Summary: The episode takes place across four different Halloween parties at BoJack's house. In 1993, Mr. Peanutbutter takes Katrina to BoJack's house for his first Halloween party. Mr. Peanutbutter gets caught up in the excitement and leaves Katrina alone, causing her to freak out and angrily leave. In 2004, Mr. Peanutbutter takes Jessica Biel to the Halloween party, but she freaks out after seeing a mummy and angrily storms out. In 2009, Mr. Peanutbutter takes a nervous Diane to the party. She meets BoJack but ends up being very awkward. She runs out of the house, feeling uncomfortable in the party. In the present, Mr. Peanutbutter takes Pickles to the party but she ends up drinking and gets upset with Mr. Peanutbutter, especially when Diane gets stuck at the party as well. Mr. Peanutbutter is confused by why he makes women less fun but Diane explains that they are just maturing while he does not mature. Diane talks to Pickles and gets them to reconcile. Everyone goes home as the party ends.
The Good: Once more, we get an excellent concept episode. Season 5 has been very creative so far, with an episode where Diane writes a blog post detailing the episode's events, an episode that's a 20 minute monologue, an episode told by a random couple who interacted with the main characters, and now an episode split across four different timelines that tells a cohesive story. These episodes have used their gimmicks very well to be highlights of the season. This episode is no exception as its exceedingly fun to see 4 different time periods in one episode, and the transitions between the time periods are consistently delightful. The comedy is a standout in this episode. The amount of cut away gags referencing events in other time periods are terrific, and they all pretty consistently made me laugh. Mr. Peanutbutter's costumes are a blast as well, and there are plenty of tongue-in-cheek jokes about what will become of his relationships. I also enjoyed how the supporting cast were handled. BoJack growing frustrated by the parties, drinking heavily, and demanding they do another one by the end is quite funny. Diane having her car boxed in, making her unable to leave is also really funny. Princess Carolyn being stuck on door duty is a funny twist, and it's amusing that she gets to interact with kid Todd, telling him to come back when he's older (the cut to an older Todd arriving is a nice touch as well). The star of the show is obviously Mr. Peanutbutter. This episode is all about him, with the show taking some time to critique its (arguably) most lovable character. We've always known that Mr. Peanutbutter gets lost in his love of parties, and that has worked against him in his relationships. We see Katrina getting frustrated by being abandoned by Mr. Peanutbutter as the most direct consequence of his actions, and we also see Diane being extremely uncomfortable in her first party which Mr. Peanutbutter ends up completely forgetting time and time again as he continually arranges parties (as an aside, I got a good laugh out of him saying that it's good they discussed Diane's feelings so they never have to have this argument again). But this aspect of Mr. Peanutbutter's character is something we already knew. The episode needed to go deeper, and thankfully it did. As Mr. Peanutbutter starts to reflect on how the women in his life seem to grow more miserable around him, he makes the connection that he ruins women. But that's not the case at all and Diane hits the nail on its head when talking with him: the reason for Mr. Peanutbutter's failed relationships is his inability to mature as he grows older. He stunted his development in his mid 20s, and now 20+ years later he hasn't changed or grown as all. Meanwhile all the women in his life have matured into fully formed adults, and that's where Mr. Peanutbutter gets left behind. This is a nice bit of character exploration as it informs us more about Mr. Peanutbutter while also providing some humous with how Mr. Peanutbutter completely fails to grasp what is going wrong without Diane's help. The episode also offered some lovely bits of storytelling with the side characters. Diane meeting BoJack awkwardly at the Halloween party is perfect, and it's amusingly fitting that BoJack would forget that he ever met her and Diane would be too embarrassed to ever bring this up. But it's also sad that BoJack was affected at this party by learning about what happened to his dad at the duel, which was heartbreaking and it seemingly got in the way of BoJack connecting with Diane at an earlier point. Another sad moment is BoJack telling Todd he can stay as long as he wants. It was nice to see how Todd originally ended up at BoJack's, but it's also sad considering that Todd has long since moved on and doesn't often interact with BoJack anymore. Princess Carolyn wearing a pilot costume to every party, a reference to her love for Amelia Earhart, is a lovely character detail. The Bad: If there is a major flaw with this episode, it's that there isn't really a standout moment in all of this. The one moment that could have been great was when Diane spoke with Mr. Peanutbutter. Diane explaining to Mr. Peanutbutter why his relationships all fall apart explores the episode's central idea well, but it felt too straightforward and lacked subtlety. Diane just spelled it out for him without any real nuance. I feel like this should have been the episode's big emotional moment, but instead it felt surprisingly simplistic, lacking most emotional resonance. This episode is also very heavy on reference humour. I got most of the jokes, so I got a good laugh out of it. But I understand that these jokes will be a complete miss for some people, and that will weaken this episode for them. The Unknown: Will Mr. Peanutbutter's relationship with Pickles last? Or is this one also doomed to fail, just like his previous ones? Best Moment: I'll go with the cuts between all of the awkward freakouts at the Halloween parties over the years. It's remarkable how Mr. Peanutbutter consistently pushed all of his significant others away at these parties, and I thought that this sequence of repeated arguments showed the flaws in his character far more effectively than Diane's words. Character of the Episode: Mr. Peanutbutter. Conclusion: This is the best character exploration we have ever got for Mr. Peanutbutter. It was fascinating to learn more about how and why his relationships all fall apart, and in typical "BoJack Horseman" fashion, this was all done in an exceedingly funny episode, possibly the funniest of the season. The episode didn't ever threaten any all-time great moments, but it was a fun experience that offered up plenty of entertainment for me. Score: 71
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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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