Drama
My Brilliant Career
Netflix’s ‘My Brilliant Career’ is the tale of yet another Victorian-era young woman being forced to marry—and yet another young-adult series oversaturated with sexual content.
Spending the majority of my life in southern California, it always seemed that the appeal of most holiday movies was that they portrayed what the season ought to look like, more than it actually did. Unless my family took a trip to the mountains, watching The Santa Clause on TV was the closest I would get to seeing snow. As for autumnal holidays … sure, we could go visit a pumpkin patch, but the only orange-and-yellow leaves I saw were in the A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
I suspect that Over the Garden Wall scratches a similar itch for a lot of people.
Brothers Wirt and Greg have found themselves hopelessly lost in the dense, dark woods of the Unknown. While Wirt spends his time worrying about what may be lurking just beyond the walls of contorted trees, little brother Greg’s unwavering (and oblivious) optimism leads the pair forward in humorous fashion. But the further they trudge on in hopes of getting home, the more lost they become.
But while they might be lost, they’re not alone. the two travelers attempt to find their way in the chilly autumn wind, they are introduced to an eclectic cast of characters: a heartbroken schoolteacher with a gorilla problem; a paranoid tycoon of the tea industry whose fear of a supposed ghost is rivalled only by his love for her; a towering woodsman who warns of coming wrath of “The Beast.” These are just a handful of the personalities that stalk this forest. Within these peculiar vignettes, Wirt and Greg quickly realize that things in this neck of the woods are not often as they initially seem … and they begin to wonder who they can trust to help them get home.
Now, unlike those that I left back in southern California, many of our readers do experience the changes of seasons—but this miniseries provides a more fantastical glimpse into how the autumns of old may have felt. It walks a tonal tightrope of fall vibes—at one moment cozier than a bottle of cinnamon cider, at the next as chilly as a chilly breeze rustling through a graveyard. Viewers get an animated sampler of the feelings of the season, without being in any scary situations themselves… or leaving their living room couch.
That being said, the series won’t be a fall favorite for everyone, especially little ones.
The PG rating is misleading here. While we don’t hear any harsh profanities or witness any bloody violence, the show uses animation to frequently showcase exaggerated, disturbing character designs. Giant dark wolves have huge glowing eyes, a suspected witch melts into a dense puff of smoke, a young girl temporarily turns into a vengeful spirit. Sure, these frights would feel more realistic in live action, but the nature of animation allows them to feel disturbing in a different way—that kind of uncanny, surreal way. In addition, magic is obviously a huge part of the story, and we learn that the Unknown is a realm filled with potentially spiritual connotations. While only one episode specifically namechecks “Halloween,” everything about the series’ vibe screams it.
The comfort level you and your family have about that particular holiday will have a huge bearing on what you feel about Over the Garden Wall. For some, the series strikes a particular, bizarre, often nostalgic chord. For older viewers seeking out a unique animated journey this fall–without too much foul content haunting your experience–it may be worth the peek Over the Garden Wall… and that’s a rock fact!
(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. )
As the end of the journey approaches, The Beast confronts Wirt. With his true intentions clear and his demands known, Wirt must find a way to save his brother and severe The Beast’s connection to The Unknown once and for all.
The bulk of the episode revolves around a young boy being in danger. A character talks of lost souls being ground up to fuel a lantern. Threats are yelled, such as “hold your tongue, or I’ll remove it from your mouth.” Once again, The Beast is a menacing presence—and a quick flash of what seems to be a collection of pale faces in pain is unnerving.
A couple of characters have a neear-death experience, almost drowning before their friends rescue them.
The origins of Wirt and Greg’s quest are finally clear, and the revelation of where the boys are from and how their journey started will only show how far lost they truly are.
Much of the episode revolves around Wirt’s crush on a girl named Sara. A group of high-schoolers attend a party, in which multiple comments are made about the “age appropriate” and “not illegal” drinks they are enjoying. Teens go to a graveyard to tell ghost stories, and their little collective is mistaken as a witch’s gathering by a police officer. We hear a use of “darn it” from that same police officer. Two boys take a rough fall down a hill and into a lake. A boy places his hand on a girl, a move that clearly makes her uncomfortable.
While Beatrice searches to be reunited with the boys, Wirt has reached his limit with this quest. He slumps down under a tree in frustration, and the brothers drift off to sleep, giving us a glimpse into Greg’s mind and the bizarre, psychedelic dream he’s having.
Greg’s snooze is more odd than unnerving, featuring singing angels, and a collective of both kids and animals hanging out in the clouds. He encounters an angry gray cloud man, referred to by the residents of the hazy city as The North Wind. A lyric in one of Greg’s songs involves pulling down someone’s underwear. Greg’s innocence leads him to trust that The Beast will help him save Wirt if he does what the shadowy creature asks of him.
Still reeling from the fact that the size of their traveling party has decreased, Wirt’s anxiety grows as the brothers are somehow more lost than they were before. They find a cabin occupied by a pretty girl named Lorna who works night and day to serve a suspicious caretaker named Auntie Whispers.
While the other episodes cleverly blend the creepy with the comedic, this episode is almost all horror. Sure, Greg’s oblivious antics are cause for a few chuckles, but the bloated, decrepit design of Auntie Whispers (voiced by veteran horror actor Tim Curry) verges on grotesque. On top of that, Lorna must work constantly to avoid an evil spirit from taking hold of her. We briefly see the spirit, flying around with a wide-open mouth of sharp, ghostly teeth. Multiple characters are put under a trance whenever a magical bell is rung, adding to the darker feel of this side quest.
