Summary: Flashbacks focus on Beatrice's mother Honey, who falls into grief after losing her son Crackerjack in war. Honey has a meltdown at a party to celebrate the end of the war, and her husband, Joseph, has her lobotomized to help with her grief, horrifying young Beatrice. BoJack returns to his familial cottage where he stays to process his grief. He befriends Eddie, a dragonfly who helps him rebuild the cottage. BoJack helps Eddie fly again but Eddie is distraught, wracked with guilt over how he killed his wife by flying. Not wanting to be consumed by grief, BoJack decides to return to LA, destroying the old cottage.
The Good: This episode was a powerful and comprehensive exploration of grief through numerous unique case studies. The addition of this theme takes an already powerful and affecting episode, and elevates it to something genuinely special. The first study of grief is BoJack's grief in the wake of Sarah Lynn's death. BoJack's story is fantastic as he escapes back to Michigan in order to get away from the awful things he has done. The episode opens with a terrific, atmospheric sequence with a melancholy rendition of "A Horse With No Name", a perfectly fitting song that exemplifies BoJack's feelings and dissociation with himself. Once he gets to Michigan he lives a miserable lifestyle, sitting in a broken wreck of a house while denying to everyone that he is BoJack (but of course he still craves attention and fame so he does a crappy job of it). BoJack's existence here is sad and isolated, and he can't seem to do anything right. The story of BoJack struggling to fix his house is a perfect symbol of his grief and his fraying mental state. He is sitting in a broken wreck, symbolic of how his mental health is in shambles after losing Sarah Lynn, and he has no clue how to fix anything in this house, so he continues to suffer. It's not until he forms a genuine bond with Eddie, who offers to help him out, that the house (and BoJack's mind) is finally fixed. It's notable that BoJack is often seen breaking parts of the house even while Eddie is fixing it, exemplifying how BoJack feels like he doesn't deserve to move on from Sarah Lynn and that he belongs in emotional turmoil. But the care and effort of a stranger is what ultimately pulls him back, and it helps him make a crucial decision by the episode's end (more on that in a bit). Eddie's story is the second case study on grief. In this episode, Eddie functions as an example of what BoJack will become if he never moves on from grieving. Where BoJack punishes himself by living in a wrecked house, Eddie punishes himself with his refusal to fly, a small mystery that ultimately culminates in a heartwrenching reveal of how Eddie's actions directly resulted in the death of his wife. Throughout the episode, Eddie is the epitome of the "angry old man" character, and he's a lot of fun to watch in the role. But when we finally take a peek into his house, we realize that he's still unable to move on from his wife's death. We see his wife's stuff all over Eddie's room, still untouched after all this time. Eddie is still holding onto the past and is unable to let go of it, living in pain and grief seemingly until the end of time. This is genuinely sad, and it serves as a wake-up call for Bojack who learns that he needs to get out of this so that he doesn't waste away the rest of his life in pain and grief. One sweet phone call with Diane highlights that BoJack still has something to live for in this friendship that seems to survive even the hardest of times. As such, BoJack makes his choice. He tears down the house that he and Eddie spent so much time rebuilding, symbolically moving on from all of the grief and pain that he has been surviving in. This is BoJack's big choice, and it is a healthy decision to move forwards and stop dwelling in the pain that dominates his past. It's a powerful message that perfectly ends a heavy, emotional episode on a hopeful and optimistic note. A lot of great TV shows out there can deliver crushing, devastating moments, but "BoJack Horseman" stands out for its ability to always follow up devastation with moments of hope. The final case study of grief goes way into the past, and is the boldest choice made in the creation of this episode. The final study is of Honey Sugarman, Beatrice's mother who goes through grief when her son Crackerjack dies during World War II. Honey's story is meant to show a horrific end to grief, where it can consume someone permanently to the point where they are no longer themselves and can never come back. It's a horrifying and sad story that better illuminates Beatrice's story through a showcase of her awful upbringing. At the beginning we get to see how happy this family was in the cottage, but by the end, they are all a broken mess living in a husk of a house with no happiness inside the walls. The comparisons between the first scene in the cottage with the entire family and the ending scene is downright horrifying as Honey has given herself into grief, Joseph has used his terrifyingly limited understanding of the world to "cure her" via a lobotomy, and Beatrice is left all alone with nothing and no one to help her grow up. This entire sequence is terrifyingly devastating, and shows us the "bad ending" to grief that results in lasting emotional damage across generations. As a final aside to Beatrice and Honey's story, I adore the addition of Beatrice's flashback form roaming around alone outside the cottage as BoJack destroys it, a ghostly reminder of another life that was ruined by grieving in this cottage. I appreciate that an episode with such heavy subject matter still included plenty of humour to keep things watchable. Tamera and Tamara are really funny, and I enjoy BoJack and Eddie's distaste for them and their attitude. BoJack's futile attempts to fix his house go amusingly badly, and it's fun to see him try to fix one problem and cause several new ones. BoJack's interactions with Eddie humanize this episode nicely, and their wit clashing against each other makes for a really fun dynamic with some great lines ("how about you fix your door instead of my metaphor?"). Joseph Sugarman is a monstrous man, but a lot of the things he says are so outrageous that they end up being funny. Beatrice not being allowed to eat ice cream and being given a lemon with sugar on top is darkly funny, as is Joseph saying hilariously out of touch statements like "it'll always be here just like polio and blackface" and "if anyone's to blame it's the jews for peeving Hitler off so much". The animal jokes here are quite good too. I enjoyed seeing a fossil in the desert having a watch and shoes, consistent with the world in this show. I got a laugh out of the termites gnawing on BoJack's house, and a squirrel digging up a bag full of nuts in the yard. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Beatrice growing up with a lobotomized Honey for a mother, and a sexist, absentee father paints a very different picture about who she is. Perhaps there is more to her story than what we have seen so far. Has BoJack processed his grief now? What will he be like when he returns to LA? What is he going to do? Will Eddie ever be able to move on from his grief? Or is it too late for him to move on? Will we see him again? Best Moment: The "I will always think of you" duet across generations between Honey and Eddie was incredibly powerful. The moment is so haunting and painful, highlighting the pain and emptiness of grief and how seemingly impossible it is to escape the loss of a loved one. The best of many outstanding moments in this episode. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: A masterful showcase of grief that ended up being one of the most emotional, well-made, and memorable stories in the whole show. This told a complete story with such heavy emotional weight throughout, resulting in the show's best episode yet. Score: 87
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
|