Animation
Over the Garden Wall
Balancing the warm feeling of a fall cider with chilly spookiness and humor, ‘Over the Garden Wall’ is a niche autumn tradition for some. But for kids, this miniseries has some skeletons in the closet.
The early 1900s did not afford many opportunities to women. If you were poor, you had to work for a living, usually as a maid or cook. The hours were terrible and the pay was pitiful. But being a woman of society wasn’t much better. Sure, you wouldn’t have to work, per se, but you’d be expected to make yourself as appealing as possible in order to marry someone rich—and usually considerably older than you. And even then, you couldn’t do what you liked with your money: You were beholden to your husband’s whims.
Sybylla Melvyn is somewhere in the middle. Her mother was born into high society but married a poor man. Then Sybylla’s parents borrowed more money than they could afford to repay and had a gaggle of kids they couldn’t afford to feed.
But Sybylla is of age now. Actually, at 17 years old, she’s practically a spinster, at least by society’s standards. If she could manage to find herself a husband—one with some money to spare—she could help support her family.
Luckily, she’s been invited to leave her filthy countryside home in Possum Gully, Australia, and move in with her filthy rich grandmother in Caddagat.
There’s just one small problem. Minuscule, really. It’s hardly even worth mentioning …
Sybylla doesn’t want to get married.
“Maybe you’ll fall in love with a handsome stranger,” Sybylla’s younger sister, Gertie, suggests.
“That’s your dream, Gert. Not mine,” Sybylla responds.
Sybylla wants to become a writer, not a wife. Truth be told, she’d be happy to stay in Possum Gully and fulfill that dream there. But, as her parents point out, that probably wouldn’t work out the way she hopes. No, far more likely she’d marry some “dumb farmhand” and wind up even worse off than her parents.
It would be far better, society would say, for Sybylla to move to Caddagat and “stretch” her talents. Allow her to experience the world before she writes about it. And yeah, hopefully find a suitable suitor while she’s at it.
Hey, if nothing else, Granny does own a veritable library of books.
Netflix’s My Brilliant Career, based on the 1901 novel of the same name by Miles Franklin (full name: Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin), doesn’t really feel any different from the numerous other stories set in that same era that focus on young women of society. Girl wants to be a writer. Girl’s family pressures her to marry instead. Girl meets boy, falls in love and still somehow finds a way to become a writer anyway. Best of both worlds. The end.
Based on what I’ve read about Franklin’s original story, that’s not exactly how Sybylla’s story goes, but the setup, at least, is still the same.
Unfortunately, no matter where Sybylla winds up, her journey probably isn’t one that parents will want their own 17-year-olds watching.
For starters, this series is rated TV-14 for sex, substances, language and smoking. We only see a small portion of that in the first episode, but My Brilliant Career will likely get quite—ahem—spicy before the end. Maybe not Bridgerton levels of passion, but certainly not anything you’d be able to comfortably watch with your tween daughter in the room.
And frankly, that’s a shame, because in today’s TV landscape oversaturated with steamy romance stories, we really could have used a show that simply focuses on a confidant young woman making her way in the world without stumbling over modern society’s expectations of sexuality.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Sybylla agrees to move in with her rich grandmother because she believes it will strengthen her writing. She expects her granny will try and marry her off.
After hearing two potential suitors gossip cruelly about her and her family, Sybylla recites a sexually charged poem that essentially implies neither of them will ever have her. She moves her hands over her curves as she’s delivering the poem (which she wrote herself).
Sybylla stares at a young man as he changes his shirt outdoors. She starts a raucous dance at a party. Two young people snuggle up close under a gazebo (something that was considered inappropriate at the time). A man places his hand on a woman’s lower back, shocking her with his forwardness.
Sybylla pulls off a dress, revealing a low-cut corset and petticoat, before jumping into a body of water to swim. She and her sister swim in petticoats in another scene. We also see her in the corset as her aunt ties the thing tighter and tighter to manipulate her form. A few women wear gowns that bare their backs and shoulders. Sybylla wears a blouse that shows a bit of her stomach with what are essentially undershorts in a few scenes.
We hear a lot throughout the episode about the societal expectations for young women, most of which are focused on marriage and procreation. She shows interest in meeting a prominent suffragette. When her aunt says she doesn’t want to “make a fuss” about women’s rights, Sybylla states: “Women make up half the world but give birth to all of it. How is it ‘making a fuss’ to ask for equality?”
Sybylla’s mother and father married for love, which is heavily criticized since they now have more children than they can afford to feed. (Her wealthy grandmother refuses to give them money since she disapproved of the match.) They lie to Sybylla about wanting her to get married, pretending to be supportive of her writing aspirations.
People gossip about each other. A woman says that parties are for “champagne and gossip,” and we see plenty of both. When a drunken man falls down in Sybylla’s path, she comments that it’s a bit early in the day to be that inebriated.
Believing herself to be alone, Sybylla squats down to relieve herself outdoors. Unfortunately, two people spot her in the act and laugh to themselves about it. Later, one of the witnesses pantomimes the action in mockery. Sybylla spares someone from stepping into a pile of manure.
We hear two instances of the s-word, and a woman flips off her sister.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
Balancing the warm feeling of a fall cider with chilly spookiness and humor, ‘Over the Garden Wall’ is a niche autumn tradition for some. But for kids, this miniseries has some skeletons in the closet.
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