Bojack Horseman Season 6: Review

“I remember everything, I’m sober now.”- Bojack Horseman

Whoever is writing this thing is pretty amazing. The characters, the dialogues and the idiosyncrasies are just awesome. Welcome everyone to the one last review of this realistic drama, an experience which is almost surreal in nature. 

Bojack Horseman. An animated show about an anthropomorphic talking horse who used to be the star of a successful but sketchy 90’s sitcom and is now a depressed alcoholic. In a world full of equally peculiar characters (humans and animals), showbiz and dysfunctional relationships. All that and we are barely touching the surface of what this show is actually all about.

The final season of this show, about which we are majorly going to talk about in this review, has been one of its kind since probably breaking bad. The season started with every individual character getting their particular arc and ended on something daring yet entirely understandable and moreover acceptable. By the end of the season, the showrunners probably ended the greatest show ever on Netflix with the least hype.

Bojack is a show not about its characters or their feelings but about the situations those feelings get them into. It’s almost never about leaving them without consequence. Even though the characters themselves are aware that how detrimental it is going to be for their personal or professional life, they all give in to their vulnerabilities, one way or the other. By the end of the series, the most important thing is probably how to they come to terms with it and still try to live their life the best way they can, giving way to the next best thing to come into their lives.

The final season of the show is experimental in many aspects. The show has always been audacious in its approach to classic comedy and animation but this time the writers make it so that every piece they've gathered since the past five seasons falls into just the right place at the right time. Even in showing the anthropomorphism as a technique to bring out the underlying humour in situations, the show's been nothing but ingenious. But the final seasons brings all of its daring acts together like flashbacks, multiple narratives and non-linear storylines in one big upstream presentation in the entire flow of the series. We expect redemption and fulfillment but instead we get realism and indifference which is not the least bit frustrating.

The show expertly displays the journey of Bojack from wacky uncontrolled days to his now more uneventful sober days. His sense of melancholy is still apparent and is still induced by his constant need for acceptance and approval but there is a sense of subtlety to it rather than the drug fueled shenanigans he’s spent the rest of his life partaking in. His conscience bears a greater weight of every unholy deed he’s ever done now. He constantly tries through his actions to make things better but is still not entirely sure about owning up to his actions. Even when he does, he slips and makes him a widely despised figure all over again. We slowly see his allies breaking away from him too while being consumed by their own life’s failures and still trying to do what’s best for them. Now as Bojack is gradually shifting from limelight, we see the fears and insecurities unravel of most of our major characters.

We see Diane Nguyen dealing with a writer’s block while gaining weight and deal with the oddities of living life with a regular but good kind man out of her LA home and away from all the glitzy glamour. Mr. Peanutbutter, albeit neglectfully comes to terms with living on his own without needing a female presence to make him happy as he always is. When his most recent spouse leaves him as well, as a direct result of his very well meaning actions, he is able to keep things in perspective. Todd finds ways to reconnect with his mother; a relationship he almost certainly gave up on in his life. Princess Caroline, busy as always, juggles the pressures of the industry and an increasingly demanding personal life which almost literally drains her while she dozes off at inappropriate places. By the second half of the season, she does find a way to manage her baby (thanks to nanny Todd!) and her business at the same time. By this time, I feel she has also grown a tad bit more compassionate and concerned about the actions of those surrounding her. Every other, just as bit colourful and vibrant yet marred by cynicism character on the show just continues to exist in a universe which is constantly caught in a web woven by self-awareness being numbed by self-deceit in order to lead satiating, joyful lives.

All the while delivering the best dark comedy drama/satire on our screens at the moment. The humour never loses appeal in this show. It’s like every hardhitting and existentialist jibe is carefully veiled under a finely crafted sheet of precise humour derived from the everyday struggles of reality. This season, the show gets some of its best episodes which were not only fun to watch but memorable for the approach they took in dealing with issues which were underlying and creeping into the character’s lives even unbeknownst to the audience. In one such unexpected show of masterful storytelling we see Bojack almost die and which turns out to be the one thing somehow the viewer finds the most satisfying at the moment. 

The Verdict

With this season ends the greatest Netflix original and probably one of the best animated shows to have ever aired. With impeccable work from all the cast and the writers, along with showrunner Raphael Bob-Waksberg, this season stands out from and at the same time blends in seamlessly with the rest. It can’t be compared to any previous season in the scope of how sheer taut storytelling it has given us but even with the bizarreness of the events toned down a bit and the emotional turmoil not as wildly flowing around effecting everyone our characters touch, this season succeeds in showing us a redemption arc which led us to a bitter but deserved conclusion that many things may not matter as much as we want them to. The series ends with our main character not anymore being the focus of the series but just another straw in a grassland. And that’s okay, we learn to live with it. Even when Bojack finally gets his comeuppance at the almost end, the writer boldly don’t let it end there. Which seems very frustrating at first but gently you realise that Bojack merits a fate far less noteworthy than that. And eventually, the creators show us a finale which is interestingly daring and yet surprisingly balmy. And if you still haven’t watched this show, then your Netflix subscription is a redundant expense. Bojack is unique, intrepid, massively clever and cutting edge genuine. For anyone who's spent time with their thoughts, this show is definitely not to be missed.

“I feel like people generally want to like me. And if I just don’t do anything, the universe will eventually realign and the public would go back to loving me again.”- Mister Peanutbutter

The author feels Bojack Horseman to be a reflection of the fictional shows and movies inside it and its somehow a weird but awesome amalgamation of the Secretariat, Horsin' Around and Philbert. Including a traumatic past. Obviously.
The author also feels Mr Peanutbutter and Bojack are projections of his own self on different days.