http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/OverTheGardenWallChapter1TheOldGristMill
Wirt and Greg run into a Woodsman warning them of "the Beast" and a talking blue bird named Beatrice.
Tropes:
- Calling Your Attacks: When Wirt and Greg first deal with the dog.
Greg: (spanking the dog with the handle of the Woodsman's axe) Spank, spank, spank!
Wirt: (as he runs away) Run, run, run, run, run!
Greg: Candy camouflage! (throws candy and runs away) Run, run, run, run, run.
- Chekhov's Gag: Greg leaving a pieces of candy lying around. At the beginning of the episode he starts making a candy trail and sticks candy on a black turtle's shell and the corner of Wirt's cape. The dog follows Greg's candy trail to the mill where it attacks the boys in search of more candy. When Greg runs out of candy and needs to distract the dog, he uses the last piece on Wirt's cape. The dog gets caught in the mill and turns into an ordinary dog after coughing up the same black turtle with candy on its shell.
- Foreshadowing:
- The opening sequence shows vignettes that refer to events and characters appearing in future episodes.
- Wirt comments how he yearns for home where his heart is scattered into pieces "in the forgotten graveyard of my lost love". This sentence was The Reveal the entire time.
- The Woodsman notes how the Beast "steals children", relating to his backstory of losing his daughter and Greg's fate in Episode 8.
- Oh, Crap!: The only time Greg has this reaction in the series, when he stares at the giant dog with glowing eyes.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Woodsman gives a short one to Wirt after hearing him blame Greg for yet another predicament. The Woodsman tells Wirt that, as the older brother, he's supposed to be looking out for Greg and not blame him for every problem.
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: Greg initially lays out a trail of small candy sweets behind him to stop from getting even more lost. Subverted in that it's not a trail so much as it is Greg throwing around candy pell-mell behind him wherever he walks (even over the trail he initially laid). Inverted in that it actually works to lead the dog-beast directly to where Wirt and Greg have been hiding in the Woodsman's home.
