Summary: Beatrice recalls her past in her head. As a child, she caught scarlet fever and was traumatized by her father ripping away her doll from her and burning it. As she grew up, she got an education but Joseph tried to force her to marry Corbin Creamerman. In protest, she has a lovely night with Butterscotch, who crashed her party. Beatrice gets pregnant and tracks down Butterscotch who decides that they can start a family together. Over the years, they grow bitter. At an old age, Butterscotch admits he got Henrietta, their maid, pregnant. Beatrice convinces her to give up the baby for adoption. In the present, Beatrice recognizes BoJack. BoJack shares a nice moment with her, telling her she is back in Michigan.
The Good: This is a special episode, and you can tell from the very first scene when the point of view stylishly switches to Beatrice, entering the complete blank slate that is her mind. I've never seen a TV episode tackle the effects of Alzheimer's on such a personal and creative level before, making this a unique experience. The visual style is masterful, and you are constantly reminded that you're watching memories inside of a person's mind. The scribbled out and blank faces all over this episode are deeply unsettling, and it's creepy seeing pieces of different memories popping up briefly throughout the episode with occasional connections to the present day reminding us that Beatrice is living her current life while her brain is trapped in the past. Little details like the childhood slide being exaggerated in size to represent child Beatrice's fear of the height, and Honey's presence always being a frightening shadow do a great job of representing that we are watching events in the way that Beatrice perceives them. These are brilliant stylistic choices. The style only works if there is substance, and there is plenty of it in this episode. This episode is an in-depth portrayal of generational trauma, exploring how the struggle and suffering that Beatrice went through was passed down to BoJack and Henrietta. In doing this, "Time's Arrow" manages to make us sympathize with a total monster, making us understand the source of Beatrice's pain and why she ended up becoming such a miserable figure in BoJack's life. Her life with her father is absolutely awful. Back in "The Old Sugarman Place", much of Joseph's horrible fathering was played for laughs, but here there is no disguising how monstrous he is towards Beatrice. It's no wonder that Beatrice was so desperate for an escape, and it's sad to see how she was tempted by Butterscotch, who comes off as a charming knight in shining armour to sweep Beatrice away from her bland life and save her. But life is not a fairy tale, and ultimately Butterscotch doesn't offer the solace that Beatrice needed. Tragically, right when it looked like Beatrice may have found something in Corbin Creamerman, her pregnancy takes her back to Butterscotch, and into a terrible life. Beatrice's new life started off with such hope and it is sad to see Beatrice's optimism ground out by financial pressures, Butterscotch's stubborn pride and general awfulness, and an inability for Beatrice to give up her baby due to unresolved trauma with her childhood doll. The passion goes out from her, and all Beatrice is left with is her own wit, which she promptly uses to destroy everyone and everything that she thinks is contributing to her misery. It's an awful thing for her to do, but we can understand how she ended up here, and I sympathize with her for being a victim of bad life decisions that she will never be able to undo. The generational trauma idea is portrayed in some really brilliant ways. It's so sad to learn why Beatrice was always so degrading to BoJack. Beatrice chose this life with Butterscotch over the life her father wanted for her, so she put an unfair amount of pressure onto BoJack to be worth it to justify her decision. But Beatrice's expectations were unrealistic, and combined with Butterscotch being a constant source of frustration, she was never going to be able to provide a good home to raise BoJack in. Furthermore, the trauma goes back deeper as we eventually learn that Beatrice was traumatized at an early age by her father forcefully burning her doll in such a cold and callous manner, and this resulted in Beatrice being unable to give up BoJack due to her trauma, condemning BoJack to growing up in an abusive household. Even more tragic is that Beatrice ultimately becomes her father as she traumatizes Henrietta in a similar way by not allowing her to hold the baby she's giving up for adoption. The climactic scene intercutting Beatrice's burning doll, Henrietta giving birth, and Beatrice giving birth is phenomenally edited and executed, offering some big moments and providing a huge catharsis that sums up the main ideas of Beatrice's story perfectly. I was surprised and impressed by the Hollyhock twist. Hollyhock being BoJack's daughter felt so obvious and logical that I never even considered another possibility, but this reveal makes a ton of sense. I also have to applaud the show for demonstrating restraint. We are never told that this baby is Hollyhock, but the show trusts that we will know anyways. A lot of other moments throughout Beatrice's story had emotional resonance. Beatrice trying to convince Henrietta not to throw her dreams away for a future with Butterscotch that looked too good to be true was a fantastic moment. Poor Beatrice had the root of all of her suffering exposed again, and it's no wonder that she sounded so desperate to help Henrietta as this is the closest she can ever come to correcting the mistakes she made in her life. The detail that Butterscotch uses the same connection to his dead mother to win over Henrietta is deeply sad, a sad moment of acceptance for Beatrice as she faces yet another reminder that nothing about Butterscotch was real and that she was essentially scammed into this marriage. Lastly, I really want to call attention to Joseph's horrifying demeanour as he burns Beatrice's doll. Instead of allowing her to process her feelings, Joseph tells her that things need to happen with such a neutral unsympathetic voice, and forcibly burns Beatrice's doll so suddenly without allowing Beatrice time to process what is happening. It's heartbreaking how little he cared, and that final line of "one day this will all be a pleasant memory" is so painfully false, and you can tell that it stuck with Beatrice throughout her life. At the end of the exploration of Beatrice's mind, the episode has one last incredible gutpunch to throw our way as we resume in the present day with Beatrice finally recognizing BoJack. Earlier in the season BoJack had expressed his desire to rage at his mother once she recognized him, and after Beatrice drugged Hollyhock, I'm sure that most viewers would have wanted to see this happen. But following this episode's horrifying experience in Beatrice's mind, the tone has changed a lot, and there's a greater sense of tragedy in Beatrice's confusion. I think it's absolutely sweet that the show chose to give this character a somewhat positive moment at the end of the episode as BoJack describes a childhood memory of Beatrice at the lakeside cabin before all of the trauma and pain entered her life. This is also an extremely powerful moment for BoJack, who had every reason to not care about his mother and allow her to feel pain. But he chooses to share a moment with her, which is indicative of how no matter what Beatrice does, BoJack deep down just wants to have a mother who he can share a nice moment with. This scene has such a sad undertone, and it ends with a fascinating final line as BoJack asks Beatrice if she can taste ice cream. But as we learned in "The Old Sugarman Place", Beatrice was not allowed to have ice cream, so the illusion was ruined in this moment. But Beatrice, like BoJack, is content to let the illusion play out because it is better than the reality that she and her son have to face, and the episode ends with mother and son tragically sitting in a fake reality where they are both happy, just wishing that this illusion will last for longer than just a few moments. This scene is a perfect conclusion to the most emotionally complex, devastating, and thought-provoking episode yet. There are a couple funny details that I appreciated in this episode. Corbin's goat scream after Beatrice vomits on his is completely unexpected and really funny. Butterscotch giving Beatrice a number to a pizza parlour in Brownsburg is very similar to BoJack giving random women a number to a sandwich shop in Temecula. I guess being an asshole is genetic. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Will this be the last time BoJack ever talks to Beatrice? Best Moment: In an episode chock full of excellent moments, that sweet final moment between BoJack and Beatrice managed to stick with me the most. Character of the Episode: Beatrice. Conclusion: This was an experience unlike anything else I've watched. A beautiful look into the fraying mind of Beatrice, showing us what made her into the monster she is and how she transferred her traumatic experiences to the next generation. This episode is a masterpiece and hits like a truck when you watch it. Another absolute winner from season 4. Score: 89
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|