Bojack Horseman- Out to Season 2
Bojack establishes itself in season one, it no longer has
the element of surprise-as we know that it’s not a straight edge comedy. This
is a daring show, we have seen that, its second season was highly anticipated
and I can confidently say that Bojack becomes its own animal. It’s admittedly
my least favourite season as a whole, but has some of the best moments in the
show. Similar to my review of season one, I am going to break down each episode
of Season 2 and look at what makes this season so strong.
In the season 2 premiere “Brand New Couch”, we are
introduced to the shooting of Secretariat as well as a whole new ‘positive’
Bojack. Influenced by inspirational audio books, Bojack is portrayed as a new
happier, more irritating individual. However this is soon broken down when he
needs to tap into the darker side of himself in order to play his dream role.
This part of the episode works well as a metaphor for the effect that shooting Secretariat
is going to have on Bojack, but the tongue in cheek ‘positive’ Bojack gets exhausting
quick, mostly in the opening half. the
strongest part of this episode is by far the flashbacks, it’s fascinating to
have a trilogy of scenes referencing one of the darkest figures of his past, as
Bojack is trying to be happy. Beatrice references the “ugly part of everyone”,
snidely dismissing three accomplishments that Bojack holds onto, finally
appreciating his book as it exposes how he is “born broken”. It’s so
emotionally resonating for a series premiere, the second season doesn’t waste any
time with its meaty character development and tough tones established
immediately.
Immediately the fame becomes too much for Bojack,
“Yesterdayland” introduces the character of Wanda, who he falls in love with
immediately as Wanda isn’t aware of the public image of Bojack. Liza Kudrow is
a fantastic addition to the show, her goofiness is weirdly toned down, she is
one of the most aware and rational characters in the show, which is interesting
considering the concept behind her character. at the same time Todd is building
a new Disneyland, it’s insane over the top stupid Todd antics that we love. But
I think this is my main problem with season 2, the ridiculous parts push the
bar occasionally too far, the mid-part of season 2 revolves around crazy
concept episodes that are a lot of fun. I still find them hilarious, I still
love the character beats and the themes it touches, but I often want to return
back to the normality. I think the later seasons do a better job of creating a
running flowing plan to the series, rather than the concept episodes taking
priority over the running plot. Joel McHale is a funny guest star, but his plot
is just to establish Wanda and Bojack’ s care for each other. Overall one of
the weaker episodes of the season but still a lot of fun.
“Still Broken” is one of my favourite episodes of the show, it’s
not especially outlandish, emotional or ambitious. It’s a lovely exploration of
the Horsin’ Around family, full of fantastic set-up for a lot of moments and character
beats. The family reunion is a trope in TV, but a TV family reunion set at
Herb’s funeral is the closest Bojack will get to the trope. The flashbacks are
really clever in understanding a lot of the moments of episodes such as “The
Telescope”. We see how the disgusting world of Horsin’ Around’s production was
held together by Herb, these people learnt forming experiences from this man,
making “The Telescope” even more difficult to watch when you consider what a
good man Herb was. I don’t love the B Plot with Princess Carolyn and Mr
Peanutbutter, it is out of character for both of them but I do love Henry
Winkler as one of the weirdest cameos. In the end, this episode is an
exploration of how Bojack distanced and ignored those he loved, due to fame
which only destroyed him more, betraying Herb was clearly self-destructive and
Bojack feels the same, for what he did to himself. This is also the first glimpse of Charlotte
we get in the season, and it is truly a fairy-tale scene, the animators give her
this mysterious aura that instantly intrigues the audience.
Finally, we get some much needed attention to Princess Carolyn,
Mr Peanutbutter and Diane. The season kind of forgets them for a bit, but this
episode splits itself into three, following three arguments in free
relationships. The first being PC and Vincent Adultman, this show uses the
ridiculousness of the situation very well. This is a relationship which started
as an off hand joke, but is now a full-fledged plot line, and its finish is
just as ridiculous. It escalates to a Three Stooges slapstick tension comedy
sequence, then stops suddenly as PC confronts the ridiculous pretending she has
been doing, she needs to mature and move on (oh and Todd makes two phones fall
in love, Todd’s antics are ridiculous in this season) . The second argument is
Bojack and Wanda, Bojack in typical Bojack fashion begins to worry he is
rushing things with Wanda, only for a joke for Wanda to reveal that “Things get
better with time”, it’s small and quiet, but gives the audience a nice glimpse
into what makes their relationship work. Finally Diane and Mr Peanutbutter half
a great argument, it exposes the fundamental faults in their relationship. Mr
PB put on a humongous surprise party, resulting in Diane getting obviously
angry and frustrated. The basis of their argument is suggesting that they are
clearly opposite people, PB loves the idea of the sitcom relationship he
strives for it, and this results in a misguided need to impress Diane
constantly. However Diane is not the person for that, she understands there is more
to life, hence her want to leave for Cordova. I love this segment of the
episode, Diane and PB’s relationship is one of the strongest aspects of the
show, and to lay it out, whilst making it quirky and creative, and explore some
heavy analysis through really well convincing moments.
