Summary: BoJack returns home and tracks down Hollyhock's mother. He visits her fathers in Wichita and gives them the number to Hollyhock's mother. BoJack agrees to do the Philbert show for Princess Carolyn. Hollyhock calls BoJack and is happy for him to be her brother. Todd takes Princess Carolyn into to woods to give her a pep talk. He sees the clown dentists have become rabid and turns them into a business with Yolanda's help. Yolanda asks him out, revealing she is also asexual. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter buy a new house and take an impromptu trip to Hawaii. They don't make it there, but have a nice night together. Mr. Peanubutter gives Diane a Belle-room like she wanted but Diane is upset by it.
The Good: This was a surprisingly uplifting finale for BoJack. Every other season of the show ended with BoJack doing something terrible, with the finale ending with a slightly optimistic message promoting the possibility of change and moving forwards. But this season was different. BoJack did not do anything appalling to conclude this season, and instead he did everything right to prove that he has changed to a degree, and because of this, the tone for the final scene isn't just hopeful for the future, it's celebrating actual change and success for BoJack. That's so refreshing, and it makes the end of this season feel very memorable. BoJack's story is very strong. He is clearly pained by losing Hollyhock, and he struggles to move forward in life without resolving what happened with her. It's so sweet to see him hunting down Hollyhock's mother and getting the information to her, even if he doesn't get to see her himself. He's clearly not doing this because of selfish reasons, he genuinely wants to help her and that is refreshing to see. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the animation style from "Stupid Piece of Sh*t" return. Having this animation in a scene where BoJack recounts the good that he's done shows great character development from before, when the animation only happened when BoJack was destroying himself with his thoughts. The final scene is, of course, terrific. BoJack was suitably rewarded for the good that he did with Hollyhock's phone call, and hearing her accept BoJack as an older brother, and seeing BoJack genuinely smile at this was so heartwarming and cathartic. Sometimes the simple facial animations in this show can be so powerful, and this is a perfect example of that. In contrast to BoJack who has finally figured it all out, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter fall apart in the most tragic fashion in this episode. At the start of the episode, this story looked like it was going to be a way to reignite their love and move forwards with confidence. There's some wackiness as they look for a new house together, the impromptu trip to Hawaii to help organize their fears for the future was very in-line with how they do things, and that sweet night at the motel told us exactly what it is they enjoy about each other. These two can be so good as a couple, and the past couple seasons have done a wonderful job of making us care about these two. This makes the story's conclusion so sad and tragic. In spite of all the good that happened, the problems still remain. Mr. Peanutbutter is insecure with Diane, and Diane is consistently frustrated by how Mr. Peanutbutter listens but never truly understands how she lives and what she wants. The Belle-room going so wrong was very sad to see, considering how much work both of them had put into the relationship. But saddest of all was certainly Diane's final line, which spells doom for their marriage. Hearing her choke out "I'm so tired of squinting" was a brutal moment, and it's a tragic culmination of the conflict between Diane and Mr. Peanutbuuter that has gone on for a few seasons. They have their moments, but sometimes it's just too much work for them to keep it together. The election was a bad time for them, but their problems persisted even without the election. In the end, it looks like it has become too much for Diane to put up with. Todd and Princess Carolyn don't get as much focus, but their story is solid enough. Todd's story is packed with the usual silliness, though not to the best results this time (see: The Bad). However, things ended in a surprisingly sweet way for him. After finally solving the clown dentist problem, Yolanda asks Todd out, and it's clear that Todd is trying to take himself out of the reckoning because he is asexual and thinks that will be an issue. But Yolanda is also asexual, so Todd has an opportunity here. The final shot is beautiful as we pan out to see everyone around Todd dressed up in his same clothes. On the surface, it's a gag based on the joke earlier in the season where Todd's clothes become trendy, but the deeper meaning is clearly to show that Todd is noticing that there are people like him out there in the world and that it's not as lonely as it initially seemed for him. That's a very positive message. Meanwhile, Princess Carolyn looks to have finally reestablished herself. Todd giving Princess Carolyn her own speech is a fun moment, and I like that his intervention finally allowed her to see the way forward again. The scene between BoJack and Princess Carolyn is sweet as they look to have left their problems behind them to move forwards. BoJack is finally able to treat her the way she deserves, and he is happy to help her out and encourage her on her way to making a new family, with adoption looking like the likely way forwards. This scene is excellent, giving Princess Carolyn some closure with BoJack, and further highlighting the genuine change within BoJack as he is able to treat Princess Carolyn much better than he did last season or any other time in this season. A few little things amused me in this episode. The VR housing is a fun idea for a scene, and I liked Mr. Peanutbutter heading to the VR bathroom to end off that joke. As a "Friends" fan, I had fun with Hollyhock's jokes about Chandler. The gas station that Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane went to had a fun sale for beef jerky and "beef friendly" which made me smile. I also had to laugh at the accuracy of the new bridge to Hawaii immediately becoming clogged by traffic. Lastly, I like that Hollyhock also hates honeydew, and calling it "the Jared Leto of fruit" was pretty funny. The Bad: The clown dentists in the woods strays a little bit too far into absurdity for my liking. Absurdity is funny in this show when it comes to decisions that characters make, and stupid things that they say. But when it comes to sheer ridiculous ideas like the clown dentists being randomly left in the woods (they don't have lives to return to?) where they contract rabies and become zombies, that's a step too far. Furthermore, Yolanda as a character is damaged by going along with Todd's dumb business scheme. Her dynamic with him worked because she was logical, and that clashed with Todd's stupid ideas. They don't have that dynamic anymore with Yolanda actively helping him with one of his dumb ideas. The Unknown: Will BoJack be happy in his new TV show? Will he see it through? What drama will happen on this show? Is Hollyhock going to stay in BoJack's life? Will this be the end of Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's marriage? Best Moment: It's tough to choose between Diane and BoJack, but I'll give it to the feel-good ending scene as BoJack can finally smile happily now that he's saved his relationship with Hollyhock and earned some respectability. Character of the Episode: Everyone had a good episode, but I'll give it to BoJack for finally changing for the better to some degree. Conclusion: This episode ended season 4 on a very strong note. This concluded storylines satisfyingly, and it feels more effective than most of the previous finales because it spends more times concluding stories than setting up new ones. Season 4 was the best season so far. It may not have been the most consistent, but there were so many standout episodes that provided the very best we have seen from this show. "The Old Sugarman Place", "Ruthie", and "Time's Arrow" alone are fantastic enough to make this season worth it, but there are plenty of other fun experiences throughout like "Stupid Piece of Sh*t", "Hooray! Todd Episode", and "Underground" to name a few. Overall, I liked a lot of the stories that were told this season. After three seasons of BoJack doing bad things, it felt refreshing to see season 4 go in a different direction, and the result is the most unique and memorable season so far. I enjoyed almost every new thing that was introduced, including BoJack's relationship with Hollyhock, the new direction of Todd's character, the election storyline, and the time spent exploring Beatrice and her story. Overall, this season encompasses the best I've seen from this show so far, and it will probably be tough to top the quality that we saw here. Score: 69
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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