BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter One

“	Are you embarrassed of me because I’m a has-been? Because you know that I’m writing that book that is going to make everybody love me again!	”
—BoJack Horseman to Princess Carolyn

Introduction

Gallery

Quotes

"BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter One"
Airdate	August 22, 2014
Written by	Raphael Bob-Waksberg
Directed by	Joel Moser
Episode guide
Previous	N/A
Next	BoJack Hates the Troops

Horsin' Around flashback

BoJack Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Story, Chapter One is the series premiere of the Netflix original series BoJack Horseman. This episode, along with the rest of Season 1, aired on August 22, 2014.

Synopsis

To help with the tell-all autobiography he hopes will put him back in the spotlight, BoJack's publisher hires him a ghostwriter.

Plot

There is a clip from the beginning of a Horsin' Around episode, featuring Sarah Lynn's character Sabrina, and The Horse, played by the star of the show BoJack Horseman.

The clip is shown as part of an introduction from Charlie Rose, who notes that while Horsin' Around wasn’t a critical hit, as it was dismissed as a cliched, schmaltzy sitcom, it was beloved by general audiences and ran for nine years. Charlie introduces his guest, BoJack Horseman, eighteen years after his hit sitcom Horsin' Around ended, focusing on his life.

BoJack begins the interview revealing he parked in a handicap spot and is drunk, then non-coherently defends Horsin' Around, saying life is "one, long hard kick in the urethra" and at the end of a hard day people just want to watch a show about good, likable people where every problem gets resolved in thirty minutes.

Charlie Rose Interview

At the mention of real life, Charlie asks what he has done significantly since the cancellation of the show, but BoJack is at a loss for words. The next morning, BoJack wakes up and is greeted by his roommate, a human twenty-something slacker named Todd, although BoJack does not consider Todd and him "roommates," as he concocts he grumpily wonders why he has let him live on his couch rent free for five years, saying he’s had tape worms less parasitic, to which Todd says because his parents kicked him out and he had nowhere to go, and secretly deep down BoJack has a good heart. BoJack retorts that he thought Todd was kicked out for his "alternative lifestyle," meaning he was a troubled gay teen, not realizing Todd simply meant he was lazy. Todd tells him that's on him for making assumptions.

Later that day, BoJack meets with publisher Pinky Penguin at Silver Spoon Diner, regarding his upcoming book. Pinky's publishing company is on its last legs due to print media falling into obscurity, and tells BoJack he keeps missing his deadlines, furthered by a cutaway where BoJack is seen not make any progress besides recording himself say the title and "Chapter One" which somehow takes an entire day, and they desperately need a best seller, so they don’t go bankrupt. Pinky recommends him to hire a ghost-writer, but BoJack harshly declines the offer and tells Pinky to give him one more week.

BoJack's meeting with Pinky Penguin

One week later, BoJack has still made no progress on his novel, and ignores Pinky's call. He is seen in his pajamas watching episodes of Horsin' Around, while binge-drinking and eating. Todd asks him if this is in part due to Princess Carolyn dumping him the previous night.

There is then a cut to ten hours earlier at Elefante. Princess Carolyn, a pink cat lady, dumps BoJack because of his fears of commitment, as he doesn’t even want to have a baby or start a family with her. All the while BoJack is acting inattentive and then defensive, even revealing he recently had sex with actress Emily Mortimer, which further shows how little weight their relationship holds to him.

Mr. Peanutbutter, a yellow lab and BoJack's one sided rival, notices the two of them and interrupts their breakup, exclaiming “BoJack Horseman and Mr. Peanutbutter in the same room! What is this, a crossover episode?," much to BoJack's chagrin.

After getting the check, BoJack gets upset about having to pay $10.00 for the bread baskets, and he’s further angered by the fact he ate nine bread baskets as now he feels bad for eating so much. Princess Carolyn then demands BoJack to take her home. She continues to tell him off in the car ride, but all he’s concerned about is that she probably thinks he’s fat.

Todd suggests they throw a party to cheer him up, but BoJack declines, sayung he'll just eat too much cotton candy and throw up like last time. BoJack then questions Todd on who told him that he and Princess Carolyn broke up. Todd then gestures towards an annoyed Princess Carolyn, and she says he never took her home last night. BoJack sarcastically says everything is his fault and Princess Carolyn sternly tells him once again to take her home. As he drives Princess Carolyn tells BoJack it's the last time he will see her face, and then cutting her off in mid-sentence, he lets her out of the car while it's still moving. Princess Carolyn ducks and rolls and lands on the sidewalk, like a cat.

Princess Carolyn then calls BoJack, revealing to the audience she’s also his agent. BoJack is confused when she cheerfully calls him as his agent, as they just broke up. She tells him she has the ability to separate her professional life from her personal life. She tells BoJack that Penguin wants an update on the book he's pretending to write. BoJack reluctantly agrees to an appointment on Tuesday.

At Penguin Publishing, Pinky is upset that BoJack has still made no progress, saying the company is in dire straits, not helped by bad investments they made. He tells BoJack they are tired of waiting and are hiring him a ghostwriter. Pinky then hands BoJack a business card with the name Diane Nguyen on it, he insists she’s great and has a thing for horses. Pinky then hands BoJack a copy of Secretariat: a Life, which was written by Diane, and BoJack looks at her bio on the back with her photo, showing she’s a human Vietnamese woman. He remarks that she’s cute, and also that he always wanted to play Secretariat in a film. Pinky tells BoJack to give Diane a call and tell her that.

