Bojack Horseman has ended and I am not okay.
Bojack Horseman has finished, and I need to say something. I don’t know what but this show about anthropomorphic animals is somehow the most human show I have ever seen. Every character is a mess, even the comic reliefs that aren’t really dealing with it, they have history and depth and growth. The show successfully tackles a lot of dark themes that so many other shows fail to do. Maybe it’s due to the characters, the animation, the balance of comedy, but Bojack Horseman has succeeded in doing something amazing, and even if it’s not a genre you would usually watch, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
The show ends so mundanely. Bojack is serving his sentence in a supermax prison, enjoying the routine being out of toxic and tempting environments. The final episode “Nice While it Lasted” the characters from the beginning of the show come back together, even though they’ve grown apart.
Princess Carolyn finally has the family she’s always wanted, with her daughter Ruthie, and equally workaholic husband Judah.
Diane is married to Guy, who has helped her be happier. She’s on anti-depressants, she’s out of Hollywoo(d), she’s stable and secure in her life.
Mr Peanutbutter has even learnt about his co-dependence and struggle with relationships, realising he’s never really been alone and has always jumped from one relationship to the next.
Todd has experienced so much growth from the character we first knew, who was kicked out of home, living with Bojack and had no direction in his life. Now he’s found a business venture he is staying with, discovered his sexuality, has an apartment with his girlfriend Maude, and has a relationship with his mother. He says it’s hard, and it is. The show doesn’t end with everything being perfect and happy. Everyone is just a little bit better from where they were when they started. A little bit stronger, a little bit happier. And maybe it will stay that way, and maybe it won’t.
The final episodes mainly consist of conversations. There’s no big disaster, no one spun out of control, it was just… a wedding. It was real life. Friends reconnecting after not seeing each other for so long. Bojack now has a better relationship with Mr Peanutbutter, someone he once despised, and now tolerates. Bojack confides he’s fears of how he ruins everything, he ruins he’s suit and asks for help to get a new one.
Todd pulls him out the party when he looks overwhelmed, telling him that he will succeed in his sobriety, using the Hokey Pokey as an example of how people need to “turn themselves around”. The relationship between Todd and Bojack has always been rocky. Bojack trying to manipulate Todd into staying with him since he’s afraid of being alone, and Todd holding him accountable for these things and leaving.
With Princess Carolyn, Bojack reveals how he wants to volunteer at the prison once he’s released, and about his comeback in ‘Horny Unicorn’. Princess Carolyn has always represented the business in Hollywoo(d). Pushing the next project, denying things to the press, always being aware of the PR side of any decision, and becoming so completely absorbed in her work she loses herself. With her wedding and her daughter, we see her overcome this. She is still fierce, running her own company, mingling with every celebrity in the industry, throwing a whole wedding just to get them together.
Diane was always the most significant relationship in the show. It’s the relationship that started the show, as she worked as he’s ghost writer in his memoir that ended up being a tell all book ‘One Trick Pony’. The two have clashed, both dealing with trauma and problems of their past, being so similar and always depending on one another. Diane is furious with Bojack for making her think he was dead for 7 hours. Diane blamed herself, for not picking up the phone, for moving away from him.
My favourite sentiment from the finale is Diane’s quote; “I’m glad I lived in LA but I am not nostalgic for it. I’m glad I knew Mr Peanutbutter, even though he’s not in my life anymore. I think there are people that help you become the person you end up being, and you can be grateful for them, even if they’re not meant to be in your life forever.” We truly are just watching just part of these character’s lives. They’ve grown they’ve changed, and maybe they weren’t meant to last forever. Maybe the friends you have now you won’t have forever and that’s okay. Maybe the relationship you’re in won’t last forever but that doesn’t make it meaningless. Maybe the job you have, career your in, path your on, will change, but you will learn, and you will grow, and you’ll be better for it.
“Sometimes life’s a bitch and you keep on living.”
These are just my thought from the final episode that I wanted to get out of me rather than stare at the ceiling all night in an existential crisis. This show is addictive and I am a nerd for some well written character development, so this will not be my final thoughts of Bojack Horseman.
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