While we couldn’t be more excited for the fourth and final season of the FXX comedy “Wilfred” (it’s seriously one of the best shows on television), which premieres tomorrow, June 25, we also couldn’t be more worried. Over the last three seasons, the show has presented us with way more questions than answers, and we can only hope that most of those lingering threads are wrapped up before the show pulls its final curtain, and perhaps the rug right out from underneath us altogether. That being said, here are the top 10 events that need to transpire on “Wilfred” in order to reach a satisfying conclusion. (WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD)
We Must Learn the True Origin of the Drawing
With the way Season 3 ended – Ryan discovering the cryptic symbol that he found underneath the blue barn of his childhood drawing, which he found out was actually drawn by his sister Kristen, on an envelope in his dead father’s office which then led to an address contain
ing the ruins of a statue depicting Wilfred in the middle of nowhere (yeah, it’s a bit complicated) – you’d think we’d be much more interested in everything we just mentioned other than the actual drawing. However, we’ve come to know Wilfred’s conniving ways very well through the years, and everything besides Kristen admitting to drawing the picture when she was young could have easily been planted to mess with Ryan’s head. How did Kristen draw Wilfred years before Ryan ever met him, especially since she doesn’t even know that is how Ryan sees him? Also, why does she refer to him as “Mr. Floppy Ears”?
Ryan and Jenna Need to Finally Hook Up, or Think of a Damn Good Reason Not To
Much like the Jim and Pam stuff on the American version of “The Office,” the “will they?/won’t they?” story lines start to get a bit tedious by around the fourth season, which is why this is the perfect time for big things to happen in the Ryan and Jenna romantic relationship. Sure, the pair finally shared a kiss in the second to last episode of the season last year, causing its share of drama, but it was more or less resolved by the finale. If this show isn’t finally going to bring the two together, they’d better come up with a viable reason why not. Which leads us to …
Ryan Has to Admit to Jenna That He Is Insane
In the final episode last season, it was revealed that at least Ryan’s father Henry was onto his mental illness (which we’re assuming is why Ryan sees and interacts with Wilfred the way he does). But alas, Henry took a spill down a flight of stairs during a confrontation between Ryan and
Wilfred, resulting in his death. So we are back to square one as far as anyone knowing Ryan’s horrible secret. We figure if he’s ever going to tell anyone what is really going on with him, it should be Jenna. After all, if the two don’t end up shacking up, it would be understandable and satisfying if this was the reason why. While we’d love to think Jenna would simply accept him for he is, she doesn’t have that great of a track record in that regard thus far, so we’d have to assume the worst here, as well.
Drew Has to Make His (Dramatic) Exit
The addition of actor Chris Klein as Jenna’s dumb jock boyfriend Drew was perhaps one of the best moves the series has ever made. Besides Wilfred himself, Drew is easily the funniest character on the show, often unbeknownst to himself (“devagification,” anyone?). But like all boyfriends of the lead female whom the lead male has a crush on, it’s only a matter of time before something goes haywire and results in a breakup. Considering Wilfred implied to Ryan at the end of last season’s “Stagnation” that he secretly inseminated Ryan’s former roommate Anne with Drew’s baby without either of their knowledge, that could easily become the throwaway joke that comes back to be Drew’s demise. Here’s hoping he at least goes out in a blaze of glory.
Bruce McCombs Needs His Purpose Revealed
OK, so when we made that whole Drew being the second funniest character on the show comment, we forgot about Bruce, played masterfully by singer Dwight Yoakam. At the same time, he and Drew are funny for very different reasons. In the case of Bruce, he is supposedly a man
who was in a very similar situation as Ryan years ago, only to have Wilfred ruin his life. Yet at the same time, as the series has progressed, we’ve come to notice that we can never quite tell exactly whose side he’s really on. For that matter, does he even exist, or is he just another side of Ryan’s personality manifested? We know Bruce will have to come back at least one more time since he’s appeared in every season from the jump, so it’s high time we were told exactly what role he plays in the grand scheme of things.