I don’t even know what to say about “Chickens”, it’s
probably the most ridiculous and hilarious direction this show has gone. Todd,
Diane and Kelsey’s daughter save an escaped chicken and return it to a farm
that treats chickens nicer, run by clever chickens. It’s straight up satire
throughout the episode, the reveal of the façade that is the ‘free range’
chicken ranch being just as evil as the company it is against is a nice criticism
of food advertisements. The episode doesn’t really serve much in character
development or plot advancement. Todd realises the insanity of his world and is
clearly becoming much more aware of how his life is just a series of antics, it
is a really nice break of pace for the character. Diane confronts the fact she
is no longer the rebellious teen, which is fine? I didn’t see much of a point
in demonstrating this. Bojack is trying his best to become friends with Kelsey,
whom he feels distanced from but struggles too, Kelsey really exposes a lot of Bojack’
s faults throughout the season, making her an unlikeable but understandable
character. In the end this is social commentary that has obviously put a lot of
effort and focus on comedy, admittedly one of the funniest episodes, all of the
police parts are hilarious, but an unnecessary episode.
“Higher Love” is another weird concept for an episode,
basing an episode around auto-erotic-asphyxiation was a daringly bizarre choice
for the writers, but it surprisingly comes together in the end. The highlight
definitely being Bojack telling Wanda he loves her and then freaking out for
the rest of the episode, the writers really pulled it out of the bag with
Wanda’s character. She is incredibly charming, witty and understanding, she
manages to understand Bojack for who he is and accept his faults hoping she can
offer help. Princess Carolyn storyline is all worth it for the final moments.
Ben Schwartz is one of my favourite additions to the cast in Season 2, and the
help he extends to PC in this episode is a lovely moment. He is hard to read,
confusing and ultimately seems to be very indecisive, but in the end he tries
his hardest for PC because he cares for her, which is lovely. The closing
moments are a nice mirror to “Say Anything” with the shot of the two offices
from the outside showing PC’s growing character. ‘The Movie Star’ speech being
a really nice summary of her character in Season 2, feeling forgotten and lost
in where she is meant to go. Overall a really nice episode hidden under a lot
of jokes about auto erotic asphyxiation.
Bojack Horseman is a daring show, it doesn’t hold back, each
season loves to have an episode on a controversial topic and push it to the
edge. “Hank After Dark” sees Diane steal the spotlight of Bojack on the book
tour and starting a campaign against Hank Hippopopalous after some scathing
allegations. It’s a tough topic for the show to address, but instead it criticises
how the media treats these stories, how easy the media dismisses the women and
the stories in the situation. It is a really fascinating part to show, and
opens a fantastic realisation for Diane- she sees the effect of the
controversial eye and how this relates to Bojack. Diane is clearly sorry for
writing the book, exposing Bojack, yet here the writers play with the idea of
how Diane gets the taste of this life that Bojack lives. But interestingly, it’s
Mr PB who is the one who rationalises the situation, truly a fantastic peel
behind the curtain for his character, he matures and tells Diane to go to Cordova.
The ending moments showing Diane clearly exhausted, she mirrors the cynicism of
Bojack and it’s great to create the parallel. This is the start of the
fantastic run of the latter half of Season 2, and manages to cover a
controversial issue but use it for character and plot development.
Not many shows can write an exploration of their
protagonist’s inner anxieties in the format of a game show run by J.D Salinger.
“Let’s Find Out” is ridiculously over
the top, the game show is incoherent, in your face and a lot of fun to watch,
exactly what you would expect from Mr Peanutbutter. But that’s what this episode
does the strongest, after the last couple of episodes really exposing how Mr PB
isn’t just a silly over the top character, he is maturing into a more aware
character. After an episode of berating Bojack who is destined to lose, Bojack
loses control and lashes out at PB. But they have a conversation that is one of
the best written conversations in the series, PB reveals how he knows about the
kiss between Bojack and Diane, and Bojack reveals how jealous he is of PB’s
happiness. I love when the show pulls the rug from under the spectator, we
never expected to get this human contact from such a character as PB in such an
episode like “Let’s Find Out”. The creators had a lot of fun with this episode,
pushing and exploring the heights of ridiculous satire of game shows but also
using it to give development to a character often forgotten about.
Secretariat’s filming is a very interesting plot from a
writing standpoint. A lot of the episodes revolve around Bojack disrupting and causing
problems with the filming, often due to cowardice and self-doubt. However this
self-destructive flaw is placed against Bojack’s love and obsession towards
Secretariat as a kid. “The Shot” is a breaking point for Secretariat, the plot
revolves around Bojack wanting to film a scene that he watched as a kid, where
Secretariat has an arrangement with Nixon to avoid getting enrolled. The
episode starts as a heist movie, enlisting many of the main characters to try
and break in and film the scene in secret. The heist is a lot of fun, with the
return of Margo Martindale as a highlight, an example of a stupid joke playing
off. I love PC and her picture, it’s an arc that is used a lot in the show for
her character, the peaceful life that she wants placed in conflict with the
cravings for the crazy world of being an agent, but portraying it in that
beautiful art style is a nice change of pace. And this episode fantastically
turns on its heel in the final moments, it sets up the near perfect set of
episodes for the rest of the season. Diane returning from Cordova is a touching
and upsetting moment, Brie’s performance is so convincing as she confronts the
reality that she isn’t as strong as she thinks she is. And Kelsey’s words to
Bojack are gut-wrenching, she points out the flaws in his character and we get
the highly upsetting moment of Bojack just breaking down after, showing the
effect of how Bojack has to confront what is wrong with him. Truly a fantastic
episode.
