Wonderfalls

Wax Lion

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired 3/12/04

Episode Summary

When Jaye Tyler is convinced by a waxed lion to chase after a shiny quarter, she finds herself returning a lost purse to a lady (who instead of thanking her, punches her in the face), meeting an attractive and sweet bartender named Eric, introducing her sister, Sharon, to the newly divorced bachelor delivery man, and later discovering her sister's sexuality.moreless

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Cast & Crew

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William Sadler

Darrin Tyler
Diana Scarwid

Karen Tyler
Caroline Dhavernas

Jaye Tyler

Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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Overeducated and underpaid? Who can't relate!

8.9

"Great"

By dude6363, Apr 16, 2008 Report Abuse

After hearing good things about the series I just finished watching this episode online and found it enjoyable. There were some faults like it wasn't as smart and funny as it should be but it was an entertaining episode overall. I feel FOX was misplaced to handle a series like this, they don't really do quirky-smart humor. I thought the plotting of the episode was smart and pretty funny, it's a good setting to place a show. The problems I felt with this episode was I feel this lead character is out there in this series on her own, expected to carry the entire program and I just don't know if she's likeable enough. It was a good episode and I look forward to watching episode two but I can't see this as a long-running series to any extent. She's great but enough to make an audience watch episode two on purpose, she needs a better supporting cast. The plot was creative and inventive and I feel that's what saved the show to become the cult-hit it is, I can't wait to find out what's going on with these animals talking to her, very animorphism of FOX to dare to do. Overall, a good episode with some tweaks that may or may not be taken care of.moreless

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Jag tyckte verkligen det här var skitkul!

8.6

"Great"

By caffeineaddict_, Jan 12, 2006 Report Abuse

Jag tyckte verkligen det hr var skitkul! En hel del klockrena repliker, snygga effekter och charmiga skdisar.

Nu har jag inte sett Joan of Arcadia en enda gng, men skillnaden som jag frstr det r att Joan frsker ha en dramatisk sida, medan Wonderfalls r en straight-up comedy. Och en ny, bra sdan var precis vad jag knde att jag behvde just nu.

Hoppas p mer William Sadler i fortsttningen, han r ju en gammal kultfavorit.

Vet inte riktigt vad det bsta var, fr det fanns en del att vlja p. Bl.a. nr vaxlejonet gjorde sin HAL 9000-imitation, och "Sweetheart, when was the last time you had an orgasm? It's nothing to be ashamed of." "Not ashamed! Mortified!".

D s, d hade man en ny bra serie att titta p! Och nsta avsnitt verkar vldigt bra efter att ha sett trailern. "You know that movie where that girl wanted to be that other girl so much that she would murder for it?" "Grease?"moreless

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“She lives in a trailer park. Clearly she\'s disturbed. Clearly.”

9.8

"Superb"

By rachel_london, Jan 10, 2006 Report Abuse

So here we are in the enchanted land of Niagara Falls yada yada yada, whatever. We are immediately introduced to not only the legend of the falls, not only the main character and heroine, Jaye, 24, slacker supreme ("I'm dissatisfied without hardly working at all") but also to many recurring themes and characters that will, erm, recur throughout this fabulous series, to wit: Native Americans (Jaye: "Indians!") and surrendering to destiny, Dr Ron the psychiatrist, the love triangle of Sharon, Beth and Thomas, that Olsen girl, Gretchen Speck, Heidi and the bellboy, even the quarters thrown into the fountain all these things will come back in later episodes. Part of Wonderfalls's genius is making these signposts seem trivial, whereas full time viewers will see them as FATE.

So, first scene: a girl a boy. Unfortunately the girl is 24, retail clerk, the boy is 10, a customer, or at least a prospective one. Then the boy is replaced by Alex, Jaye's co-worker in boredom that is until the start of Jaye's bad day when Alex is made assistant manager and instead becomes ber-boss, forcing her to give money back to a pain-in-the-ass customer who presents her with a squash-faced wax lion. Previous to this, on her lunchbreak, Jaye had choked on a sandwich and been hit on the back of the head with a quarter. Can her day get any worse? Of course it can when the wax lion starts to talk to her, causing her to faint and her concerned annoying loveable intrusive family to stop by her trailer to bitch, argue and ask her when she last had an orgasm. Was it the near death experience that made her see and hear animals move and talk? Was it that the fountain gives out wishes and Jaye has to carry them out? At any rate, this strange turn of events leads her to take solace in beer and her as equally sarcastic, snarky and scrappy friend Mahandra - who thinks Jaye disappointing her family is "an extreme sport" and asks her why she was performing an act of kindness ("I just wanted to see what it was like") - and the cute bar-tender Eric bestubbled, kind and friendly and who hits on Jaye five minutes after telling her his life-story.

