Yeah, it seems and sounds stupid. How can a simple cartoon about a horse be amusing?
Some background: BoJack Horseman is about "a has been with no love life" (Netflix) who had his own TV show, Horsin' Around, and it follows his story to regain his dignity and fame after Horsin' Around was cancelled. He has multiple side kicks and secondary characters that make the show interesting and fun to watch, but the real deal for me is BoJack's complex character. As soon as you meet him in the first episode he's in an interview, explaining how he parked in a handicapped spot and later on we see that he's trying to write a memoir and is failing. In almost each interaction that we see him in, he is, frankly, an asshole.
At first, I didn't like his character. Nothing about who he is and the things he said made sense to me. I kept thinking, "What's the point of all of his negativity? Thank u, next." I was about to exit the Netflix app, but then there was a flashback into his past that briefly explained his troubled childhood with abusive parents. Call it weird, but that got me curious and wanting more.
It's not that everything made sense, but his "asshole-iness" was something derived from not being a diva, but being sad and broken and not knowing how to be better. He meets a lot of new people and connects with a lot of them from the past as well as during the 5 seasons. In the past you see BoJack screwing up his image of being a great friend and not having any closure with his big fights with others who are closest to him. In the present, we see him as an alcoholic and an occasional drug addict in order to understand his life and to get through each day. His current friends are there for him, but they are also realizing BoJack himself is the major negative source in their lives that they must cut. So, he has no one else to run to. He's completely alone.
When I realized this, everything sorta started to piece itself together. This depressed and famous horse feels and is completely alone with his toxic thoughts and doesn't know how to be better or to live a better life. Everyday he just feels.
I won't say that I'm the same, but I am sure that there have been days in my life where I've felt too much all at once, just like BoJack. I'm sure you have too. But, even for someone like BoJack, who spends his life drinking and fucking up and trying to fix those fuck ups, he still manages to find the best people who help him, even if it's only for a limited time. And he's learning. Very, very slowly, but he still somehow does. With the help he's given, he tries to become a better person. But with his negative thoughts, it's always so hard. And I think that's what this show is so good at. It's so good at showing you what constant depression looks like and it's relatable. I mean, there are times where I've felt like my days were passing by like this:
But then I realize I can do so much more than be sorry for myself because even feeling negative should have an expiry date that I put in place.
