Over the Garden Wall was a Cartoon Network mini series created by Patrick McHale (who has a truly atrocious website for some reason) that first aired in Fall of 2014.
The series consists of 10 episodes that are each about 10 minutes long.
Full Episode List
- The Old Grist Mill
- Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee
- Schooltown Follies
- Songs of the Dark Lantern
- Mad Love
- Lullaby in Frogland
- The Ringing of the Bell
- Babes in the Wood
- Into the Unknown
- The Unknown
Over the Garden Wall follows two brothers: Wirt and Greg and their journey trying to find their ways back home. Through the series the brothers are being chased by a dark figure known only as The Beast who traps souls that have lost hope to fuel his life force.
Aesthetic
Over the Garden Wall has a fall color palette that stays consistent throughout the series.
The vivid and warm toned colors give Over the Garden Wall the perfect show to watch with the current fall atmosphere.
Besides having great visuals, Over the Garden Wall has an extremally immersive and beautiful soundtrack.
Death
Though Over the Garden Wall is primarily a children’s cartoon, there are some very dark themes.
One of the most prominent being the overall theme of death.
From the very beginning, the audience is never told why Wirt and Greg are lost in the woods. It is hinted at that they do not know either.
There are also random references to death that are played as simply part of this strange world, but when watching a second time, are revealed to be clues into the true nature of the Unknown.
Finally, in episode 9, the background of the entire series is revealed. The episode opens with a modern looking Wirt as he gets ready for Halloween night.
This is when the viewer realizes Wirt and Greg are not originally from the same world as the rest of the series has taken place. Instead, they are from a modern world, much like ours.
The rest of the episode follows Wirt and Greg in their modern world and eventually leads to both brothers falling down a hill and landing in a body of water.
The viewer realizes the world Wirt and Greg have spent the past 8 episodes in was a world in between life and death. The entire series has taken place whilst they drown in this freezing lake.
They are thankfully saved in the final episode of the series, closer than they were before.
