MAJOR OVER THE GARDEN WALL SPOILERS BELOW, reactions to the ending, review and analysis of the series as a whole!!! it's pretty long. (don't read if you havent watched it. and if you're not planning on watching it, GO WATCH IT.)
THAT WAS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST HANDLING OF THE "IT WAS ALL A DREAM- OR WAS IT??" TROPE EVER. TASTEFULLY DONE, CUTE, GOOD BUILD UP, EMOTIONAL. especially surreal in a lot of parts!!! which is great and added to the dream-like quality of it, and especially to the scary parts. scary things aren't that scary unless you're not sure what it is or what's going on.
older watchers can relate to wirt either because theyre going thru their silly overdramatic "MY LIFE IS RUINED BECAUSE OF THIS TRIVIAL THING!!" phase, or because they remember it, and younger watchers can relate to greg and his inability to understand wirt's teenage angst; he just wants to explore and have fun with his cool big brother. i love how throughout the whole thing you get little glimpses of wirt's resentment towards greg. and then the really emotional climax of the flashback combined with the ending. i loved how the flashback was in the penultimate episode, instead of an afterthought or something shown at the very end for a Final Shock! Twist. it set up the fact rock, why greg had all the candy, demonstrating exactly how and why wirt's resentment was there, all of that contributed IMMENSELY to the final climax; with wirt realizing greg was just trying to help him all along, and how much he loves and appreciates him. simple, but effective and INCREDIBLY emotional.
and i DEFINITELY feel like the beast was a metaphor for wirt's resentment towards greg and his teenage angst- preying on wirt when he grows cold and disinterested towards greg and greg's well-being, greg being unaffected but confused by it at first and then near the end when it got really bad, after greg tried so hard to help wirt and almost getting turned into edelwood for wirt. and THEN wirt realizing how badly his cold attitude hurt greg, that he caused this to happen, not greg. WIRT had to admit it was his fault, WIRT had to be the one to stop the beast, because the beast was the only thing keeping them lost in the woods- because the beast represented wirt's own resentment. he had to overcome that for greg's sake, and only then was leaving the woods as simple as just walking out. family storylines and relationship development gets me right in the heart center.
and you know what?? it was actually SCARY. animated horror stopped really scaring me a while ago, it takes a lot to unsettle or genuinely frighten me, but otgw did it. it's really scary in a lot of parts and will genuinely scare ppl, especially younger watchers- which is good!! it's a halloween special miniseries and should absolutely be scary!!!! it pulled it off really well. and i loved the obvious nods to really really early animation, like early looney tunes and betty boop and mickey mouse esque, but without directly copying any of those styles and still maintaining an original, modern feel. it also added to the surrealism of the journey through the Unknown, since older cartoons are definitely very surreal haha.
ANYWAY. i'm having a hard time trying to think of a better example of animated storytelling to have come out in the past few years- otgw is the cream of the crop, the best of the best, one of the most incredible things to come out in the last decade of this animation renaissance.
EDIT: OH ALSO.... FAVORITE PART: NEAR THE END, WHEN THEY WENT OVER THE GARDEN WALL.