“But there has to be more?” asks the shows protagonist Bojack Horseman near the end of season two, and there is.
This type of existential wondering drives the show throughout its two seasons. The Netflix original comedy has seen a rise in popularity over the past year and rightfully deserved.
The show follows the title character, Bojack Horseman, excellently voiced by Will Arnet, and his friends in Los Angeles in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live together. As you can probably guess, our main protagonist is a horse. Bojack was the star of a 90’s sitcom titled Horsin’ Around. The first season follows Bojack’s struggle to hold onto relevancy as he plans to release his memoirs to the world. He tries his best to write but eventually, at the urgency of the penguin publishing company (ran exclusively by penguins), hires a ghostwriter by the name of Diane Nguyen voiced by Community’s Allison Brie.
He tries to hold onto fame all while adhering to and ignoring his various friends, Todd Chavez voiced by Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul and Princess Carolyn, Bojack’s on and off again girlfriend/agent, voiced by the wonderful and perky Amy Sedaris. The show blends dark humor, witticisms, and brutal sadness in a way that surpasses it’s counterparts such as Netflix’s own F Is For Family or Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. As stated earlier, the show is uncompromisingly sad and brutal as shit.
As you progress through the show, its nuances come to light as we see how characters react to each other and the events going on in their lives making for a very intriguing watch. As a Netflix original, it qualifies as a show one would “binge watch.” I’ve seen the show through multiple occasions and I have yet to discover all of it’s jokes including animal puns, such as Lance Bass being an actual bass.
The wackiness of the show provides a counter to the serious depth the show provides later on. The mental state of each character is often shown throughout the episodes, which provides emotional depth to the sometimes cliché lines provided by the screenwriters. The sociopathic nature of Bojack provides conflict as one will want to root for him and despise him at the same time. The anxious, self-depreciative nature of Diane, the strangeness of Todd, and the business-first nature of Princess Carolyn all balance Bojack’s nature.
One of the more surprising elements of the show is how it deals with mental illness. Bojack suffers from severe depression while every other character often faces such mental problems such as anxiety, loneliness, and the uncertainty of life. It’s all relatable but overwhelmingly sad.
Though this is where the show triumphs as season two improves all of the things that went right and wrong in the first season, making it one of netflix’s best shows and one of my favorite shows of all time.
Did I mention that it’s about a talking horse?