Mommy Issues Resolved
In last year’s finale, we at least got to see Ryan’s relationship with his father wrapped up to a certain extent, as he realized upon his death that perhaps Henry wasn’t such a bad guy after all, despite what Wilfred had continually led him to believe. But with his passing went the only person who seemed legitimately concerned for Ryan’s mental well-being. Since Henry was also the only one actively trying to prevent Ryan from suffering the same fate as his institutionalized mother Catherine, will his seemingly inherited traits finally get the best of him? Or will he be able to somehow learn through his mother how to prevent himself from going off the rails permanently?
Wilfred’s Intuition Coming to a Head
At the end of the amazing Season 2 episode “Truth,” Wilfred reveals that even though several disturbing and/or devastating events took place during the episode (namely, an earthquake, the return of Bruce, and Ryan breaking up with his girlfriend Amanda), his intuition concerning something terrible on the horizon was still none of these happenings. As impactful of an ending as that was, as far as we can recall, it was never spoken of again. Promos for the latest season seem to hint at the revival of the storyline, so we’re hoping whatever this game-changer is ties into the finale in a big way. It has to, right?
Ryan Needs to See Wilfred as a Real Dog
Of all the things that could transpire in the end, we believe this is the one that everyone has been waiting for most intently since the beginning. We all know that Wilfred is an actual dog and not a man in a dog suit, so that moment of clarity being revealed will at the very least be a gre
at visual. After all, we don’t even have a clue what kind of dog Wilfred is. For that matter, neither does Ryan. The show came close to revealing his true form to us in last season’s finale, but instead, the surveillance footage Henry had secretly been taking of Ryan interacting with Wilfred in private was still shown from Ryan’s perspective, keeping us on edge for just a bit longer.
A Happy Ending
From what we understand of the original Australian version of “Wilfred,” it was a much different show tonally than the U.S. version. On their side, Wilfred was actually painted as a much darker, twisted character who didn’t necessarily have his friend’s best interest in mind. That being said (and you can ruin the specifics for yourself here if you’d like), that series ended in a way that wouldn’t work for the American version, as we feel anything less than an optimistic sendoff would be against everything the tone of this show has build towards. We don’t want to see Ryan institutionalized, nor do we really want anything bad to happen to him (or Wilfred) at all. Let’s keep it light so we can one day look back fondly on this series as such.
We Get a Solid Answer as to What Wilfred Is
There is nothing more polarizing than an open ending. Just ask David Chase. While an “interpret it yourself” finale can work to an extent with certain types of stories, this is not the case with “Wilfred.” True fans are going to want an actual conclusion by the time the show cuts to its title card for the last time. Don’t leave it up to us to figure out what it all meant. If we wanted that, we could have just stopped watching after the pilot episode. Besides, think about how irritated you’d be if a friend said something to you along the lines of, “I was walking in the subway the other night and a man approached me with a knife,” but then refused to tell you what happened from there. We’ve stuck around to see this show through until the end, so don’t leave us hanging. Is he truly a dog? An alien? Some sort of trickster? Whatever the case, just pick one and stick to your guns. There’s been enough ambiguity by now. It’s time for some closure.
Bonus Random Guess as to How the Series Will End: It is revealed that the whole show was actually what was going on in Wilfred’s head, not Ryan’s. With Wilfred being just your average dog, he was forced to watch, yet unable to prevent, his neighbor and best friend from slowly develop split personalities. As a coping mechanism, Wilfred simply projected himself onto the second personality Ryan had developed after trying to kill himself in the pilot. Therefore, everything Wilfred did throughout the series (minus the dog behavior parts) was actually just a manifestation of Ryan’s darker side.
Give us your take on how you think the “Wilfred” swan song will go down in the comments below, and be sure to catch the Season 4 premiere Wednesday, June 25 at 10/9c on FXX.
