BoJack Horseman Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Introduction

Ancient History is the ninth episode of Season 5 of BoJack Horseman, and the 57th episode overall. It premiered with the rest of Season 5 on September 14, 2018.

Synopsis[]

A visiting Hollyhock dumps BoJack's painkillers, sending him on a desperate search for more. Todd tries to solve Emily's dating dilemma.

Plot[]

There is a voice-over of BoJack saying, "I don’t know what’s real anymore, and I don’t know if I care."

He is shown filming scenes for Philbert where it is revealed Philbert shot Fritz after Fritz shot his wife. There are juxtaposed scenes, BoJack in reality and BoJack while he is taking painkillers.

It's the last day of filming for Philbert, although Gina tells BoJack she does not want to continue their relationship of sleeping together in between shooting takes.

BoJack picks up Hollyhock from the airport, who flew to California because she wanted to see him. BoJack tells her he'd help her carry her bag, but that his back still hurts.

Todd gets a visit from Emily at work—who tells him that she broke up with her fireman boyfriend, Doug. She says the sex was great but they had no emotional connection. Todd says that's why he and Yolanda broke up; they had no real connection besides being asexual.

Emily presents him with a new app she made—All About That Ace, a dating app for asexuals, which she said was his idea although he doesn't remember. She admits he was the best boyfriend she ever had, and she wished there was a version of him she could have sex with.

Mr. Peanutbutter visits Princess Carolyn at VIM and tells her that since season one of Philbert has wrapped, he wants to option a greeting card, which says, "Happy Birthday Dad" with a father dog and his kids—for a movie, Birthday Dad. Princess Carolyn is understandably confused but says that she'll look into getting the film rights. However, she realizes that she's going to have to talk to Ralph again.

BoJack and Hollyhock arrive at BoJack's house. However, Hollyhock stands in the doorway as she starts experiencing anxiety. BoJack asks her what's wrong. Hollyhock explains that the last time she was at his house, she was secretly drugged by his mom, which may have been traumatic for her. BoJack promises her that it won't happen, because his mom is dead now, and the two agree to order pizza.

Princess Carolyn goes to dinner with Ralph. She apologizes for asking to meet him on short notice, as she assumes he would probably spend Fridays with his new girlfriend, but Ralph reveals he's still single. Princess Carolyn confirms she's single as well because she's been busy with her show, Philbert, which she points out was named after the baby they wanted but she miscarried last year. Ralph still voices praise for this.

As Princess Carolyn tells him Mr. Peanutbutter's idea with the greeting card, she gets a call from Tracy saying a woman at the hospital doesn't want her baby—and that if Princess Carolyn can make it to the hospital in half an hour, she can adopt the baby. Princess Carolyn starts to panic, but Ralph calms her down and tells her he'll drive her and take the car seat with them.

After she and BoJack finish eating pizza, Hollyhock goes to look in BoJack's fridge for ice cream—although he said he ate the rest the other night. She finds his vodka bottles labeled with the days of the week—BoJack explains its a new system he's trying, he's down to one bottle a day.

Hollyhock asks if it's "an AA thing," but BoJack snaps that he doesn't need AA. Hollyhock asks to take his car to the ice cream parlor. He refuses, but she attempts to grab what she thinks are the keys from inside his coat. However, she ended up grabbing his prescription opioids. She begins panicking, thinking BoJack put them in her pizza, and she dumps them down the garbage disposal. BoJack reveals they were for his back, making Hollyhock feel guilty.

Todd visits Diane at her apartment and asks for her help brainstorming something nice to do for Emily. He tells her she likes sex, which Diane replies is good that she knows her own body before she gives it to someone else. Todd forgets what they were talking about, and Diane reminds him it was sex. He suddenly gets an idea and runs out.

Hollyhock apologizes for what she did, but BoJack tells her to not worry about it, as her generation was "brainwashed by McGruff the Crime Dog," but Hollyhock also reminds him that she overdosed on pills. BoJack assures her his pills were "good pills" and he actually needed them.

She asks if he can get more, but BoJack says that he can't just call up the pharmacy and tell them what happened since they are opioids they'll assume he's a drug addict. Hollyhock says that he must know someone he can get the painkillers from, and BoJack says that he does.

