- Washington Free Beacon - https://freebeacon.com -

Bojack Horseman Mini-Review

Spoiler warning: Plot points for the first season of Bojack Horseman are mentioned below. 

I recently finished the first season of the Netflix original series Bojack Horseman, the second season of which debuts tomorrow. It's a funny, quirky show, existing in a strange place that's somewhere between a vicious parody of Hollywood excess and a self-satisfied complaint about the insanity of celebrity culture.

The titular Horseman (voiced by Will Arnett) is a washed-up sitcom star who shone brightly in the early-90s when he headed a Full House-style sitcom called "Horsin' Around." An out-of-work bum named Todd (Aaron Paul) lives with Bojack, whose manse is filled with portraits of himself and who hasn't had steady work since the show ended. He's currently working on an autobiography that the dying publishing house Penguin (which is run by actual penguins) desperately needs to keep from going under. Bojack is a slacker, so the firm hires a ghostwriter named Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie), who is dating Bojack's pseudo-nemesis Mr. Peanut Butter (a dog who is also an actor, voiced by Paul F. Tompkins), to help him out.

It takes a couple of episodes to get going and you get the sense from a few subplots that were picked up and dropped relatively haphazardly* that the creators weren't quite sure where to take the show. But after it hits full stride, we realize that Bojack Horseman, in addition to serving as a searing critique of the culture of celebrity, also serves as a meditation on goodness. Do our actions, or our intentions, define us? Bojack's desire to do the right thing—and his heartfelt regret at so frequently having done the wrong thing—can't possibly trump all the damage he's done. Whether or not his friends can forgive him for what he's done is the real question.

Anyway, it's worth checking out if you don't mind a bit of silliness. I understand why some are hesitant to dive in; the name alone was off-putting enough to keep my wife and I away from Bojack Horseman for some time. But I was pleasantly surprised by the finished product. It's not often that a cartoon about a talking horse with a talking cat for an agent and a talking dog for a frenemy gets one to stop and think for a moment.

*For instance: At one point Bojack sleeps with one of the now-grown child stars from his show, an event captured by a pair of paparazzi who then tease for multiple episodes that they're going to do something with the photos until the whole thing is shut down by Bojack's agent in 30 seconds of dialogue.