Rated TV-MA
*Spoiler alert*
Do not be fooled by the cartoons in the pictures or the cutesy title of this Netflix TV series. BoJack Horseman is rated TV-MA and probably one of the heaviest shows you’ll find on the streaming app. You might see all of the animals and be endeared, but this series is not the easy, breezy, piece-of-cake television you might think it is. It’s got some pretty dark themes. But it also has amazing writing, incredibly realistic characters (even if some of them are animals), and quite a story to relate about the crazy entertainment industry in Hollywood. This show is near and dear to my heart; I started watching this show out of sheer boredom during my freshman year of college. Little did I know how attached I would get to this show and how sad I’ll be now, four years later, as it comes to a grand finale with its sixth season. Since I’m a fan of shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy, I was excited to watch another adult cartoon, but I had no idea just how profound it would be. Let’s dive into my favorite Netflix show of all time, BoJack Horseman!
From the title, you can guess who the main character is – it’s BoJack Horseman, a washed-out celebrity who used to star in a successful sitcom during the ’90s. He’s gone downhill since the success of the sitcom and is now an alcoholic with awful personal habits like pushing away the people who care about him, self-destructing his relationships, exhibiting plain meanness, and victimizing himself without first working on how he can make himself a better person. You can just see the potential his character arc has from the beginning, though, because he has a lot of other redeeming qualities, like any other person. He’s hilarious, unique and doesn’t follow the ridiculous trends of Hollywood, and he’s actually a very talented actor.
As the seasons go on, we see how he picks himself up with the help of his go-getter agent Princess Carolyn, his new writer friend Diane and her husband Mr. Peanutbutter, and his “roommate” Todd Chavez, who really just happened to crash on his couch one day and stayed for good. He eventually lands roles again, attempts to have some great romantic relationships, and gets up to all kinds of shenanigans as he continues to party his way around Hollywood. While his career starts to soar, his mental health still takes a backseat, and even though he hasn’t yet gotten to the point of no return, he continues to make terrible mistakes. By the fifth season, he has a ton of demons he still hasn’t worked through, concerning the death of one of his sitcom costars, the daughter of one of his old friends, and trauma inherited from his parents. At the end of the fifth season, he finally reaches the point of no return, not being able to distinguish reality from fiction, and he is sent to a rehab center.
The sixth season of BoJack Horseman was released in October, and we get to see how BoJack has transformed into a sober man (well, horse-man). Life isn’t sunshine and daisies, but he really demonstrates how a person can change if they keep at it, even after hitting rock bottom so many times. That message sticks out over everything and makes it impossible not to love this damaged character and the world around him. I’m sad to see this show come to an end, but I’m sure I’ll be binge-watching the seasons over and over again until I find another show to warm my heart like this one does.
