Summary: In a future world, Princess Carolyn's descendant Ruthie tells the story of Princess Carolyn's bad day. In the present, Princess Carolyn is fired by Courtney Portnoy and finds out her family heirloom necklace was fake all along. She learns from Charlie that he gave an offer to Judah that she never learned about. She goes to a doctor's appointment and learns she miscarried. She can't bring herself to tell Ralph and goes to the office. She fires Judah and gets drunk in her other apartment. Ralph goes to see her and finds out. They get into an argument and break up. Princess Carolyn returns to her office and is called by BoJack, who had a bad day failing to get adoption information for Hollyhock.
The Good: This episode did a magnificent job of portraying the worst possible day for Princess Carolyn. The writing here was brilliant as the episode gradually escalated the stakes for Princess Carolyn as she goes from career setback, to family setback, to personal setback, to losing the most important relationships in her life, leaving her with absolutely nothing by the end. It can be tough to create that feeling of pure despair and emptiness that accompanies a character losing everything, but this episode nails that feeling, turning this into quite a sad and memorable experience. We have seen nothing but good things in her relationship with Ralph, so seeing Princess Carolyn's inability to process her miscarriage destroy that relationship is heartbreaking, especially knowing that she has essentially lost her dream of a perfect family life with this break-up. Just as heartbreaking is Judah being fired. We've seen Judah be an ideal employee that genuinely cares for a long while now, and it's very sad to see him get abruptly fired, leaving Princess Carolyn without one of her most dependent and reliable confidants. These two scenes work very well because I understand why Princess Carolyn felt the need to cut off these relationships even if she did not want to. The presence of Ruthie in this crazy alternative world is a fun idea that brilliantly sets up a sad twist ending. The final moments where it becomes clear that this happy ending we were promised by Ruthie was fake and Princess Carolyn just has to deal with her life crumbling around her is devastating. I went through the episode believing that there would be a happy ending, and revealing the sad reality was tremendously effective. On a lighter note, the alternate universe had some fun jokes too, including the weird bean system, and the teacher bot getting frustrated by the BoJack and Diane B-story. BoJck's side story is effective too. Not only does it offer some much needed levity, but it intersects with Princess Carolyn's story in a meaningful way to end the episode (see: Best Moment). There's some lovely irony in contrasting BoJack's "worst day ever" with Princess Carolyn's, while also showing us why Princess Carolyn has kept in touch with BoJack for so long since he does offer something of a safe space for her when she has had an awful day. Lots of fun little things. The biggest laugh of the episode was Princess Carolyn returning to her apartment to see Todd's horrific clown dentist business getting underway. I loved Ralph's business ideas written on the board, with the most amusing being a crossed off "Halloween in January" idea because it has "already been done". Princess Carolyn's cat ancestors being portrayed as real-life cut-outs was creative and funny, and it made for a memorable sequence. I liked the George Clooney/Jurj Clooners line which highlighted how self-aware this show can be sometimes. Lastly, I was amused by BoJack getting Diane to come alogn with him by saying there was a "feminism-related emergency". The Bad: Nothing outright bad, but if that was the end of Princess Carolyn's relationship with Ralph, then that was surprisingly abrupt. Most break-ups would not happen so quickly and definitively in these circumstances. I hope there is more to their story. The Unknown: Are these decisions going to be permanent? Is Princess Carolyn and Ralph's relationship over? Is Judah gone for good? Will Princess Carolyn keep trying to get pregnant or is she going to end up adopting? Is Todd's clown dentist venture legal? It seems like this is going in the wrong direction. Best Moment: BoJack calls Princess Carolyn and for once she seems like she could use his company. As BoJack obliviously prattles on about his "horrible" day, Princess Carolyn gives us the sad reveal that all of those promises from Ruthie that told us there would be a happy ending were false, just something in her imagination to help her process everything that she has lost. This was a real shock to me, and the moment was so real and relatable (we've all had those days) so it works tremendously well. Character of the Episode: Princess Carolyn. Conclusion: What a sad, powerful episode. I think just about everyone can relate to having those truly awful days, and seeing Princess Carolyn go through setback after setback until she had nothing was absolutely heartbreaking. Score: 80
1 Comment
Joe Y
4/21/2023 02:12:26 pm
Amy Sedaris doesn't really get enough credit for her work on this show. To be fair, all 5 of the main cast members are some of the best voice actors working in television, perfectly balancing comic timing with raw vulnerability in a way that the material demands. But Sedaris makes PC so endearing and relatable, despite the fact that she has some less than stellar qualities as a person (or cat); she arguably stuck by BoJack for way too long, and is pretty forgiving of his misdeeds in Season 6.....but yes, this episode is probably her peak as a character. All of the misfortune here is of course set up by the writers, but it was all seeded earlier, and the final twist especially is a gut punch. Without a doubt one of the show's top ten.
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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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