By clicking on the "BoJack Horseman" label on this post, you'll see that I used to write episode recaps of BoJack in some past seasons. I didn't do that this year, because 1) I'm backlogged with shows to watch, 2) it became a slog to get through the season and 3) I was worried about the show's uneven quality in Season Four (it had three of the series' best episodes but there were some rougher installments) and feared that it couldn't prolong its run of greatness.
That last reason turned out to be a non-issue, as BoJack Horseman bounced back from that minor hiccup and turned in another excellent season of television. Yet, it did so in a different way than in past years: by eliminating the lull episodes. If I were to rank my top ten episodes of BoJack Horseman, I'd go, in rough order...
1) "Escape from L.A." (s2, ep11)
2) "That's Too Much, Man!" (s3, ep11)
3) "Fish Out of Water" (s3, ep4)
4) "Time's Arrow" (s4, ep11) (note the theme of penultimate episodes....)
5) "Let's Find Out" (s2, ep8)
6) "Best Thing that Ever Happened" (s3, ep9)
7) "Ruthie" (s4, ep9)
8) "Free Churro" (s5 ep6)
9) "The Old Sugarman Place" (s4, ep2)
10) "The Showstopper" (s5, ep11)
Now, BoJack Horseman is an outstanding show. All of these episodes get an "A" in my book, but there are varying degrees of "A", and no installment of Season Five represented "the best of the best" of BoJack Horseman. Still, despite not having any inner-circle Hall of Fame installments, Season Five had consistently high quality.
**SPOILERS ARE BELOW**
The sole exception was "BoJack the Feminist", the annual political hot-button issue installment in which the show becomes merely average. I've said this before, but when BoJack Horseman tackles social issues, it devolves into every other show that's doing the same and presents its (usually correct) message no more creatively than what you get elsewhere (exception: the very good Season Two installment "Hank After Dark"). The show tackled #TimesUp much better later in the season with the promotion of Todd's sex robot Henry Fondle (seriously) to CEO of WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com. The idea of a masculine character being in a position of power and being programmed only to say sexually suggestive things was a much more creative and much more BoJack take on the issue, and that only Todd seemed to understand it's a robot resulted in further comedic value.
Todd: "Uh, Henry Fondle is a sex robot, and he should not be CEO of any company."The "punishment" of indefinite paid leave for Henry Fondle further drove the lack-of-accountability point home.
Reporter: "When you say 'sex robot', you're speaking metaphorically, right?"
Todd: "No."
There was no shortage of great storylines this season, including Mr. Peanutbutter's continued habit of dating twenty-somethings and never really growing up and the continued exploration of Todd's asexuality (a fantastic and largely uncharted perspective on television). Less effective was the story of Princess Carolyn's attempts to adopt a baby, but her interactions with the thoroughly unhelpful Tracy at the adoption agency were usually pretty funny.
This was particularly a great season for Diane, and I really enjoyed "The Dog Days are Over", in which she travels to Vietnam in search of her identity. She's grappling with the fallout of her divorce to Mr. Peanutbutter and tries to find a sense of meaning in writing for Philbert, BoJack's new TV show, specifically with the goal of reducing its emphasis on objectifying women. Growing resentment for BoJack and newfound knowledge of his past sins results in her getting back at him in an extremely creative way -- writing his night with Penny from Season Two's "Escape from L.A." into Philbert and forcing him to re-enact it. It was a brilliant plot twist both for BoJack Horseman and for Philbert.
Better still was Diane's explosive fight with BoJack in "Head in the Clouds", which harkens back to the Season Three bottle episode "Best Thing that Ever Happened". This one might have been even more intense, as BoJack finally comes clean about his New Mexico trip, and it isn't pretty. BoJack's efforts to paint himself as the biggest victim of his own actions are defused rather quickly the second that Diane crushingly brings up the fate of Sarah Lynn. It's a thorough dismantling of BoJack that really hits home.
BoJack, of course, has other struggles of his own this season. His horrible mother, Beatrice, dies off-screen, and in "Free Churro", we see BoJack deliver his eulogy...for an entire episode. The haunting 24 minutes of anecdotes intermixed with oft-sarcastic diatribes makes for a hell of an Emmy audition for Will Arnett, who does possibly the best work of his career in this episode. BoJack comes to terms with what his mother's death (along with the last words she spoke to him) really means for him, and it reflects well on no one. It's a contemplating and cutting half-hour of television.
That episode breaks from the larger narrative of the season in which BoJack progressively has the lines blurred between living his own life and living within the character of Philbert. "The Showstopper" creatively uses that as a storytelling device, as BoJack's frightening dependence on pain medication sends him into a drugged-up haze once again in the penultimate episode of a BoJack season. He has a tepid but consistent romantic relationship with his co-star (though BoJack would resent this term) Gina, and when Gina takes his pills away, BoJack's anger in that moment blurs with a scene from Philbert in which he's supposed to be choking Gina, and even though the showrunner (Flip, played by a brilliant Rami Malek) yells "Cut!", he continues to choke her in a frightening scene. That prompts Gina to respond with, "What the fuck is wrong with you?", a perfect moment for BoJack's once-per-season ration of the word "fuck".
The best moment of "The Showstopper", however, is the pain-pill-hallucination musical number featuring Gina singing her way through scenes of BoJack's past transgressions and all the people he's harmed. It's a terrific visual accomplishment and a great reminder of all the baggage BoJack continues to carry with him. The season ends with Diane, who has absolutely zero reason to be kind to BoJack at this point, driving BoJack to rehab to help him get correct. With Philbert dissolved, Princess Carolyn finally adopting, Todd putting Henry Fondle out to pasture, Mr. Peanutbutter issuing a surprising proposal to his girlfriend, Pickles, and Diane reflectively driving away, still trying to find herself, our season comes to a close, ready for another excellent twelve episodes. I can't wait for what this show has in store for us next year.
Season Grade: A
Season Rankings:
1) Season Three
2) Season Two
3) Season Five
4) Season Four
5) Season One
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