BoJack Breakdowns: Season 1, Episodes 3-7

All of the major characters get to have their lives ruined by BoJack

It is not my intention to go through every episode of BoJack Horseman one at a time, but goodness, I feel like I could. Heck, I think whole posts could be written about what happens in the background of every episode without even getting into the actual story. But because I don’t really want this series to take years to finish, I will try to consolidate a little bit. Today I want to look at episodes 3 through 7 of season 1. 

As I mentioned last time, season 1 of BoJack is a tough sell because it has a low subversion of the adult animation genre. Nearly all animated shows have stories that are contained within the half hour episode. Then everything resets and there is some new shenanigan to get into. BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg said that he wanted this show to be different in that if something happened in the show, the effects of that event would be seen going forward. This is most obvious in the opening credits of each show. As things happen through the seasons, they show up in the opening credits of the following episodes. 

Episodes 3-7 in season 1 are interesting because each one focuses on some of the most important people in BoJack’s life and how, right from the beginning, we see how BoJack sabotages his relationships.

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Episode 3: Prickly-Muffin - Sarah Lynn

“I’m at a place right now where I never need to grow as a person or rise to an occasion because I can constantly just surround myself with sycophants and enablers until I die tragically young.” ~Sarah Lynn

S1E3 focuses on BoJack’s relationship with Sarah Lynn (voiced by Kristen Schaal), the young woman who played one of the orphans on his 90’s sitcom, Horsin’ Around. After her stint as a child actor, Sarah Lynn shifts into her career as a heavily autotuned pop star, breaking with her innocent image and emerging as a sex symbol, not unlike Miley Cyrus leaving behind the sweet Hannah Montana persona. But we are now another decade removed from Sarah Lynn’s time as a pop star, and she is being pushed out by the next young, sexy starlet, 14 year old sensation, Sextina Aquafina (which is an amazing, disturbing commentary on just how young we are willing to sexualize kids if they are celebrities). 

Sarah Lynn is now 30 and after a bad break up, she asks to move in with BoJack. Due to the guilt that he feels about how he treated her when she was a child, he agrees, using this opportunity to feed his desire to be a good guy without actually doing the work to take care of himself and become a good guy. Sarah Lynn constantly manipulates him, and when he tries to put his foot down, their argument leads to them sleeping together. 

This is one of the first times that we see BoJack doing something pretty horrible, if not anything technically illegal. They are both adults and there is no coercion, but BoJack does have an element of power over Sarah Lynn and this choice is one that hurts her. And when he finally does do the right thing, refusing to let her stay with him and continue to party, Sarah Lynn says that she will just go party with one of her other fans.

Episode 4: Zoes and Zeldas - Todd Chavez

“Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me chicken soup with rice.” ~Todd Chavez

We don’t find out how Todd ended up at BoJack’s house until much later in the show, but at this point, we know that he sleeps on BoJack’s couch and seems somewhat listless. When a group of them are at dinner together, Todd mentions the rock opera that he has been working on. 

After initially mocking Todd’s work, BoJack gets super invested in mentoring Todd, again trying to prove that he’s actually a good guy. He sets up a meeting with a producer and works to help get things moving. When the producer sees the show and agrees to host an investor showcase so Todd can get funding to make it a reality. 

When BoJack realizes that Todd’s impending success means that he might move out, he makes plans to foil Todd’s showcase (introducing us to esteemed character actress Margo Martindale - one of the best running jokes of the series). The episode ends with BoJack consoling Todd by giving him a closet where he can keep his things. And a small hint that this is not going to end well for BoJack.

Episode 5: Live Fast, Diane Nguyen - Diane Nguyen

“You guys got it all wrong. Diane isn’t too good for anything. She isn’t a big-shot, she’s my ghostwriter. She’s writing a book that’s not even gonna have her name on it. You think this is how she expected her life would be going at 34?” ~BoJack Horseman

When Diane gets news that her father died, she and BoJack decide to go to Boston together so she can give her condolences and they can work on BoJack’s memoir. Diane is clear that she had a difficult relationship with her father and the rest of her extended family, so when they arrive, she asks BoJack to stay in the car so she can get in and out quickly.

Naturally, BoJack is quickly bored and ignores Diane’s instructions, inserting himself into her family dynamic. When he realizes that her brothers all like him more than Diane, he creates a scenario in which he takes their side over Diane’s, including egging them on to share a humiliating video from her adolescence. When her family doesn’t show up for the funeral that she planned and paid for, BoJack further humiliates her by telling her family that Diane isn’t the big shot that they think she is, but that she’s just a ghostwriter who isn’t achieving any of the goals she had when she was younger.

Episode 6: Our A-Story is a ‘D’ Story - Mr. Peanutbutter 

“You’re a catch, Diane. And I think you know how much I love catch.” ~Mr. Peanutbutter

After his trip to Boston with Diane, BoJack is convinced that he is in love with her. So when Mr. Peanutbutter gives her a necklace to celebrate her return, BoJack starts a series of one-upmanship moves that end with him stealing the D from the Hollywood sign in order to impress Diane. 

We get the impression that Mr. Peanutbutter just wants to be friends with BoJack (he is a dog, after all, and has so many dog qualities, including loyalty to someone who doesn’t deserve his loyalty). But because BoJack can’t stand for someone to have something that he wants, he is unable to deal with the relationship between Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane. We rarely see Mr. Peanutbutter get mad, but in this episode, he is obviously angry at BoJack for trying to steal his girlfriend.

The episode ends with Mr. Peanutbutter admitting to stealing the Hollywoo “D” and then proposing to Diane on his reality TV show.

 

Episode 7: Say Anything - Princess Carolyn

“So yesterday, you let yourself fall in love a little bit, and you got your heart broken. Serves you right for having feelings.” ~Princess Carolyn

We know from the first episode that Princess Carolyn and BoJack have had a long on again, off again romantic relationship, and a long talent/agent relationship. This episode shows the lengths to which Princess Carolyn will go to try to help BoJack. At the beginning of the episode, she tries to get BoJack a commercial so that he isn’t wasting all of her time.

BoJack decides that since Diane is engaged to Mr. Peanutbutter, he is in love with Princess Carolyn again. She tells him that he’s not in love with her OR Diane, but regardless, she can continue to be his agent and his girlfriend. He then fires her so they can be a couple. When he suggests that she should choose to be happy, she gives in and goes to dinner with him. 

But when BoJack gets a call from an old friend (see next week’s post), he immediately dumps her, leaving her without him as a client or a boyfriend.

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As I was rewatching this season, I realized again why this show is a hard one to get people to watch. Each of these episodes goes to significant lengths to show that BoJack is toxic to everyone in his life, and how nothing gets reset at the start of the next episode. In episode 3, Sarah Lynn burns his ottoman, and in the opening credits, the ottoman remains burned. After he steals the Hollywood D, the sign says Hollywoo for the rest of the show. When something happens in this show, it doesn’t go away. 

As much as that makes this show tough, it’s also what makes this show great. Because when people forgive BoJack, or at least choose to ignore whatever he does this time, we know that they haven’t forgotten it. In some ways, it’s incredibly sad, because we see BoJack hurting people over and over. But it can also be hopeful, because we can see the ways that people are able to move beyond hurt.

Next week we get to the episode when the series shows us just what it’s here to do, kind of for the first time (though we do get a glimpse at the end of episode 7).