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Wilfred: Fear

By Matt Meier · July 11, 2011

Season 1, Episode 3

"Fear has its use but cowardice has none."  – Mahatma Gandhi

When last week’s episode of Wilfred fell slightly short of the same extraordinary wit and insight that characterized the series premiere, I gave the show the benefit of the doubt: it may not have been as thematically or intellectually compelling, but the episode offered its fair share of laughs nonetheless.  This week, however, it appears that Wilfred has lost sight of its more truly compelling elements, and alas, I sense my initial enthusiasm gradually starting to wane.

“Fear” continues a subplot set forth in the series premiere in which Ryan and Wilfred break into their obnoxious, Harley-driving neighbor’s apartment, steal his cannibus plants and shit in his boots.  What Ryan doesn’t know, however, is that Wilfred planted Ryan’s wallet outside the broken window.  So when the loud and obnoxious neighbor, Spencer (Ethan Suplee), confronts Ryan on this, Ryan avoids conflict by fabricating a story about the same group of vandals invading his own apartment, and slow-witted Spencer takes this as his cue to force an uncomfortably sexualized friendship upon Ryan – Spencer’s top two hobbies are “porning out” (watching porn with friends) and hitting up the local strip clubs, so you can imagine the instant discomfort from the sexually conservative Ryan, who broke up with his girlfriend of over a year because he was appalled she put her finger in his ass.

Although a few moments buried within the absurdity provoked some memorable chuckles – and as usual, the moments directly centered upon Wilfred are the best – this episode fell victim to the classic writing flaw of force-feeding the determination to be funny at the expense of authenticity, subsequently thwarting the ability to accomplish either.  More importantly, their overzealously comedic portrayal of Spencer – a disappointingly familiar caricature of the undereducated and overaggressive biker brute who deep down just wants a buddy to kick back and pound brews with at the titty bar – forced the writers to abandon the most compelling element of the show: Wilfred.

Wilfred and his relationship with Ryan provides a truly unique platform from which the comedic, thematic, and intellectual components of the show can grow to unparalleled levels; but this relationship is most effective when it is the only divergence from reality within an otherwise real, relatable, and recognizable universe.  The inclusion of a vapid and unconvincing secondary character simply for the sake of fabricated humor does not aid the show’s comedic potency: on the contrary, it belittles the potential and integrity of Wilfred as a whole. The further the writers allow the world of the show and the characters within it to deviate from a more grounded and generally plausible representation of our own real lives, the less effective the character of Wilfred then becomes.

With next week’s episode guest starring Ed Helms as a “dog molester,” I anticipate at least a relieving return to a more Wilfred-centered plot.  However, if the show fails to return to its original dichotomy between Wilfred and the real, I suspect their gimmicks to grow stale far faster than anyone initially foresaw.