*What is the Beast?!* Over The Garden Wall 9 & 10 "Into The Unknown and The Unknown"

Although I was a little confused at the end, this was a really great show, something I can definitely see myself revisiting each year. Full uncut reactions at patreon.com/kieranshaereacts
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[@TheDragonsong12]

Great reaction! I personally LOVED the vague ending, because it allows for all theories to be accurate (and there are a lot of them, haha!). I think I'll keep my personal theories to myself because I'm not interested in dictating to others how they should feel about this - I like to live in "all theories are valid" land even though I have one that I personally believe - but what I can say with certainty that isn't really up to theory is that Wirt's journey is insanely relatable and it's really at the core of it all. An insecure kid who can't stop getting in his own way (Sara was pretty clearly into him too and he just worried himself right out of it!) who would rather hide in the mysteries of the Unknown than face his fears. I know I've been there...still am to some extent. It's a great tale, and really rewarding on a rewatch because then you'll have context and can catch a lot of the little details. Your raw reactions were so much fun though and I loved your theorizing along the way! You clued in to a lot of stuff really quick, even stuff that ended up wrong you were still on the right track and picking up the clues. I love that. Thank you for sharing with us!

[@kieranshae]

thanks for your nice comment! it was a fun show to watch :)

[@sunnivaixchel2]

The last round of fun facts: You can see the name Quincy Endicott on one of the gravestones Wirt was hiding behind in episode 9! When Wirt and Beatrice find Greg turning into an Aedelwood, there is a somber Latin rendition of Potatoes and Molasses being sung in the background! You can hear a train whistle in the opening of every episode, hinting that the train is still going by the entire time they're in the Unknown. I mentioned it about episodes 5 and 6, but a ingenious clue most people miss is that Beatrice says in Mad Love that they need two cents to ride the ferry across the river, meaning one coin for both Wirt and Greg. I don't know how much you know about Greek mythology, but have you heard of any other rivers in strange worlds that it costs a single coin to be ferried across? (Hint: It's the River Styx in the underworld, where Charon ferries you to the realm of the dead). And notice how it doesn't cost anything for Beatrice to take the ferry. Wonder why that is 😉 Jason Funderburker (the boy, not the frog) is based on the creator when he was a teenager. Personally, I see the Beast as despair and the loss of hope and will to live rather than just death. The Woodsman even says that if you lose heart, you will fall into the Beast's hands. And look what happens when Wirt loses hope! Lastly, the easiest way to understand what the fuck is going on in Over the Garden Wall is to view it as a modern retelling of Dante's Inferno. If you know much about Dante's Inferno, it makes a lot of things about this series make sense. I loved your reactions and look forward to seeing more stuff from you!

[@kieranshae]

wow! I really need to rewatch it now that I know all this. So all of these people/characters they meet are already dead? I never noticed the train whistle. I knew about the coins for the river Styx, but that totally went over my head. I am somewhat familiar with Dante's Inferno, I guess I just didn't expect something like that from a cartoon. Thanks so much for this comment!

[@sunnivaixchel2]

@@kieranshae The creator has said that the Unknown is sort of an in between place, more like Purgatory, but also a place where lost and forgotten things and people go. It is implied that it is a sort of afterlife. Some people think the boys actually died and went to "the other side" after defeating the beast, but some people believe they did survive. It's all up to interpretation