BoJack Horseman Season Three, Episode Seven: "Stop the Presses"

I can't remember the last time I've had to cancel something over the phone.  Typically, whenever I'm in a phone call like the ones BoJack was involved in during tonight's episode, I'm fake-calling Comcast pretending I'm going to cancel my service when all I'm trying to do is extract the competitive "new customer" rate. Rarely am I actually wanting to cancel something. But I can say that I pretty much hate the boilerplate customer service experience. Few things frustrate me more than amount of time it takes to navigate the sea of teleprompter options, hold music, and useless people before you actually get to someone who can help. So when BoJack is desperately trying to cancel the L.A. Gazette over the phone and gets re-directed to "The Closer" and she says....

"Hello, good morning, and I say this with 100% sincerity, how can I help you." 

....let's just say that my interest was piqued.

What follows is a brilliant pseudo-psychotherapy between BoJack and The Closer in which the latter intermixes good, deep advice with repeated plugs for BoJack to keep his newspaper subscription. It's an extremely well-done setup and it makes for one of the top couple episodes in an already pretty strong season of BoJack Horseman.

BoJack eventually goes off on a slight tangent to The Closer about Todd in his complaints about continued receipt of the newspaper and much to his surprise, The Closer pursues the ability to dig deeper into what's going on in BoJack's life. From there, BoJack begins to dig deep into his friendship with Todd, his mistake one-night stand with Emily (which was very clearly hinted at the end of Episode Five), and a surprisingly intimate plot line between BoJack and Ana.

Todd and Emily pitch their idea for a women-only ride-share service to Mr. Peanutbutter and he winds up very enthusiastic about the idea (which says absolutely nothing about the quality of the idea). They wind up using BoJack's house to build the business because BoJack feels guilty about sleeping with Emily. The situation is really awkward, but Mr. Peanutbutter's obliviousness saves the day...temporarily.

Flash forward to the next day, and BoJack's in a marketing meeting for Secretariat. They're trying to come up with an ad billboard design and Lenny Turtletaub presents one that tested the best. However, BoJack's smitten with one that's just a mirror that says "You Are Secretariat". He explains to The Closer why he likes it:

When I looked at the mirror ad, I was seeing me as I see myself and I thought there was something beautiful about that. Intimate, almost.

For the second time, Lenny (who's really a pretty serious asshole, more so than he let on in earlier seasons, pre-Kelsey firing) shuts down BoJack's attempt to find meaning in Secretariat by flatly saying, "The point of the movie is to make a lot of money and win awards" and asks why BoJack should win the Oscar if the underlying message is that anyone can be Secretariat? Ana more gently suggests that BoJack leaves this decision to the professionals and then we get a complete surprise that somehow still registers as a shock despite how BoJack generally interacts with women.

Despite Ana's betrayal in "Brrap Brrap Pew Pew", it seems that BoJack has been having regular sex with his publicist.  During one of their rendezvous, BoJack observes that she controls every part of his life and he doesn't know a thing about her. Ana's been drawn as a pretty mysterious character from the get-go. It's obvious that she's really good at what she does, but we don't often get to see just how she does it (think back to Episode One's quick resolution of BoJack telling the journalist that he was replaced with a CGI in the movie).

BoJack's curious as to what she's really like, so he follows her home. What follows is a scene showing Ana trying to make a simple meal of macaroni and cheese. When the cheese packet explodes onto her shirt, it's the first time we see Ana as even the least bit vulnerable. It's a simple, powerful scene that features BoJack drop a line very similar to the reason he and Wanda broke up last season:

"It's so sad that when you see someone as they really are, it ruins them."

By the time BoJack has explained all of this to The Closer, she's got him pretty well figured out and essentially tricks him into keeping his subscription by saying that cancelling it only gives him an illusion of control over his life. BoJack even thanks her for the renewal. Damn. Closer gon' close.

After the last phone call, BoJack goes to Ana's place and she tries to send him away, but he explains all the great things he sees in Ana and that he wants to know her, and that neither one of them should be afraid of that. He also demands the use of the mirror ad and Ana seems impressed by his aggression and confidence about the matter. Unfortunately, BoJack's idea seemed much more intelligent in the meeting than it does in practice. The mirror billboard appears to just reflect the sky when looked at from a ground angle and when the sun is setting, it's a massive glare problem for drivers. The episode ends with a literal thud, as a bird-person flies into it and slinks to the ground.

The B-story was also pretty entertaining, culminating in Emily essentially explaining to Todd what happened between her and BoJack without spelling it out. Todd's disappointment is painful, but you can tell that he's not completely surprised about what happened. We also got a reappearance of Esteemed Character Actress Margo Martindale, who steals BoJack's boat to stay on the run from the law. Her appearances are always appreciated, though this was something of a throwaway plot line -- for now anyway.  BoJack Horseman knows how to play the long game.

Episode Grade: A- (I have gone back and put a grade on my reviews for all the other episodes I've reviewed this season)

Bullet Points

• "Cabracadabra! We wanna reach out and grab ya!"

• The view of the Los Angeles Gazette office is scathing, from the dilapidated building to the "Sales" chart turned sideways in the manager's office. BoJack Horseman hates print media and network television with a passion.

• "Every morning, I open my door to a new edition of the L.A. Gazette. It's like I'm in a boring episode of the Twilight Zone".

• Per The Closer's computer, BoJack's middle initial is "F".  Do we know his middle name?

• "Todd AND Emily you've done it again! For the first time!"

• Ana's favorite fruit is honey dew and that repulses BoJack -- one of the show's more subtle running gags.

• BoJack throws a delivered box of Cabracadabra stuff into his bush and it's never mentioned again. I wonder if that will be relevant in a future episode.