In many entertainment media, Bait-and-Switch is a setup where the audience believes something is going to happen, but something else happens unexpectedly instead. It is a very common theme in Over the Garden Wall and used to express that not everything is as it appears to be.
History[]
"Bait"[]
The Dog: The beast who lurks through the Unknown.
Pottsfield: A town full of pumpkin people lead by some kind of pumpkin entity. Their punishment is making people dig their own graves.
Mr. Langtree: He was portrayed as a big and intimidating man, who took away the instruments the animal students were playing because he didn’t pay for animals to go gallivanting around. He payed for them to learn.
Miss Langtree: Her boyfriend, Jimmy Brown, left her and her school was constantly attacked by a gorilla.
Papa: He is a tough man who will deeply punish anymore when he gets upset.
The Highwayman and people at the Tavern: A thief with people who refer to each other by their occupation.
Quincy Endicott's Mansion: He believes that the mansion is haunted by the ghost of a beautiful woman in a painting.
The Old Pear Tree: The pears turn humans into animals.
Adelaide and Beatrice: Beatrice wanted to take Wirt and Greg to Adelaide, a kind witch, to help them get home.
Auntie Whispers and Lorna: Auntie Whispers is controlling ill Lorna with her bell.
Wirt and Greg: The half-brothers are from "olden times" and lost in a strange forest far from home.
Jason Funderberker: Has been described by Wirt as a better match of Sara, maybe even a jock.
The Beast and the Dark Lantern: The Beast is keeping Anna alive by keeping her in the Dark Lantern and keeping it lit.
Anna: Trapped in the lantern and needed oil to survive.
"Switch"[]
The Dog: An ordinary dog, who belongs to Beatrice and her family, that ate a black turtle.
Pottsfield: A town full of skeletons dressed in pumpkins, with their leader being a black cat. Their punishment is making people help other skeletons out of their own graves.
Mr. Langtree: In reality, he was a small and miserable man, and sold the instruments to keep the school open.
Miss Langtree: Jimmy Brown got a job at a circus as a gorilla to earn money to buy a wedding ring for Langtree, but he got stuck in the costume and everybody was too scared of him to help him get out.
Papa: He’s a big softie whose crying can cause huge floods and maybe even rain.
The Highwayman and people at the Tavern: Implied to be a ghostly spirit and toys.
Quincy Endicott's Mansion: His mansion is connected to the mansion of the woman, Margueritte Grey, who in turn thought he was a ghost.
The Old Pear Tree: Greg merely traded his clothes to a duck for a pear and Wirt also traded because he was scared of the bear who was offering.
Adelaide and Beatrice: Beatrice almost tricks Wirt and Greg into becoming the servants of Adelaide, an evil witch, so she'd give her scissors that would turn her and her family into humans again.
Auntie Whispers and Lorna: Auntie Whispers is keeping the Evil Spirit possessing Lorna under control with her bell.
Wirt and Greg: The half-brothers are from modern times, wearing Halloween costumes, and got lost in another world after falling in a river.
Jason Funderberker: Is rather a dork with a nasally voice and no hope of getting Sara to be her girlfriend.
The Beast and the Lantern: The Beast’s own soul is in the lantern, and he tricked the Woodsman into keeping it lit by saying Anna, his daughter, is in it.
Anna: Merely got lost in the forest and returned home, not knowing her father went out looking for her.
Trivia[]
- In non-entertainment terms, bait-and-switch is a kind of retail fraud where someone convinces a customer to buy something only later reveal that it's out of stock so they could buy something more expensive.
- The lyrics in Into the Unknown, "The loveliest lies of all," refers to the constant Bait-and-Switches appearing on the show.
- Some things in Over the Garden Wall like crew of the Old Bicorne, the Riverboat Frogs and Cloud City (along with its citizens) are in fact apparently what they appear to be.
- What makes the Bait of Auntie Whispers' being evil even more convincing was that she was voiced by Tim Curry. While not all of his roles are such, the actor has been known for portraying and/or voicing villains.
- Even the original concepts of the show had Bait-and-Switch within. Originally, the Beast was trying to help Wirt and Greg get home instead of looking to hurt them.