanation by Ryan's real dad completely explained it. It's brilliant when they do that without shoving it in your face. (And what a wonderful performance from Tobin Bell.) To me this was by far the most satisfying ending of any "mythology" series ever.

As far as what was really going on, here's my interpretation and please feel free to disagree or flat-out tell me I'm wrong. I think Charles is/was mentally ill, and like he said, he truly believed in the whole cult thing and Mattdamon and so forth. I think he's convinced himself now that he's sane and what he believed before was madness, although there was a way he said this to Ryan that made me wonder if he's really done with it all. I think Ryan's mom went to the institution when Henry rescued his family. But I'm not sure she was actually crazy. I think she just fully believed in Charles's delusions, as shown by that wonderful moment with her cat-as-Rhea-Perlman. It makes sense that love would "cure" her since she wasn't really ill to begin with, and she clearly still believes based on her conversation with Ryan about animals who come into your life for a reason. I believe Ryan is batshit but I also believe that after coming to terms with it (i.e. Wilfred living in his head), he will be happier and able to enjoy life. Oh, and I was SO GLAD Jenna wasn't Ryan's happiness! It was such a user/doormat relationship, and I cheered for Ryan after he finally told her off. Possibly best performances from Fiona Gubelmann and Elijah Wood in the whole series.

Okay, sorry for the novel, but I only have Mr. ZM to fangirl about this with and there's only so much he can take. :rolleyes:


#7

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

"Wilfred DVD Update: FX no longer releases blu-rays, so S3 (now available) will only be standard DVD. S4 release date will be in April '15."

https://twitter.com/David_Zuckerman/statuses/502214484346564608

Crap and double crap. No Blu-Ray? Next April??


#8

Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

@ZenMonkey

GRAH- that's such a dick move, what are they NBC?

This was a series that ended on a perfect closure point, and yeah Ryan didn't get everything he wanted in the end but show's he's definitely grown as a person and will grow in the right ways in the future.

Agreed on Jenna to the nth degree, not only for the obvious reason of their relationship being parasitic but mostly because I love it when the obvious pairing doesn't get together.

I honestly feel bad for Drew, at first you think he's some dumb jerky jock at first but was ultimately just a normal man who ultimately will get his heart broken by Jenna.

And finally I love the Occam's razor ending to this show, after going through 4 seasons to figure out what Wilfred was treating insanity as the opposite of the truth when in fact it was! But ultimately it wasn't the answer the mystery that mattered as most stories are, but rather the journey that mattered. And whether Wilfred was real or not doesn't matter because the friendship between them definitely was, as unconventional it could be. It was kind like Jesse Custer and John Wayne from Preacher.


#9

ZenMonkey

ZenMonkey

@Yoshimickster --

Chris Klein was just great throughout the entire series. I totally agree about Drew, and I think it was really smart to give Jenna a love interest whom the audience wouldn't hate or be unable to believe she was with.

Totally agree on that entire last paragraph. I was actually thinking that it would be okay if they biffed the ending because I loved the show so much. I was intrigued for the first few minutes, then I fell face-first in love when Wilfred turned around a few times before sitting down. Apparently those actions were known as "dog-isms" on set and they were my favorite thing about the show. Besides being hilarious, they were a way to remind you that this guy in a dog suit may or may not be a real dog. (And boy did they run with that in the episode with the peanut-butter ice cream!!!) But then they went and made a really remarkable finale, and as far as I'm concerned it was, minus a few less enjoyable episodes, a perfect series run.

Also I'm sorry I didn't tag this thread "TV." I'm old and unused to these fancy new things we elder forumites lived just fine without. /getoffmylawn


#10

fade

fade

I was really pleasantly surprised by Wilfred the first time I saw it. I was expecting the funny, but not the existentialism. I also really enjoyed that they wasted no real time on the protagonist not coming to grips with the phenomenon or on explaining the why.


#11

Yoshimickster

Yoshimickster

One small thing I liked this season, was having Champion from Parks and Rec on a few episodes. That was fun.


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