Summary: In a flashback, BoJack goes to Sarah Lynn to get her as a guest star on his show. She is initially happy to see him, but sours when she realizes why she is there. In the present, BoJack attends Sarah Lynn's funeral. Diane comes to see him and he opens up about his pain. BoJack decides to do Ethan Around to move on. But upon seeing Sarah Lynn in one of the new child stars, he leaves and tries to get as far away as he can. A spaghetti-related emergency happens as spaghetti threatens to destroy Pacific Ocean City, so Mr. Peanutbutter saves everyone with his spaghetti strainers. Katrina comes to meet him, giving him a chance to be governor. Diane gets a new job writing a blog. Princess Carolyn opens up her agency again, this time as a manager. Todd gets the buyout from Cabracadabra but tips it all to a waitress. He comes to terms with the fact that he may be asexual.
The Good: These season finales are typically lighter in nature with more hope in them, especially after the penultimate episode's are usually the most depressing episodes of the season. This episode takes a similar approach, but it is unable to fully escape from the negativity that has taken over BoJack's life. He failed Sarah Lynn, he's responsible for her death, and he knows it. That leaves BoJack in a dark place for this season finale as he struggles to move on after what he has done. The flashback sets up the tone of his story perfectly as we reflect on another instance where BoJack failed to be there for Sarah Lynn at a time when she had nobody to help her. He always only entered her life when it suited him. Now he has to live with that. BoJack attempts to move on by doing the Ethan Around show, a way to atone by actually being there for another one of his co-stars, and it seemed to be working for a while. He connects with Ethan and has positive interactions with Chloe, the new child star. But memories come back to haunt BoJack, and the fear of ruining another innocent's life is too much for him to carry so he runs away. The final scene of the season beautifully explores the darkness currently in BoJack's heart and magnificently spins it in an almost hopeful light, capping off with a beautiful sequence (see: Best Moment). The rest of the episode takes a much lighter tone as every other character is moving on to hopeful new chapters in their lives. The purpose for all of the side characters in this episode is to set up their storylines for season 4, and this is done effectively. Diane reconnects with BoJack in what was a superb scene. They both cut to each other's hearts with their words, but unlike the hostility in "It's You", this time it is a casual understanding of each other and respect for their friendship. It's really sweet. Diane seems to be moving back into her activism, and she does so by joining GirlCrush, helmed by the hilariously contradictory Stefani ("I'm sorry but I won't apologize for it"). Diane seemingly got the job by saying that she would write a blog about Mr. Peanutbutter if she had the choice, which could be bad for their marriage going forwards, setting up an interesting conflict to hook us for season 4 (see: The Unknown). Mr. Peanutbutter on the other hand becomes a bonafide hero (more on that later) and is no swarming with opportunities, including a lucrative offer to become the governor of California. I'm sure that will be an entertaining story. It's amusing how Mr. Peanutbutter's naivety is what helps propel Princess Carolyn back into her old job... or sorry her "new" job as a manager (I love how the show pokes fun at how managers and agents are practically the same). Lastly, I come to Todd who has branched off on his own finally. His conclusion here was sweet as he gets closure with Emily and accepts the fact that he is asexual, and that it's okay for him to be asexual. You don't often see asexual characters in TV shows, so I really appreciate the decision to give Todd this extra depth, which may allow for some very unique storytelling in the future. I was also highly amused by Todd tipping 8 million dollars to the waitress, which is typical of him and a funny way to end off his story for the season. Then we get to THAT sequence of the episode, you know the one I'm talking about. Finally, the spaghetti strainers have paid off and I couldn't have asked for a better or funnier pay-off than what we got. I was amazed at how every loose thread that was set up this season came back to create one of the most hilariously absurd and out-of-this-world situations, and it fit so well with the world in this show. In this whole sequence, the show managed to integrate Margo Martindale stealing BoJack's boat, Sandro starting his own restaurant as an Italian stereotype, the mirror ads for Secretariat, the existence of an underwater city, the Cabracabra business, and the presence of those spaghetti strainers in the most perfect way, creating such a hilariously specific situation that was a joy to behold. Even better was Mr. Peanutbutter being at a movie theatre during the day and almost missing out on his opportunity. This whole sequence is filled with these hilarious pointed jabs at the absurd specificity of the situation, and the comedy is fantastic. This was probably the hardest I've laughed at the show so far. The final shot of Mr. Peanutbutter rolling up to the beach Mad Max-style was a perfect capper to this joke that has been an entire season in the making. The writers get a round of applause for this one; the joke took tons of effort to make happen and it was executed to perfection. The Bad: I suppose the tone can be jarring in this episode. Having the bleak, depressing scenes with BoJack mixed in with one of the single funniest sequences in the show results in the tone feeling extremely uneven. To go from such intense melancholy to laughing until our sides hurt makes the episode feel unfocused in its message. I understand that it is intentional and that there likely was no better way to execute this episode, but it undeniably feels weird and prevents the episode from hitting both the comedic and dramatic highs that it otherwise could have hit. The Unknown: Will Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter get into conflict with Diane's new job combined with Mr. Peanutbutter running for governor? I can't imagine this going well. Will Princess Carolyn returning to her old job affect her relationship with Ralph? It would be a shame because they seem very happy together. Where is BoJack going at the end of the episode? Is he just driving as far away as possible, or does he have a destination in mind? Who was the horse girl calling for BoJack? Is this a long-lost daughter? Best Moment: That final scene was a thing of beauty. Driving aimlessly away from LA, BoJack seems almost suicidal in his actions. He lets his car go and speeds off into the distance, which reads to me as a cry for help, a desperate attempt to give up control over his life because control has gotten him nowhere of note so far. But at his lowest moment, BoJack sees one final sign of inspiration as he sees a herd of racehorses running through the desert, evoking powerful memories of Secretariat and the running man from season 2. The scene is wordless, but the look of realization on BoJack's face tells us that this small moment he is witnessing is that little flicker of hope that he needs to continue living his life. This, combined with the swelling music makes for an evocative image to end the season, perfectly capturing both the despair and the faintest of hopes that has dominated BoJack's story in this season. Powerful stuff. Character of the Episode: Mr. Peanutbutter. Conclusion: While a bit problematic tonally, "That Went Well" is a fantastic season finale that concludes the season's story perfectly with a healthy mix of comedy and harrowing storytelling. This season finale sets up season 4 neatly, but it also provides an emotional conclusion stronger than any of the previous season finales. Season 3 was another excellent season to follow up season 2, and I think I like it just a little bit more than season 2. The season started off a bit rocky with little story momentum and some underwhelming episodes, but this final stretch of episodes was outright outstanding. Every episode hit like a truck, and seeing everything fall apart for BoJack was perhaps the most depressing, devastating, and memorable that the show has been so far. Add on an exceptional episode in "Fish Out of Water" and this season more than lived up to my expectations, and it feels even stronger after finishing it now that we can see where everything was leading up to. BoJack has hit rock bottom now, and I'm curious to see if season 4 can do something fresh with the character. I'm uncertain that seeing BoJack fall further and further each season will make for compelling television, but if handled correctly, I'm sure that this show can craft a good story for him. We're a long way out from the roughness of season 1, and "BoJack Horseman" has more than hit its stride. Season 3 was a great season that was confident in its style and storytelling, hitting enormous highs. Score: 71
2 Comments
Summary: BoJack calls Sarah Lynn and they go on a long bender. After crashing Sarah Lynn's AA meeting, BoJack decides he wants to do "amends" and completely fails at amends with Diane, Todd, Princess Carolyn, and Ana. He then drives to Ohio to check on Penny and accidentally scars her again. He continues the bender with Sarah Lynn who has a crisis over who she has become. BoJack takes her to the planetarium to help her feel better but she overdoses and dies.