Ralph drives Princess Carolyn to the hospital. He tells her he can't believe she's adopting because she was so adamant about having the baby herself even though he actually suggested adoption—she only decided on it after they broke up. Princess Carolyn and Ralph apologize to each other, and Ralph says she'll be a great mom. Princess Carolyn in return says someday he'll be a great dad.

Hollyhock and BoJack are waiting in a pediatrician exam room. BoJack explains this doctor is the "sleaziest and shadiest" when it comes to drugs. The doctor in question is Dr. Allen Hu. Dr. Hu reveals to BoJack after Sarah Lynn's death, he got sober at Pastiches Malibu and became "a brand new doctor." BoJack asks him for more drugs, but Dr. Hu refuses, due to the nature of the drugs he wants, and doesn't believe the story about BoJack's back.

Emily is at Todd's apartment, where Todd has set up romantic candles and is wearing a robe, although he says he blew a fuse earlier and didn't have time to change clothes. He then reveals to her his new invention—Henry Fondle, a sex robot, which has dildos on it and says "sexy phrases" from a Mr. Spell toy.

Emily is dumbfounded by this, and she tells Todd she doesn't think he knows how sex works. Todd defensively affirms he does know—it's his first time building a robot, in one afternoon at that. He thinks it turned out pretty great for a first attempt. Emily tells him it was a sweet gesture. However, Henry Fondle knocks over some candles and sets the floor on fire.

As they drive, Hollyhock apologizes again, but BoJack assures her it's fine and they're spending time together. They go to Gina's house, as BoJack thinks he may have left some pills there, but the key under her doormat isn't there. Hollyhock goes out back to see if there's a window she can climb through. However, after she leaves, Gina arrives home.

Gina asks BoJack what he's doing here, he lies and says he just wanted to check up on her. She opens the door and almost sees Hollyhock climbing through a window. BoJack distracts Gina while Hollyhock searches for pills. BoJack says he wants to talk about their relationship, and lies and agrees with her that he wants to get back together.

As he tries to take off, as Hollyhock found pills, Gina admits she's had a lot of on set flings on all the shows she's filmed, and no guy has ever wanted to continue their relationship after filming was done. She always internalized that she didn't deserve being in a relationship—but now she feels like she does. BoJack quickly agrees as he races off and promises he'll call her. Hollyhock catches up and jumps in his car.

BoJack talks to himself about how and when he'll call Gina, but he assures himself that things will work out and they'll be happy. He won't hurt her in a way that’ll affect her for the rest of her life. Hollyhock grabbed the wrong pills, which BoJack scolds her for—but he quickly apologizes, saying it's just his back. He tells Hollyhock he has another idea as he tosses the pills out of the car. Hollyhock wonders if Gina needed those pills, but BoJack assures her she'll be fine, and that "Nobody needs pills."

Princess Carolyn is at St Bernard Medical Center with Ralph. They talk about their breakup, and how Princess Carolyn wanted Ralph to call her after they broke up. Ralph said he assumed she didn't want to talk to him and told him to get out of her apartment. Princess Carolyn jokes that the lesson of this is to never listen to her. Tracy comes and takes her to see her new baby.

BoJack takes Hollyhock to a shady place under a bridge. Hollyhock tells him she only has two hours left before she has to go back to the airport, but BoJack "nicely" reminds her they wouldn't have to be here if she hadn't flushed his pills. A van pulls up, and BoJack tries to ask for drugs. The drug dealer thinks he's a cop because of his Philbert costume.

However, Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface arrives wearing an obvious "teen" disguise and asks for drugs to try and bust the drug dealer. Despite BoJack and Hollyhock clearly seeing he's a cop, the dealer gives Meow Meow Fuzzyface the drugs, leaving him to bust the dealer, and cops swarm the location.

Screenshot (3857)

Fuzzyface's "teen disguise"

BoJack and Hollyhock make a run for it, but get corned in an alleyway divided by a fence. However, BoJack is able to boost Hollyhock and himself over the fence, which surprises Hollyhock—as BoJack was complaining the entire night his back was hurting.

Emily thanks Doug the fireman for having come and put the fire out. Todd apologizes and tells her that the only reason he created the robot was so that she'd have more time to spend with him and pleasure herself.

