Wilfred – Season 3 Episode 1 Review

FX’s Wilfred about “the guy in a dog suit” is back on television for its third season and I couldn’t be more anxious and excited. For people who haven’t seen the show, it’s essentially equal parts a black buddy comedy, a dark character study, and an exploration of mental illness. Think Fight Club meets Calvin and Hobbes, with viewers and the main character questioning whether Wilfred (Jason Gunn) is made up or not. It started out as an Australian TV show before being adapted for American television. To me it has the best of both worlds, with it having a wildly entertaining and fresh premise, and a really raunchy sense of humor that is traditional of American comedies.

Wilfred has a lot of questions and at its best it’s a fascinating exploration of the main character’s psyche and mythology of the show. At its worst it’s a broad comedy that’s still pretty inventive, with a brilliant use of awkward humor that feels like it belongs better on BBC rather than an American television network.

Season 3 picks up right where Season 2 left off with Ryan (Elijiah Wood) still looking for answers as to wether Wilfred is a magical being or something he’s made up to deal with his mental illness. I cannot stress how well the show works when dealing with its mythology, and this episode is a good start for the season.

Ryan comes across the house of Wilfred’s original owners, who were rich and had him cloned before they died. Wilfred’s clone is a more entitled version of Wilfred, but is still a man in a dog suit, played by the same actor with an accent which seems inspired by Hannibal Lector. While it sounds silly this not only creates a lot of great jokes and awkward moments, but if brought back it could be a great plot device for future episodes.

The black humor is still very much intact with one of the opening gags seeing Wilfred making Ryan an anti-freeze cocktail in order to try to disprove one of his theories. Jason Gunn is still a riot as Wilfred and it’s a mystery why he’s not been nominated for any major awards for his performance. Elijiah Wood continues to anchor the show and his honest performance steers Wilfred through all the craziness and absurdity that the show relishes in.

While it’s not among the best Wilfred episodes, the Season 3 opener is above average and shows promise. Hopefully this is just a set up for a cohesive and consistent season. It strikes a good balance of broad clever comedy, opening plot strands to be explored later and following through on the Season 2 finale. While it won’t bring in any new viewers – which I doubt is a concern – it should certainly be satisfying for fans of the show, whether they’re watching for the mystery, or just some good laughs.