Not to beat a dead horse or anything...
“But isn’t the point of art less what people put into it and more what people get out of it?" said Todd Chavez, a character in the animated series "BoJack Horseman.”
"BoJack Horseman" ended this weekend as Netflix rolled out the final half of its sixth season. The animated, dramatic comedy about an alcoholic, depressed anthropomorphic horse and former ‘90s sitcom star in Hollywood has finally come to end.
The show was a meta-commentary about the entertainment industry, with anthropomorphic animals and humans living side-by-side in a unique animation style. It had spoofs on famous directors (Quentin Tarantulino) and actors playing exaggerated versions of themselves (Daniel Radcliff).
This program was one of Netflix’s pioneering original shows, nominated for awards and setting a precedent for what exactly an animated show on a streaming service could even look like. It balanced a depressing cyclical story of the washed-up actor and his few friends with witty lines of alliteration and puns usually involving an animal name or a clever sight gag.
In the second era of “The Golden Age of Television," or whatever, and a post-"South Park" adult animated show, "BoJack Horseman" felt just as meta as the others in its class like "Archer" and "Rick and Morty." Yet, it was more heartfelt and biting than its peers.
The show followed the classic anti-hero narrative.I want this character to succeed, but he makes such bad decisions. The show tackled issues inherent in the entertainment industry, the MeToo movement, Hollywood labor and the overall lack of originality.
BoJack’s friends round out a stellar voice cast with Alison Brie voicing Diane Nguyen, Aaron Paul voicing Todd Chaves, Paul F. Tompkins voicing Mr. Peanutbutter and Amy Sedaris voicing Princess Carolyn.
By the end of the six-year show, each character grew and had extremely satisfying endings to their respective arcs that started the half-season before.
“One day you're gonna look around and you're going to realize that everybody loves you... But nobody likes you. And that's the loneliest feeling in the world,” BoJack said in a season three episode.
But the characters could also be one movie reference away from spilling into a Hollywood themed tongue twister that could tie the doctor in its terribleness.
“Piper Perabo and Pauley Perette need to push back the pitch on the Princess and the Pauper Project,” said Judah Mannowdog, Princess Carolyn’s assistant for a time, voiced by Diedrjch Bader.
The complicated show will leave a complicated legacy. People and critics will have to sort through their own feelings about the alleged sadness porn aspect of the show and then remember how funny some of the punchlines and caricatures of their favorite celebrities (esteemed character actress Margot Martindale is my favorite).
Some may think that the show went out on a dull note. It may have stuck the landing with its main four characters but had storylines and side characters that feel unexplored and open-ended. In a show that had a whole storyline of a production assistant's face being destroyed but still working in the industry, all in the background, this incompleteness and the words left unsaid may be warranted. Hell, the fate of a pivotal character from the previous season is revealed in the last episode via a billboard in the background. This ending of that specific character's arc doesn’t have the catharsis of the ending of BoJack’s other relationships, like Diane or BoJack’s half-sister Hollyhock (don’t make me write her whole name).
Maybe we aren’t owed that feeling of relief, maybe a simple cut to black is something to be expected when ending a long running beloved show about sadness and the pursuit of happiness.
I think the way the show ends visually is what is going to stick in my mind much longer than the arcs and feelings I felt for each character. A blue sky, blue clothes and song about reaching out to a man overcome with sadness.
