I know what you’re thinking.

“Ryan. You just made a blog post yesterday!”

I know. You can thank me later for all this content. I’m working on some bigger posts that will (hopefully) be coming soon but I had to stop everything to write this post because over the past two-ish weeks I watched both seasons of BoJack Horseman and I HAD to write about it.

This post is going to be different form most of the other stuff here. It’s not a pure review. It’s not a pure analysis. It’s more than anything me pouring out praise for this show. If you’ve never watched it, I’ll start by talking about why you absolutely should. After a certain point, however, I’ll put up a spoiler warning and I’ll go into specifics.

Now… onto the post.

I am trying to compile all of my thoughts about this show and its content. I guess let’s start with the basics. This show is an animated comedy about a fictional version of Earth where anthropomorphic animals and humans live together in one big fascinating community. The show’s titular character, BoJack, is a washed-up 90’s sitcom actor that wants to be happy. He has money, fame, and great friends but he’s a very depressed person (well horse-person) that deals with extreme self doubt and loneliness.

Now if you’ve never seen the show, you may be thinking.

“Depression, self-doubt, and loneliness? That doesn’t sound like a comedy.”

I’m getting there. But first let’s actually talk about the comedy.

It’s brilliant. It combines every level of humor from stupid small things to extremely intelligent criticisms on society. Also the visual gags and background jokes are all very thoughtful and interesting. There’s a lot of heart and care put into this show. Honestly the animated comedies targeted at adults tend to take the easy way out when it comes to comedy: simply make a bunch of crass jokes and work for the lowest common denominator. But this show, though it easily could, doesn’t do that. It assumes audience intelligence and it wants you to think and pay attention instead of just shutting down and watching mindless comedy. I applaud it for that.

And once you’re paying attention, you realize that this show has a genuine story. If you just drop in on some episode, sure it’s enjoyable, but if you’re along for the whole ride, it’s wonderful. You start really getting invested in the characters and caring for them and as you start to really understand character motivations, lines that seem simple hold a lot of deeper context. It’s a really interesting piece of the writing. As you understand more, the show’s dialogue gets more and more complex. I honestly probably should rewatch the show at some point because I’m nearly positive that this was the case from the beginning.

As for the visual jokes, you kinda just have to watch the show to see what I mean. The show has a lot of fun with the animals-as-people aspect and it makes it a very solid visual experience as well.

Now what put’s this show above and beyond for me, however, is simply this:

I have never seen a show so brutally and honestly portray depression and loneliness.

I had actually heard people talk about this aspect of the show in passing, but I assumed it was a minor subplot or something of that nature. But no. It’s true and it’s wonderful. The show is so raw in that regard and, without getting into spoilers, there were some moments that nearly brought me to tears. It’s… beautiful. I know that might sound odd but to see a show tackle such a hard subject with such bravery and honesty is truly commendable. It’s impressive and probably the best aspect of the show. The comedy is already top-notch but past that it makes you feel and it makes you think and makes you care. And on top of all that, the serious stuff is blended so brilliantly with the comedy. It’s truly impressive.

Alrighty. It’s time. I’ll have another marker at the end of the spoiler section so just scroll to there if you need to skip this.

SPOILER WARNING

Okay. There were a couple scenes that I really have to talk about for this show.

First. The ending of “Downer Ending.”

Bojack: “My question is for Diane. Look I’m sorry about all the stuff I said about you earlier. We can publish the book you wrote. You’re obviously a better writer than I am and, and I don’t actually even really care what the world thinks about me anymore. I just hated reading that book because I hated feeling like that’s how you saw me. Because I guess you know me better than anybody, and if you think that… Um. I, I guess my question is do you… Do you think it’s too late for me?”

Diane: “What?”

Bojack: “I mean, a-a-a-am I just doomed to be the person that I am? The person in that book? I-I-It’s not too late for me, is it? I-I-It’s not too late, Diane I need you to tell me it’s not too late.”

Diane: “Bojack, I…”

Bojack: “I-I-I-I need you to tell me that I’m a good person. I know that I can be selfish and narcissistic and self-destructive, but underneath all that, deep down, I’m a good person and I need you to tell me that I’m good, Diane… Tell me, please, Diane, tell me that I’m good…”

[Silence]

Oh man. This hit hard. It’s just a completely raw moment where BoJack is honest and open and just needs some reassurance that the stuff that he thinks about himself isn’t true. It was at this moment that I realized I loved the show. This is what I was talking about. It takes on a really hard topic masterfully and the show really shines because of it.

I was going to talk about a few more scenes (like the fight in “Escape From L.A.” and the discussion Herb and BoJack have about the future looking bright) but I don’t want to make this section to long and it’s about time to wrap this post up anyway.

END OF SPOILER SECTION

If you’ve already seen the show, you know all about what I’ve been talking about, but if you’ve never watched it and all this sounds rather interesting I’ll conclude by reiterating just how much I now love BoJack Horseman.

It’s smart, funny, and honest. It’s written with a lot of heart and care and it’s written with a lot of intelligence. Let me put it this way. The only other major non-review post I’ve made was for my favorite movie of all time. I urge you to give this show a solid chance.