So we have the introduction, we have the major and minor characters, we have the premise. Now the story. On the surface, the story is about Thomas, the EPS guy finding love and the "Texan haus-frau" finding her handbag (one gets the impression that Jaye goes chasing after the quarter as an excuse to get out of work, rather than with a desire to obey the animals or help anyone). But it's actually about sisterhood. Sharon and Jaye are opposites. One is blonde, the other brunette. One a high flier lawyer, the other a shop assistant. One drives an SUV, the other some beat-up old banger. One likes girls, the other boys. One is a larger lady and smokes, the other skinny and doesn't. They bicker constantly. BUT, are they not two sides of the proverbial coin? They are both propositioned by ex-married men, they both seem to leave their work in the middle of the day a lot. They both speak their mind. They both love their family in their own way. By the end, they're even admitting that they love each other. Jaye is also able to offer Sharon help (in a round about way), which seemingly makes a change from Sharon pulling Jaye out of scrapes.

All in all, this is an excellent opener: setting the scene, explaining the themes and not so much introducing, as forcing the characters into our collective consciousness. Some people have commented that the series is formulaic, but I think that the animals' commands are suitably cryptic as to be entertaining and that there is enough of a story arc to sustain viewers' interest, not just the Eric/Jaye romance but her relationships with her family and their relationships with each other and outsiders, the humour of Alex and the shop and the ultimate plan of the animals for Jaye.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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- In this episode we find out that Sharon is a lesbian. Edit
- It is revealed in the DVD commentary that the final scene with Jaye and Sharon, where Jaye says "I love you" was filmed about 6 months after the preceding scenes were filmed. Sharon's hair is styled different and her cleavage is not as pronounced. Caroline Dhavernas is actually thinner and has a tan. Edit
- Due to some clever camera tricks and computer generated images, it appears that the store opens up into a quad that looks over Niagara Falls. In reality, this is not the case. There is no actual Wonderfalls store. The actual store front used is located in the court yard of the Liberty Grand Complex in Toronto. Edit
Notes
ADD NOTES
- This episode was nominated to the 2005 Writers Guild Of America (WGA) Award for Best Episodic Comedy. Edit
- The regular actors are credited in alphabetical order. Edit
- In the scene where Jaye's family are at her trailer home after she passed out at work, pay close attention to Jaye's brother Aaron. At the beginning of the scene we see him wearing his watch on his left wrist but in other scenes (where we can only see part of his right arm and right leg but never his face) we can see the watch on his right wrist. Also, when the angle of the camera changes to behind Aaron, we notice that the style and colour of his hair changes from light brown to a darker almost black colour. This is due to the fact that the original (unaired) pilot had Adam Scott playing Aaron and not Lee Pace. When Adam Scott left, they re-shot that scene but only at a minimum and recycled what they could use resulting in mismatched editing. Edit
Quotes
ADD QUOTES
- Eric: (About the Maid of the Mist) You know, I don't get why she just didn't paddle to the other side of the river. I mean, it's not that far. Jaye: She was surrendering to destiny. Eric: Oh, is that it? Jaye: You know, the Office of Travel and Tourism did this whole "Surrender to Destiny" promotion in the '80s and some cult used it as an endorsement for mass suicide. Eric: Really? Jaye: Mm-hmm. Bunch of them piled into canoes and went over the edge. They were pulling bodies out of the river for weeks. Eric: That wasn't in any of the brochures. Jaye: There was a lot of media coverage. Surprisingly good for business. Edit
- Eric: Well, for those of us not in cults, I think there's something to be said for surrendering to destiny. I mean, if it's destiny, there's probably a reason for it, right? Jaye: Okay. Eric: So why struggle with fate? Life can be sort of peaceful when you stop struggling. Jaye: It's a lot like drowning that way. Edit
- Jaye: I... love you. Sharon: I love you too. Jaye: (surprised) I don't feel dirty. (To Sharon) I thought I was gonna feel dirty. Edit
Allusions
ADD ALLUSIONS
- Eric: What's the universe plotting? Jaye: Couldn't tell you. Vanna hasn't turned over enough letters yet. Jaye is referring to the popular game show Wheel of Fortune, in which contestants try to guess letters that are part of a puzzle. If the letter they guess is part of the puzzle, model Vanna White walks in front of the board and touches the blank squares where the letters belong, revealing more of the puzzle to the contestants. Edit
- Wax Lion: Make me a match. This is a reference to the Oscar-winning 1971 movie Fiddler on the Roof, in which a Russian Jewish peasant marries off his daughters. A musical number called Matchmaker in the movie contains the words the lion speaks here in its refrain. Edit
- "Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal..." The first song that the Lion Sings (as well as the plush bear at the end) is the same song that the "dead" frog sang to "Porky Pig" in "Loony Toons." The gag was that around everyone else, the frog was dead, but sang and danced for "Porky." Kind of how the Animals only talk for her, and not for anyone else. Edit