BoJack Horseman Recap - Ep. 601 - “A Horse Walks Into A Rehab” (Patreon)

Hey all. I’m so thankful to be doing one of my favoriting things in the world, which is writing about BoJack Horseman. I’m sorry this whole process was even necessary, and thank you so much for your support on this. If you want to find my past recaps for vulture they’re right here! https://www.vulture.com/author/film-crit-hulk/

Without further ado…

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There is nothing on the air like BoJack Horseman.

Nothing.

Throw any superlative you want at the show, all of them are deserved. I’d argue it’s the best show on television. Or it is at least my favorite show on television. Either way, discussions of relative esteem are always far less interesting that discussing what makes a show so distinct in the first place. So while the social import of a show like The Wire or the dramatic fireworks of Breaking Bad may seem more in line with what we define as traditional greatness, the power of BoJack Horsemen lies in its tragic-comic approach to deep introspection. For it is at once a blatantly absurd comedy full of tongue twisters and animal punnery, and underneath that, it is one of the most sobering looks at human behavior, toxicity, and psychology. One that always seems to hit us so deeply in the fucking soul.

But relating to BoJack Horseman is not an immediately evident thing for most people, largely because the character is cartoonishly abrasive (especially in that first season). Yes, BoJack’s not really like most people, but there are people who are like that. Just as every human being is capable of moments of anger. And while I’ve never really been the kind of person who lashed out (I tend to spend my time being paralyzed by what others think and try to people please) that makes me no less capable of causing harm. More to the point of the show, it’s about how a lot of us have had “BoJacks” in our life. I’ve dealt with family member systems of anger and toxic cycles of abuse, ignorance, and avoidance. And the show so clearly evokes what it’s like to have those elements woven into the fabric of your daily reality. 

But the show also fans out to examine every kind of toxicity that comes in the wake of such behavior. For instance, it helps you realize that there are many kinds of avoidance that are “peaceful,” but still ignore the problem and make it worse. Just as there are many ways to hurt people and be shitty. It shows you that there’s also forms toxicity in people-pleasing, along with harmful pathologies of kindness that are really about ducking conflict, along endless forms of lies we tell ourselves to deal with it. This show is not just about one character and their damage life, it’s about the entire landscape of trauma. It’s about the way it perpetuates. Just as it is about the way hurtful truths are told or not told and the family secrets that hang around us like specters, ever causing more damage. 

Which means that in the end, BoJack Horseman is a more show that examines how harmful behavior ripples throughout systems, and even shows us the ways we are complicit in that ripple; a show that can’t help but reveal our worst selves, even if unintentional. But this is critical to its success. Because where so many shows that are good at pointing the finger at “the other,” there are so few shows that get you to see the problems of your own behavior, along with all the ways that we no less messed up than the titular horse in question.

In essence, BoJack Horseman is a mirror. We will see the pain of our lives so much within it. And for all the ways it terrifies us with its reflective gaze, it also validates our experience. It confirms to us that our trauma is real. That our seemingly unique and lonely experiences are real. That our pain is part of a collective human process. That we are seen. And unlike almost every other show on television, it does not offer us tidy resolutions, nor does it offer simple lessons of warning in the form of tragedy. No. BoJack Horseman offers us something far more risky: it depicts the heart-breaking normalcy of it all. Because it does not lie about how hard it is grow, to change, and to break our cycles. It depicts how lonely it feels, too. And how hard it is to live with the consequences of our actions.

But it is always, always, always empathetic in this depiction. Hell, the not lying is the part of that very empathy. And by sticking to it, we come to understand that perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the show is that its messaging never feels strained or unearned, but part of that larger sobering sense of understanding of what it means to be alive. For BoJack Horseman know just how hard it is to be a person, any person, in this modern world… 

Especially when you’re doing it sober. 

And it is just in that particular space, that the story of season six begins…

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Episode 601 - “A Horse Walks Into A Rehab”

“Is BoJack going to be okay?”

It’s the question that hangs over everything. For a show that has always seeming to go darker and darker with every season. For a character who has faced his faced mounting depression every year. For a character who has begun to do damage beyond compare… we had to wonder: would the show end with his end? Would he drink himself to death? Die by overdose? Die by suicide? Or would it be something else just as haunting? But in the final moments of the last two seasons, we have begun to get a different sense. The show has started to turn away from that sense of mounting darkness, if ever so slightly. First, with BoJack’s first meaningful family connection with his sister Hollyhocks at the end of season four. And then in the fifth season, where BoJack hit his addiction rock bottom and finally decided to go to rehab. With those two moves it suddenly dawns on us that perhaps the most courageous and terrifying thing this show could do… is offer us hope.

