Bojack Horseman is one of the greatest television show of all time. Even during the somewhat rocky start that is the first half of season one, there is a lot to enjoy and sink your teeth into. Bojack (Will Arnett) is still a broken figure, crippled by his addictions to alcohol, stardom and the past. Diane’s (Alison Brie) past is explored in her visit to her family and the hurts that they caused her. Todd’s (Aaron Paul) rock opera is ruined by Bojack’s purposeful sabotage. And then there is the episode “The Telescope”. But upon first viewing, these events do not feel as powerful as they do in later seasons, but that is due to the viewer.
The first season of Bojack Horseman is the only season where the audience does not know the mission statement of the show. The show from the beginning, is a deconstruction of sitcoms and tv shows in general. It takes the idea that most tv shows adhere to, which is that everything will have closure by the end of the episode, season or show, and flips that to the exact opposite. Nothing is ever closed by the end of an episode, and story lines either continue, or fade into non-satisfying endings.
These are exemplified in the episode “Prickly Muffin” and in the ending of “The Telescope”. “Prickly Muffin” is the story of when Sarah Lynn (Kristen Schaal), the actress who played the youngest orphan in Bojack’s sitcom Horsin’ Around, finds her way to Bojack’s house. She proceeds to take advantage of Bojack’s hospitality and home to throw a huge party. This continues until Bojack is convinced by Todd and Diane to put an end to it. He rectifies this by taking Sarah Lynn to a carnival on a dock and sitting with her while looking at the sunset. This would be the perfect answer to the dilemma of Sarah Lynn’s partying on a sitcom. Bojack even nails this concept home by imagining the final credits scrolling down the sunset. However, this does not fix the problem like a sitcom. Sarah Lynn returns and pawns Bojack’s trophy, which he gave to her sentimentally, to buy more drugs and continue to party. “The Telescope” is even more blunt with this concept, with Bojack openly admitting that he visits the house of his dying old friend, Herb Kazzazz (Stanley Tucci) solely for closure and to ease his mind about past wrongs. But Herb does not forgive him to not give him closure.
These moments make rewatching season 1 of Bojack Horseman such an enjoyable experience. From the fact that Sarah Lynn states that she wants to be an architect, to the music video for her hit song Prickly Muffin being set in a planetarium, to Emily’s (Abbi Jacobson) small cameo in a flashback in the episode “Zoes and Zeldas”. But it also gives added weight to the more serious scenes, like the aforementioned scenes with Diane’s family and the ruining of Todd’s rock opera. In any other adult animation show, like Family Guy for example, these awful things are fairly commonplace and have little to no impact on the characters. It would stand to reason that audiences would assume that Bojack works under the same principles as those other shows. So the fact that Bojack ruined Todd’s rock opera does not register as a major event, since we have been conditioned to believe that this will be taken as water under the bridge, and that this will have no impact on the characters and all will be forgotten or forgiven by the next episode.
And so, Bojack Horseman goes forward for six seasons, going firmly against all conventions of adult cartoons and television in general up until its final episodes. The penultimate episode, “The View from Halfway Down”, is the culmination of everything the show has stood for. The show’s tradition of having the second-last episode of every season being rather abstract and strange, by having the entire episode being a dinner party and presentation with Bojack, and all the important characters that have died around him: Herb, Sarah Lynn, Corduroy Jackson Jackson (Brandon T. Jackson), Bojack’s mother Beatrice (Wendie Malick), Bojack’s uncle Crackerjack (Lin-Manuel Miranda) and a amalgamation of Bojack’s father and his childhood father-figure Secretariat (Will Arnett). They chase a cardinal out of the house and play a game during dinner about the best and worst moments of their lives, while enjoying their final meals. After the meal, each character makes a performance before entering a door that leads to infinite blackness. Soon this blackness is not confined to the door, and begins to consume everything around Bojack, as he comes to the realization that he is drowning in the pool. He makes a phone call to Diane before accepting his fate calmly as the black consumes him.
Only Bojack does not die. There is no closure for Bojack Horseman the show. The final season takes place after Bojack has been arrested for breaking into his old house, and he has been allowed leave for Princess Carolyn’s (Amy Sedaris) wedding to Judah (Diedrich Bader). He has conversations with each of the main characters of the show, and it ends with Bojack and Diane, sitting on the roof, staring at the stars. Each turns to each other, as if they are about to say something to the other, before deciding against it and the silence stretches. The show that has gone against all television conventions of closure and endings just denied everyone of closure.
Bojack has just had a major relapse, after the first half of the final season showed Bojack at his strongest and most stable. If he could not become sober in the previous season, doesn’t the future hold bleak things for Bojack? Shouldn’t it follow that one day Bojack will have such a bad bender that leaves him dead? We will never know.
And that is like life is it not? Life is rife with non-endings and unfulfilling interactions. So is it any surprise that a show that was praised for its realistic portrayal of mental illness and addiction would have a realistic, subdued ending. Because sure, sometimes life is a bitch and you die, but most often, life’s a bitch and you keep on living.
It reminds me of an ending from a Cohen Brothers movie, whose movies are also known for their ambiguous endings. Particularly that of Inside Llewyn Davis, where the film ends exactly how it begins, implying that what we see is just a regular week in Llewyn’s life, and his life goes on after this and we are just privy to one small fraction of his life.
Its a similar conceit for the ending of Bojack Horseman, just not as explicit. At it’s heart, Bojack is a show about the darkest chapters of our main casts’ lives. Bojack is a washed up has been, addicted to alcohol and drugs and spiraling further into worse and worse relapses and drug trips. Princess Carolyn struggles to balance her work life, social love life and her perceived purpose in life. Diane goes through a messy divorce and moves from living on Bojack’s couch for a while to struggling with depression and pharmaceuticals. Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) undergoes his own existential crisis and transverses many romantic escapades in the search to be happy. And Todd has lived on various couches throughout the show and searches for romantic and occupational meaning.
But by the end of the show, all of these characters have rectified these problems. Princess Carolyn has a daughter and is married to Jonah. Diane has moved out to Texas with her fiance and has seemed to find stability in her life. Todd has a steady job babysitting and has his own place with his girlfriend. Mr. Peanutbutter decides to forgo dating and focus on himself and his own happiness. All the other main characters have resolved their main flaws and are better off than we have seen them in all of the show.
Which leaves Bojack. Is he at the best place we have seen him in the show? The theme of the rest of the characters suggest yes. Bojack is in jail and is doing well, but worries about what will happen when he gets out. We have reason to believe that Bojack will relapse, he’s done it throughout the whole show. Season 2’s new Bojack lasted only a few episodes, Season 6’s rehabilitated Bojack is brought to his lowest point in the whole series. But if the rest of the cast is in the best emotional shape of their lives, why not Bojack?
So does Bojack Horseman really not have any closure? If you look at it as the story of the lowest moments in these characters, then the show really does finish at the highest note. I am not surprised that there has been rampant speculation on continuing the storyline later and sequel shows as technically there is no reason why there couldn’t be. There were no major character deaths, no unrepairable character events, but I think it has closure in its own way. Its no traditional Hollywoo ending, but I think its special and perfect in its own way and adding on to it would just ruin the experience. Because sometimes the show ends, but life goes on.
The Sensations of Storytelling 