The Good: This is BoJack at his absolute worst. The point of this episode is to paint an image of BoJack in the most negative light possible as he gives into every one of his weaknesses, makes everything worse, and proves to be entirely incapable of introspection and change. BoJack lost everything last episode so naturally his first move is to return into Sarah Lynn's life like a torrent, selfishly destroying her sobriety and dragging her into a bender all because he wants to feel better. He shows no regard for her or her life at all, constantly doing his own selfish desires and dragging Sarah Lynn into it. Following this, BoJack decides he has to make amends and does it in the worst way possible. He feels bad and so he goes to everyone he has to "make amends" with and does the most selfish things. He breaks into Diane's house and ends up breaking her arm as he pretends to apologize to her. He goes to Ana demanding answers and doesn't care enough to listen to her or even understand what she's talking about. He goes to a random kid and makes the most self-absorbed, shitty apology ever that was meant for Todd. He makes a scenes outside Princess Carolyn's house as he always does. And finally he drives all the way to Ohio to scar Penny once again, successfully completing his adventure of making each and every one of his relationships worse. Poor Sarah Lynn gets dragged into this mess and she pays the price. She seemed happy and genuine at the start of the episode, and once more it's the horrible influence of irresponsible, immature BoJack that drags her into this bender. As the episode goes on, Sarah Lynn's tragedy becomes clearer than ever. She didn't even want this life, and it's clear that the decisions of her parents forcing her into acting are the only reasons why she is here. She didn't want this life, she wanted to be a simple architect, living a quieter life. Her sad monologue near the end of the episode finally makes this clear, and it is tragic. Even sadder is how it took this long for BoJack to finally listen to her and consider what she has to say. All this time BoJack had been talking at her, leading to a horrifically disgusting moment where he "confesses his love" for Sarah Lynn, a scene that made me audibly groan in disappointment. Luckily Sarah Lynn did not hear, and BoJack finally got the chance to listen to her. He takes her to the planetarium finally, and he finally gives her a genuinely good piece of advice about how to cope with the struggles of life. But it was too little and too late from the father figure that let down Sarah Lynn at every turn. She tragically passes away in that planetarium, a death that is clearly BoJack's fault (the show even goes the extra mile to have the "BoJack" brand heroin kill her). This tragedy creates a moment where BoJack's awfulness results in irreparable consequences that will haunt him forever, a massive moment that is perfect to build the climax of a season around. I thoroughly enjoyed how this episode told its story. The blackouts allowed time to pass organically, making it clear that this is an extreme drug trip without copying the approach that was taken in "Downer Ending". It also helped create a feeling of disconnect throughout the episode, which worked very well to acclimate us to how lost and adrift BoJack is after all that just happened to him. Even in a dark episode like this there are still several little jokes that I enjoyed. The slow speaking slug that BoJack tried to salt, as well as the bird that got stuck drinking were amusing gags. I got a chuckle out of the parody of the rock opera incident that the bird discussed. The episode's best callback moment had to be Mr. Peanutbutter's poor accountant getting his family time ruined by BoJack destroying the playhouse he was building with his son. The poor guy can't seem to catch a break. The constant blackouts at Ana's place were amusing as BoJack kept coming back over and over again. Lastly, I got a chuckle out of the horrific parents who tried to use their kid to get fame by giving him to BoJack, which was darkly hilarious, a perfect fit for this episode. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: Is Sarah Lynn dead? I'm quite sure that she is. How will BoJack react in the wake of her death? Was Penny actually okay before BoJack reappeared? How will his reappearance change her life now? Will we ever get to know? Best Moment: Sarah Lynn's tragic death at the end was devastating. Finally BoJack took the time to listen to her wishes, took her to the planetarium, and even gave her some genuinely thoughtful advice on life as a whole. But it was too little, too late as Sarah Lynn dies without us even realizing it. Sad stuff that gives some real consequences to BoJack's actions. Character of the Episode: Sarah Lynn. Conclusion: Perhaps the most bleak and depressing episode yet. This sees BoJack fall to a new low as he drives Sarah Lynn to her death through their unhealthy, irresponsible relationship while simultaneously utterly failing to see his own faults. It's painful to watch, but undeniably effective and masterfully executed. Score: 81 Summary: BoJack is nominated for an Oscar by Mr. Peanutbutter and throws an excessive party to cope with how he doesn't feel any different. Diane comes to check up on him and they end up arguing, with BoJack telling her that her current life is not who she is. Diane leaves and BoJack drives his new tesla into his pool on accident. Mr. Peanutbutter pulls him out and we get a flashback of what happened with him. He lost the Oscar nominee envelope and made up nominations with Todd. Also, his brother's surgery went well. BoJack is dismayed to learn he wasn't even nominated and the party ends. Todd returns and BoJack ends up admitting that he had sex with Emily.
The Good: This episode is all about BoJack's fall into what seems to be another depressive mess going into what I can only expect will be another soul-crushing penultimate episode. BoJack's fall is established early as he falls back into thoughtless partying to cope with the disappointing lack of clarity he had after being nominated for an Oscar. He's in pain, but pretending he's not, and the result is a toxic party environment where he gets into an intense argument with Diane for absolutely no reason. Their friendship likely isn't burned, but it has been hurt for the moment, and nothing is more telling than BoJack's retort to Diane saying that "there will be plenty of people around when I kill myself". That line is so telling of BoJack's mindset and how adrift he feels. But the one thing keeping him going is his Oscar nomination and his relationship with Ana. And naturally both of those things are taken away from him in one swipe and BoJack faces a reckoning by the end of the episode. It's all gone, and all BoJack has left to turn to is Todd, the friend who he desperately won back last season and yet continued to mistreat as he always does. The episode offers up one final gutpunch as BoJack and Todd's relationship goes up in smoke in a sad final scene (see: Best Moment). The side characters have a decent episode. I briefly touched on Diane earlier, and it looks like her argument with BoJack resulted in her reclaiming her activist personality. Her problems with the water in the restaurant is quite funny, with amusing moments of irony as Diane drops water herself, drinks her friend's water, and then doesn't even care enough to remember her friend's job. Mr. Peanutbutter is given a strangely long sequence in the middle of the episode (see: The Bad), but there are good moments in his story. The humour is particularly good, and I quite liked the insanely unfeasible phone chase scene. I like that Captain Peanutbutter's survival was used to give BoJack some "good news" that he has zero reason to care about. Lastly we come to Princess Carolyn who officially downscales her operation, but it is treated as a positive as we get to see Princess Carolyn reconnect with Ralph, who is prepared with a charming, ridiculous fake story of how he eloped with someone else. I like Ralph so far, and this relationship should be fun. As always, lots of little things made the episode better. I loved that the German Shepherd was given a German accent, such a silly idea that works well. The Jimmy Fallon gag calling back to the Halloween in January store (it's still there!) is unexpectedly hilarious, and the subversion with the bus smashing into him was a terrific gag. The Oscar nomination board is more than worth pausing to read over. There are fantastic jokes everywhere with some of my favourites being "black people" being crossed out from the best actor section, the sound mixing section saying "see sound editing", the silly banana song being nominated for best song, and Jennifer Lawrence being everywhere in the nominations. I liked the background gag during the phone chase scene where we see four turtle electricians in the sewers obviously parodying the teenage mutant ninja turtles. The Bad: This episode has a major structural problem that significantly weakens the BoJack story. This is an episode where BoJack suddenly realizes that he has lost everything, and it's hugely important that we can emotionally connect with the sudden feeling of loss he experiences. But the moment is not realized effectively because the episode has a literal 10-minute long cutaway in the middle of a scene to catch us up on Mr. Peanutbutter's story, effectively ruining the feeling of despair that BoJack feels because we have long since forgotten the state of emotion BoJack was in when Mr. Peanutbutter started telling him the story. The cut is so jarring, and I am perplexed by the decision to structure the show in this way. Having the Mr. Peanutbutter scenes at the start and having some dramatic irony with BoJack thinking he's nominated when we know that he's not would have worked so much better, preserving all of the emotional impact of BoJack's spiral. The Unknown: How long will Judah hide the Vigor deal from Princess Carolyn? Why is he hiding it? Will Princess Carolyn and Ralph's relationship last? Has Ana abandoned BoJack now? It's sad, but I can't say I didn't see it coming. Is this the end of BoJack's friendship with Todd? Best Moment: Todd telling BoJack that he has to be better. Todd hits the nail on the head, and this feels like a moment that's been coming for a long time. BoJack has long since belittled Todd and abused his friendship, and finally Todd reached a breaking point, snapping in such a sad and real way that likely signifies the end of a relationship. The exasperated line delivery of "f*** man, what else is there to say?" to end the episode is near perfect. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: A sad episode where everything falls apart for BoJack. Though the episode's structure gets in the way of the story, this is more powerful and affecting stuff as season 3 heads towards its close. Score: 71 Summary: Princess Carolyn meets with BoJack in Elefante. BoJack is trying to fire her, but Princess Carolyn keeps trying to find loopholes. They end up fighting, the restaurant chef Sandro is accidentally fired, and the restaurant becomes a total mess. Princess Carolyn leaves, but ultimately decides to go back and help BoJack. They reminisce on their past and connect, but BoJack still decides to fire her.
