I would love to have heard the pitch that got Netflix to greenlight an animated comedy series about the effects of clinical depression and self-loathing, but those brave executives deserve our praise. If they had worked for any traditional cable network outside HBO or maybe FX, the idea would have been shelved forever, but in the brave world of modern non-traditional black comedies, Netflix snagged a gem with BoJack, much like Adult Swim did with Rick & Morty.
If you don’t have time to re-binge last season, this should get you ready to watch the new episodes: Season 2 ended on a very uplifting note, with a passing jogger attempting to give BoJack some advice on how to deal with the pains of running (while also teaching him a lesson about life). But if you thought things might continue in that positive tone, you’re sorely mistaken. A quick recap of last year’s plot points has BoJack’s Secretariat movie completed, with a wholly computer-generated BoJack in the titular role. BoJack (Will Arnett) left the project after his choice for director, Kelsey Jannings (Maria Bamford) was fired for not adhering to the commercial goals of the film. BoJack’s likeness was used by Secretariat’s new director, Abe (voiced by the late Garry Marshall in one of his final roles.) Abe apparently received a wonderful performance out of CGI BoJack, so wonderful, in fact, that BoJack hired the publicist Ana (played by real-life Oscar nominee Angela Bassett) to win himself an Oscar. Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) and Diane (Alison Brie) have undergone couples’ counseling to fix the obvious holes in their relationship. Meanwhile Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) has broken off from the corporate world to build her own agency with BoJack as her premier client, and Todd (Aaron Paul) is off doing something, somewhere.
Episode 4, Fish Out of Water: Granted, Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a very famous silent episode, and a few other series have done this before, but this may be a first for an American comedy. As a comedic writer, I can tell you it’s extremely difficult to write emotion and comedic tenor without dialogue. BoJack, like many great comedies, has a very clever writing staff, and to create an episode that’s basically a Lost in Translation parody with almost no dialogue is brilliant. The dichotomy of the undersea/land-based world in BoJack shows through, mirroring our own split between Eastern and Western cultures, and that I find to be a real accomplishment.
Episode 6, Brrap Brrap Pew Pew: The premise goes that ghost-tweeter Diane is controlling the twitter account of teenage starlet/sex symbol/dolphin Sextina Aquafina (Daniele Gaither), and instead of texting her husband that she’s going to get an abortion, Diane accidentally tweets it from Sextina’s account. This unleashes a massive shitstorm that almost perfectly encapsulates the IRL shitstorms that vapid celebrities unleash regularly from their Twitter accounts. Initially, Sextina is pissed and demands Diane be fired, but after her tweet is praised by pro-choice advocates she decides to see how far it goes, and like most potential opportunities in BoJack, it goes way beyond any rational person would have desired.
Episode 11, That’s Too Much, Man!: In the penultimate episode of the season, BoJack has already pushed away Todd, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Diane through his own self-destructive behavior, so he contacts his old co-star Sarah Lynn (Kristen Schaal), the former teen pop star currently in rehab after 20 years of abusing drugs and alcohol. BoJack drags her out of her (reluctant) sobriety and down into the desperate spiral of his misery. The scene when BoJack calls her up and she immediately tears down her sobriety calendar is hauntingly funny. This episode reminded me of the Star Trek: TNGepisode “All Good Things…” wherein Captain Picard becomes “unstuck in time” ala Billy Pilgrim, and he suddenly jumps days ahead without warning. Like Picard, BoJack makes a time leap, and with each lurch he destroys another portion of his personal life. By the end of the episode it’s Sarah Lynn’s liver that fails, and surprisingly, for a character that only appeared in a few episodes, her death affects us as it strikes at the heart of the show’s emotional core.
Episode 12, That Went Well: BoJack often treats his own life like it’s worthless and gives no thought of the harm he does to others, and never was that more highlighted than here. We find him waking up from his months-long blackout to the sobering reality of what his self-destructive qualities have done to the relationships in his life, and the finale for Season 3 rivals Episode 11 for its almost-debilitating depression. When it appears BoJack’s trying to build a bridge with his other co-star from Horsin’ Around, he suffers a mental breakdown. Then he glimpses a pack of wild horses running freely and he’s momentarily drawn from his depression, and the season ends.
It’ll be fascinating to see where the 4th season takes us, and I hope the writers have several more seasons in them. When the final episodes of The Sopranos were wrapping up, all the fans were wondering whether Tony would be killed, and I think when BoJack starts heading towards its finale, we’re all going to wonder just one thing: whether BoJack kills himself. That a show’s protagonist can be so self-loathing and so despicable that many in the audience are likely rooting for that outcome puts BoJack Horseman in a special category as one of the most unique and creative comedies ever produced.
-Sean