But it certainly won’t be easy as BoJack’s rehab journey begins with a ghostly memory: his last night with Sarah Lynn. Why this particular memory? Why her? Because it is at the center of everything when it comes to the consequences of his actions. He went on a fatal bender with his surrogate daughter. She died in his care. To say it again: Sarah Lynn died. Sure, it was his television daughter, but it was as close as he got to real in those days. And she represented the one person he was supposed to take care of. In the memory, BoJack dwells over his role in his interaction with Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface (who comically takes him at his word), but BoJack’s guilt spirals out of control. He tells himself he has to make some changes, “starting now.” But, of course, he just begins drinking again immediately. And as he does, the expansive stars shine behind his silhouette…

The existential void of the universe meets his bottle.

Then we go straight to where last season left off: BoJack checking into rehab. He refuses to take a selfie with the receptionist, berating him in typical Horseman fashion. But from there, we go straight to a montage! One where we are all the greatest hits of rehab play out! Sure, it’s tongue in cheek about the various therapies, but it’s also meant to remind us that some of the fundamental steps of recovery involve learning how to adopt healthy living habits. Being in sunlight, trying art, doing yoga, and even going on hikes up “metaphor mountain.” But what seems like a fun throwaway gag of “Horse Therapy,” will in fact become an incredibly important relationship with Bojack’s recovery, thanks to his therapist, Doctor Champ (played by the incredible Sam Richardson!). 

But contrary to his prickly nature, we slowly start to see BoJack embrace these little habits. The hiking, the art, even the suportive talking in group therapy. He’s slowly becoming a full-part of the community around him. And by the montage’s end, we see BoJack genuinely engaging in all these activities (save for bringing in visitors). We see him cheerleading others in group, listening with fervent attention and congratulating their bravery. It’s almost feels as if he’s finally discovered the feel-good drug of empathy and kindness! We perhaps think, Wait, is BoJack all better?! 

Of course not. All of these things are all surface-level fixes. The kind of stuff that works when everything feels happy and good and easy. But underneath them lies our deeper issues, along with the very architects of our compulsions. To wit, when Doctor Champ asks BoJack to identify the source of his addiction and asks, “when was the first time you drank?” But BoJack can only make an evasive joke, “when wasn’t the first time I drank?” But over the course of the episode, we get more concrete answers as we flash back to a series of his troubling memories… 

The first of which is a moment of nervous socialization. It is on a grand stage of the “Horsin’ Around” set, when he has to have a big kiss with famous supermodel Cindy Crawfish (voiced by the real Cindy Crawford, of course). But when the kiss gets an “awww” instead of an “oOoOoOh!” His former showrunner Herb Kazzaz springs into action and tells him to put more va va voom passion behind it. Still nervous, BoJack’s hairdresser, Sharona, gives him some liquid courage to remedy the situation. BoJack protests and tells her he doesn’t drink, but soon gives in. Bing. Bang. Boom. BoJack suddenly finds the “courage” he needs to loosen up and get an “OooOOoOOOh” from the audience (then comes across a little too pushy and asks for another take). And so we think we’ve seen some mythical “first drink” BoJack moment that has it all make sense… but we’re not even close to done. 

Later in the episode, there’s another memory, also dealing with another moment of nervous socialization. We’re with BoJack even earlier: an awkward party in high school. It’s in a funky basement and everyone’s drinking “80’s Beer,” but he’s hiding in bathroom, terrified. He emerges, nervous, knocking things over, looking for safety in the chaos. The first ray of hope comes in an awkward, but adorable interaction with his classmate Katie. She’s someone he even seems to like. But then BoJack gets offered a drink. Just like before, he says he doesn’t drink, but when he looks over and sees the tough cool rhino drinking a keg all by himself, he gets an instinct to emulate him. Cue drunk teenage BoJack! Who of course begins throwing horrible mean insults around the room with verve. Why do this? Because being mean is away of gaining power and feeling in control. BoJack even turns his mean insults on Katie, who runs out of the room crying. BoJack obviously feels bad, but rather than face it, he immediately has another drink, which shows the damaging cycle of lashing out and then needing more drinking to alleviate the feelings of guilt.