The Good: This was a fantastic concept episode. Instead of relying on a neat gimmick like "Fish Out of Water" and "Stop the Presses", this episode fixates on a single moment in a single storyline, exploring the BoJack/Princess Carolyn relationship with all of its intricacies. I've always been vocal about my love for episodes that tunnel vision into a single story, creating a hyper-immersive episode that is capable of reaching enormous heights. This was that type of episode, and the complexity of everything that was explored in this story turned this into must-watch television. The exploration of BoJack and Princess Carolyn's long, complicated relationship was layered and fascinating. The history between them is quite sad, and the opening flashback illustrates that perfectly. Princess Carolyn wanted to believe that BoJack was somebody worth loving, but ultimately he wasn't. She did everything from him and backed him in every situation whether it was good for her or not. She stood by him, and now she faces the most unfair of treatments as BoJack prepares to cut her out for purely business reasons. It's sad, and you completely understand both sides. Princess Carolyn did monumentally badly and anyone in her shoes would be fired for this. But after all she has done for BoJack, this feels outrageously unfair and if anyone deserves some leeway, it's Princess Carolyn. But that leeway is not given, and so it's totally understandable when Princess Carolyn snaps at BoJack for siding with Ana over her. Their argument and fight is intense and full of emotion. This feels like it was a long-time coming as both characters go to such extreme scathing places to hurt the other in order to downplay the pain they are feeling. Princess Carolyn admitting that she should have dropped BoJack ages ago because all he does is waste her time is a sad way for her to turn his departure into a positive. Meanwhile BoJack admitting that Princess Carolyn makes him feel bad about himself is such a sad reality that BoJack uses to justify his own actions. They both have justifiable reasons to feel wronged in this scenario, and the reasons behind their intense arguing gives this conflict depth. But it's what comes after that is truly special. Despite everything, the conflict, the anger, the unfairness, the two of them ultimately end up making up and reminiscing over their past, reminded of the good qualities in their relationship. We aren't only shown why they are arguing, but we get a deep and impactful understanding of why they have such a close bond to begin with. Hearing both BoJack and Princess Carolyn appreciate each other after arguing for so long is touching, and it's especially great after Princess Carolyn makes the decision to return to the restaurant. Princess Carolyn thought she had washed her hands of Bojack, but she still turns around to help him. BoJack thought he finally got Princess Carolyn off of his back, yet he welcomes her back when she wants to help. They both have this inherent need for the other, and it's sweet to see them band together to resolve the problem of the destroyed restaurant. A lesser show would have had BoJack and Princess Carolyn work together, remember their positives, and then make up without issue. But not "BoJack Horseman". The ending of this episode is superb because it goes through the motions and subverts everything at the very end. After such intense arguing, it's immensely cathartic to see BoJack and Princess Carolyn open up further to each other as they finish the meal to please the food critic. But it's not enough. Even though they have such positive memories, it still does not change BoJack's mind and he's still forced to cut off Princess Carolyn. This ending is a complete subversion made even more impactful because now we fully understand what BoJack is giving up by refusing to give Princess Carolyn her job back, and it is devastatingly sad. What a way to seemingly end one of the show's longest-running relationships. All of this wonderful storytelling makes for a special character drama. But this is still a comedy, and incredibly this episode has some of the best comedy in the series with the side characters introduced in Elefante. Everyone here is memorable, and it's amusing to see that an entire restaurant practically burns down and goes out of business while BoJack and Princess Carolyn argue. All of this is so much fun to watch. Sandro is such a blast with his malapropisms, and I love that the show points out his value as an Italian with a stereotypical accent. Sandro is so funny every time he's on screen, and BoJack accidentally firing him is the comedic highlight of the episode. Such good comedy. The other side characters are also great. The judgemental food critic is hilarious and utilized perfectly. The waiter with a singing dream is a lot of fun, and always seems to have impeccable timing (him returning to grab his jacket at the very end is absolute gold). I got a chuckle out of the donkey family, with the mother becoming a temporary waiter on a whim, forcing her son to take over her job. I also really liked the dog valet who got such joy out of fetching the keys after they were thrown with the most endearing "I'll get it" you can ever imagine. All of these elements combined to make such a charming and entertaining backdrop for the BoJack/Princess Carolyn fight, making Elefante feel completely fleshed out in this world. Not many episodes of this show have perfectly balanced the comedy with the drama; usually an episode favours one over the other. But with how effective the comedy was here alongside the multifaceted character exploration, I can safely say that "Best Thing That Ever Happened" absolutely nailed this balance better than any other episode. The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: Princess Carolyn was a daughter of a maid before. How did she end up in Hollywoo? What happened to her alcoholic mother? Is this the end of the BoJack/Princess Carolyn relationship? It's hard to see things coming back from this. Will Elefante be closed down after this absolute disaster? That seems like the kind of continuity move that this show would pull off. Best Moment: Lots of moments stand out, but nothing hit harder than seeing BoJack and Princess Carolyn show their appreciation for each other after they saved the day in the restaurant. This sweet moment made it that much more devastating when BoJack decided to fire Princess Carolyn anyways. Character of the Episode: Princess Carolyn. Conclusion: A magnificent episode. This is a bottle episode of sorts, but it succeeds at telling a focused, emotional, and layered story about the relationship between BoJack and Princess Carolyn, providing great drama, emotional and touching scenes, excellent comedy, and a heartbreaking conclusion. Easily one of the show's best and most memorable episodes. Score: 84 Summary: BoJack is looking to get a new movie role, but Rutabaga and Vanessa Gekko are also looking to get their client in that same role. Princess Carolyn secures BoJack the role, but BoJack becomes interested in working with Kelsey again, a distraction sent by Rutabaga and Gekko. Princess Carolyn tries to get both deals but they both fall apart. BoJack leads on Ethan to make a new Horsin Around sequel, but he doesn't want to do it. Ana has to tell Ethan off since BoJack doesn't want to. Todd turns Cabracadabra into a stripper driving service through several bad decisions. Mr. Peanutbutter goes to Labrador Peninsula with Diane and discovers that his brother has a twisted spleen.
