Over the Garden Wall. A fallen gem.

November 2014, Cartoon Network gave us this quirky, dark, and mysterious miniseries called "Over the Garden Wall." The short series follows these two brothers who have been walking for what seems like hours through the woods, thinking that they were on their way home. As they wonder through these woods, we meet multiple creatures and characters that we also learn to love for their quirkiness. They may seem scary when we first view them but it is clear that there is a backstory waiting to be told. Deeper you go within the woods, the more we learn about the creatures that protect and live within it.

Over the Garden Wall, a ten-episode mini-series focuses on these two brothers, Writ and Gregory (voiced by Elijah Wood and Collin Dean) who hopped over this wall in a cemetery on Halloween night and ended up in the woods. A dark and mysterious land filled with trees, lengthy vines, and whispers through the night. Out of the ten episodes that the creator Patrick McHale graced us with, my favorite overall was, the second episode, "Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee." It follows after Writ and Greg have now been joined by a frog and a bluebird named Beatrice(voiced by Melanie Lynskey) to help on their journey of getting home. They stumble upon this empty town that seems to be celebrating a harvest festival. When walking further into the town, Greg and Writ find a giant barn filled with people. Pumpkin people. Who definitely does not seem friendly. Scared to the core, Writ tries to explain that they are just there passing through trying to get home. They end up coming face to face with a ten-foot-tall pumpkin person who appears to be their leader, who expresses that they'll have to pay for their crimes they have caused through... manual labor. When finishing the last task of digging up holes, the boys believe they are digging their own graves, when in reality they were digging up skeletons to take over new pumpkin heads. Not scary at all! Just spirits wanting to enjoy a festival they used to have in the living world, not fully understanding what has happened to them or their town but knowing it has something to do with the Beast of the Woods who haunts over all who enter. But we don't have to deal with him till later.

Over the Garden Wall, the ten-episode, two-time Emmy award-winning show is available to watch on HULU and HBOMax as well as Prime Video. Let me know your favorite episode and if you think it should've had a second season.

<Photo credits to Cartoon Network and IMBD>