| Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee | |
| Season 1, Episode 2 | |
 | |
| Air Date | November 3rd 2014 |
| Episode guide | |
| previous "The Old Grist Mill" |
next "Schooltown Follies" |
Hard Times at the Huskin' Bee is the second episode of Over the Garden Wall.
Synopsis[]
Beatrice is saved by Greg, and in return she states that she owes him a favor. She joins them in their journey to Pottsfield. When they are there, they meet pumpkin people (supposedly costumed) but interrupt their harvest and are forced to submit to manual labor for a few hours, before leaving the town.
Plot[]
The episode begins by showing a number of animals, and several scenes of nature. Then we see Wirt and Greg walking along the forest path, with Greg continually blowing raspberries, much to the annoyance of Wirt.
Soon after Wirt decides to walk ahead of Greg, a voice is heard. Greg hears this and finds the source. He sees Beatrice, stuck in the bush. While Wirt discovers a town named Pottsfield is nearby (just as the Woodsman had said), Greg disobeys Wirt and helps out Beatrice. Beatrice tells Greg that if he helps free her from the bush, she will owe him a favor. Wirt then notices Beatrice, but despite having doubts about her ability to talk, Greg reveals that she will grant a "wish". Wirt obviously decides on going home, so Beatrice says she'll take the boys to Adelaide of the Pasture, "the good woman of the woods", who can grant real wishes, but Wirt decides to try his luck in Pottsfield instead.
When the group gets to Pottsfield, they notice that the small town seems abandoned. Wirt checks a nearby house for its residents so he can get to a phone, but inside the house is a large turkey. Surprised by this, Wirt closes the door and moves on. The group hears music and follows it to a barn. Inside, it seems as though there are living pumpkins inhabiting the town, but it is soon revealed that they are merely wearing pumpkins to celebrate the harvest. One of the pumpkin people comments that Wirt is too early to join them, to which Wirt replies that he just wants to leave Pottsfield. This is overheard by the rest of the party-goers, who start to question why Wirt, Greg, and Beatrice were in Pottsfield. The pumpkin people start to close in on the group when Enoch, the tallest of the bunch, intervenes. For their crimes of destruction of property, trespassing, and disturbing the peace, Enoch sentences Wirt, Greg and Beatrice to a few hours of manual labor.
Wirt, Greg and Beatrice start their work session, which involves harvesting corn and pumpkins. At the end, their last task is to dig holes in a field. Wirt questions why they have to do this and Beatrice replies that they are probably digging their own graves. Wirt is skeptical until Greg uncovers a skeleton. Wirt begins to panic because Enoch and the citizens of Pottsfield are heading towards them. Beatrice tries to free Wirt and Greg while Wirt is distracting Enoch and the others. Greg and Beatrice run off as Wirt continues to try to stall the pumpkin folk. As he is struggling to come up with a good lie, the skeleton in Greg's hole crawls out and begins to dance, causing the pumpkin people to cheer and welcome him. Just as this happens, a skeleton in Wirt's hole also crawls out. The skeletons put on pumpkins and Wirt realizes that all of the pumpkin people are actually skeletons. Enoch tells Wirt that he is free to go and that the harvest was wonderful. He states that "you'll join us one day."
Beatrice and Greg regroup with Wirt, and all of them then walk deeper into the Unknown. The closing scene shows a leaf getting stuck on a fence while we can hear the Beast laughing in the distance.
Characters[]
- Beatrice
- Wirt
- Greg
- Greg's Frog (currently Wirt Jr.)
- Enoch
- Pumpkin People
- Woodsman (mentioned)
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The town name of "Pottsfield" may refer to potters' fields, or plots of land where farmers and hard laborers were buried in unmarked graves, because they could not afford personal graves with headstones. This could explain why the townspeople are actually skeletons, and why Wirt and Greg uncovered skeletons when digging in the fields.
- One of the residents of Pottsfield remarks "Vegetables can't move on their own. Can they?" this is a reference to John Crops, a vegetable humanoid in this series' prequel short, Tome of the Unknown.
Gallery[]
