Reviews

Bojack is a very special show to me. It and The Good Place switch back and forth between being my favorite show depending on whichever I've seen most recently. There are few other shows that so closely aligns with my sense of humor. "Cartoon but adult" is hardly a new thing. And in many ways, I would say it's well overdone. "We have blood and sex...we're for adults..." says the firmly adolescent product. (Yes, I'm thinking of certain recent superhero cartoons.) But in Bojack's case, we do explore genuinely adult concerns. And we do it through the lens of an absurdist punny silly world of anthropomorphic animals.

Bojack the show is chiefly concerned with the titular character (Horseman, by the way) and his oft...fraught? relationships with his inner circle of Princess Carolyn, Diane, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Todd. Other characters come and go throughout the series, but the heart and soul (and the majority of the runtime) revolves around those 5 people. Bojack himself is the cornerstone, Will Arnett's particularly gravelly cynical performance grounds us in the often strange world of Hollywoo. Bojack is our point of view, and he's all too aware of that. He has oh so many flaws and problems, but one of his great strengths is that he's very observant. And when he puts his mind to something, perfectly intelligent. He sees the nonsense that surrounds him and flippantly comments on it to his (and therefore our) benefit. But as we delve further into his neuroses and mental...shit, we come to wonder if perhaps our Only Sane Man is in fact the problem (yes).

One of the things I particularly respect about Bojack Horseman is its willingness to go there. There's too many examples for me to go through, particularly given that most of them directly relate to big turning points in characters' journeys or the general plot. Bojack is above all things a character drama. It blends that drama with ample humor, but I wouldn't say that I go to Bojack for laughs. I think in some ways you could describe the show as a long-running character assassination of its main character. Bojack walks a difficult line. How do you, for 6 seasons, keep up the tightrope-walking of getting your audience to empathize and root for the main character, while simultaneously providing endless examples of their complete shitheel self-sabotaging behavior?

It's hard. I wouldn't doubt that some people watched the show and at some point just went "Fuck him, who cares." And checked out of his journey. I find the character too compelling and too well-written to do so. Bojack wants to be good. And he tries. He just keeps fucking it up. He's not owed infinite chances. But I don't find it a task watching. I want him to succeed, even if I worry more and more that he might not.

Back in the 90s, I was in a very famous TV shooooww....