The Good: This episode is based on a creative idea where the "good guys" win at the end, only the people viewing themselves as the good guys are actually the ones we are rooting against. Rutabaga and Vanessa Gekko are the villains of this story, but they continuously see themselves as underdogs and the heroes of this story. It's a great reminder that there aren't necessarily good guys and bad guys in real life, and that when someone wins something, there's always a loser who suffers greatly from their failure. Unfortunately for Princess Carolyn, she's the loser who suffers tremendously by the episode's end. BoJack pressures her time after time in this episode, and in her attempts to get him everything, she gets him nothing and loses everything. It's great how the episode gradually shifts to putting Princess Carolyn under the central focus as she hops into action, and it makes her failure hit harder. Furthermore, the show offers up a complex emotional reaction because Princess Carolyn seemingly deserved to fail. She overreached while looking for money from Kelsey, and her toxic career-stifling actions towards Laura, followed by emotional manipulation really came back to bite her. It was horrifying to realize that Princess Carolyn blocked Laura's promotion, seeing that she really does embody some of the worst traits of Hollywoo agents. It's sad to say that she deserves this, but she does for the bad things that she did. I feel sympathy because I want her to succeed, but I also have to condemn her actions. BoJack has a good episode. It's amusing to see him say yes to anything and everything that comes his way, forcing the people around him to clean up his mess. Naturally, he ends up with nothing by the episode's end, upsetting everyone around him in the process, including Ethan and Kelsey, who both now have even more reason to despise him. Combined with Todd now having an extreme reason to dislike BoJack, you can see how BoJack's continued behaviour is what drives people away rather than his one-time actions. Some little things again. The Labrador Peninsula being part of Newfoundland & Labrador in Canada caught me off guard and made perfect sense. I love that the map was changed to make the peninsula shaped like a dog. Todd's cardboard dispatch office is amusing, and it's funny to see him and Mr. Peanutbutter make every wrong decision turning a genuinely motivated women's cab service become a stripper service. Sarah Lynn's car crash is quite funny, particularly BoJack's reaction. He says "well that's troubling", but it turns out that he's just referring to not being called for the Ethan Around show. Typical narrow-minded BoJack. I continue to enjoy how every character makes a different beard reference when they meet Judah. These jokes are simple, but they are funny every time. The Bad: Mr. Peanutbutter's story is hard to care about. There is very little humour, and Captain Peanutbutter comes so far out of left field that it's difficult to invest in the character. Learning that he's dying has very little impact, and the moment falls flat. Maybe this story will go somewhere interesting, but it falls totally flat in this episode. The Labrador Peninsula disappointed me for not having more dog jokes. This season had some excellent background jokes in earlier episodes, but there seems to be less background humour in these past few episodes. This was a perfect opportunity to include many dog jokes, but nothing really made me laugh. The Unknown: What's going to happen with Ethan Around? Will that storyline continue? How will Princess Carolyn handle the Vigor merger? Will she agree to cut her losses and combine with Vigor? Will Judah even tell her about it? He remained silent in this episode. Will Captain Peanutbutter survive? Best Moment: Seeing everything fall apart for Princess Carolyn at the end of the episode is really sad, and yet you can't help but feel that she deserves it for the things that she did and the games that she played. A great moment of complexity to elevate this episode. Character of the Episode: Princess Carolyn. Conclusion: Another solid and entertaining episode utilizing a unique idea. This episode doesn't come close to being anything remarkable, but it's a solid 25 minutes. Score: 66 Summary: The episode is told non-linearly. Todd invites Emily over to help him start the Cabracadabra business at BoJack's house, but she feels awkward because she had sex with BoJack. Todd is happy to have everyone together but Emily ultimately leaves, saying that she and BoJack have been bad friends to him. BoJack discovers Margo Martindale has been living in his boat. She leaves, taking the boat into international waters. BoJack tries calling to cancel his subscription to the LA Gazette, but speaks with "The Closer" who listens to him rant and convinces him to keep the subscription. BoJack launches a new ad for Secretariat.
The Good: This was a massively fun concept episode. "Stop the Presses" breaks the norm by having an entirely non-linear episode, jumping between so many entertaining yet entirely disconnected storylines. This sounds like it could be tedious to watch, but impressively the "BoJack Horseman" team pulls off this concept with panache, making an episode that could have so easily gone wrong into a total delight. The central idea of the episode is genius: BoJack wants to cancel his newspaper subscription and ends up on a lengthy call with The Closer. This episode is almost like "Seinfeld" in how it comes up with such a stupid plot and then manages to make something brilliant out of it. The Closer is built up wonderfully and hearing her function as a surrogate therapist while trying to hunt down an opportunity to keep BoJack's subscription is a total blast. It's a fun critique of how difficult it can be to cancel subscriptions with large companies, and how manipulative business people can be. The Closer's role as a therapist is so much fun because she nails down exactly what is driving BoJack's questionable actions, like him feeling like he doesn't deserve Todd, he does bad things so that he doesn't have to face the fact that he is intrinsically bad, and that he wants to cancel the paper because it reminds him of what he's done. These observations were unexpectedly profound, and a great way to attribute deeper meaning to this conversation as The Closer acts like a therapist for BoJack in order to get closer to him. It feels so real to see BoJack, who desperately could use a therapist, so averse to the idea of speaking to one; he is afraid of what The Closer has to say to him. This show continues to nail down its deeper messages and connections to reality. The side stories in this episode are a blast. It's so fun to see how BoJack's conversation with The Closer led into some totally random and irrelevant side stories that are so much fun to listen to. Diane has a completely random and stupid story that is included for no real reason and I love it, it's stupidly amusing. I feel similarly to Margo Martindale's brilliant and unexpected cameo. Margo gets a great speech as she recounts what happened to her after "The Shot", and the whole sequence is dumb, funny, and entertaining. It all culminates in a great moment as Margo leaves with BoJack's boat, which BoJack carelessly accepts all the while he rants to The Closer about wanting to take control of his life. Brilliant use of irony. I also liked how casually BoJack discusses his relationship with Ana, which neatly plays on his messy mind and also how absolutely weird this relationship is. There are definite red flags in how Ana is treating BoJack, and it's sad to see BoJack spending his time following her to her home because he is so desperately looking for a genuine connection. These stories are so random, but they are entertaining and offered more meaningful storytelling to this episode. Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter have a solid episode. It's nice to see Todd actually start the Cabracadabra business, and it's nice to see him having so much fun doing it with Emily. Their sales pitch to Mr. Peanutbutter who is so uncertain of how he is supposed to act is really funny, and I enjoyed watching it. Of course because this is "BoJack Horseman", the episode has to have a bit of a downer ending as Emily leaves Cabracadabra, forcing Todd to face the reality that BoJack, despite his efforts to be better, is not someone that is good for him to be around. As always, there are little things that add to the episode. BoJack and Emily's horrible lying is really funny. I got a laugh out of Margo having to lay low by doing theatre performances, and the shaved head/wig gag was unexpected and made me smile. The overdramatic theatre performance followed by "she's dead" was clever as well. I like how the smoke bomb being a plum joke paid off by the episode's end. Lastly, the mirror ad being placed on a billboard is exactly the kind of stupid idea that would somehow be implemented in this universe. I liked the episode-ending gag of a bird flying straight into it. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: Seriously, what's going on with the spaghetti strainers? They have been mentioned so often now, so surely there's going to be a pay-off... right?? I wouldn't put it past this show to have the joke be that this goes absolutely nowhere. When will Todd find out about BoJack and Emily? How will he react? Will BoJack be able to cover it up for long? Best Moment: It's tough to decide. I'll go with Margo Martindale's story of what happened to her, a fun sidebar from the main story that offered plenty of laughs and enjoyment. Also, it's just great to see Margo in the show once again. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: This was a creative, funny, meaningful, and entertaining episode. I may be going a bit high on this, but the episode was such a blast and provided an experience totally different from everything else in this show. This season has had some great concept episodes, and I hope we continue to see more throughout the show's run. Score: 72 Summary: Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter decide to get an abortion. While talking with BoJack, Diane accidentally tweets out that Sextina Aquafina is getting an abortion. Sextina rolls with it when she learns that she's trending and Diane is horrified by her actions, including an egregious new single. However, people feel inspired by her so Diane relents. BoJack is frustrated that he isn't winning any other awards, and while trying to prank Jurj Clooners, he sees that Ana represents him. BoJack fires her, but Ana meets with him and tells him she dropped everyone else, wanting to help BoJack win because he's the underdog.
