”Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.” Arthur Miller
The third season of Wilfred came to an end last night but we don't know (yet) if "Regrets" will also mark the end of the entire series. Despite still being one of the most bizarre, beautiful and funny half-hours on TV, ratings have slipped and there's been no word of renewal except former showrunner David Zuckerman's foreboding tweets. And the one he sent just hours before the finale was especially disheartening, 'asking' whether "Regrets" will be the "last ep ever???" He's also stated that if Wilfred were to return, he would also like to run the show again. Not to knock the still solid third season, but the series could surely use his sure hand so the comedy can be as adventurous as it was in Seasons 1 and 2. Hm. I guess that's still a knock. Oh well. Another reason why we need FX to renew Wilfred is to find out the answer to the series big question: 'what is Wilfred?' The writers will probably be filled with regret if the show ends with the secret still in tact. Speaking of " Regrets"...
”Look at her, acting all innocence like she isn't cheating on Drew with some tramp, probably sharing plates of spaghetti that are just one long noodle.”
The finale opened with Ryan spying on the return of his neighbors from their recent fire-forced stay at a hotel. If you recall, Wilfred was trying to play the hero during ”Heroism” but instead the fire (arson) got away from him and burned the place down. Not before Ryan was able to rush in and save his best friend from the flames though, and then snag a kiss from his (perhaps not so) unrequited love. This week was quick to pick up on both of those threads while also trying to put a bow on almost all the third season's major storylines with Ryan paying a visit to (or being payed one by), well, just about all the show's recurring characters. Perhaps one or two too many? Making time for so many characters can often result in not spending significant time with any. Having said all that, "Regrets" was still a solid episode because the best friends' scenes, the framework that held all the various visits together, were full of laughs and pretty emotional at times. Oh, and Drew's amazing too. It's the role Chris Klein was born to play and his character got the finale off to a great start. It turns out Drew has been dwelling on the night of the fire for a week because he should have been the one to rescue his family dog.
”All you do all day is hang out with that dog and get boners over your married neighbor.”
Did anyone really think that he was coming over to talk to Ryan about Jenna? Nope. Not the way she went running out of his place last week, she wasn't telling anyone. And to ensure that her man (of the house) doesn't find out (and probably to also keep her from making the same mistake again), she ends up revoking Ryan's Wilfred privileges. Now that is a great conceit, as long as the audience still gets to see the pair together and thankfully, we do. Before being forced apart, Wilfred is really excited to see Ryan after being in the hotel for a week and is also quick to share his scent suspicions. It seems Jenna's been stepping out on Drew, if only the dog could place the foreign male scent (which he probably should have, immediately, since the pair spend every waking hour together). While Jenna is trying to distance herself and by extension her dog from Ryan, Ryan's father is still trying to close the distance between him and his son. Henry (James Remar) once again tried to bring his son back to the firm, even creating a pro bono division for Ryan to manage. Was he really changing or just the same old manipulating father? A little bit of both? Not that it matters for too long.
”What did you tell him?! What did he see?! What does he know?!”
Wilfred continued to do everything to keep his friend from reconciling with Henry while Kristen was busy doing the opposite in a scene that seemed more like checking a character box than anything I mean, Kristen is fine, but the time might have been better spent elsewhere. Maybe with the dad before he was unceremoniously killed off. For someone who has loomed so large over the entire series, I wasn't expecting for them to be tossed aside so casually. As casual as the visit with mom (Mary Steenburgen) at the funeral where the two suddenly realize that the controlling asshole was really just trying to help them all along. Too bad. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Wilfred's plan to locate Jenna's new suitor ends up getting Ryan in trouble with his lovely neighbor because she mistakes the gifts for presents from him and decides that they can no longer see each other at all. And that includes Wilfred. But that doesn't stop the pooch from throwing a rockie-talkie through his winder to arrange a late night meeting and another great scene between Elijah Wood and Jason Gann. Their chemistry is fantastic. Ryan even manages to regain custody for a few hours each weekend!
”I'm not well when I'm with you. I'm so sick of seeing everything through Wilfred tinted lenses.”
During their trial separation, Ryan also goes to his father's law firm to see about that job and instead runs into Anne (Kristen Schaal) who informs him that Henry payed her to install cameras in his place. The footage was hilarious because we're still in Ryan's POV and see Wilfred as a man in a dog suit. I thought that might have been the one time (or first) that we got to see him as everyone else does. Oh well. And now that the dog is out of the bag, his dad delivers an ultimatum: work or an institution? Instead, Ryan decides to split town and Wilfred, in one of my favorite heart warming moments, agrees to go along for the ride. Well, until he smells that scent. Cover your genitals! Henry bursts in just in time to see them fighting and uh, die by tennis ball. Wilfred is able to forgive Ryan for Jenna but Ryan is not willing to forgive Wilfred for robbing him of having a relationship with his father. I don't know if that's fair, especially since we don't know anything concrete about Wilfred's true nature. Except the concrete bust at the end. Ryan finds a mysterious letter with the mysterious symbol as a seal and it leads him to a mysterious location where he finds very LOST-like ruins of a man-in-dog-skin statue. WTF? We may never find out.
Wilfred may not return. Here's hoping...
