By Ned Jordan
Wilfred is a dog, or is he? At least that's how the world sees him. All
except for Ryan (Elijah Wood), that is. After a spectacularly unsuccessful
suicide attempt, a knock at Ryan's door brings him face to face with the cute
neighbor he's always admired from afar (Fiona Gubelmann). She asks him to watch
her dog for a short while, and in walks Wilfred (Jason Gann), on two legs,
looking to Ryan like a man in a rather cheap dog costume. From this strange
meeting an even stranger relationship develops between Ryan and Wilfred. Ryan
looks to Wilfred for advice as he works his way through an extended existential
crisis, while Wilfred is only too happy to help, sort of. In fact, it's never
quite clear to Ryan if he's being helped or toyed with, but some part of him is
desperate for Wilfred to save him from himself.
The first season of Wilfred starts slowly, relying too much on
man-in-a-dog-suit sight gags and lowbrow humor. Stick with it, though, because
the series finds its way and hits its stride by midseason. As Ryan increasingly
relies on Wilfred to somehow fix the elusive thing inside him that he's sure is
broken, you're expertly led from believing that Wilfred is genuinely helping
Ryan to the opposite and back again. Similarly, you'll believe one moment that
Wilfred is real and the next that Ryan is actually crazy, or that perhaps that
suicide attempt wasn't such a failure after all. This all culminates in an
excellent season-ending cliffhanger in which Ryan's regression to his old habits
from his former life as an unscrupulous lawyer and subsequent attempts to
manipulate the people in his life goes disastrously wrong. If you like your
comedy dark, subversive, clever, and occasionally surreal, then you're probably
going to love Wilfred. It's not for the faint of heart though as the series
features pervasive drug use and quite frequently crosses the line of good taste,
which is to bad because the show works just fine on a higher level.
The Blu-ray release of Wiflred supports a season play feature that allows you
to essentially watch the series as a long film, remembering where you stop so
that the next time you watch it you can pick up right where you left off. The
picture quality is average for the format, not bad but nothing that will knock
your socks off. The sound is pretty average as well, but that's not too
surprising considering that this is a TV show and not a summer blockbuster
movie. The special features leave a lot to be desired though. One features
deleted scenes and two others are essentially short montages of clips from the
show. The two features with the most content are just clips from recorded
discussions of the show, a Comic-Con panel from 2011 and a segment from a film
student Q&A with Jason Gann, both of which are light on any real revelations
about the show. Don't expect a lot out of the special features or for them to
give you any insight into the show.
Final Rating:
