“I don’t really know what snout-rape means, but I hate my mailman too.” – Angelique
For a few minutes during “Doubt” I thought I was watching a different show. Wilfred took on a mysterious, Lost-esque vibe. I was nearly convinced we were on the verge of a breakthrough, on the verge of having a major question — like, “What is the Smoke Monster?” — answered. I thought that the show was going to abandon its mostly episodic framework — where each episode basically ends at the same place it began — for the final few episodes of the season and really go for broke. I thought we were going to solve the enigma that is Wilfred (Jason Gann).
Ryan (Elijah Wood) is approached by a stranger in a shoe store. The stranger, who we later find out is named Bruce (Dwight Yoakam), tells Ryan, “I see him too, and I hear him. Wilfred ruined my life and you’re next,” before scurrying off to avoid being seen by Wilfred. A few days later, Ryan meets Bruce for a drink and the stranger tells him a story that sounds awfully familiar to Ryan. Wilfred and Bruce became best friends, then Wilfred started doing weird stuff that eventually led to Wilfred ruining his life. I was kind of blown away by these scenes, as I always kind of assumed that Wilfred only exists in Ryan’s head. This is when I really started getting my hopes up that we would finally solve the Wilfred riddle.
After a few conversations, Ryan is convinced that Bruce is telling the truth. His only chance of escaping the same fate as Bruce is to leave Wilfred in the middle of nowhere, so he decides to do just that. Just as Ryan is about to ditch Wilfred in the woods, Bruce shows up with a gun and trains it on Wilfred. A scuffle ensues and Ryan ends up with the gun. Right before Bruce smashes Wilfred’s head with a rock, Ryan demonstrates that dogs aren’t the only species capable of extraordinary loyalty. He shoots Bruce to save Wilfred’s life, despite the awful things Wilfred has done and probably will do in the future.
At this point, I’m thinking to myself “Maybe Wilfred isn’t a hallucination. Maybe he’s some kind of devil or demon or dybbuk, who latches onto a human being, destroys their lives and turns them into monsters. This is kind of awesome!” Of course, my excitement was short lived. Bruce gets up after being shot — the bullets were blanks — and has a chuckle with Wilfred. Pleasantries are exchange and there is some mention of a competition (presumably over whether Ryan would choose to shoot Bruce or Wilfred) and before I knew it Ryan and Wilfred were back in the basement toking it up like nothing happened.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.