Wilfred: "Happiness"

Season 1, Episode 1

A comedy that deals heavily in self-examination

“Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.”

-Mark Twain

A lot of the pre-premiere press about Wilfred was concentrated quite heavily on how weird the show was, an idea that I just couldn’t get behind. Sure, the show’s basic premise – a man sees his neighbor’s dog not as he actually is, but as a man dressed up in a dog suit – is weird to a certain degree, but I don’t think it’s SUPER WEIRD or anything. It’s certainly not as surreal as many Adult Swim shows are these days, and it’s not like “man dressed up as an animal” is a totally unexplored area of comedy, or that we don’t know what kind of jokes it will eventually lead to.

Which – just to go ahead and get the negatives out of the way – is the one drawback to the show, and that flaw could become the show’s downfall. As amusing as it was to see Ryan’s version of Wilfred go around doing certain dog things that would be reprehensible for a human to do – nuzzling a strange woman’s breast, peeing on a tree, shitting in a boot – it’s not the kind of joke that has a long shelf life, and given that this type of humor was this episode’s main focus (as well as the main focus for the next two episodes, based on what I’ve seen from professional critics), it worries me that this show might outstay it’s welcome and see a drop off of viewers over the next few weeks.

Yet despite the fairly one-note nature of the show’s humor – which actually gave me quite a few chuckles tonight – the show is back by a very strong sense of what it wants to be, and that helps mover everything along quite nicely. (Yes, when you considering that this is a remake of an Australian series, complete with the original creator in tow, it doesn’t sound like that big of an accomplishment, but considering how make US remakes of shows are just complete flops, let’s give credit where it’s due.) The core idea here, and one that “Happiness” make perhaps a bit too explicit, is that Wilfred is not a hallucination so much as it is a coping mechanism of Ryan, as his inner alpha male starts rising up after so many years of being repressed by his father, society, and Ryan himself.

It’s from this idea the Wilfred is essentially Ryan’s inner self that the show get a lot to play off of, and I hope this idea is put to its full potential going forward. Certainly the idea doesn’t always work – there were a few times tonight where it wasn’t explicitly clear what actions Wilfred undertook in his dog form, and what actions Ryan’s doing that he mentally transferred to Wilfred – but it is interesting to look at the screen and realize that a lot of the conversations here are taking place in Ryan’s head. It’s here that Wilfred really does start to feel like a truly weird series, but I’m not sure how many people will be aware of this while watching the show, given that it takes some real reading-between-the-lines to catch this idea, and that’s not how most people watch television.

But if this idea holds true – if this show truly becomes about Ryan’s weirdly symbolic journey to self-improvement – then all of this should hold up quite nicely, and the show should be able to transitions away from the human-in-a-dog suit sight gags. (Where would that leave the show, humor-wise? I don’t know, but Louie’s made a killing off of not having to be funny all the time, and such a move might benefit this show. Plus, it certainly would make this hour-match-up FX has arranged make more sense.)  One of the key ideas expressed in tonight’s episode was that “nobody’s happy”, an idea that fits this show’s darker tone, to be sure, but also an idea that could be the seed for future growth. What makes Ryan happy? Is Wilfred the key to that unhappiness?

I’m sure curious to find out.

Quotes, Etc:

“So long, Girl Next Door. Hope they find my body before the smell becomes a problem for you.”

That was Buddy Holly’s “Raining in My Heart” that was playing during the montage, which was probably the weirdest use of the song I’ve ever heard, but hey I’m all for spreading the Holly love.

“She wasn’t Asian-American, Ryan. She was real Asian!”

“I started using ‘a caged bird need to be free’, but it made me sound a little effete.” “So does using the word ‘effete’.”

“Wilfred, get off. Get off!” “I’m trying to.”

“I like you, but you are a shit wingman.”

“I’m not just saying that possum ass is delicious – it is…”

Ryan has Dune memorized? He really does need to get a life, especially if he’s memorized the movie version.

Wilfred shits in a boot because “they never check them first, do they?”

“For once in your life be a man and shit in that boot!”