Wilfred - bizarre humour has a new leash of life

A hapless ex-lawyer (Elijah Wood) wakes up after trying to commit suicide the night before. Clearly a fruitless attempt – damn you sugar pills! Ryan is confronted by his neighbour, Jenna, asking him to look after her dog, the eponymous Wilfred (played superbly by Jason Gann, and no, I hadn’t heard of him either). Ryan’s opinion of Jenna is fairly self evident – she’s pretty hot – so he obliges.

Enter Wilfred – a dirty grey mongrel – but to Ryan, Wilfred is not a dog, but a bearded Aussie in a dog costume. An audacious dog at that, one who drinks beer, smokes pot and attempts to nuzzle in the breasts of any reasonably looking girl. Understandable, I suppose.

The writers manage to create a quirky but strangely realistic synergy between Wilfred and Ryan (who ends up looking after him indefinitely). Ryan’s feelings for Jenna are apparent to Wilfred – and as the saying goes ‘a dog is a man’s best friend’ – ergo Ryan is a target. This is actually the very concept which gave rise to the original Australian version of the show. The main difference to reality is obviously we are treated to Wilfred’s outlook on things. As the series progresses we learn Jenna has a boyfriend (bet you didn’t see that one coming), he’s also one of those typically American sporting stereotypes (read: dick). Did somebody say cliché?

Whilst making you laugh Wilfred also manages to make you think. The whole show is based around perception; Ryan and the viewer get to understand, amongst other things, what life as a dog is like. The first time you truly get an idea of this arises when Ryan takes Wilfred to the beach – a “No Dogs Allowed” sort of beach. Of course Wilfred has his way by guilt tripping Ryan and get’s to go in the ocean. There’s something quite heartwarming and charming when Wilfred is excitedly shouting “Ryan! I’m in the ocean! Oh Ryan watch this! Ryan! It’s a Pelican! It’s a Pelican!” in his magnanimous Australian accent.

Each episode centres around the theme of an opening quotation; Ryan is thrown by Wilfred (usually by means of trickery or guilt) into a chaotic situation involving that theme. We see him, amongst other things, defecating into his neighbour’s boot, as you do. Something positive arises and a lesson is learnt about aforementioned theme, be it trust, happiness, fear, acceptance or something else. From this Ryan slowly begins to live a fulfilled life. Thankfully this is pulled off in such a way that for once you aren’t left feeling that little bit sick about all the ‘this is how to live your life’ advocacy. Wilfred is clever, amusing and above all unique.