Wirt and Greg sneak onto the Frogland Ferry in hopes of finding a way to blend in with the ferry’s amphibious patrons and get home a little quicker. While the task of slinking in unnoticed is their main concern, they should be more worried about where they’ll end up when their ride on the ferry is over.
We hear multiple discussions about a frog being nude, as well as guessing a frog’s gender. Tadpoles are dropped on the deck of the ship, and another frog slips on them–a scene that moves quickly enough that you don’t have too much time to think about how traumatic that would be for a frog to witness. Frogs slow-dance with each other and embrace, and Wirt once again discusses his crush.
While most of the episode takes place on the whimsical frog ferry, the end involves a disturbing encounter with a witch. She is quickly dispatched, her face melting as she whisks away in a cloud of dark smoke.
Needing to acquire a couple of pennies to pay for a ferry, the group resolves to steal them from rich businessman Quincy Endicott, who has profited from selling tea meant to improve one’s health. Quincy has never tried the tea for himself, and he appears to be in the market solely for the money. His wealth, along with the size of his estate, has grown so much that rooms are popping up that he doesn’t recall building, and some of them may be haunted by a beautiful ghost.
This episode provides the only main instance of moral messiness from our heroes, as they pretend to be the nephews of the paranoid man in order to steal a penny or two. The conversation makes it clear that the man achieved his wealth from means equally as shady, and while Wirt feels guilty about the situation, that doesn’t make theft acceptable. Quincy recounts the “filthy things” his hands have done to acquire such a fortune.
Our heroes seek out a rundown tavern populated by suspicious characters in hopes of getting a bite to eat. Each patron of the pub establishes that they are known for their trade, such as the Highway Man, whose lot in life is to “make ends meet.” Wirt tries to ascertain what his defining role is in life, while rumors of an impending attack from The Beast begin to spread panic around the tavern.
Wirt discusses a crush he has on a girl back home, leading him to question if his title should be “the Lover.” A character elaborates on what he believes to be The Beast’s’ dark intentions: to turn his victims into trees made of oil. Another says that The Beast has his daughter’s soul trapped, and he must keep a lantern lit at all times, lest her soul be extinguished along with it.
A character is knocked out, and a tree is lit ablaze in an intense scene. Continued rude name calling includes phrases like “witless” and “simple minded.” This episode also provides a good look at The Beast—a shadowy figure with glowing white eyes who sports a pair of horns that look like the branches of a twisted tree. It is assumed that the patrons of the tavern are drinking alcohol, but the beverages are never specifically discussed.
In one of the lighter episodes of the series, Wirt sets out to prove that, despite what Beatrice insists, he is not a pushover. He spends a day at a local school, though the teacher is too busy lamenting over her lost love to actually teach a lesson. No matter: It would have been hard to learn much anyway, given the school has been experiencing sightings of a large, raging gorilla.
Name-calling is the main content culprit of the episode, as Beatrice lays into Wirt heavily. “Dunce,” “pathetic pushover,” and comments of the sort are thrown his way consistently. While the gorilla poses a temporary threat, his design is not nearly as unnerving as others in the series, and the reality of the situation is played for laughs rather than terror. Two characters embrace at the end of the action, concluding an episode that serves as a sweet break from the lurking dangers of the woods.
Our trio of travelers stop by what they assume is a normal town called Pottsfield, only to quickly realize that the residents of this quaint little village have a strange obsession with pumpkins. As the townsfolk’s fall festival is in full swing, the situation at hand goes from odd to eerie… and Wirt begins to wonder if they will ever be leaving this town.
While the true intentions of the townsfolk aren’t revealed until the end of the episode, Wirt and Beatrice have their theories, assuming they may have stumbled into some sort of cult. A character is forced to dig a hole, worrying that he may be (literally) digging his own grave.
The frightening imagery in this episode comes in the form of a giant talking pumpkin, who threatens to punish outsiders “for their transgressions.” A few skeletons get up and move around as well, although their synchronized dance to the festival music is hardly intended to be scary.
Wirt and Greg’s first stop on their journey home is an accidental run-in with an old woodsman, whose gravelly voice and sharp axe are enough to make the brothers suspicious about his true intentions. The man claims that the Unknown (the woods in which they wander) has been the domain of “The Beast,” a dark entity that “steals children” and is the “death of hope.” The group may have an encounter with said beast sooner than they’d like. But Greg is more concerned with naming his new pet frog than he is with any woodland folklore.
A man is knocked out, and a scary wolf-like creature causes a lot of damage to a house in its pursuit of our characters. Discussion of The Beast is frightening as well, and the episode takes its time settling viewers into the spooky vibe that permeates the rest of the series. Slinking shadows, carved-out trees, and stormy nights abound in these woods.
Beatrice, a woman turned into a bird by a curse, joins the boys in their journey.
Jonah Parker’s first interaction with Plugged In came when he was just five years old, after his parents read a review for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and deemed the content too intense for him. What started out as a contentious relationship between Jonah and a staff of reviewers who knew not of his existence would later turn into an appreciation for the site’s ability to present media content in a way that was accurate and fair. Jonah enjoys analyzing how our entertainment echoes the creativity of our Creator while finding glimpses of Biblical truths within every genre. He believes that Robert Pattinson’s Batmobile is the perfect mix of cool and practical.
Netflix’s ‘My Brilliant Career’ is the tale of yet another Victorian-era young woman being forced to marry—and yet another young-adult series oversaturated with sexual content.
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