Just Horsin’ Around With BoJack

After a tremendous amount of waiting, Netflix has finally released the second half of the final season of BoJack Horseman. This second half is far more darker, depressing, and emotional than the previous half. We finally get to see the culmination of all the trials and tribulations the titular character has gone through and see if they finally pay off or not.

Aforementioned, the second half’s crushing, melancholy atmosphere is juxtaposed with the first’s theme of optimism and hopefulness. The beginning of season six leaves us with BoJack admitting himself into rehab for alcoholism; the addiction to several drugs and him strangling his lover at the time being big factors as well. Surprisingly enough, we see rehab doing wonders for him as he progresses through the six month program he reluctantly agreed too. He even goes as far as booking himself an extra 6 months just to stay in the facility, enjoying the time spent there, while also believing he is not prepared for what’s outside waiting for him. We then are thrown back into the lives of his friends and see their own problems once more. Diane is having trouble coming to terms with her depression, Mr. Peanutbutter doing his best to reverse his actions of infidelity towards his wife Pickles, Princess Carolyn struggling as a single mom, and Todd trying to reconcile his relationship with his parents. Yet they all are able to come to terms with all of it by the mid season finale. In other words, a “happy ending”-something Bojack fans never heard of.

Then the second half is introduced and it feels like you’re given a major left hook. The first half ended with Bojack’s sister Hollyhock about to uncover the truth of the horrible actions her brother has done before meeting her, so of course the second half starts with the aftermath of that. It’s heart-wrenching seeing his sister avoiding him as we, the audience, have seen first-hand the positive steps Bojack has made recently. It just gets even worse with reporters trying to unravel the odd and convenient circumstances of the death of Sarah Lynn, a close friend of Bojack. The audience understands that Bojack did shady things in his drug bender that lead up to Sarah Lynn’s death, but we want him to find peace. He deserves at least that after all the people he has cut ties with.

With that aside, the episodes themselves are absolutely stunning. The first two episodes show two unique perspectives on the characters BoJack and Princess Carolyn . Episode one shows the destruction of BoJack’s “reel” of life from alcohol and how it burns it all away. Episode 2 shows Carolyn struggling with being a single parent and shows her mind racing endlessly. Then in episode 10 we see Diane’s dealing with her depression on medication represented as rough drawings constantly changing in shape and size. The directing in all these episodes help emphasize the struggles the characters endure and culminate with a smooth balance in their life by the end.

Like the mid season finale, the series finale serves as the juxtaposition of the happiness and the sadness. However, what’s different is the mid season finale serves as the calm before the storm. The series finale is the opposite, showing the effects of the storm and how life goes on. It’s a beautiful reality. The main theme of BoJack was always that no matter the hardships, life keeps going. And that is how it ends. The ending, while disappointing on how open-ended it is, is a clear resolution of the theme of this entire show: Life keeps going on. The ending makes that clear with BoJack and Diane silently looking over the glimmering sky, knowing that will be the last time they will ever talk with each other.

BoJack Horseman will always serve as the pinnacle of modern adult-animated shows. It never once talked down to its audience when discussing issues like depression and suicide. That’s the beauty of BoJack Horseman. It’s a show that tells us what we need to be doing better as people and to those we love, and that life will always go on, even if the ones who shaped us have left our lives.