BoJack Breakdowns: Season 2, Episodes 3-5
Can a relationship survive a situation where one partner intends to change and the other plans to remain the same?
As we continue in our season 2 exploration of BoJack Horseman, in episode 3, “Still Broken,” we find ourselves at the funeral for BoJack’s former friend, Herb Kazazz, who I wrote about extensively in this post. While Princess Carolyn tries to convince Henry Winkler that she is attending the funeral because of her close relationship with Herb (a lie) rather than to schmooze other celebrities (the truth), BoJack and the rest of the cast of Horsin’ Around go on an adventure, searching for “Herb’s gold.” The gang drives around Hollywoo looking for clues, and eventually finds that Herb’s gold is a manuscript that he wrote. Henry Winkler took it because it was terrible, and he didn’t want its distribution to tarnish the reputation that Herb built as a philanthropist after being fired from Horsin’ Around.
Episode 4 is titled “After the Party” and focuses largely on the romantic relationships that have happened in the show to this point. It’s Diane’s birthday and despite the fact that she prefers things to be low-key, Mr. Peanutbutter throws her a giant surprise party. Everyone is there, but things get awkward when Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter get in a knock-down, drag-out fight about whether or not Tony Curtis is dead. We then follow various stories of what happens after the party (clever title, right?).
Princess Carolyn and Todd head back to her place, but as they are going there, she spots a young boy who looks like her boyfriend, Vincent Adultman. Carolyn jumps to the conclusion that Vincent has a secret family that he’s been keeping from her. The boy, Kevin, shows up at Princess Carolyn’s house, and there is a really silly, fun discussion between the two of them and Vincent. At the end, however, Princess Carolyn breaks up with Vincent because she is looking for something real and she doesn’t believe she can have that with him.
As BoJack and Wanda leave the party, BoJack starts to pick a fight, suggesting that these kinds of things are just what happen when people live together. To diffuse the situation, Wanda tells a joke about a gardener who throws some mulch over the side of the road. While arguing about the joke, BoJack accidentally hits a deer on the road and they have to take him to the hospital. While there, Wanda tells him another joke, about a couple who gets into a fight when the woman sends old love letters to her ex-boyfriend. The current boyfriend takes her to her home, and when he leaves, he looks in the back seat, and there’s a bag of mulch. Wanda explains that sometimes things just take time to all come together.
It ends with Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter continuing their fight. Diane is mad because she feels like Mr. Peanutbutter doesn’t trust her, and Mr. Peanutbutter is mad because he did something special for Diane and she didn’t appreciate it. They try to talk it through, but Diane starts up the fight again, accusing Mr. Peanutbutter of not wanting her to go to Cordovia to write about Sebastian St. Clair. She admits that she’s not happy and doesn’t feel fulfilled, and hopes that doing this will help her overcome those feelings of listlessness. At the end of the episode, Mr. Peanutbutter tells her that she needs to leave. Then Paul McCartney (voiced by the man himself) jumps out of a cake.
Episode 5 is called “Chickens” and it’s one of the few truly stand-alone episodes of the show. In it, Todd rescues a chicken that has escaped from a factory. He takes her to a farm where sentient chickens raise the livestock chickens. It is the episode filled with the most jokes and that offers some explanation of how there are both animals and people populating this universe while still having pets and eating meat in it.
I recognize again the struggle that many have connecting with this show, because we are now well into season 2, and there is still a lot of world building going on. I love shows that focus on character development, but it can be hard to watch almost 2 full seasons of a show where very little happens in favor of setting up future storylines. I believe it is worth it in this case, but I also recognize that it is a lot to ask of viewers.
Obviously in this batch of episodes, the standout is “After the Party.” It’s an interesting episode because it really doesn’t cut between the couples but plays each one out in totality before moving to the next. Generally, when you have multiple stories going on, they are cut between each other, bouncing around each story until you get to each resolution. Here, Bob-Waksberg gives each story a full resolution before moving to the next.
This episode also gives us a good look at how each of our main characters view relationships. BoJack is absolutely terrified of anything real. He has spent most of his adult life with women who are fans of the horse from Horsin’ Around, and he doesn’t know how to be with someone who is interested in getting to know BoJack Horseman. As we mentioned last time, his mother told him, “You’re BoJack Horseman. There’s no cure for that.” So BoJack enjoying a somewhat happy relationship and immediately sabotaging it feels like a very BoJack thing to do.
With Princess Carolyn, we see a woman who is so invested in finding love that she is unwilling to acknowledge that she’s dating a kid in a trenchcoat. The farce of Kevin trying to pass off being Vincent Adultman is funny, but watching an adult woman ignoring what is right in front of her is somewhat heartbreaking. But while she is unable to accept the full truth of what is happening to her, she is still in touch with herself enough to recognize that she deserves something better than what she has.
Mr. Peanutbutter is a dog. And this is where we see some of those “dog qualities” really come together. He tells Diane that while she’s at work, he curls up on the couch and just waits for her to come home. When Diane tells him that she’s looking for adventure, he says that he’s an old dog and he doesn’t think that he can change. He is fully loyal to Diane, and she is the absolute focus of all of his affection.
Diane, on the other hand, is a lot like BoJack. She does love Mr. Peanutbutter, but she is also exasperated by him. He is kind and loyal, but he is also exuberant and kind of dumb, and she wants to be challenged, not simply adored. She tells him that he will never be her only priority and that she wants to change.
At the end, Diane asks Mr. Peanutbutter, “Is it okay if I change and try new things and you still love me? And you just stay the same person you’ve always been and I still love you?” Mr. Peanutbutter agrees and that’s where the episode lands, but it gives us a good idea where the show is headed. Change is inevitable for most people, and in a couple where one person changes and the other does not, things often don’t work out. Even when both grow, but in different directions, it can be hard for a couple to find their way to stay together. A long-term relationship requires intention, and we get the idea in this episode that intention is not something that either of these characters are willing to put into their marriage. There seems to be a lot more anticipation that if they say that they love each other, that will continue to be true without any effort from either of them.
As someone who was in a marriage where a lot of change over time left us feeling largely alone, I know that the mere act of saying that you will be okay is enough to make it work. There needs to be some kind of effort put toward finding your way together time and again. Not to spoil what’s coming, but even marriages that aren’t the result of two people who simply don’t want to be alone can crack under that kind of pressure.
If you’re in a long-term relationship, or have been in the past, how did change affect that relationship? Were you able to navigate changes together, or did change bring things to an end? Let me know in the comments!