Wilfred - "Avoidance"/"Truth"

Season 2, Episodes 7-8

If Wilfred were a more tightly plotted show, I might be more inclined to read into the fact that there existed back to back episodes with the titles “Avoidance” and “Truth”, which would seem to indicate thematic parallels, if not an outright two-parter. That of course wasn’t the case, but it is interesting to note how these two episodes served as a dialectic of the show’s two extremes: raunchy humor and high-minded storytelling.

                      “Our biggest problems arise from the avoidance of the smaller one.”

                                                      -Jeremy Caulfield

FX is a channel that sells itself mainly based on its edge, and at the most superficial level, its shows seem to reflect that edge. This means that most of its comedies have some degree of raunchy humor, and no matter how cerebral those shows may get, they will inevitably get back to the raunchiness from time to time. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as show like Louie, which can handle those deeper explorations of life with brief respires of scatology, can attribute to. But those raunchy moments only really work if the episode as a whole doesn’t lose sight of the other elements that make it work.

“Avoidance” is credited to Jason Gann, who also wrote the season one episode “Acceptance”. That’s an important thing to note, because both of those episodes seem designed solely to test the audience’s resolve when it comes to shock humor. While “Acceptance” was all about the dog-rape, “Avoidance” was about bestiality of a different sort, where it was somebody other than Wilfred who was tricked into doing the act in question, in this case an unwitting hand job. It’s a joke that gross and sort of funny when it’s first presented, but is quickly run into the ground through needless repetition that does very little to expand on the joke.

Putting aside the fact that South Park did an episode centered on this same idea to a much greater effect, the fact that “Avoidance” doesn’t really grow past the singular joke is it’s biggest misstep. While this season has seen great improvement by foregrounding Ryan’s stories and cutting back on the Wilfred-centric action, this episode seemed to regress back to the season one formula of making everything about Ryan’s relationship with Wilfred. Sure, there was the B-story here about Ryan’s past at his father’s firm, his old would-have-been business partner, and just why Ryan left in the first place, but it doesn’t really parallel on the issue of avoidance like the episode seems to want to. Ryan’s avoidance of Wilfred and his avoidance James worked on different planes and different degrees, and the human element really got lost here.

The episode wasn’t a total waste, as that dancing montage and the additional dancing in the longer-than-usual sting was delightfully weird, and Kristen’s desperate hitting on James implies something about her current state that I hope the show will illustrate more before the season is out. But unfortunately the genius bits kept getting left behind for the damn jizz jokes, and the episode kept stalling.

“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.”

                                                      -James A. Garfield

“Truth” then is the complete opposite of “Avoidance”, as it is a far more character-based than joke-based half-hour, and the character stuff here works really well.

For starters, look to the way that Wilfred is used in this episode. It starts with him doing the usual goofy Wilfred shtick, and pretending that the world is coming to an end. It’s the sort of obsession that seems on track to wreck the episode and absorb everything around it, but it serves as a misleading-intro-cum-metaphor that would come into play later. Things really get cooking after Ryan asks Amanda to move in with him and Wilfred turns that into his new obsession, leaving the end of the world on the back burner.

This leads to the heart of the hour, when, after an earthquake, Bruce shows up again, and an extended series of games begins between the two of them so that Ryan can see the supposed evidence of why he shouldn’t move in with Amanda. In retrospect, the fact that Ryan playing these games with these two imaginary friends/delusions was the evidence against moving in with Amanda is a fairly obvious ending for the episode to go to, but it’s also a heartbreaking one.

During the season so far, Ryan hasn’t gotten into as much trouble thanks to Wilfred, and the show has lulled into a false sense of security that he’s gotten a better handle on his demons. However, just because he’s been able to internalize the issue doesn’t mean that he’s actually better; in actuality, in points to his issue only getting worse. That this is the reason for his break-up with Amanda only furthers the issue. At the beginning of the season, it seemed as if he was likely to break up with her because of his feelings for Jenna, but that he can’t be with her – or anybody – because of his mental issues points to a man who may only have his inner demons for comfort for a long, long time.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

“Why do you think no dogs died in the Holocaust?...Because we knew it was coming.”

“I tell you, I can feel it in my bones – the ones I chew on and the ones inside of me.”

“The answer is Martin van Buren. Rules are rules.”

“Congratulation buddy, you won.” “I did?” “Don’t get cocky.”