“Yes And” is a set-up episode played perfectly. Todd’s crazy
plotlines of season 2 come together to result in him joining an Improv Cult.
It’s once again stupid, but allows the writers to experiment a lot, also
letting Todd have a much needed burst in confidence and happiness. The focus of
this episode is the effect of Diane on Wanda and Bojack relationship. The
dynamic is fantastically hypocritical, Bojack criticizing Diane for wallowing
in her sadness, shows growth and the effect of his relationship with Wanda. I
really love how the episode takes its time to extend the tension between the
three without it being exhausting, it’s a nice build. Often you would expect a
dynamic where all 3 are at conflict, but the episode focuses on how all three
go through conflict and resolution. Wanda moving out is such a well written
moment, the composed frustration from Wanda finally seeing the cracks of Bojack
resulting in Bojack dismissing every positive thing in his life. The final
moments of this episode still give me goose bumps, Diane talking about her want
for things to be normal, Todd’s disappointment to Bojack not being there, and
finally Bojack going to see Charlotte. It is a final act of defeat, Bojack
knows that this is his last chance for happiness, this is the life he’s craved
and wanted to return to. This sets up one of the greatest episodes of Bojack,
and TV for that matter.
What is there to say about “Escape From L.A” that hasn’t
been said before. It’s achingly beautiful, full of tension, heart-warming,
soul-destroying and gorgeous. The situation is so uncomfortable to watch,
Bojack confronting the fact that Charlotte has a family, the fact he is hiding
from his life in L.A but hiding from his truth in New Mexico. The episode is
really funny, still maintaining some excellent moments of comedy from the
family and the high school drama. And then comes prom, we watch one of the most
tense series of events in TV history, it’s the fact the episode leaves you in
this uncomfortable tension due to how we judge Bojack. We see him get underage
teens drunk, but we also see him genuinely teaching them to enjoy life as it
is, the beautiful green balloons symbolising Bojack wanting to return to this
time in his life. And then Penny kisses Bojack, but Bojack manages to tell her
to leave, a surprising moral victory for his character. And he turns to
Charlotte, the tension of how strong their chemistry is next to how much we
know Bojack loves Charlotte and it’s excruciating to watch, right until he
kisses her. Bojack’s desperate fumbling to hold on to Charlotte, whilst
Charlotte admits to never loving him or knowing him. And then the final moments
of the episode, I can’t even describe the soul-tearing emotion and realisation
that occurs, it is truly one of the toughest scenes in television history. It
places the spectator to re-evaluate how we see Bojack, the situation is one
where we sympathise and despise him at the same time, finishing the episode
with the theme tune accompanying a beautiful sequence of the return to L.A, the
return to the tar pit, where Diane is still there.
“Out to Sea” is a really underrated episode, it’s a lovely
closure and a quiet aftermath to one of the harshest episodes of the show. The
opening montage sees Diane and PB going through a day played side by side,
fantastically composed and really touching, extra appreciation to PB sitting on
Diane’s roof for a lovely but upsetting call back. The rest of the episode is
very fast paced, but surprisingly the real hero of the episode is PC. She helps
Diane and Bojack to get out of their pit of despair, rejects Rabbitowitz after
discovering he doesn’t actually care about her, reuniting PB and Diane and Todd
and Bojack. She is the through line that sets up some of the nicest moments in
the series, especially Diane and PB’s phone call once again managing to
demonstrate the flaws in their characters, but the desperate search for
happiness keeping them together. The Improv cult is perfect Todd craziness, but
thematically works as a discussion of individuality, Todd rejects them and goes
back to Bojack even though Bojack is awful to him because he is still finding
himself, that’s what being in your 20’s is about. And I have to talk about the
final moments, Bojack honours Herb’s legacy finally getting his own closure.
Surprisingly Bojack resorts to jogging, he is seen running up his hill in clear
pain and exhaustion before collapsing, and the final words from that all too
familiar baboon seen running past repeatedly strike a chord for Bojack as the
future looks...bright.
And there we have it, my extensive look at season 2 of
Bojack Horseman. I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface with this show, I
would love to write essay upon essay on the writing behind this show. Season 2,
as said, is my least favourite season, but that doesn’t make it far from
outstanding. Bojack struck a chord with me as I reckon it will have with many
people, the layered character writing and daring representation and themes is
unlike no other. Season 2 touches the darkest depths and the lightest heights,
its zaniness is extreme and placed upon some truly upsetting moments. Which is
why it’s my least favourite as a whole, the later seasons find the balance
better, but season 2 features some of the strongest moments in these extremes.
I really hope my review has made you look back at the layers of effort put into
this show, and gain a new appreciation for one of the most revolutionising
series in Television.
Thanks for reading.