Wilfred

I conceived the idea of Arthropoda long before I started this blog, but it was such a backburner idea that it was never mentioned here. This blog was for weird little projects, aspirations, and mostly TV and movie reviews. I guess that's a good theme to stick with considering the only Arthropoda work I'm doing currently is redrawing the logo. I recently rewatched Wilfred, both Australian and American versions. I think they're both excellent, though I can see why they're not a huge hit with a big demographic.

The character Wilfred has a pretty different role in the remake, but in both cases, weird is an understatement.

In the original show, the character Adam inexplicably begins to see dogs as people in fursuits, and occasionally other species are depicted in this way as well.

But Ryan perceives Wilfred as being different from other animals. A recurring theme throughout the show is Ryan trying to figure out who Wilfred is, where he came from, and why only he sees Wilfred as a man in a dog suit. Ryan never forgets that he might just be insane, but he still searches for another explanation because, what good would it do to accept that you're crazy if you're still managing to hold a decent life together? In addition to the male lead himself being different, the role of the male lead is divergent starting from the first episode. Adam meets Wilfred through Sarah, the girl he's recently started dating. Ryan has Wilfred thrust upon him by his new female neighbor, Jenna, when she needs to do some errands, and this continues for much of the first season. Ryan quickly develops a crush on Jenna, but by mid second season, it's unlikely they will get together.

With mental illness as such a big theme in Wilfred, I guess it's not an incredibly appealing show to most people.