Over the Garden Wall (TV Mini Series) Chapter 5: Mad Love (2014) User Reviews

One of two best episodes of the series - perhaps, the best

[yavermbizi · 7/10 · 10 July 2020]

It gives me no shortage of joy to mentally merge this episode's setting with that of "Darkest Dungeon" - that sir Quincy, with his supposed insanity, sprawling, endless mansion (opulent and imperial indeed), seemingly infinite resources, interest in spiritism and "Georgian sensibility" makes for a mean Ancestor (and he thinks he is a literal ancestor to the heroes to boot). Now how do I avoid the urge to just type in a couple dozen mostly unrelated Ancestor quotes?..

Anyway, this episode is great because it is 1) very humorous and legitimately funny 2) presents, in essence, a caper that the audience can reasonably easily solve before the reveal without being talked down to (and with a truly genius red herring thrown in by the "equine friend") 3) doesn't go for the "qUiRCky sO randOM" style of humour like a lot of the rest of the series does (outside a couple of moments like Quincy's table-walking) 4) is stylistically excellent.

This episode slighly misses the mark with a few jokes and giving some strange character development to the main characters (although Wirt's kind of works out?..).

Now remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. My obsession has caused this great foulness. Who could fathom the hateful scorn of the swirling stars?.

So many great episodes.

[reidyq · 8/10 · 30 December 2021]

"Over the Garden wall" is a very eerie series, I wouldn't consider it a horror, it isn't scary, but it takes place in a dark setting most of the time, it is quite strange, and it is fear-inspiring. This episode is not as good as some other episodes of this series, but it is quite fear-inspiring compared to other episodes (in my opinion) and I think that is what makes this episode great. I really don't have much to say about this episode otherwise, the animation is still great, and the characters are funny and likable. 7.7/10.

Haunting madness

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 27 March 2018]

Cartoon Network were responsible for some really fantastic childhood-favourite(that still hold up) shows like 'Dexter's Laboratory', 'The Powerpuff Girls' and 'Courage the Cowardly Dog', but have over the years gone downhill. Although there is the odd great show such as 'Young Justice', 'Regular Show' and 'Adventure Time' there are also abominations such as 'Johnny Test' and 'Uncle Grandpa' (which sadly are two of the shows most often aired).

And then here comes the 10-part mini-series 'Over the Garden Wall', and while it's not one of Cartoon Network's all-time greatest it is a gem of a show. One of their best in a long time and in a completely different league to what aired now. With its fifth episode, 'Over the Garden Wall' doesn't disappoint in any shape or form with "Chapter 5: Mad Love", which is on precisely on the same level as its predecessors. There will be some reiteration here and in my future reviews of the other episodes of that for the show, because all the episodes have exactly the same qualities.

For one thing, "Chapter 5: Mad Love" is really beautifully animated, with the handsome and very smoothly detailed backgrounds coming off particularly strongly and the mystery of The Unknown setting is realised brilliantly. Think 'Adventure Time' but with more detail, darkness, sweetness and colour. As well as being good-looking animation, what the animation also does so brilliantly is two things, one being that it sets the melancholic but sweet folksy atmosphere of the stories very effectively and maintains that quality consistently and the other being how well it transports one to another world completely and draws one into the world to utter transfixing effect.

It is very charmingly and hauntingly scored, having a real presence while also allowing the atmosphere to speak, which it wouldn't have done as effectively if the scoring was louder, brasher and more constant. "Chapter 5: Mad Love" definitely benefitted from having a more melancholic, lilting and sometimes sparse approach to the music. The main theme is very memorable too.

The unique story is paced perfectly, feeling swift but never rushed and gentle while never dragging, and are very imaginatively and compellingly told even when episodic in nature. It is better than anything airing on the network at the moment and rivals (or comes close) its best work too. Like with the animation, the atmosphere is melancholic, quirky and folksy, these qualities coming over in a gentle and very touching way and never getting silly or confusing.

Writing is also hugely successful. It's funny, suspenseful and remarkably poignant, but it's not just that these qualities are present; it's also how they're balanced and written that made the writing strong. The humour never felt juvenile or too much, in fact especially with Greg some of the writing is adorable and at its best hilarious, the numerous emotional moments which can be primarily found in the characterisation of Wirt don't make the mistake of dragging things down. It really succeeds in allowing one to relate to Wirt and his troubles and the suspense is nail-biting but should not unsettle younger viewers too much. All this without one of them over-powering the other, this easily could have had too much humour of the wrong kind jarring with the atmosphere or been too scary, neither the case here.

Here in "Chapter 5: Mad Love", the characters are very well written, looking like and having the personalities of folk fairy tale figures. The protagonists are very easy to relate to, especially Wirt and it is easy to be endeared by the resourcefulness and cute optimism of Greg. The voice acting is strong, Elijah Wood's Wirt is very deeply felt and Colin Dean's chirpy enthusiasm contrasts most endearingly. John Cleese gives the episode and his role a sympathetic and mysterious air.

In summary, wonderful episode yet again. 10/10 Bethany Cox