The Good: This feels like a spiritual successor to "Hank After Dark", another highly political episode with lots of creative jokes that amused me to no end. This episode focuses on exploring popstar culture and abortions as the topic of satire and makes fun of these ideas effectively. Sextina is a total parody and is fun to watch. Her behaviour and sense of power and entitlement is so amusing as she goes around demanding everything. The episode does a good job making her amusing to watch as she ends up doing good for people in the most unintentional ways. The abortion topic is addressed with brilliance. Of course Sextina's song is outrageous and fantastic, but I also love the scenes with Tom as the abortion issue is discussed, with the three middle-aged white men speaking on abortion being absolute gold. I particularly loved the headline "has the concept of women having choices gone too far". The episode is packed with good jokes and other little details. I really like how Diane accidentally sends the abortion message, another funny example of Diane messing up in the most innocuous of ways. Tom brings a lot of laughs as always with his segments. I quite liked the "Tom Srant" typo, and the headlines were tons of fun again with some standouts including "Obama declares country simply must see Hamilton", and "US celebrates 3 days without mass shooting - this just in, never mind". The abortion protests have some great signs like "they kill puppies" (written by a human), "babies are fun" (written by a parent with way too many babies), "life begins in the egg", and "what if Jesus was aborted". Some other good jokes include A Ryan Seacrest Type getting hit by BoJack's car, "NBD" being connected to BD Wong (who is considered to be a big deal), Mr. Peanutbutter's balloon saying "it's aborted!" instead of "it's a boy!", and the gift basket for Sextina saying "sowwy" on it. BoJack's story is solid and it adds further depth to Ana than what we had before. The reveal that she represents everyone is exactly the kind of disgusting thing that you would expect from a publicist, and BoJack had a good moment when he fires her. I also quite enjoyed the presence of "Jurj Clooners" (seriously these names are stupid and make no sense but are extremely amusing so they get a pass) as he made stupid prank after stupid prank. I love that BoJack discovering the truth about Ana only happened because he was petty enough to want to hit Jurj in the head with a bat. The final scene between BoJack and Ana was also quite good. I was thoroughly creeped out and horrified by Ana's sexual harassment of BoJack, but it fit the character and showed a seriously darker side to her that I did not expect. Mr. Peanutbutter had a good episode. It was so much fun to see him try his best to be supportive in every scene he was in, and he made me laugh the most. Mr. Peanutbutter is so endearing and funny throughout the episode from his ridiculous sayings ("I'll be with you 24/7, 247%", "there's no I in uterus, but there is an us, and a u") to his panic about frivolous things ("oh no we said different things"), and his random support efforts (trying to watch the baby video instead of Diane). Mr. Peanutbutter was handled perfectly in this episode, and utilizing him as extra comedy in the background worked perfectly. Diane and Princess Carolyn have a decent little conflict. It makes sense that Princess Carolyn would be jealous at Diane for choosing not to have a family when she wants one desperately and doesn't have a chance at one. The Bad: The storytelling here is very shallow compared to "Hank After Dark". This episode has an enormous comedic upside, but it doesn't offer much in terms of character development, emotion, or a greater message. Diane and Princess Carolyn's conflict should have received more screentime. There's a great story idea here with Princess Carolyn's jealousy and Diane's desire for activism clouding her from seeing the bigger picture, but the story is rushed and has very little impact by the end of the episode. The Unknown: Did A Ryan Seacrest Type die after getting hit by BoJack? Will BoJack be able to win the Oscar? Best Moment: The interview with the three white men was hilarious with each one offering a completely different joke that really made me laugh. This show does its satire really well. Character of the Episode: Mr. Peanutbutter. Conclusion: This episode was good fun and had a lot of laughs. I thoroughly enjoyed this even if it didn't hit the usual storytelling highs of "BoJack Horseman". Score: 68 Summary: BoJack is elated after Secretariat is universally praised and he's now a movie star. He celebrates at a bar with Todd, who runs into Emily. Emily wants to hook up with him but Todd is scared to do so, and he gets drunk and falls asleep. BoJack crashes a wedding, and while comforting a fearful bride, realizes how lonely he feels despite being a lauded star. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter go to counselling but Diane can't get the right words out to describe how much she loves him. She is invited to a party by accident and gets high, she returns to Mr. Peanutbutter and says all that she has meant to. She breaks her arm and goes to the ER where they learn that Diane is pregnant. Princess Carolyn gets a rare night off and goes on three dates.
