It wasn’t about fear at all. It was about the acceptance of fear … domination over fear … conquering the fear of fear.
This might have been the best episode of Wilfred to date.
As it turns out, Spencer (Ethan Suplee, Tom Seeley on No Ordinary Family) — Ryan’s motorcycle-terrorizing neighbor — is nothing but a big, wet mop of a brute. He’s easily manipulated, believes crap at the drop of a hat and is as gullible as they come. And all this time Ryan thought he had to live in fear of the dude. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
It was rather refreshing to discover the advice Wilfred ended up giving Ryan concerning his consternation of Spencer rang true. A little give and take … some truth bending … and finally a bit of virtual “territory marking” to set him up as good to go in the “I’m done being scared of my bully neighbor” department.
In fact, not only does he get past his trepidatious ineptitude, Ryan ends up getting Spencer’s best buddy Jesse (Damon Herriman) back together with the big galoot. It’s a package deal: Lose the fear, aid and repair, get your jewels back where they should be.
You know, I can’t help but think about all the “sage” advice Wilfred gives Ryan episode after episode: If only that advice were bottled up or printed and bound in some way, shape or form so that it could be put to good use time and again. Not that some of it isn’t put to good use. It’s just that Wilfred likes to dole out little chunks and nuggets to feed his own self-serving needs, not because he’s the loyal mandog he would like Ryan to think he is. You just can’t have your pie and eat it too, but Wilfred does his best at trying to do so.
By the end of the episode, there was an upbeat positivity. Ryan not only kicked Spencer’s ass after coming clean and confessing he broke into his house, but he made certain through the fear of Spencer’s friend Jesse he wouldn’t bother Ryan again … and that probably goes double for the rest of the neighborhood.
Yeah … there was still the raunch and revelry in the episode to help define the series as it moves forward, but I mentioned last week the writers would step up to the challenge of not letting this vehicle slide into the same dippy jokes time after time. Seems they put a more humanistic touch to the story.
And I think it was a good thing.
Quote:
“Anything goes in Club Midia!” — Spencer, noting the good time he’s having at a strip bar
“I think it’s Club Medea.” — Ryan
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Jul 08, 2011 @ 09:30 EST5EDT
