Back in August, Netflix premiered the animated series BoJack Horseman, which focuses on the adventures of a washed-up actor who just happens to be a horse. If you’ve been debating whether or not this show is worthy of a binge-watch, here are five reasons it is.
1. BoJack is the world’s most likable jerk.
If you watch the pilot episode of BoJack, you might notice that while it’s quite funny, it’s hard to feel much sympathy for the title character, who mostly just seems bitter and angry. But as the show moves along, we learn more about BoJack’s past, and he becomes increasingly more complex. He’s lonely, and frustrated with the direction his life is going, and sometimes takes it out on the people close to him. Deep down though, he’s just a sad man-horse trying his best to be a good person.
2. Paul F. Tompkins plays a dog named Mr. Peanut Butter.
BoJack’s biggest rival is Mr. Peanut Butter, who had a show in the 90s that was suspiciously similar to BoJack’s (note: I’m totally a Zelda). In the first few episodes, Mr. Peanut Butter simply exists as a foil for BoJack — he dates the girl of his dreams, and enjoys interrupting his life at the worst possible times. But much like BoJack, we learn more about him as the show goes on, and he actually becomes a deep, sympathetic character. As the above meme suggests, he might not be as stupid and oblivious as he seems, and could simply be pushing away the same sadness that BoJack brings to the forefront of his mind.
3. The show makes excellent use of serialization.
On the past season of South Park, the show experimented with a serialization, and was generally successful. BoJack Horseman ups the ante considerably, however, with a story that unfolds in some rather fascinating ways. The plot is that BoJack, a has-been from the 90s, is planning a comeback by writing his memoirs. But he can’t be bothered to actually write anything, so his publishing company brings in a writer named Diane Nguyen to be his ghost-writer. BoJack quickly falls for her, but finds out she’s already dating Mr. Peanut Butter, his arch-nemesis. Even worse, his girlfriend/agent Princess Carolyn (a cat played by Amy Sedaris) just broke up with him. Meanwhile, he lives with his stoner/slacker roommate Todd, who is actually more ambitious than he lets on. As the story plays out over the course of the season, the main characters are all fleshed-out considerably, and no one feels one-dimensional. Really, the amount of story-telling and character development this show was able to pack into one season is a major accomplishment, and a big reason to get excited for Season 2.
4. Humans and animals co-exist and date each other all the time.
BoJack is a horse who just broke up with a cat, and is fighting for the affections of a human with a dog. And this all perfectly normal. I’m not sure any show has ever tried something quite like this. There are plenty of animated movies with talking animals, and on Family Guy, Brian interacts with and dates humans. But this is the rare time where humans and animals are essentially represented on equal footing. Amusingly, the show almost never breaks this up, nor does it feel like we’re supposed to think it’s particularly strange. It’s just one more aesthetic choice in a show that seems quite proud of how weird it can be.
5. Three kids in a coat are dating BoJack’s ex-girlfriend.
In case you wondering just how off-the-wall this show could get, after dumping BoJack, Princess Carolyn begins dating “Vincent Adultman,” who is quite clearly three kids standing on top of each other in a trenchcoat (as you can see in the pic above, he has a broom for an arm). The thing is, BoJack seems to be the only one who notices this. He repeatedly points it out to Princess Carolyn, but she just brushes it off as him being jealous. This is an admittedly a small aspect of the show, but it’s a fine example of the joyful absurdity that gives BoJack Horseman so much of its charm.
