Ryan’s will to fight for his sister is put to the test when she enters a custody battle, while Wilfred hilariously deals with his cuddling addiction.

“NEXT THING I KNEW I WAS AT THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS LOOKING FOR THAT SIMPLETON STRANGE.”

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

While this final season has gained more of an overarching plot with the mysterious cult, this episode was very much classic Wilfred. With the death of their father in “Amends” taking its toll, Ryan’s sister Kristen has made some questionable parenting choices, leading her ex-lover Arturo to request full custody of their son. Being a lawyer, Ryan is naturally called upon to go to bat for his sister before it escalates to an expensive court battle. Meanwhile, with Jenna gone to Wisconsin to work things out with Drew, Wilfred found himself battling his cuddling addiction, hilariously leading to him trying to get Kristen’s son taken away so he can console her and get all the cuddles he wants.

This was a really nice look at the relationship between Ryan and his sister, highlighting many parts of Kristen’s well meaning but not-all-together character. Dorian Brown was able to handle it all well, as was Lost’s Nestor Carbonell, who returned to play Arturo. The passive-aggressive nature of Kristen and Arturo’s scenes together was nice, but it felt like more could have been done with the character as long as he was back. And while the character dynamics were solid, the ending felt a little rushed. It was slightly hard to believe that Arturo would spend all that time fighting for full custody of his son and then give up his rights completely just for a pay off.

The real meat of this episode, of course, was Wilfred’s subplot. With Jenna gone and Wilfred at Ryan’s house full-time, Wilfred revealed he was a recovering “Cuddle Addict,” and he was using various methods to cope with her absence. Naturally, with Kristen distraught over her custody battle, she ended up cuddling Wilfred and causing him to hilariously fall off the wagon, with him taking more and more steps to escalate the custody battle in order to solicit more cuddles. It all culminated in a classic scene where Wilfred found himself the subject of an intervention by a circle of stuffed animals led by Bear. There’s nothing quite like seeing Wilfred covered by a stack of stuffed animals shouting “I don’t have a problem!” and Jason Gann sold every moment of it.

THE BREAKDOWN

Overall, “Loyalty” proved to be another great installment of Wilfred. While the cult storyline was still referenced, it’s good to see the show still delivering that classic Wilfred dynamic and coming up with the same grade-A material. The main plot could have offered a little more, but Wilfred’s story more than made up for it. With Ryan now in possession of a key to an unknown storage locker, we’ll have to see where the next episode goes as the cult mystery depends and Wilfred’s final season continues.

What did you laugh at this episode? Are you a recovering cuddle addict? Share or pass in the comments below.

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