Niagara Falls is the honeymoon capital of America. A place for love and romance and those pink heart-shaped beds like in the suite where Clark and Lois stay in Superman II.

It is also the home of Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas). Jaye has a degree from Brown, works at a gift shop, and lives in a trailer park. Also, she hears voices. Voices coming from fake animals of all shapes and sizes; voices that give her cryptic instructions that make her help people—which is completely against her nature. Jaye has eyes for newly-cuckolded groom and new bartender in town, Eric (Tyron Leitso), who works with her hard-drinking, psychoanalyzing barmaid best friend, Mahandra (Trace Thoms). Jaye also has siblings Sharon (Katie Finneran) and Aaron (Lee Pace), father Darrin (William Sadler) and scary mother Karen (Diana Scarwid ). And, yes, all the rest of her family’s names rhyme; perhaps Jaye would feel less alienated from them if she’d been named Taryn.

What is this show about? Them. These people. Yes, there’s the mystical element, Jaye’s ability to receive prescient directions from inanimate creatures, and occasionally talk to dead people. But more than anything, Wonderfalls is about Jaye, Eric, Mahandra, Sharon, Aaron, Mom and Dad.

Happily, they’re worth watching.

Jaye is Joan of Arcadia all grown up, the epitome of contrary disaffected youth beset by an unknowable force. One episode even holds her up as Gen Y’s poster child, cynical and sarcastic, a real care for nobody--except that she isn’t. Jaye isn’t a poster child for anything. She can’t be. There’s nobody like her.

Eric had come to Niagara Falls on his honeymoon, but when he found his new bride—and college sweetheart—tipping the room service man in a naked way, he decided not to go home to her. (Understandable. It’s in New Jersey.) Eric takes some time adjusting to his new single life, but you gotta wonder if his marriage would ever have worked, ‘cause he falls for Jaye pretty hard pretty fast, and he’s not afraid to tell her so. It could be said that Eric is the poster child for the sensitive new age rebound guy--except that he isn’t. There’s nobody like him.

Mahandra, the best friend, knows Jaye in that way that you can only know someone when you have known someone a long, long time. She is a person of extreme conviction and an odd vulnerability underneath all her sass. (And there’s plenty of sass. Plus, not a little crazy.) It could be said that Mahandra is the poster child for shit-calling best-friend sidekicks—except that she’s not. There’s no one like her.

Jaye’s sister Sharon is a successful lawyer and closet case with a real insecurity complex when it comes to her cooler siblings. She is the eldest of the Tyler children, an over-achiever with a need for approval and a fear of being found out. It could be said that she is the poster child for the driven Type-A career woman who is compensating for her insecurities with a hard as nails air of disapproval--except that she’s not. There’s no one like her.

Jaye’s brother Aaron is a theologian, working on his umpteenth degree and still living at home. Aaron is the first (and only) to suspect that Jaye isn’t normal anymore--or whatever passed for normal, in their family. It could be said that he is the poster child for the professional student-type, seeking always the deeper meaning of life while not actually being bothered to live one--except that he’s not. There’s no one like him.

Darrin is Jaye’s father, a doctor and a man with not nearly enough boundaries when it comes to talking about sex with his kids. It could be said that he is the poster child for the patriarch who is just a little too involved in his children’s lives--except that he’s not. There’s no one like him.

Karen Tyler is Jaye’s mother. She is perfectly coiffed and perfectly controlling; a kind of Emily Gilmore figure except that she… well, okay, she is. She absolutely is Emily Gilmore (except that she’s had the same maid for twenty years).

And this group of people make up Jaye’s world; a world made all the more confusing by the appearance each week of varied and disparate souls in need, with wrongs that Jaye must right, or loves Jaye must help unite. A lot of recognizable faces show up in this capacity, from Rue McLanahan and Louise Fletcher (who appear in the same episode) to Hilary from Kyle XY (playing bitchy blonde just as well as ever). Firefly and Stargate Atlantis alum Jewel Staite shows up for a four episode run as Eric’s philandering wife; she is delightfully wicked and unutterably gorgeous as the manipulative Heidi.

Of the main cast, we well know William Sadler (from many things, not the least of which is as Sherrif Valenti in Roswell), Tracie Toms (from Deathproof – plus Cold Case and Rent), and Lee Pace, of course, from Pushing Daisies. Despite being relatively unknown, leads Dhavernas and Leitso also seem familiar: the former is kind of a cross between George from Dead Like Me and early-90’s Ione Skye, and the latter is very Party of Five Matthew Fox, with perhaps just a dash of recent Billy Crudup thrown in for good measure.

And Dhavernas is simply wonderful as Jaye, playing her with a sullen spunkiness that should just be impossible. She commands every scene (which is good, because she’s in almost all of them), and is one of the reasons Wonderfalls works so well, and why it is such a tragedy that this series was canceled.

I miss you, Jaye Tyler. If only we’d had more time together! But I will never forget you. You and your unique way of changing lives and making the world safe for romance again and again.

Well, yours and Joan of Arcadia’s.

  -- Rachel Hyland