At home, BoJack vents to Todd about being a failure and not being able to start his book. Todd reassured him, and Princess Carolyn, who’s in the kitchen tells him to let the lady write his book and be done with it, and reveals she’s even there in the first place because she and BoJack had sex the night before and is now making breakfast.

Todd suggests throwing a party and he can meet his ghostwriter that way. BoJack then questions what party and why Todd is so obsessed with throwing a party all of a sudden, and a previous and a following flashback reveals Todd got into some trouble with a Mexican drug cartel at some point recently, and the leader said he owes him a place to throw his daughter's quinceañera. Todd, with a scared look on his face, simply responds to BoJack's question by saying parties are fun.

Princess Carolyn then asks BoJack if the book is so important to him why hasn't he worked on it in a year in a half. BoJack then says the book is his legacy and everyone thinks of him as this washed-up hack. BoJack then suffers a mild anxiety attack when he explains his fear of an unsuccessful memoir dooming him from becoming relevant in the public's eyes again. He is hospitalized shortly after.

BoJack is seen watching the series finale episode of Horsin' Around in the hospital, in which the Horse dies because the kids didn’t love him enough, and they are sent back to social services. Todd questions if he takes those DVDs with him everywhere.

The doctor then comes in, tells BoJack he suffered from a mild anxiety attack, and that he needs BoJack to take it easy. Princess Carolyn then retorts that all BoJack ever does is take it easy, and he doesn't even have any real responsibilities or a job in hears. BoJack then solemnly tells the doctor he can try. Todd then again suggests they have the party, and he can meet the ghostwriter. BoJack finally gives in and says they can throw the party.

At the party/quinceañera, BoJack is eating cotton candy and is confused by the random people, but Todd avoids the question by saying they are people from all different walks of life. BoJack then runs into Mr. Peanutbutter who makes his crossover joke again and tells BoJack he's just kidding around. Mr. Peanutbutter then tells BoJack he wants to give him attention and talk to him and then notices his friend Erica and calls her out as he heads over to her.

BoJack then meets Diane Nguyen, his ghostwriter. She walks up to him as he is looking over the balcony, and she’s shown to be social awkward but nice. She then compliments BoJack on his house, and he tells her that after being in a dumb sitcom he might as well get a sweet house out of the deal.

Diane then asks BoJack what he's been working on and he tells her he just sits around his home and complains.

Diane then asks BoJack how that's working out for him and he says he can't really complain. BoJack then sees Mr. Peanutbutter joking around and remakes that his show, Mr. Peanutbutter's House, about the dog who adopts three human kids (a ripoff of Horsin Around's premise) , was a dumb idea for a sitcom. BoJack remarks Mr. Peanutbutter is so stupid that he doesn't realize how miserable he should be, but he envies that.

Diane then asks BoJack if he knows the story of the dad from The Brady Bunch - the guy who played the dad hated being on The Brady Bunch, because he thought it was beneath him, and he was a "real actor". Diane then goes on to say most people don't even get to do The Brady Bunch version of the thing they want to do with their lives. She tells BoJack he is actually in a really good place because he can do whatever he wants and is responsible for his own happiness.

BoJack then says that's depressing and Diane says it isn't. BoJack tells her he can't even be responsible for making his own breakfast. There is then a cut to him struggling to pour cereal in a bowl and calling out to Todd for help. Diane then questions what would make him happy. He tells her he guesses finishing his memoir would make him happy. Diane then says she could help with that.

BoJack then asks if she would really want to, as she would have to spend a lot of time with him and would probably get sick of him. Diane reassures him that won't happen.

The two manage to hit it off well until Diane reveals to BoJack that Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack's sitcom rival, is her boyfriend after Mr. Peanutbutter walks over to them. BoJack questions this and then says he's really happy for them, while uncontrollably vomiting cotton candy at the revelation.

Cast

Actor		Character
Will Arnett	...	BoJack Horseman
Amy Sedaris	...	Princess Carolyn
Alison Brie	...	Diane Nguyen / Olivia
Paul F. Tompkins	...	Mr. Peanutbutter
Aaron Paul	...	Todd Chavez
Rachel Bloom	...	Laura
Chris Cox	...	Additional Voices
Jon Daly	...	Additional Voices
Nicholas Gonzalez	...	Cartel Man
Patton Oswalt	...	Charlie Rose / Pinky Penguin / Doctor
Kristen Schaal	...	Sarah Lynn
J. K. Simmons	...	Lenny Turteltaub
Fred Tatasciore	...	Additional Voices
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 Hates The Troops, which was originally titled BoJack supports the Troops!
  • This episode was originally titled "BoJack Throws A Party!," and its plot was almost identical to the finished project.
• There is a reference to The Jerry Lewis Show on the TV.
• The painting shown in the back of BoJack's office is a reference to a David Hockney painting: Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures).
• The Wilhelm scream can be heard when some sliding on the floor co-worker accidentally falls out of window Penguin Publishing.
• BoJack and Princess Carolyn are seen standing at a crosswalk in front of a "Lululemming" store, referencing the real-life athletic clothing retailer Lululemon.
• An autograph huntress in a green dress is giving an interview in BoJack the Feminist. In Ruthie, she works at a jewelry store as a sales associate. She also appears in Horse Majeure and Zoës and Zeldas.
• The are two instances where BoJack is seen throwing up, whereas in real life horses cannot vomit, as it is physically impossible for them.