The Good: This episode had three distinct but solid storylines. BoJack and Todd's story is the standout. I loved the opening scene with how it portrayed BoJack's anxiety at Secretariat's release, culminating in a funny "awesome" as BoJack revels in his success. BoJack spends much of the episode celebrating, but true to form, it's not enough to make him happy. When consoling a fearful Taneisha, BoJack has to explore his real emotions as he realizes how hollow being a movie star is because it has not solved his real problem. I also quite like that we get to see BoJack ruing his decision to not start a family life, following up on his experience with the seahorse baby in the previous episode. Todd gets a solid story as he reunites with Emily but is fearful of having sex with her. It looks like Todd does have a central arc this season, and I appreciate that the writers are utilizing him for more than just background comedy. Diane gets a pretty good story as well. It's amusing that she's struggling to put her emotions into words while being a writer, and I love how the show points out how ridiculous this sounds, but it is still entirely feasible that Diane feels this way. The episode takes a uniquely creative way to have Diane finally become able to say what she needs to Mr. Peanutbutter: having her get crazy high. Diane taking Gush is amusing, and the visual effect of the drugs is fun. I quite like the ending with Diane breaking her arm and ultimately finding out she is pregnant, ending the episode with a perfect jarring cut. Princess Carolyn gets a good episode as she goes on three dates on her one night off. The first two are amusing with how disastrous they are, but the third one actually goes well. Ralph is charming and likeable, and it's sad when you realize that Princess Carolyn's lifestyle may result in her never being able to follow up on this opportunity. Having her pin Ralph's number on her wall, knowing that she won't have much chance to call him was very sad. Judah is starting to shine as a side character. The joke of him being unable to read tones is quite funny, and I love how it's this character trait that led to the unrealistic three-dates scenario. More little things as always. I loved the simplicity of the "how to share" poster in the counselor's office. Mr. Peanutbutter's fridge has some pretty fun sayings on it as well. I got a good laugh out of Emily plainly referencing Uber by saying "I probably shouldn't say for legal reasons but you know who I'm talking about", a funny fourth wall breaking joke. As for animal jokes, I enjoyed the kangaroo valets, the "albino rhino gyno", and Mr. Peanutbutter's excitement while watching "Bones". The Bad: "After the Party" in the last season did a much better job of having three storylines connected in a unique way. The stories were better and more effective, the overarching theme worked better, and there was a fun concept connecting all three stories together. The stories were fine enough, but I felt that there wasn't much of an emotional climax to the episode. All three storylines were fine but did not go far enough to really make me feel something. This episode also failed to explore the love/marriage theme as meaningfully as it could have. It felt like random ideas loosely stringed together, creating an episode that's much messier than what was intended. Lastly, this episode had three entirely separate stories, which was jarring and disappointing. "After the Party" beautifully tied things together with the party, and this episode makes no attempt to tie things together in any way. Season 3 is lacking story momentum after five episodes. "Fish Out of Water" was tremendous, but I'm not at all captivated by the overarching storyline this season. Season 2 was much more interesting and engaging, while this third season is lackadaisically moving into its second half. I suppose a big factor is also that the humour hasn't quite been as strong in this season as the second, and most of the standalone episodes in this first half haven't quite delivered (again, outside of "Fish Out of Water"). I hope that the season's second half can be more impactful and funny. The Unknown: How long will Diane have a broken arm? How will this affect the story? More importantly, what will become of Diane being pregnant? How will this affect her relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter? Will Princess Carolyn call Ralph again? Why is Todd so scared to have sex with Emily? Did BoJack have sex with her at the end of the episode? We know how BoJack can be when he's sad. Will we see Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter going to Labrador Peninsula? Best Moment: I'll go with BoJack's powerful speech to Taneisha. A sad reflection of his life and how he is sorely missing a meaningful relationship to keep him grounded. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: This episode is solid and tells three good stories, but it does absolutely nothing to stand out or be memorable. I enjoyed watching this, but I'm sure that I will have forgotten what happened in this episode by the end of the season. Score: 65 Summary: BoJack goes to POFF in an underwater city and finds that he can't talk underwater. Kelsey is also there and BoJack is scared of interacting with her since he hasn't talked to her after her firing. BoJack is unable to drink or smoke underwater, so he tries to write a message for Kelsey, but before he shows her he is swept up into a bus. BoJack falls asleep and he helps a seahorse deliver babies when he wakes. The seahorse leaves a child behind and BoJack takes the child back with him. After some misadventures, he returns the child to its father but is sad after forming a bit of a bond. He finds the perfect words for Kelsey, but after he gets distracted with underwater nicotine patches and alcohol, the words get smudged and Kelsey leaves. BoJack is sad but learns that he could speak with his helmet the whole time.
The Good: It takes a bold mind to take a show that is so reliant on its clever dialogue and decide to run an episode that is largely wordless, completely removing one of the show's biggest strengths. Incredulously, it paid off in spades and provides a phenomenal formula break. When a TV show gets into a formula, sometimes the absolutely best thing is to completely deviate from the formula, creating an episode that stands out and provides an experience unlike anything else. "Fish Out of Water" accomplishes this in a way where it completely dispenses with such a central aspect of the show, and putting in enough effort to make sure that the dialogue is never missed. Silent media requires outstanding animation, sound design, and music to flourish and this episode more than delivers in that regard. With the dialogue gone, the subtle background humour is given more time to shine, the episode sports a mesmerizing dream-like soundtrack that elevates the experience so much, and the artists work very hard to create some lovely shots that perfectly work around the animation limitations of "BoJack Horseman". Despite the simplistic artstyle, the characters in this show have always been quite expressive, and that is utilized perfectly to tell a compelling story here. BoJack's personal arc in the underwater city is incredible. As ever, he's reminded of his past mistakes with the presence of Kelsey, who he naturally hasn't talked to since he got her fired. Tragically, she seems to be doing pretty poorly at this festival as nobody is talking to her about her film and she has to watch Secretariat get all of the praise instead. BoJack doesn't have the empathy to recognize this and is only afraid of his past mistakes catching up to him. Ordinarily he would drink and smoke his problems away, but here he is unable to rely on his usual coping mechanisms. What results is that we see BoJack actually confront his problems for once as he tries and fails to come up with a good message to tell Kelsey. It's not until BoJack goes through an intensely personal experience that he finally gets the right words. That experience comes from a surprising place: the feeling of fatherhood. BoJack spends much of the episode forming a bond with a seahorse baby as he attempts to bring the baby back to the father after he got accidentally stranded miles away from the city. The story here is simple and fun, and it is surprisingly touching to see BoJack start to enjoy being with this baby. But then there's an unexpectedly sad farewell where BoJack realizes that the baby will never remember this experience that they shared and that it is now gone forever. Having realized how fleeting moments of genuine connection are in life, BoJack is able to draw on this experience to finally find the perfect words to tell Kelsey, genuinely remorseful and genuinely looking to make things right. But in a tragic twist, fame strikes again and BoJack is distracted from doing the right thing by his love for being a celebrity. Rather than give Kelsey his message, BoJack instead gets access to nicotine, alcohol, and girls, and it's clear where his priorities are. He ultimately makes one final hail mary, but it fails, and it deserves to fail. BoJack waited too long and lost what was genuine about his words. When he finally gives Kelsey the letter, the words have been smudged because he took too long while reveling in the fame he has; fame which Kelsey will unfairly never be able to experience now. It's so tragic and sad, and a perfect encapsulation of one of BoJack's biggest obstacles in trying to be a better person. The ending is perfect. It's classic "BoJack Horseman" to marry comedy and profound storytelling so seamlessly, and they managed it masterfully with the final scene. The reveal that BoJack had the ability to talk and solve all of his problems the entire time was hilarious, with the ending cut being timed to perfection. But the ending has so many more layers than that. The idea that BoJack could have talked the entire time is perfectly symbolic of his situation with Kelsey. This entire time, ever since she was fired, BoJack had the ability to talk to her to fix things but he never did. He's frustrated by the end of the episode for sure, but something tells me that even with the knowledge of how the helmet works, BoJack still may not have been able to get those words out. This ending is funny, and tragically symbolic of how BoJack has always had the ability to fix this situation, but he never put in the effort. I also quite liked that "Sea of Dreams" played the outro for the episode, a rare change from the iconic "Back in the 90s" song. This is another great formula break, and is a fantastic use of a profound and beautiful song that fits so well with the story being told. I quite like the world-building that this episode offers. The existence of an underwater city for the fish people to live in makes sense, and I appreciated seeing how this world works as a part of society. Having a thumbs up be offensive, custom vehicles, helmets for the land animals to wear, and underwater nicotine and alcohol devices add so much more depth to the world and make things feel more real. Losing dialogue did not stop the show from still including tons of funny little jokes throughout the episode. In the realm of animal jokes, a camel is filling its hump with excess amounts of water in a bar at the episode's start, an eel tases BoJack on the submarine, a male seahorse gives birth, a pufferfish expands and rips a dress, and many other little things permeate the episode. There are fun background jokes as well like the "Rinse Carlton", "Whales Fargo", "Dugong Donuts", "Master Bait" playboy magazine, and the selling of gill polish and oxygen at the convenience store. Some other fun jokes include BoJack getting ink from a squid, the hilariously unsubtle sign of "do the right thing 2: do the more right thing", the enormous lever at the factory controlling a coffee maker, and a passing news headline of Michael Richards saying "this is worse than what I did" in reference to BoJack's thumbs up incident. I also got a good chuckle out of the show following up on continuity with Mr. Peanutbutter being involved in a seahorse milk commercial, which he mentioned in "The BoJack Horseman Show". The Bad: Nothing. The Unknown: So Secretariat was a huge success at release. How likely is it that BoJack actually wins the Oscar? How does Kelsey feel about BoJack after all this time? Is it still possible for BoJack to make amends? Will he get another chance? Best Moment: The beauty of BoJack finally finding the perfect words for Kelsey after his enriching experience with the baby. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: A wholly unexpected, brilliant episode. This was a creative concept episode that resulted in a uniquely emotional and memorable experience well above anything that this show has done before. I always loved formula breaks and this was no exception. What an episode. Score: 85 Summary: BoJack takes Diane with him to meet Cuddlywhiskers but finds that he's missing and a dead Orca from Whale World in his pool. They are taken in by the police but Diane is able to get them out and thinks BoJack is being framed. They look into the situation and go to Whale World to learn more where they find out that the Orca likely died from an overdose. They track Cuddlywhiskers to Ojai where he says that he leaves everything behind to be happy. Mr. Peanutbutter accidentally gets sprayed by a skunk and enlists Todd and Princess Carolyn to help him. He is upset when Diane does not come home and stays out with BoJack.