Later we go back even earlier to a memory from his boyhood. This one, of course, deals with his parents. BoJack’s mother has sent him to the office to his father bring dinner (likely knowing exactly what’s about to happen, revealing this a horrible act of horrible manipulation). There he catches his father having sex with his secretary. She runs out of the office, pretending everything’s fine (even pinching his cheek and telling him he’s cute), but BoJack’s father instantly tries to distract him from any questions he could ask about the situation. His method of choice? Alcohol, of course. He tells Bojack he’s “old enough to be a man” and shares a drink with him as father and son. 

Clearly, this builds such a dangerous psychological association in the young boy’s minde. BoJack wants to feel a closer, loving bond with his parents. And here he’s getting an olive branch, but it’s completely codified in alcohol. And it’s coming at a time he’s already feeling vulnerable and confused. The drink seems like it’s a gift, but it’s actually a poisoned one. His father was actually trying to give him enough to blackout. He awakes to his father politely chastising him for having too much, while also forgiving him and saying it’s their secret (in reality, it was all in effort to cover his own tracks). 

You can track the damaging progression here, completely. How the very idea of “alcohol” gets mixed with the depths of BoJack’s solace, fear, defensiveness, evasion, distraction, shame, and worst of all: hope of human connection. And note that every single time BoJack went into these social situations he said “didn’t drink,” he was carrying these destructive memories around with him. Maybe these were the only three moments he ever did it. Maybe he walked out of all these horrible moments, fearing he’d get out of control again or start a bad habit… but maybe it was something else. We just know that all these horrible realities lie dormant at the root of BoJack’s compulsions. 

So when confronted and by Doctor Champ trying to double down the question, he instantly feels cornered. BoJack lashes out at the rest of the group, obliterating the therapeutic notions he’s seemingly learned and calls everyone else out on their shit. That’s the whole thing with BoJack, he actually is rather smart. He observes everything around him like a hawk, likely because he’s spent a lifetime looking for danger around him, which means he’s also learned to look for weak points in others. This behavior is at the root of his alcoholism because it’s all about control issues, the effort to eliminate the nexus point between feeling powerless and powerful. That’s why he can wield the truth like a weapon and contort lies in his own defense. BoJack even turns the motive for his aggressive tirade back on others, as if it’s their fault for provoking him and asks them, “how’s that for honest?”

But we also know BoJack can be far better than this. Because BoJack’s humanity comes out is not when he is challenged, but when he can actually manage to see outside of himself and worry about their well-being. This is has been his biggest growth point for him over the course of the show. In the first season, BoJack was almost comically myopic (actually his extreme myopia was the source of most of the jokes). He had a complete inability to care or even see anyone’s humanity. But six years later, we’ve come to see the ways he genuinely cares for his makeshift family, whether it be Todd, Diane, Princess Carolyn, or Hollyhocks. And not just in the way where he wants their adoration, but in the way he actually cares about their happiness (even though he’s still kind of sucks at showing that in a practical way).

But in this episode, BoJack finds himself empathizing with Jameson, a young woman in rehab with him. Instantly, we feel the parallels to Sarah Lynn (especially after she was brought up in the introduction). After BoJack tells on her for sneaking in vodka during his big lash out, she confronts him later in his room. She yells about the difficulty of life, her selfish father! His new wife and baby! How little he cares for her! And how he’s just shoving her off to rehab and not caring if she lives or dies! It seems like so much of what funnels young rage. But BoJack shuns his responsibility and unwittingly empowers her escape. But he feels an instant sense of responsibility and tries to convince her to stay because, “I’m the one who helped you escape! If you OD tonight, I’m the one who is going to have to lie to everyone about what happened!” (something meant as a joke, but was a very serious reality in his past with Sarah Lynn). 

Of course, it doesn’t work. So BoJack has to follow her to a party to be sure she’s okay. There, he is of course tempted with a drink. Only now his very emotional sense of drinking has changed. Laughter at the party feels like demons haunting him, fueling a panic attack within. He stops himself just as Jameson catches her boyfriend cheating on her. Once again, she runs away from it. BoJack follows her back to her real house and there he finally internalizes the story she’s been telling about her father, about his remarrying and not caring about her (which sparks the aforementioned memory of his father getting him drunk). At this point, BoJack finally finds his empathy and anger on her behalf and they two begin trashing the house and priceless movie memorabilia. 

