The animated TV series BoJack Horseman takes place in a world where humans and anthropomorphic animals live among side each other. The show has five main characters, but the series mainly revolves around the titular character BoJack, a horse who has received fame and success from being in a very famous tv show back in the 90s. Now, he’s a middle-aged, washed up star living in a large and fancy house directly in front of the Hollywood sign.
BoJack constantly drinks and whines and wastes his time. In the early parts of the show BoJack wants to write his autobiography to prove that he’s not just another washed up star, and to gain his former popularity once again. But after many months due to his laziness and irresponsibility he fails to make any progress, and the publisher hires a “ghost rider” to write the book. The writer is a woman named Diane who from the very start impresses BoJack and becomes one of the main characters of the show, whose influence on BoJack becomes very important later on.
The other main characters are Princess Caroline (a cat who is BoJack’s agent), Mr. Peanutbutter (an optimistic and friendly dog, who similarly to BoJack gained fame from being in a tv show), and Todd (a homeless boy who has been sleeping on BoJack’s couch for some time).
The first season of the show mainly focuses on comedic character moments and developing the relationships of these characters, and as an adult animated sitcom, hits all the right points and is full of powerful and memorable jokes. The characters are likeable and are put in entertaining situations. But from the seventh episode of this season onward, we get to see the darker and more serious sides of the show being put to the screen, and we’re not going to be prepared for the later seasons which have many more layers and much more depth to them. There are moments in BoJack Horseman which make us laugh out loud, and there are moments which can make us cry and get immersed in various thoughts and emotions. In a fashion that makes us completely forget that we’re watching a show about a horse! I can safely say that no other show has portrayed the confusion and bewilderment of people as good as BoJack Horseman. BoJack’s struggles with addiction and his complex relationships with the people around him, which are shown in short, 25 minute long episodes, are sometimes more impactful than a 2 hour long movie. Some scenes from this show will be engraved in our minds forever.
Other than its intricate and fascinating character studies, BoJack Horseman portrays a broad and critical perspective of Hollywood (Hollywoo) and the celebrity lifestyle, which is filled with humor. In a season 4 episode, due to a shooting in a mall and increased criticisms to violence, the producers of movies with glorified portrayals of violence run into problems with releasing their newest film. Their only concern is getting the permission to release their movie and they don’t care the least bit about important social issues. addressing serious problems in humorous and subtle ways is another one of BoJack Horseman’s strong suits.
Another noteworthy point about the show that separates it from other sitcoms, is its immaculate attention to detail. Whether it’s in the dialogue or animation, or even the opening credits which changes sometimes depending on current events happening on the show. Usually shows which last many for many years, especially sitcoms, are filled with continuity errors. Although most of the time they aren’t that important and the viewer doesn’t really care much about them, I can daringly say that we won’t find continuity errors in BoJack Horseman. For instance in a season six episode we can see a figure in the background that references a seemingly unimportant event in season one, and it’s clear that the writers have in no way forgotten about the earlier parts of the show.
The creators of the show have put so much work into making it with as much subtlety and intricacy as possible, and they’ve done an excellent job to say the least. All of this references and jokes and clever foreshadowing hidden in between the scenes, are like rewards to the attentive audience who watch the show more than once. Whenever we rewatch an episode of BoJack Horseman we will surely find a detail we had missed before, so rewatching BoJack Horseman is something you won’t want to miss.
All of the five main characters of the show are present from beginning to end. They each have their own arc and they go through a development. Although the main focus on the story is on BoJack himself, there are episodes that focus on Princess Caroline, Mr. Peanutbutter, Diane and Todd and let the audience feel closer to these characters’ personal lives. In spite of taking place in Hollywoo and being about the film industry of the United States, the average audience can still be engaged in the story since the writers have gone further than just showing these people’s lives on the surface, and by delving deeper into the inner emotions of the characters we can see a more familiar side of their lives. They have the same concerns and emotions that each of us can go through in our daily lives.
BoJack Horseman is a comedy and it’ll make us laugh, and I think this alone is a reason to give it a watch. Most likely the majority of the show’s fans went into it by thinking it’s nothing more than a show about a funny talking horse, but soon started to realize that it’s much more than that.
I think I’ve said most things that can be said about this show without spoiling it. I recommend it to everyone since not only is it very entertaining, it might even give you a different perspective on life…
Thank you for reading! Hopefully this has been an appropriate introduction to BoJack Horseman for you.
Series Rating: 10/10
My top 10 Episodes:
10. S06 – Ep16 | Nice While It Lasted
9. S01-Ep11 | Downer Ending
8. S05-Ep08 | Mr. Peanutbutter’s Boos
7. S03-Ep09 | Best Thing That Ever Happened
6. S02-Ep11 | Escape from L.A.
5. S06-Ep15 | The View from Halfway Down
4. S04-Ep02 | The Old Sugarman Place
3. S03-Ep04 | Fish out of Water
2. S05-Ep06 | Free Churro
1. S04-Ep11 | Time’s Arrow