Emily and Todd both admit it would be great if they dated again, but Emily doesn't want to have sex with the robot. She then says when she was researching for the dating app, she learned some asexuals do have sex, but Todd rejects. Emily asks if he has any other ideas, and he says what if marbles were cube-shaped. Emily responds with, "no dice."

Princess Carolyn cradles the baby. The birth mom, Bridget, says she was nervous and felt guilty about adoption, but she's happy that her son is going to a good family—thinking that Ralph and Princess Carolyn are together. Ralph agrees with what she said, but Princess Carolyn tells him not to lie.

Ralph says he wants them to be a family, because they wanted it a year ago, and he still wants it. However, Princess Carolyn tells him that she's ready to do this by herself—because raising and loving the baby will give her the power to do so. Unfortunately, this inspires Bridget to want to raise the baby on her own, so she asks for her son back.

Hollyhock and BoJack make it back to the car. Hollyhock asks how he was able to lift her over the fence, and if he really needs these pills. BoJack goes off and says that she doesn't know what it's like—he's always in pain all the time. She only had one bad experience with his mom, but he's been in pain for his entire life. Hollyhock says he should probably take her to the airport.

Ralph asks Princess Carolyn if he should drive her home but she says no. He asks her if he could at least wait with her, and she reluctantly agrees.

BoJack and Hollyhock arrive at the airport. BoJack apologizes and confesses that it's possible that he doesn't really need the pills. Hollyhock offers to take a semester off to be with him, but BoJack stops her and insists that she live her own life at college and that he'll be fine.

Hollyhock makes him promise to not take drugs again unless he gets hurt again and the drugs from a real doctor. She tells him that she loves him, but he doesn't say it back, still struggling to get close to anyone—he only smiles sadly. She gets out of the car, and they wave goodbye to each other.

Princess Carolyn sadly hugs the car seat box on the cab ride back to her car. Todd checks the dating app to see if he has any matches, which he doesn't.

While driving away, BoJack starts to feel iffy and show signs of withdrawal. As he gets more anxious, in order to hurt himself again for more opioids, he slams on the gas and drives his car into ongoing traffic.

Cast[]

Actor Character
Will Arnett ... BoJack Horseman
Amy Sedaris ... Princess Carolyn
Alison Brie ... Diane Nguyen
Paul F. Tompkins ... Mr. Peanutbutter
Aaron Paul ... Todd Chavez / Henry Fondle
Aparna Nancherla ... Hollyhock
Stephanie Beatriz ... Gina Cazador
Raul Esparza ... Ralph Stilton
Abbi Jacobson ... Emily
Ken Jeong ... Dr. Allen Hu
Cedric Yarbrough ... Meow Meow Fuzzyface
Rami Malek ... Flip McVicker
Jean Villepique ... Tracy

Trivia[]

  • This is the first appearance of Dr. Allen Hu since Downer Ending in Season 1:
    • It is revealed he became a pediatrician, and he went to Sarah Lynn's funeral.
    • He appears to have turned over a new leaf and is no longer a drug dealer.
    • He tells BoJack that he "feels like [he's] regenerated into a brand-new doctor," which is a reference to the Doctor Who TV series, in which the eponymous character regenerates every few years and is replaced by a new actor, taking on a new appearance and slightly different personality.
    • The line "this Hu won't be fooled again" is a reference to the 1971 song "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who.
  • "Last Hurrah" by Vetiver plays near the end of this episode before the end credits.
  • The drug dealer that BoJack tries to buy pills from is the same dealer who asked to "see some BoJack" at Whale World in BoJack Kills.
  • This episode takes place in November 2018, as evidenced by Tracy's wall calendar.
  • The name of the asexual dating app that Emily designed is a reference to the 2014 song All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor.
  • An anteaters' tongue is apparently suitable equipment for unlocking car doors.

 Intro Differences[]

  • In the morning BoJack is wearing his Philbert costume instead of his bathrobe.

Errors[]

Ancient History Sleeve Error

Sleeve error

  • When BoJack's hand is seen grabbing the last slice of pizza, his arm has the sleeve of his normal outfit instead of his Philbert costume.
Advertisement