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Maybe some of the troops are heroes, but not automatically. I'm sure a lot of the troops are jerks! Most people are jerks already, and it's not like giving a jerk a gun and telling him it's okay to kill people suddenly turns that jerk into a hero!

BoJack Horseman


Introduction

BoJack Hates the Troops[1] is the second episode of Season 1 of Netflix original series BoJack Horseman. BoJack Hates the Troops, along with the rest of Season 1, premiered August 22, 2014.

Synopsis[]

BoJack finds himself the subject of national media attention after calling the troops "jerks" in an altercation with Navy SEAL, Neal McBeal.

Plot[]

BoJack is at a bar. He overhears a girl, Pam, talking to her friend on the phone, saying that BoJack is at the bar and insults him behind his back.

Princess Carolyn calls to remind BoJack about his first memoir writing session, with his ghostwriter Diane the following morning. As the call ends, BoJack notices Pam now has friends over, and they are laughing and taking pictures at his expense.

Before BoJack leaves the bar, he turns and berates her and her friends for ruining his night. He reminds them, that their actions have consequences, and that being ignorant about "being a horrible person does not make them less of a horrible person." However, he ends up sleeping with Pam, after calling her attractive during his rant.

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Pam tells her friends about spotting BoJack at the bar

The next morning, BoJack is greeted by the girl from the bar, named Pam. Pam tells him she made breakfast. BoJack orders Pam to leave, saying he's meeting with his ghostwriter. However, Diane is already sitting in BoJack's kitchen. BoJack was drunk when he sent her the time to meet him via email, which BoJack does not remember. The email consisted of a meet-up request, a rant about loneliness, and a lot of "b"s.

Mr. Peanutbutter is also shown to be at BoJack's house. He brags about starring in a pilot presentation of a celebrity reality show, entitled PB and Jelly, which annoys BoJack as the wordplay does not work since there is nobody named Jelly. He is also annoyed by Todd having an online date with a Japanese girl. BoJack leaves the house to get breakfast.

At the supermarket, BoJack finds a box of muffins in the produce section. However, a seal man tells BoJack that they belong to him since he had to go to the bathroom and called "dibs" on this last box of muffins. Out of amusement and spite, BoJack refuses to return the muffins to Neal McBeal (summarily being a hypocrite to his own advice the night before). He takes the muffins to check out before Neal has a chance to argue further.

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BoJack arguing with Neal over who has "dibs" on the muffins

BoJack returns to his house, having eaten the entire box of muffins, to his regret. He begins his session with Diane, and the first question she asks him is what his childhood was like.

BoJack flashes back to his abusive childhood, showing a scene where his mother callously gives his father an omelet. She implies he’s having an affair with his secretary and reminds him he isn’t married to his secretary. His father retorts back that if his secretary had also refused to get an abortion he would be.

Young BoJack asks if he can also have an omelet, to which his mother replies "You're the birthday boy." Back in the present, BoJack tells a skeptical Diane he had a normal childhood, and to just skip to the part where he became famous.

Their session is interrupted when Princess Carolyn calls to tell BoJack he is on the news, and they discover that the seal man, named Neal McBeal, has gone to the news network MSNBSea to tell about BoJack's behavior earlier in the morning: denying Neal his favorite muffins after coming home from his service with the Navy SEALs in Afghanistan.

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Neal on MSNBSea

BoJack compounds the problem, by calling into the news network, to argue with Neal live. He eventually enters a video interview from home, to continue arguing with Neal, live on the news station. It is misconstrued when he suggests not all of America's troops are heroes, and that some of them might be jerks.

The following media frenzy starts to affect BoJack, who wants everything to end. Mr. Peanutbutter then suggests BoJack apologize to Neal on his reality TV show and sets the two to meet in his house.

BoJack does well at first but starts to get heated when he points out the nation's hypocritical treatment of politics and the military. However, he is cut off by Mr. Peanutbutter's antics before he can finish his rant.

BoJack finds Diane alone on the roof and complains about how no one wants to hear the truth. Diane argues she does but points out that BoJack is unable to even tell the truth with his inability to open up about his life for the memoir. BoJack concedes and agrees he will tell her the "full truth" for the memoir.

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BoJack being interviewed Diane on the roof

He begins to tell her the truth about his childhood: his parents were alcoholics who resented one another due to their different upbringings—his father was a failed novelist, his mother was the heiress to the Sugarman Sugar Cube fortune, and they both took this out on BoJack when he was younger. Diane quickly pulls out a note pad as he says all this. He asks Diane if she's still listening, and she replies that she is.

Cast[]

Actor Character
Will Arnett ... BoJack Horseman / Butterscotch Horseman
Amy Sedaris ... Princess Carolyn
Alison Brie ... Diane Nguyen
Paul F. Tompkins ... Mr. Peanutbutter
Aaron Paul ... Todd Chavez
Rachel Bloom ... Laura
Raphael Bob-Waksberg ... Additional voices
Judy Greer ... Pam
Mike Hollingsworth ... Additional voices
Wendie Malick ... Beatrice Horseman
Minae Noji ... Ayako
Keith Olbermann ... Tom Jumbo-Grumbo
Patton Oswalt ... Neal McBeal
Heléne Yorke ... Additional voices

Trivia[]

  • This episode is one of the two of the seven episodes from the show's original pitch treatment that would actually be made into an episode, the other being "BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter One," which was originally titled "BoJack Throws A Party!"
    • This episode was originally titled "BoJack Supports The Troops!," and it's plot was mostly similar other than Neal McBeal being a greyhound, the news station being Fox News instead of MSNBSea, and the greyhound would get a reality show from his new fame.[1]
  • MSNBSea's news ticker has the following headlines:
    • Man bites dog; dog sues man.
    • Cute child does things on internet.
    • Scientists discover water on ocean floor.
    • UN declares war good for absolutely nothing, says it again now. (A reference to the song "War" by Edwin Starr.)
    • Orange juice discovered to have several orange properties.
    • AIDS still a thing.
    • I wanted to write novels, you know.
    • US Government grants amnesty to millionaires.
    • Happy birthday to Enid Smith, America's oldest woman!
    • New Yorker goes to Italy, complains about pizza.
    • Condolences to the family of Enid Smith, America's former oldest woman!
    • Milk, milk, lemonade, around the corner- gentrification? (A reference to the song Milk Milk Lemonade by Amy Schumer.)
  • The grocery store BoJack goes to is called J'Von's, a reference it JON’S and VON'S, two supermarkets in real-life Los Angeles.
  • The news segment where BoJack and Neal are arguing is featured in Still Broken, where Herb is talking to Sarah-Lynn.
  • Poodle Lady and Corgi Lady are sitting in Sandro's Place (with Todd and Courtney) in Hooray! Todd Episode!
  • This is the first appearance (in flashbacks) of BoJack's parents, Beatrice and Butterscotch.
  • One of the con artists is trying to con Blue Jay who's blackmailing BoJack and the other to con Shenanigags guy.
  • Outside Princess Carolyn's office is a headshot of Jon Hamm as a pig.

Intro Differences[]

  • None.

Goofs[]

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Poster shows only the characters' top halves

  • One of the cameramen for Mr. Peanutbutter's reality show wears a shirt that says, "I'm a Zelda." But in one shot, the text on the shirt is horizontally flipped, as if seen in a mirror.
    Screenshot (724)

    Poster now shows full bodies of characters

  • Beatrice does not have eyebrows in the flashback she's featured in. 

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Original Pitch Treatment, BoJack Horseman: The Art Before The Horse
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