Ryan has a lot to deal with on this week’s Wilfred as Kristen returns from India toting a big surprise: an unborn child! Yep, Arturo knocked her up, and now seems to only want to see her when it’s convenient for him. Now Ryan has to deal with her moving in and making him feel guilty about his past actions, which gives us this week’s theme.
I don’t know how seriously we are meant to take each week’s theme, but I found guilt to be an interesting one for this episode. Ryan feels it towards Kristen; Kristen feels it towards her ex; and Wilfred feels it towards Kristen’s fetus by the end of the episode. Also, as is pointed out, Kristen and Wilfred’s feelings were more about themselves than those they were angry at. I think the same goes for Ryan — he was more interested in alleviating his guilt at first than in helping his sister.
They reach a nice moment by the end, as Wilfred does with the baby, tying the episode together well. Everyone’s showed a little growth and learned a Very Important Lesson, but with Wilfred we always have to wonder when the rug will be pulled from under us. Ryan is functioning well now, but considering that the weirdness of the season premiere — excuse me, “special preview,” rather — nothing seems at all settled about Ryan’s mental state. He still talks to a dog, after all. As long as the show has this premise, he can’t grow too much.
For me, the highlight of the episode was Wilfred’s almost Shakespearean descriptions of the ongoing battle between babies and dogs. Jason Gann just plays this role with such commitment; I can’t help but love how he goes on about getting fontanels as trophies and so forth. Fortunately, no fetal blood was spilled, and Wilfred, like Ryan and Kristen, came to feel guilty about his actions. Aside from being a comedic echo of Ryan’s story with his sister, there wasn’t much to this, but it was amusing enough that I didn’t mind.
Notes and Quotes:
Highlight of the episode for me was when Wilfred was astonished that Ryan could get over the fence, and then said something along the lines of “you’re not some otherworldly being, are you? Because I’d tell you if I was”
*POST AUTHOR*
OMG, there was so much funny in this episode that I was tempted to make the bullet points the longest part of the post! There was that, and of course the voodoo doll fellatio. Jason Gann can do no wrong.