The Good: The heart of this episode comes from BoJack and Diane's relationship, as well as the end of the episode. Diane is bang-on about the two of them being similar. Diane's struggles with depression last season and the poor choices she made to handle it created a parallel with BoJack, and this episode addresses the interesting idea that Diane and BoJack both enable each other to be worse. Even though they are friends and they understand each other, it's not necessarily a good thing when they spend a long time together. Unfortunately for Diane, she gets sucked into more time with him and forgets all about her home life with Mr. Peanutbutter, another bad decision that weakens their relationship further. Lots of fun details again. I enjoyed the Whale World commercial a lot, and I found the concept of the location to be outrageously funny. There's no way that a place like this would ever exist in our world, but in the inherently ridiculous "BoJack Horseman" universe it fits right in. I also really liked the cheesy non-denominational school, and the various jokes about it are amusing. The animal jokes are great here with highlights being a "bat bat mitzvah" ("yes two bats because she is a bat", the banner says), a snake eating an entire cake in one bite, and a mole running rampant in a yard digging holes. Some other jokes are effective. Mr. Peanutbutter forgetting why he bought spaghetti strainers is amusing, as is his inability to control his urge to shake. The senior center has good jokes like a cameo from the in-universe "Mister Ed" horse, a poor elderly turtle being pushed over by BoJack, and a funny sign saying "Why don't your grandkids call? A seminar on being less boring". Lastly, there's some nice continuity in Todd wearing one of the custom shirts Mr. Peanutbutter made back in "After the Party". The Bad: I disliked the mystery parody done in this episode. The issue is that this didn't even work as a parody. The show did not poke fun at mystery tropes at all and instead seemed to copy mystery storytelling into the episode without making any sort of stance or statement about them. Instead of examining the mystery genre, this episode sloppily integrates mystery in a completely uninteresting way without any of the nuance that makes mystery work. We never cared about the mystery, it was not rewarding to figure out, and the episode being a mystery offered absolutely nothing to the story whatsoever. With this being the major gimmick of the episode, it's hard to say that this episode had much success when its main idea is so uninspired and boring. The Todd and Mr. Peanutbutter side story is more filler than I expect from this show. It goes absolutely nowhere, has very little in terms of good jokes, and feels like a sloppy use of both characters. Todd is just high in the background, which is more like the inconsistently written season 1 character than the interesting season 2 character. Mr. Peanutbutter is his usual self until the final scene when he calls Diane, but this makes his disappointment in her feel less impactful since we know that he has been his normal self all episode. Princess Carolyn doesn't even have anything interesting to offer, and this whole story is basically a dud. The Unknown: Is Cuddlywhiskers right? Do BoJack and Diane need to give up everything they currently have to finally be happy? Or is there another way for them? Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter still have plenty of tensions between them. Will Diane's struggles to deal with her own mental health cause the end of this relationship? Best Moment: The final conversation with Cuddlywhiskers is great, offering a bleak and painful possibility for BoJack and Diane that they may never be truly happy if they keep on living their current lifestyle. I love the symbolism of Cuddlywhiskers drinking the tea (symbolizing happiness), while BoJack never even tries to reach it and Diane tries but fails to get anywhere close to it. Character of the Episode: Diane. Conclusion: An episode that overall did not work as a mystery parody, even if there were some good moments throughout. Season 3 is off to a bit of a mixed start with the last two concept episodes not living up to their potential. Score: 57 Summary: The episode flashes back to 2007. Princess Carolyn is sleeping with BoJack, and in a bid to help herself become an agent, she gets him a new TV show opportunity with Cuddlywhiskers. BoJack is nervous about this show defining him and he and Cuddlywhiskers devolve the show into nonsense. Mr. Peanutbutter is married to Jessica Biel. They break up and he meets Diane. Todd is dating Emily in high school but appears to be uncomfortable in their relationship.
