Summary: Mr. Peanutbutter throws a surprise party for Diane on her birthday, which Diane did not want. They fight and everybody leaves. Todd and Princess Carolyn see a child that looks like Vincent. Pricness Carolyn meets with Vincent in her apartment and they break up. Todd hides in Princess Carolyn's car where his phone falls in love with Princess Carolyn's phone. BoJack and Wanda leave, and BoJack is afraid that he's moving too fast with her. Wanda tells him a long joke, reinforcing that they should just wait and see where things end up. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter get into a fight, but ultimately open up to each other with Diane telling Mr. Peanutbutter that she is not happy and realizing that he doesn't want her to go to Cordovia.
The Good: I love the idea and structure of this episode. The episode tackles a theme of love and relationships, and the episode's structure makes this feel like a case study of the relationships in the show. There are three distinct thirds to the episode, each one offering its own insight on the theme, with the episode getting progressively more dramatic and emotional with each storyline. I love this idea, and it is executed brilliantly. The episode starts with Todd and Princess Carolyn, who have a very light-hearted, entertaining experience compared to the rest. Princess Carolyn finally breaks up with Vincent, after amusingly still failing to realize the obvious truth that he's just a child. Todd's run-in with love is even sillier as he gets to experience two phones falling in love and being tortured by it, a funny idea. While these stories are quite dumb on the surface, they do offer a unique view of relationships based primarily on lust and thrill-seeking, highlighting how shallow they are and how these types of relationships don't have the strength to last. BoJack and Wanda's story is a good exploration of fear and insecurity in a relationship. Of course BoJack is terrified now that he is committed to living with Wanda, and of course he lets the fear get to him. Wanda is the voice of reason for him, and she provides a terrific demonstration of the value of being patient and waiting to see if things work out or not. Her long-winded joke was good, and it served a great purpose in the story. I also liked the involvement of the deer, which provided some clever symbolism of overcoming fear with how the deer refused to go to the hospital. Lastly, we come to Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter who have the most serious and emotionally intense part of the episode. I was really impressed by the depth that these two received. They were never all that interesting as a couple in season 1, but here they feel frighteningly real. We understand why there is conflict between them, but the episode also takes the time to show why they love each other and why they work to begin with. Seeing such a brutal fight slowly deescalate when Mr. Peanutbutter attempts to communicate with her, allowing Diane to see the intention behind his surprise party felt so real. Just like in real life, it's hard to point out a villain in this argument. Mr. Peanutbutter could have listened and not had a surprise party, but he put in so much effort for Diane and spent the whole day giving her what she wanted. Meanwhile Diane is suitably frustrated with how Mr. Peanutbutter ignored her wishes to throw a party that she explicitly said she did not want, but she can't help but feel ungrateful upon realizing how much effort Mr. Peanutbutter put in and how he genuinely does love her and try to listen to her. Seeing these two argue, reminisce, make up, and resolve the real issue at hand (Diane wanting to go to Cordovia) was written so well. Speaking of the real issue, I appreciate the amount of effort that the show put in to make this argument feel real. Just like in real life, the source of the argument is completely different from what sparked it. This was never about Tony Curtis, or even about the surprise party, but it was about how Diane (reasonably) wanted the freedom to go to Cordovia, and Mr. Peanutbutter (also reasonably) did not want her to go. There are many layers of frustration that sparked this argument, and I appreciate that the episode showed all of this to us. But to do this while still putting in effort to make us understand why these two are together is high quality storytelling. In just one episode, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter went from a couple that I felt indifferent about and even disliked at times, into a couple that I genuinely care about, and I now want to see them put things together and stay together. As always, there were nice little details that amused me. Mr. Peanutbutter continues to have problems with his banners, as the birthday banner says "Happy birthday Diane use a pretty font". Todd got the episode's best laugh when he finds Herb's ashes and thinks that it's a jar full of weed, an excellent continuity joke. Mr. Peanutbutter gets more fun dog jokes when he mixes up what a ballroom is and when he explains how Dian coming home is the most exciting part of his day. The deer getting hit by the car was a clever idea, and I liked that Wanda being an owl came into play with her night vision. The Bad: Todd and Princess Carolyn's story is quite silly compared to everything else, and as such, it is the least interesting to watch. While I find Vincent to be amusing, the joke about him is only funny for a little while. Vincent was given far too much screentime in this episode, so the comedy got stale relatively quickly. The comedy in this episode overall is not anything special. There are a few chuckles here and there, but I found most of the jokes to be lacking, only providing a mild chuckle at best. This episode has some terrific storytelling, but it doesn't offer much for comedy, which is important to still include because this is still an animated comedy. The Unknown: So is Tony Curtis dead? Best Moment: Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter in the jelly pool finally being open and honest with each other. Character of the Episode: Diane. Conclusion: This was a fantastic concept episode which offered a surprising amount of storytelling depth. It's not the funniest episode, but it's still a very good one, the best of the season so far. Score: 69
3 Comments
Joe Y
1/14/2023 12:23:59 pm
I'm starting to think Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter are the best and most consistent characters on this show in retrospect....but seriously, their storyline in this one is by far the best part of the episode. Despite being set in a cartoon world with whacky animals, the show has a knack for cutting to the bone in the way that most tv just doesn't. Bravo to this episode for such a complex depiction of a failing relationship.....
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Aaronic
1/16/2023 06:50:42 pm
Yeah I definitely agree with this. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter have such a powerful relationship from start to finish. I think that something I may have missed out on mentioning in my review is that it wasn't a lack of humour that was the problem, but that many of the attempted jokes just weren't very funny, as you mentioned here. This show tends to overdo it with simplistic, one-note humour in a lot of episodes.
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Joe Y
1/16/2023 08:40:45 pm
Yes, definitely, especially early on. I think by Season 3 the show's sense of humor was pretty sharp, and the show does put a lot of effort into the background gags and little animal details, which is always great. There's so many great background gags and animal puns that I've forgotten about. I'm glad you're pointing them out in your reviews lol. But it does stand out when an episode really smashes the jokes out of the park. Like with "Let's Find Out" or Season 6's "Surprise!". The show's wordplay is very funny in general. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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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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