Anyone who grew up with brothers and/or sisters understands the dangerous minefield sibling rivalries can be. For some reason, sharing a last name and parents with someone is a real pain in the ass, and as adults, feelings that have festered over time can manifest in some seriously ugly manner. With the return of Ryan’s sister Kristen in ‘Guilt’, the smell of war was in the air on Wilfred tonight.
Last time we saw Kristen, she’d been manipulated into giving up her urine to Ryan, who used to save Jenna’s job (and in the process, leading her to think that she was pregnant). For the first time, we see Ryan dealing with the fallout of what happened to his sister, who shows up at his door after doing whatever it was she did over at the brothel supplier in India with Arturro. What plays out is a scene that most anyone would be familiar with: a sibling who’s ‘changed’ comes home and immediately drops right back into their old patterns – it takes her about ten minutes to get back into the old, demanding narcissistic version of Kristen that drove Ryan nuts in the first place.
But like last season’s ‘Anger’, Kristen’s attitude towards Ryan is more of a deflection of her anger at herself, something that plays out gradually through the episode. A lot of it fits right into the mold of Kristen from season 1, and even the conclusion where Kristen finally realizes what a naive shithead she’s been, feels more like re-hashing relationship dynamics from the Sneakers conflict. I think Kristen’s role on Wilfred could be an important one – having the same mother could turn out to be important to their relationship, and possible mental states in the future – but she’s never been a character of many shades, and some of ‘Guilt’ feels repetitive in its tone.
The best parts of the episode come from the other war – that is, the unspoken war between dogs and babies (because why would anyone have a war except to decide who’s cutest, right?). I actually enjoyed this little distraction more than the annoying scenes of Kristen being Kristen, and really, and thought the resolution between canine and fetus was better than the one between the two humans. Wilfred’s war with the babies isn’t the most subtle of commentaries on the silliness of war, but hearing Wilfred suggest activities like “maybe you could fall asleep on me one day, or… I could eat food out of your mouth” to do with his future new best friend were more endearing than anything else in the episode.
Past the obligatory “Wilfred is a dog” jokes (“how did you climb that huge wall right there?”) and Kristen being a bitch, there were some moments in ‘Guilt’ I really enjoyed. One of the themes in season two is letting go, and by finally starting to let go of what happened to his sister thanks to the pressure he put her under (it’s been about four and a half months since it all went down, knowing she’s 6 months pregnant right now), Ryan’s beginning to really separate himself from the mess he turned his life into during last season’s finale.
Grade: B-
Other thoughts/observations:
– Wilfred’s last name is Mueller, apparently. And if he was some kind of otherworldly entity, he’d tell us (or would he?).
– talking about ‘Anger’ reminds me of that episode’s closing sequence, which is the most beautiful thing the show’s done to date.
– the camera work by Randall Einhorn is terrific in the episode, as it always is on the show.
– They are just teasing us with Amanda’s presence, slowly building their relationship with one scene a week. Now that they’re admittedly dating, I’m interested to see what Allison Mack can do outside of nailing a quirky joke or two a week.
– Ryan walking himself through his own thoughts to reach a meaningful conclusion about his life is a common device on the show, and this week, it didn’t work as well as normal. He made perfectly logical conclusions, but the dialogue was too stiff and straightforward as Ryan talked sense into himself.
– the opening scenes with Wilfred trying to build a friendship with Jellybeans was hilarious. They are most certainly not homies.
What did you think of ‘Guilty’? Feel free to leave your thoughts/comments below, and we’ll see you next week!
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I would agree with a B grade for this episode. I just watched it twice and there were funny parts but it just didn’t seem to flow as well as the episodes from last season. I loved Wilfred’s shades! They look like Geordi’s glasses from Star Trek. I saw my first episode of Wilfred in my office and I have been a die hard fan ever since.