As fall comes to a close, watch "Over the Garden Wall"

Led through the mist, by the milk light of moon...

For as long as I can remember, fall has been my favorite season. It cemented its status as such thanks to the years I spent running cross country, a fall sport and the best sport (my favorite anyway), one that pretty much defined my existence for nearly a decade.

But I think what cross country really did for me was point out and magnify what already were the best parts of fall. I think of the weather--humid at first, but then cool, breezy, pleasant. Of the incipience it usually brings on: I still think of the start of the school year as the real start of the year, not New Year's Day (which has always been more of a halfway point for me). Of fall sports: mostly cross county and college football (and the NFL, though college football has always been more interesting to me). Of pumpkins, corn mazes, apple cider, open fires, the smells, and Halloween. And the leaves. How could I forget the leaves? Their changing colors mark the progress of fall, and bring a dappled, warm-color beauty to any area with trees, and to any ground below those trees (though raking is a pain, leaf piles bring their own fun). I could go on about the greatness fall forever.

But there's also always been a kind of indescribable, ineffable melancholy to fall. I'm typically happy during it, to be sure. Yet the cause of the beauty that marks fall is, essentially, the dying of nature, in preparation for winter, when things will truly be dead. In the day that is our seasonal year, autumn is the evening twilight, that last glimpse of nature's sublimity before the coming of night (which may be why the twilight is also the most beautiful part of a fall day).

Pictured: the twilight hours of a late fall day in Houghton, Michigan

There is plenty of popular culture set in or around fall. Thanks to Halloween, a lot of it (e.g., The Exorcist), is based around horror. To my mind, though, nothing has better captured the full range of fall's spirit, from beauty to melancholy, than Cartoon Network's miniseries 2014 Over the Garden Wall (though Arcade Fire's Funeral might be a close second). Noted Batman expert Jared Van Dyke introduced me to this series last fall, and I watched it then, but too late to write the fall-centric review of it that I have decided to write now. Created by Adventure Time's Patrick McHale, Over the Garden Wall is about the journey of brothers Wirt (Elijah Wood) and Greg (Collin Dean) through a mystical forest land called the Unknown. They have all manner of strange encounters over their journey: monsters, ghosts, highwaymen, witches, curses, and more. The opening credits will give a good sense of what kind of show it is (and give you a whistle-friendly tune that may lodge itself in your head):


In addition to perfectly capturing the spirit and essence of fall, Over the Garden Wall also impressively combines American and European folklore. The above elements, and the sylvan setting, suggest the Grimms' Fairy Tales aesthetic very much present in the series' approach. Yet the boys themselves, and most of the other voice actors (Christopher Lloyd and Tim Curry among their number), are thoroughly American, in both their dialects and their overall impression. Other aspects of the series also heavily suggest Americana: I think, for example, of the prominence of a Mark Twain-style steamboat, or an early-America-style schoolhouse. 

Greg and Wirt have a mostly picaresque journey, with the 10 episodes of the show loosely connected to one another. But common elements emerge, both in the narrative itself and in its themes. I didn't expect an animated cartoon aimed at children to say much about the importance of faith, perseverance, and family, for example (although maybe I should have, given that Samurai Jack had plenty to say about all of those), but Over the Garden Wall did just that.   

Over the Garden Well has many other things to commend it that I don't want to describe in too much detail, lest I ruin the show for you. I'll just give two pieces of advice: First, watch the 10 11-minute episodes in as quick succession as you can. Here, for once, I'll endorse binge-watching, the practice on which I have previously heaped scorn. For Over the Garden Wall achieves its maximum effect when viewed as a proximate whole. Second, watch it either as soon as possible, or wait until next October/November. You can enjoy Over the Garden Wall at any time of year, but it's best viewed right now, as the air begins to get crisper, the sports seasons begin to wrap up, the last leaves of autumn begin to fall, and winter begins to threaten. Over the Garden Wall is the perfect complement to all of the things that make fall the best season of the year (or my favorite, anyway). So be sure to make it part of your own fall.