Wilfred: "Identity"

Season 1, Episode 13

A fantastically dark finale shows what the show is truly capable of

“The value of identity is that so often it comes with purpose.”

-Richard Grant

Have we at lost last reached the end of the mystery of who is Wilfred? Don’t count on it.

Since I have held firmly on to my belief that Wilfred is merely the extension of some part or parts of Ryan’s subconscious, I have almost resented the show for trying to insist that it might be something deeper than that, as they did in that Dwight Yoakam episode a few weeks back. While I see Alan Sepinwall’s point that the idea of Wilfred being a Tyler Durden-esque character is a bit obvious, which probably means that it isn’t true, given the way that the show’s universe is set up (that everything outside of Wilfred is fairly normal) I think it would kind of be breaking the rules to suggest that it’s anything else.

But apart from some opening and closing moments that lingered on who Wilfred is, this episode wasn’t really about him, it was about Ryan – the real-life version of him – which was fitting, considering that this wasn’t really your standard episode of Wilfred. Up until this point, the show has been delivering the TV equivalent of stoner comedy, with (albeit well done) random humor and loose plotting where not all that much happened. This vibe worked for the show, and I’m sure it what’s got the show most of the fans that it has. (Either that or the fact that it’s paired with Louie.)

But tonight’s episode, which saw the convergence of so many plotlines that up until this point were just in the background – Kristen fighting with her husband, Jenna and Drew’s relationship, Ryan’s past as a lawyer – meet up with two specific points from last week – Kristen getting high on air and the reveal of Ryan as “The Archeologist” – and continued to give us an episode filled with plot points, it was like we were watching an entirely different, and much better, show.

And while the multi-layered plot was well handled, what really kept me tuned in was watching just how dark it got by episode’s end. Let’s recap:

·         Ryan, in an attempt to get Jenna off the hook, returns to being the Archeologist once more.

·         This starts him on the slippery slope, and he soon schemes a way to make Jenna his.

·         This involves setting up an elaborate party, where he get’s his sister and brother-in-law fighting (with an assist from Mr. Patel) and then uses their unhappiness to convince Jenna to decline Drew’s engagement request.

·         While this is bad in and of itself, soon things start to go downhill for Ryan when Jenna needs to take a drug test in order to become an anchor once more – yet Jenna still doesn’t know that she got high, and that the drugs are still in her system.

·         Ryan then gets Kristen to hand over some of her pee to switch with Jenna by blackmailing her with the truth that she had an affair.

·         Yet even this blows up in his face. Kristen’s pee reveals that she’s pregnant, which of course means Jenna thinks she’s pregnant, and she runs back to Drew. Kristen meanwhile told her husband everything, and Wilfred – who got hit with a car earlier – doesn’t even recognize who Ryan is.

Whew, that was a lot of stuff. Ryan sure has a shit heap to go through when the show comes back next summer.

The key to all of this – and the reason that I still think Wilfred is Tyler Durden-esque in nature – is the fact that once Ryan went down that slippery slope once more, Wilfred himself became relatively benign, proof positive that Wilfred was part of Ryan all along. Even more proof?  The basement they were hanging out in all season doesn’t even exist; it was just a storage closet.

I don’t know how the show plans to wriggle its way out of such a dead end – and if I were to lob a complaint against this episode, that would be it – must I must commend the show for hold my attention more than it has even done in the past. While I was just happy with Wilfred as a goofy, weird stoner sitcom, I like it even better as a tightly-plotted, goofy, weird stoner sitcom. Let’s hope they keep it up next year.

Quotes, Etc:

This was strangely the first episode in which none of the character explicitly mentioned the episode's theme. Perhaps coincidentally, this was only the second episode where it seemed as if the theme actually met up with the plot, and the best episode to do so. Something else to think on, writers. 

“Shhh! Smoke Monster!”

“These are big, existential questions, best left for Russians novelists and teenagers on acid.”

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to a celebrity walkathon. Hug some clefties.”

“I know we ended on a sour note yesterday, and we never did get that pizza…”

“Holy shit, is this India place real?”

“Ryan, I swear to God, if you blow one more…BUBBLES!”

“BUBBLES! Goddamn you, Ryan..”

“Christ, you take all the fun out of bubbles.”