Spoiler Warning
The Netflix original series, "Bojack Horseman'', released its final episodes of the last season on Jan. 31. The series comes to an end with all the choices Bojack made coming back to haunt him.
One thing that makes this last season so great, is that it has multiple different storylines and develops them all out until the final climax when they all come together.
In these final episodes, we follow Bojack, voiced by Will Arnett, as he and the other characters run a restaurant with celebrity chef, Joey Pogo (Hillary Swank).
The series started off with Bojack getting out of rehab and going to teach acting at his sister Hollyhock's college, Wesleyan University.
In the previous episode, it ended with Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla) at a party talking to a guy named Pete. He tells her the events of what happened to him at his prom, the prom that Bojack went to back in season 2. This started to make things awkward for Bojack. This awkwardness is on par with the show and made me visibly cringe when watching the show. I loved this part because it brought out an aspect of cringe comedy that you can see in other shows like, “The Office”.
Bojack started his class and realized that he is good at teaching acting, meanwhile, Hollyhock started to play rugby. Bojack started to go to the games and spent time learning about rugby to connect with Hollyhock, despite her trying to distance herself from Bojack. Bojack looked like he was in his element and I enjoyed seeing a win for him amongst all the bad things that fell upon him. Although it seemed out of the ordinary for Bojack to have a good moment in his life, I appreciated it, despite how short-lived it was.
Paige Sinclair (Paget Brewster) and Maximillian Banks (Max Greenfield) had uncovered information about Sara Lynn's (Kristan Schaal) death, which they got from Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins). Bojack, who told Mr. Peanutbutter the information when he was drunk, received a call from Paige and Maximillian about them knowing what he did. This part of the story would have felt out of place if it hadn’t been for the work the creators had been doing in the previous episodes in developing the story.
Bojack, Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), Todd (Aaron Paul), and Dianne (Allison Brie), listed every bad thing Bojack has done and are trying to brainstorm ideas to get him out of this. Dianne suggested that Bojack come clean, but Princess Carolyn attempted to try to manage the situation. This is where Bojack tells Princess Carolyn that he thinks the best thing for her is to go on with her life without constantly putting out Bojack's fires.
Paige and Maximilian give the information they found out to talk show host Biscuits Braxby (Daniele Gaither) and Biscuits set up an interview with Bojack to discuss the events leading up to Sara Lynn's death. Bojack goes into the interview and is honest, which is received well by the TV audience and Bojack is looked to as a victim of drug abuse. After the interview, he did not seem remorseful, rather he seemed relieved.
After feeling good about his first interview, Bojack did another, but this time it did not go well. I was not very sympathetic towards Bojack because all of this had finally caught up to him, and he deserved it. It did make me feel a little upset because Bojack had finally found a place where he thrived and people enjoyed his advice and teachings.
In the next part of the story, Creator Raphael Matthew Bob-Waksberg was able to create an important scene that was able to draw sympathy from the audience. Bojack's acting class had finished their showcase and were having a cast party and asked Bojack to read the superlatives. He received the superlative for best director and it made a gut-wrenching scene that almost brought me to tears. We learned that Bojack waited 17 minutes to call an ambulance when Sara Lynn was dying, and he is accused of abusing his power to groom young women. After this, he is basically shunned by the public.
The best episode of this release was “The View from Halfway down”. This episode showed Bojack and a young Sara Lynn walking up to a house. When they are let in, they see characters from the show that died, including Beatrice Horseman, Corduroy Jackson Jackson, Herb, Crackerjack and Zack Braff. Sara Lynn became progressively older in each scene. They all sat down to dinner and tar dripped down from the ceiling. Everyone's dinner was directly related to how the characters died. Eventually, Secretariat showed up but with Butterscotch Horseman's voice, which represented how Bojack saw Secretariat as a father figure. They talked about if life is actually worth it. The party then moved to a stage, where all the characters performed and after finishing, they jumped into a door with nothing but black in it, with the door representing death. Bojack ran away while the black tar followed him, and he decided to call Dianne to which she does not pick up, but he talked to the voicemail anyways. Bojack accepted his death and as the credits rolled the sound of a heart monitor flatlining plays and as the credits finish rolling we heard a faint heartbeat.
This was the best episode for me because of all the symbolism. Everything in this episode represents something. Whether it be how Sara Lynn ages or the meals that everyone ends up eating, it all has meaning. Each season there is one episode that experiments with very outlandish ideas and this episode does that so well. It guides the audience through a very brief history of many of the characters that died. The brilliance of this episode is that all of it is Bojack's head. Every person and how they look, talk, or act is all from the mind of Bojack, and he is subconsciously preparing himself for what seems to be the end of his life.
Inevitably, Bojack was sent to prison for 14 months in prison for breaking and entering. We saw that prison is actually good for Bojack because he had structure in his life. The episode took place 10 months after being in prison, and he is released for one day for Princess Carolyn's wedding to Judah. I enjoyed the ending of this show but I do think a couple of things could have been explored further. We never see Bojack connect back again with Hollyhock and this leaves an untied loose end. The show could have also ended with Bojack passing away. If they had ended it one episode earlier people would have been mad but understood that this was the end and that nothing more could have been done for Bojack.
During the wedding, Bojack talked to everyone and reflected on everything that had happened. He made amends with the many people he had scorned or treated wrongly in the series. For us as an audience, this is really all we can ask for. Knowing that he has made this step in the right direction has made the journey worth it.
"You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around, and that’s what it's all about," Todd said about Bojack's life after prison.
In the final scene, we saw Bojack and Dianne sitting on top of a roof, just as the first episode of the first season and this feels like a good way to send off our beloved half horse half man protagonist. Dianne and Bojack have gone through a lot of ups and downs since the first meeting six seasons ago to talk about his book. They spoke about how this may be the last time they may talk. The end credits for me was upsetting because the series I have come to love is now over. We have grown with Bojack and experienced many things with him. We have felt his pain and anguish from the beginning. It is also great to see that he is finally getting to where he needs to be in his life.
Overall, the blending of multiple storylines is perfect and could not be done any better. This last part and even the whole season does a good job of mirroring real life even though it has anthropomorphized animal people. It has helped viewers understand themselves, seek help and understand trying to get over depression. The main problem with TV shows these days is that they go on forever. They milk the money they get season after season and provide half-baked storylines just to appease the audience. This is not one of those shows. The ending for it is timely and could not be any sooner or later. I would give this season a 10/10.
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