FX's Wilfred continues with its third episode, "Fear," a direct followup to the first entry. In Episode 1, "Happiness," Wilfred (Jason Gann) convinces Ryan (Elijah Wood) to break into the annoying Spencer's (Ethan Suplee, My Name is Earl, Mallrats), house, poop in his boot, and steal his weed. Wilfred leaves Ryan's wallet at the scene. In "Fear," Spencer comes to confront Ryan, who lies, claiming his house is also broken into, and his wallet stolen. Spencer, none too bright, believes him, and decides they should be best friends, which in Spencer's mind, means watching lots of porn and going to strip clubs. In the end, Ryan must tell Spencer the truth in order to get rid of his constant presence, which is worse than a punch in the face, the result of confessing the real story.
It is curious that "Fear" airs third instead of second, as "Happiness" flows right into "Fear," and there is no relevance of the second episode to this story. However, it is just nice to get that closure and continuation, so no complaints.
After "Happiness," it is hard to see where the series is going. Three episodes in, things are a bit clearer, and it's looking good. While still a very strange show, and no effort is being made at this point to explain why Ryan sees Wilfred as a man in a dog costume, and everyone else sees Wilfred as a normal pooch, that's not the issue at hand. Instead, Wilfred is about Ryan discovering himself with the help of an insightful and ornery new chum. Whether Wilfred is real or in Ryan's imagination, he serves that purpose quite capably, and the series manages to make the premise both humorous and seriously emotionally good.
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