But when her father comes down, everything changes. Jameson instantly blames BoJack for the destruction, tries to play nice to her father, kisses the baby, and then runs off. And the confusion of the scene actually leads to a heart to heart between BoJack and Jameson’s father. It turns out everything Jameson told him was a lie. The baby is actually hers (she clearly had it with her boyfriend). Seems he wasn’t mad that she “got fat,” but a whole deeper mess of things that were left unsaid. And the biggest difference of all is that it seems Jameson’ father cares a lot for her, but feels at a loss as how to help her. BoJack wonders, how could she lie about all this? How could she go against such a loving family member? 

But that’s what happens with addiction. Your addiction victimizes so many people that you need to find some way to alleviate the feelings of guilt, maybe even feel like a victim yourself. So you bend reality. You see your victimhood in everything around you, especially your own aggressiveness. As was said earlier in the episode, “we want what our addictions want us to want.” But those were just words at a time. Now Bojack understands how powerful that urge can be. He tries his best to make her father feel better, to lie and say Jameson wanted to come home to see her baby. But her father knows it’s not true. “Change is hard.” And real change takes a brand of self-honesty so much further than where Jameson is right now.

BoJack drives them back to rehab, then catches Jameson still trying to sneak in vodka. He takes it out of her hood and she just laughs it off. None of this has registered with her at all. She asks BoJack if he is coming back up the rope. but he can only reply that he’s getting “too old to sneak in and out of places.” So BoJack goes to the front desk to check in… for another six weeks. And this time, he’s willing to take the picture with the front desk clerk, which symbolizes his growth. Not just that he’s willing to humor someone, but more that he’s willing to participate in society, no matter how small the gesture. Sure, he already did rehab’s greatest hits, the therapies, the hikes, and the yoga. But now he’s really ready to do it. He has to open up about what’s really inside. So he stares at Jameson’s bottle of vodka alone in his room: he sees the void inside it. And then it goes back to one last memory…

BoJack is a young boy. Even younger then the scene before. His parents are passed out on the couch, completely drunk. It seems the aftermath of a party, but perhaps not even that. A record skips again and again, a literal “broken record.” This is the singular picture of his childhood. The everything that defines his being. Feeling lost and alone, Little BoJack goes up to a vodka bottle nearby. He takes a sip. This is his real first drink, or at least we think. For all we know, he was probably weaned on vodka for crying from the very beginning. Then little BoJack goes up to the couch. and curls up with mother under her arm. Is this what little BoJack wants? The answer is clear: he wanted a womb he never had. A place to be safe, to be cared for, and to be loved. But it’s not to be found here. And that’s when we realize… Back in group, when he replied, “when wasn’t the first time I drank?” … it wasn’t a joke.

The void is all he’s ever known.

BEST JOKES AND OTHER NOTES

-It’s a deeply BoJack-centric episode, but we still get brief snippets of our other players: Diane on the road and asleep in a random cheap motel, Todd helping an exhausted Princess Carolyn get porcupine milk for her new baby, and Mr. Peanutbutter is causing heaps of trouble on set.

-“100 thousand dollars?! Does every room come with a free bag full of 90,000 dollars?”

-“What kind of phone number ends with a three?”

-“Although I’m not looking forward to getting on a crowded bus in porcupine town!”

-And lastly, the quick gag where where Jameson switches the bag for the idol before hitting the car is an all-timer.

-Best Tongue Twister: “You’re telling me your dumb drone downed a tower and drowned downtown Julie Brown’ dummy drummy dum dum dum downsinger newly found goose down hand-me down gown!?” (I swear that at this point, these lines are just dares for Amy Sedaris’s uncanny lingual abilities)

-This Week’s Mean Joke Target: “Johnny Depp did it and he looked just as puffy and gholish as you do.” (to be clear, he’s a good target so it doesn’t feel mean)

-Best Bit Part Animal: (tie) Nathan’s mosquito make out session / the two women in spring breakers outfits stealing art but while wearing groucho mustache glasses!!! EDIT: OH SNAP, was just watching the first season and they're in The Telescope they're two girls who rob celebrities and pistol whip Todd!

-Moment That Made Me the Happiest: Not sure if it’s a happy moment, but Tim Meadow’s earnest, knowing performance as Jameson’s father was heart breaking. And it also reminded me how talented he really is and how he should be in everything.