Wonderfalls - The Complete Series

This show was probably doomed from the start, as it both aired on FOX and was created by Bryan Fuller, who has by now achieved a hat trick in creating original TV series that are canceled too soon (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies). The other two, not being on FOX, at least lasted two seasons. Only four episodes of Wonderfalls were aired (a full season was produced), so being the lesser known of the three I'll explain what it is.

The series follows Jaye Tyler, a Niagara Falls gift shop employee who begins to worry for her sanity when animal figurines and other novelties with faces on them begin talking to her. They tell her to do things to set off chains of events that ultimately end up helping others, which is all fine and dandy except Jaye is a misanthrope and doesn't like helping people. However, she gets forced into it anyway because if she ignores them then bad things start to happen as punishment. The animals' instructions are often vague, so Jaye tends to misinterpret them at first, but by the end of every episode she realizes the message and completes her mission.

Caroline Dhavernas, who plays Jaye, is a very expressive actress here, sometimes taking it near cartoonish levels, but the show is part comedy and given the fantastic nature as well, that style of acting was appropriate. She made the character fascinating and fun, and carried the series well. Somehow I really got on board with the show's romantic storyline between Jaye and a bartender named Eric (played by Tyron Leitso, who is kind of a poor man's Matthew Fox). I think Eric might have been a little bland in another show, but I ended up liking him for his chemistry with Jaye. Maybe it was because he was as intrigued by her quirkiness as I was. Or maybe seeing someone like Jaye actually care deeply for him when she usually hates most people is what heightened the appeal of their relationship. Either way, I rooted for them to get together, only to be intermittently punched in the heart between moments of warmth. Also of note was Jaye's sister Sharon, 35 (inside joke from the show).

This show was an awful lot of fun to watch, and it's unfortunate that it didn't last longer, but I'm not overly upset; the ending wrapped everything up so that it felt like a series finale instead of a season finale. Wonderfalls as a one season series is fine as is, though that's no excuse for FOX to have pulled the old "let's move the show to a different night and then not promote the new night so we can cancel it" trick.

Best episode: "Lying Pig" was effectively heartbreaking, and "Cocktail Bunny" and "Caged Bird" contained some good tension and action sequences. I think I'll go with "Caged Bird", the series finale in which a wanted criminal locks down the gift shop and takes Jaye hostage along with her sister and co-workers.