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The Unknown (chapter)
Season 1, Episode 10
The Unknown title card
Air Date November 7th 2014
Episode guide
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"Into the Unknown"
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"None"

The Unknown is the 10th episode and finale of Over the Garden Wall.

Plot[]

The Beast has come. The final chapter begins.

Coverage[]

Beatrice is wandering through the forest in search for Greg. Beatrice finds Greg talking to the Beast, who has assigned him seemingly impossible tasks. Greg has figured out a way to fulfill each one by taking liberties with the wording- he retrieved a golden comb (actually a honey comb) and a spool of silver thread (really a spider web on a stick). Beatrice tries to call Greg but is pushed away by the wind, and when her cries cause Greg to look back, the Beast quickly redirects his attention. He tells Greg that his last task is to get the sun for him and put it in a tea cup. Again, Greg fulfills this by putting the tea cup on a tree stump and saying that the sun will land inside when it sets. The Beast tells him to "sit there in the cold and wait", and Greg does so, starting to shiver but claiming he'll never give up, not realizing the Beast has tricked him. Beatrice flies into Wirt (searching for Greg as well), directs him to where she last saw Greg, and refuses to return home until she knows Greg is safe, so the two begin to search for him.

The Woodsman is searching for any edelwood trees he didn't grind and finds two edelwood branches that he tries to grind into oil, but to no avail. The Woodsman hears the Beast singing Come Wayward Souls outside and follows the music, finding him standing in a dark clearing and claiming that he has a gift. He reveals that the 'gift' is Greg, the branches of a new edelwood tree growing around him, which horrifies the Woodsman. The Beast tries to convince the Woodsman to grind Greg into oil to feed the lantern, but he refuses, saying he had no idea that the lost souls of children were the origin of edelwood trees and attempting to free the boy instead. While this is happening, The Beast makes a grab for the lantern, but the Woodsman stops him with his axe. The Beast then taunts the Woodsman about the safety of his daughter, causing the Woodsman to become enraged and attempt to attack him with his axe, chasing him away as the Beast laughs. Wirt and Beatrice finally find Greg, and Wirt apologizes to Greg as he appears to realize that as the older brother of Greg, he is responsible for the misfortunes that the two brothers have encountered throughout the series. Greg responds with an apology of his own and asks Wirt to take his rock facts rock that he had stolen from Mrs. Daniel's garden, but Wirt tells Greg to give it to her himself. In desperation, he tries to keep Greg's spirits up by mentioning that they have to get his frog, that he names Jason Funderburker, back home. Gregory says Jason Funderburker is "the perfect frog name," using the last of his strength as his eyes close. Interestingly enough, during this scene a slowed down version of Potatoes and Molasses, a song that had come to somewhat represent Gregory's character, can be heard in the background. Wirt and Beatrice try to break Greg free, but the Woodsman collapses nearby, defeated by the Beast. Knowing the Woodsman would no longer be of any use to him, the Beast instead tries to make a deal with Wirt by promising to place Greg's soul inside the lantern so he could live on inside, and all that was needed from him was to grind edelwood trees forevermore to keep the lantern lit. Wirt initially agrees with the Beast's deal, but then pauses, believing that the offer was 'dumb', and that the Beast had a crazy obsession with keeping his lantern lit, leading Wirt to suspect that the Beast's soul was inside the lantern. The Beast reacts by surrounding Wirt with nothing but darkness, and asks Wirt if he is ready to see true darkness. While initially afraid, Wirt looks firmly into his eyes and asks "are you?", before threatening to blow out the lantern's flame, causing the Beast to scream for him to stop, proving his suspicions true. Wirt gives the Woodsman the lantern back, saying he had his own problems and that the lantern was his. Wirt breaks Greg free from the edelwood branches, gives Beatrice the scissors that would make her and her family human again, and leaves. The Beast makes a last-ditch effort to manipulate the Woodsman into killing the brothers to feed the lantern, but the Woodsman, realizing his daughter was never in the lamp, swings the lantern around to face the Beast instead. The Beast's body is briefly revealed by the lantern's light. As the Beast screams for him to stop, the Woodsman sheds a tear before he blows out the flame, ending the Beast once and for all.

Wirt wakes up in the pond that he, Greg, and his frog fell into on Halloween. Wirt pulls Greg and the frog out of the pond and is found by his friends who take the three to the hospital. Wirt wakes up at the hospital to find Sara and his other friends listening to Greg about his and Wirt's adventures in the Unknown. Sara discusses the tape recorder she found for her and reveals she doesn't have a tape player. Wirt invites her to listen to it at his house. While it initially seems that their adventures in the Unknown were some sort of shared dream, Greg shakes his frog, revealing that Auntie Whispers' bell is still in his stomach.

As the story ends, scenes of the Unknown are viewed, mirroring those that appeared in the first episode. The Woodsman sits on the porch back at his old house, looking mournful, until his daughter opens the front door. They are shocked to see each other, before his daughter smiles with tears in her eyes. The fish that appeared in the first episode fishes up a turtle, Lorna and Auntie Whispers are living a better life, a frog from Lullaby in Frogland appears, a picture of Quincy and Fred the Horse are seen, and figurines of Wirt, Beatrice, Greg and his frog are included in the set at the colonial tavern in Songs of the Dark Lantern,. Jimmy Brown, Ms. Langtree and some of the animal students are seen watching the circus, Enoch from Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee is revealed as being the black cat shown in the theme song in episode 1, and the red-haired girl in the blue dress is seen in a house with a large family. The girl is revealed to be Beatrice as a human when her mother tells her to "eat her dirt", echoing what Beatrice's mother told Wirt in chapter 9. Beatrice asks her mom to stop calling the dinner that and her mother asks what is she going to do about it, jokingly asking if she's going to turn them all to bluebirds again. The rest of the now-human family laughs and Beatrice is exasperated, but eats a mouthful of her dinner and smiles. As the very final shot, Greg is shown placing his rock facts rock back in Mrs. Daniels' garden.

Characters[]

Main Episode[]

Epilogue[]

Songs[]

 Trivia[]

  • The Woodsman had been unaware that Edelwood Trees were made from lost souls of The Beast's victims up until the events of the episode.
  • The Woodsman' daughter was revealed to never have been in the lantern and the whole time the lantern's flame was actually The Beast's soul.
  • The music and sound effects in the episode seem to evoke a 60's-80's sitcom feel.
  • The scenes in the ambulance and the hospital are the only ones that take place after episode 1 in the continuity of the series where Wirt and Greg's costumes change.
  • At the very end of the hospital scene, Greg shakes his frog and Lorna's bell can still be heard ringing and be seen glowing. This can mean that Greg and Wirt's trip to the Unknown was not a dream but was real.
  • During the epilogue, the kitten student is missing from the class in the circus scene.
  • Enoch is revealed to be a cat.

References[]

  • The episode could be divided into three acts. Each with individual color palettes. The first is mostly white, and the second black. Whereas the third is colorful. Patrick McHale, the show creator said in the Art of Over the Garden Wall book, "I wanted it to feel like an opera. The lighting in the second act is meant to feel like a stage." That reference to the stage and opera is apparent throughout. And is even more evident with the talent of Samuel Ramey, who portrays the Beast. Samuel Ramey was a star of American Opera and it shows in his operatic way of singing.
  • The settlement where Wirt and Greg live looks similar to Aberdale from the Cartoon Network show Clarence.

Gallery[]

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