The Good: The 2007 gimmick is fun and brought to life in so many ways. There is of course that fun sequence with the "generic 2007 pop song" directly parodying a similar sequence in "The Telescope" while blasting us with reference after reference to 2007 (Britney Spears themed sheep shearing business, a Subway where kids eat free in reference to the infamous Jared, a flip phone store, and a Wii remote strap warehouse to name a few). This is far from the only reference to the time period, and the whole episode is packed with little things that make me smile. Some examples include Marv shredding scripts to acclaimed 2007 films, posters that reference animal-ified TV shows (Koalafornication, The Pig Bang Theory, The Drunken Crow Show), the appearance of Jorge Garcia as Hurley talking to BoJack about "Lost", and Todd hilariously destroying the ending of "The Sopranos" in one of the episode's best jokes. The little details don't end there. This episode is perhaps the best example so far of the great attention to detail in "BoJack Horseman" with dozens of great jokes to enjoy in the background. As always, I'll list off some of my favourites. The menu board in the knock-off Starbucks that Diane works in was a blast to read with some comical items including "petrol", "two potatoes", and "croissant juice". I also appreciate the continuity of Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane meeting in this location, which was alluded to back in "After the Party". Jessica Biel is a ton of fun in this episode. I love that the character has been caricaturized into making puns involving her last name, and that the episode directly sets up her relationship with "Justin" who is obviously Justin Timberlake. BoJack gets a great moment here that is perfectly in character as he admonishes Cuddlywhiskers for emphasizing his Harvard background so much only to later tell Princess Carolyn "he's so smart, he must have gone to Yale or something". Classic BoJack. The animal jokes are still excellent. There's a throwaway shot of a lizard lady being robbed with her arm being ripped up and she just regrows it. Mr. Peanutbutter gets more great dog humour with his hate for tennis because nobody ever catches the ball. Princess Carolyn even gets a great moment with her obsession with crinkly tissue paper. Lastly, I'll mention that fantastic customized ending song for this episode with lyrics that reflect on the failure of "The BoJack Horseman Show", which was creative and wildly fun to listen to. The characters are given a decent amount to do. Princess Carolyn is the star as we get to see what made her become an agent to begin with. Marv has always been disgusting, and Princess Carolyn's dissatisfaction with her position lead to her making a huge power move and accepting her new job in delight, totally ignorant of Marv's regrets, regrets that she would soon come to understand in the present day. Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane getting a meet cute is quite nice and another effective reminder of why they are so good together. And BoJack's story is another solid example of how in his desperate hunt for success and happiness, he ruined something genuine. The Bad: The biggest issue with this episode is that the little details overpower the main storyline. I didn't have much to say about the characters and their story arcs because, frankly, they didn't interest me at all. Some moments were nice, but this episode had next to no momentum in terms of character progression, and I felt like not enough time was devoted to exploring how these people were different 10 years in the past. This is especially significant because flashback episodes are usually so much fun because we get to explore what was different about the characters in their past. This episode fails in that regard because just about everyone is exactly the same as the present, barring Diane who is only slightly edgier than before without much context being given as to why, and how this affected her life. The character dynamics had so much potential, and they were ignored in favour of shoving as many jokes as possible into the episode. I also have to take issue with pop culture references dominating an episode like this. I enjoy reference humour when I get it, but the problem comes when I don't get it. This is why I prefer for TV shows to avoid referencing real life events, because when people don't understand the reference, the joke is completely lost. This episode is so dependent on people having lived in 2007 to understand the many jokes that are made here. For me, I understood most things, but imagine how somebody born in 2008 who watches the show in 2030 will feel while watching this episode. Sure, they might understand some things, but much of this humour will likely go over their heads, resulting in an episode that feels like it never even attempted to be funny. And considering my complaints about how the episode is lacking in character work, the episode could be a complete dud for those who don't understand the jokes, or don't care much for reference humour like this. I appreciate all of the work that was done to reference 2007 with as much detail as possible, but this doesn't make for an episode that is accessible to everyone. I wasn't a huge fan of the plot in this episode either. BoJack's show isn't very interesting because we know that it's doomed to fail, and there isn't enough interesting or unique storytelling to make this impactful. What we expect to happen is exactly what happens, and it feels like the show is spinning its wheels because BoJack ruining something good is something that he has done many times before. The side stories aren't ideal either. Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane meeting is sweet, but ultimately completely inessential. Todd's story may be setting something up down the line (see: The Unknown), but it's not funny outside of the joke on "The Sopranos", and never becomes interesting. The Unknown: What happened to Emily? Why isn't she around in the present? Why was Todd so awkward in his relationship with Emily? Is this setting up further exploration of the character? How did the show's failure affect BoJack? Best Moment: Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane's first conversation is really sweet with some funny moments. I love what this show has done with their relationship. Character of the Episode: Princess Carolyn. Conclusion: This is an episode where its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. The attention to detail is fantastic, but building a whole episode on little things rather than telling a compelling main story leads to this being more unsatisfying than it should be. Score: 58 Summary: BoJack goes to New York during his Oscar campaign and really phones it in for his interviews. Princess Carolyn struggles with opening her new agency. JD Salinger retires his TV show and Mr. Peanutbutter opens up PB Livin' again. Todd ends up in New York with BoJack and gets lost. BoJack accidentally confesses what happened in New Mexico and that he isn't even in Secretariat to a reporter. Ana handled the situation.
The Good: This is a lighthearted episode to kick off season 3 with a lot of levity and fun storylines. BoJack is doing interviews and it is very fun to see him in this situation trying to control his impulses, reducing his sarcasm and defensiveness. Todd being included in the story is fun, and he has a fun little side story as he gets lost in a hotel after being smuggled into a plane in the most absurd way possible - a way that would only ever be plausible in a show like this. Mr. Peanutbutter is as fun as ever, and I thoroughly enjoyed his spontaneity. The conference call that managed to unite all of the characters was a total blast. It's so fun to see Mr. Peanutbutter obliviously interrupting the meeting, and his thrilled interactions with BoJack and Todd are lots of fun, and I loved the brief snippit of tensions in his relationship with Diane stemming from his concern about her leaving to New York. The rest of the episode sees the return of PB Livin' with Mr. Peanutbutter kidnapping Oxnard, his old accountant, against his will. Oxnard is so much fun as he's a normal guy that has to put up with the unreasonable idiocy of Mr. Peanutbutter's ideas, and I love their scenes together. Princess Carolyn has a good episode too as we see the struggles of her new agency. She's overwhelmed, and her stress results in the loss of JD Salinger. I enjoy her new assistant Judah, who has a fun interaction with JD Salinger who likens him to Rasputin. I liked the suggestion of a new Gekko Rabitowitz agency, telling us that Rutabaga still made his new agency, just with someone else, and he is now likely a rival for Princess Carolyn. Of course there has to be some heavy stuff, this is still "BoJack Horseman". The heaviness in this episode comes from BoJack being unable to let go of what happened at the end of season 2, and being continually traumatized by his actions with Penny. It's powerful hearing him recount that night from his perspective, terrified of what he might have done in that situation. It's scary stuff, and BoJack is fittingly frazzled by it. I also really like that BoJack is trying harder now to not put Todd down. He catches himself in this episode, showing that he genuinely is trying to treat his best friend better and appreciate him more than he did before. Many little things as always. Poor Pinky is aboard yet another sinking ship now, and the joke about what happened to Wanda is quite funny. There are plenty of fun animal jokes in this episode. A construction worker tosses some food on the ground, and all of the birds walking by growl at each other, readying up to fight for the leftovers. Some great posters are in the background in this episode, with my favourites being contrasting "lost dog" and "lost human" posters. I loved Geoffrey Lewis becoming "Giraffrey Lewis", and the "Hamilton" play starring a pig. Hearing manatee and narwhal slang for "wet" and "horny" is amusing as well. Lastly, I got a chuckle out of a bird trying to commit suicide but forgetting that she can fly. The Bad: Some things feel superfluous. Todd's story is obviously just wacky filler. The episode is self-aware about it, but it doesn't change that this is an under-developed storyline that offers very little to the episode. Jill Pill's presence feels unimportant as well, and she isn't funny or interesting enough to stand out. She was set up last season, but hasn't made much impact at all here. This episode feels remarkably average. There are no risks taken here and it is such a safe and uneventful episode. is it fun? Yeah, absolutely. But it is very simplistic and unimpressive with its storytelling, which is surprising considering how creative and fun this show was in season 2. The Unknown: How did Ana take care of the problem? Did she kill Heather? Will Mr. Peanutbutter have any significant ventures with the reopening of his company? How are Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter doing? It sounds like there have been tensions between them. Hopefully we get an episode on them soon. Best Moment: BoJack opening up to Heather about the events at the end of season 2, reminding us that even though they aren't the focus anymore, they have not left BoJack's mind. Character of the Episode: BoJack. Conclusion: A funny and solid premiere for season 3, even if it never attempts to be anything more than just solid. Score: 65 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|