Summary: BoJack and Diane go on a promotion tour to Alaska where Diane angers the public by speaking out against Hank Hippopopalous, a popular celebrity currently working with Mr. Peanutbutter. Mr. Peanutbutter asks her to stop but Diane plows ahead and ends up on the news. Diane goes to Manatee Fair to get peopel to speak out, but it doesn't work and Hank continues on with everything normal. BoJack and Diane make amends over the book incident. Diane speaks with Mr. Peanutbutter who suggests that her going to Cordovia may be good. Diane leaves for Cordovia. Meanwhile, Todd takes over for the Prince of Cordovia, who wants to experience American life, and accidentally causes a major genocide to occur.
The Good: This worked unexpectedly well. It's incredible to think that in 25 minutes, "BoJack Horseman" brilliantly explored corruption within Hollywood, the power celebrities hold over people, and the media's tendency to ignore serious issues across the world while simultaneously telling a compelling story with Diane, connecting in with her relationships with BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter. This episode is doing so many things, and the fact that the episode never feels rushed or overstuffed is a testament to the writing and storytelling. The set-up for this episode is incredibly well done. We get a typical "BoJack Horseman" set up as BoJack goes to Alaska on a promotion tour, and we fully expect him to mess things up for everyone, after all that's what he does. But then we have our expectations subverted beautifully. BoJack being confronted with an intense ethical dilemma because "he likes apple fritters" was hysterical, and his completely sensible and thoughtful response caught me off guard for another good laugh. Even more unexpected though was Diane being the one to stir up trouble by speaking up about something that nobody ever wanted to consider: allegations against a beloved star. The way this drama heats up exponentially without BoJack playing any role was effective and it allowed for a compelling thematic story with Diane. Diane has always held on to activism close to her heart, and it's nice to see the character show her passion in this episode as she commits to trying to get justice against Hank when the general public starts to insult her for having the courage to say her truth. The way this blows up on Diane is outstanding, and perfectly conveys how difficult it is for victims of celebrity actions (particularly women), and why it is so hard for actual change to happen. Diane can't get any support because Hank has the power to shut things done, and nobody seems interested in helping because "that's just how things are". It's a relentless truth about our world with how power dynamics allow injustices and crimes to happen frequently and go unpunished. Hank Hippopopalous is undoubtedly inspired by Bill Cosby and David Letterman, and is a compelling villain due to how openly compassionate yet threatening he is, a great example that people aren't always what they appear to be. Hank seems to believe he is still a good person in spite of all that he has done, and that lack of self-awareness sums up celebrity culture perfectly. Hank has been praised so much that no matter what he does, he will always get away with things and keep believing his truth. True to form, after a day of arguing the news moves on from Hank, and his victims continue to live on without any justice. Obviously, this story shares a lot with the MeToo movement, but it's important to remember that this episode predated that movement. As a result, this episode has aged magnificently and serves as a compelling examination of Hollywood society without ever feeling preachy, pandering, or overly political. This is just a compelling story that examines a harsh truth about this world. Diane gets a lot of great storytelling depth in this episode outside the themes. She gets a shot to mend fences with BoJack after their strife at the end of the last season, and I thought that this was handled very well. These two have not had the healthiest of friendships, but they understand each other, and it's nice to see them move on from past baggage. I also quite like that BoJack put in a lot of effort to get the attention off of Diane to help her out, even if it was primarily motivated by him being uncomfortable not being the center of attention. Diane also gets more progression in her conflict with Mr. Peanutbutter. At the start of the episode, Mr. Peanutbutter politely asks her not to make things blow up, but Diane ignores his wishes in favour of doing a greater good for the world. By the end of the episode, they both seem disappointed in the other, and in need of a break, which is sad. It's easy to relate with both sides, making this so compelling. Mr. Peanutbutter feels dejected since his own wife ignored his wishes and passion for his new TV show and subjected him to the horror of receiving death threats in the mail. Diane comes off as selfish for ignoring her spouse, and shortsighted for not thinking about her reputation or her husband's job, especially considering how afraid she was of losing her house in the previous episode. When it came to her finally "making a difference", nothing else seemed to be important anymore. And yet in spite of this, Diane is doing something that takes an immense amount of courage to try to solve an enormous amount of injustice in society, and she deserves to have some support when trying to make such a major change, yet she has no one to get her back. She came to Hollywood to change the world, as she said back in "Chickens", but she feels that she never managed that. Now, she finally had her chance, and can you really blame her for wanting to put her biggest dreams ahead of everything else? The storytelling is so richly detailed with such real emotions involved, making the Diane/Mr. Peanutbutter relationship continue to fascinate even when it is only given a short amount of time. Behind all of this is a surprisingly great Todd storyline. Gustav, The Prince of Cordovia, trading places with him is mildly amusing, especially with Gustav's interactions with Mr. Peanutbutter and with the fact that this was foreshadowed (Todd remarked in a previous episode that people told him he looked like the prince of Cordovia). Of course this is your typical Todd side story, but I love how this one takes place entirely in the background of the episode. This so perfectly conveyed how people and media in Western society focus on trivial matters, ignoring horrors and injustices across the world. Todd's story is a mere footnote in this episode, but from what we can gather, his actions caused a major genocide in Cordovia and he tries to bring attention to the horrifying thing that just happened, but BoJack and Diane are hilariously too involved with their own problems to spare any thought for the atrocities happening across the world. This teme was handled perfectly, creating some good laughs while also being scathingly accurate in its criticism of Western society. The little things are great again. There are more fun animal jokes with a hammerhead shark hammering a nail with its head, a spider cleaning windows, and Matthew Fox and Scott Wolf being a wolf and fox respectively. The news headlines return in this episode, and they are terrific. Highlights include the manyupdates on Todd's shenanigans as the Prince of Cordovia, a reporting of the "hot new fad" measles, and a fantastic headline reading "take a job at MSNBSea, they said, you can write novels on the weekends, they said". The Bad: The one issue I have with this episode is that several of the jokes don't really land, especially in the episode's first half. The Prince of Cordovia trading lives with Todd is not that funny, Mr. Peanutbutter's adoration of Hank doesn't have much to offer for comedy either, and the tongue twister humour with Hank's name is mildly amusing but overstays its welcome without ever making me laugh. There are more examples of poor jokes, and it felt like there were more misses than usual in this episode. The Unknown: Is the Cordovia plot going somewhere? Will we see Gustav again? Will he play a role when Diane goes to Cordovia? What will happen to Diane in Cordovia? Will Mr. Peanutbutter's show be damaged by what Diane did, or will it survive? Perhaps more importantly, can Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's relationship survive this added stress? Best Moment: The final scene in the airport as Diane sits in abject defeat, having changed absolutely nothing, helped absolutely nobody, and damaged her own life and reputation. Sad. Hearing a stranger tell her to smile just about sums up how painful this all is for her, and how she gained nothing from all of her actions in this episode. Character of the Episode: Diane. Conclusion: What a surprisingly mature, tasteful, and impactful episode. This episode tackled several difficult real-life issues with impressive grace, crafting a compelling and emotional story centered around Diane and her inability to make a difference. The comedy took a step back, but this was season 2's first truly great episode following a stretch of solid episodes. Score: 72
1 Comment
Joe Y
1/14/2023 10:36:57 am
I think this episode is by far the most successful of the BoJack "real life satire" attempts. Genuinely scathing and affecting material here, and great characterization for Diane, and this sets up the riotously funny "Let's Find Out".
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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