| “ | You know, sometimes I think I was born with a leak, and any goodness I started with just slowly spilled out of me and now it's all gone. And I'll never get it back in me. It's too late. Life is a series of closing doors, isn't it? | ” |
—BoJack Horseman, Horse Majeure | ||
BoJack F. Horseman is the titular main character of BoJack Horseman. The show primarily follows BoJack and his life after his successful '90s sitcom, Horsin' Around.
Design
BoJack is an adult, male, grade/thoroughbred cross horse weighing over 1,200 pounds as revealed in the pilot episode.
He is around 6'7" feet (15.2 hands at the withers, 19.75 at the ears) tall and he has a fat belly.
He has brown (medium bay) fur and a black mane, with a white snippet on his snout that begins at his upper lip and ends underneath his eyes, a white diamond-shaped mark on his forehead, and bags under his eyes. He also has a pink spot on his nose and pointy ears near his mane.
Despite being a horse, BoJack, like other animals in the BoJack Horseman series, is designed with human feet and hands and does not have a tail.
BoJack is typically seen wearing an unbuttoned gray sports jacket with a blue sweater underneath, cyan blue jeans, and red and white sneakers with white socks.
During his twenties-early thirties, he was much slimmer and he had a thicker mane that somewhat resembled a mullet. His fur also appeared lighter in color.
On Horsin' Around, he wore an orange sweater with pink apples along the middle and a pink collar and cuffs, along with light blue jeans and red and white sneakers.
In the 80s, he wore a grey collared shirt with a white plaid design with a white tie, a light blue opened jacket, light blue jeans with a white belt, and red and white sneakers.
As a child, he wore a blue and white sailors suit and had small visible eyelashes.
He is seen as a preteen/older child at the beginning of Free Churro. He is wearing a soccer uniform and appears considerably chubby.
As a teenager, he had a similar hairstyle as his young adult self, and he had pimples.
In Time's Arrow, he is seen briefly in 1999, at the age of thirty-five, He looks almost exactly how he does currently, although he does not have any wrinkles and his mane is mostly still thicker.
In Season 5, when he is shooting Philbert, he is seen wearing his costume for the show more often as the season progresses. He wears a beige trench coat over a grey collared shirt, a dark grey tie, dark grey pants with a black belt with a police badge attached to it, and black shoes.
Personality
A curmudgeon described by his ex-girlfriend as a "self-pitying masochist," BoJack Horseman is bitter, depressed, self-loathing, narcissistic, and sometimes self-destructive.
BoJack is often bad-tempered and irritable, with little patience for a lot of people around him (notably Mr. Peanutbutter or Todd), who although give BoJack plenty of attention, are constantly insulted and looked down upon by BoJack's very bitter nature.
Although being annoyed by his surroundings, BoJack ironically has a nasty habit of driving some of his closest friends like Princess Carolyn to distraction. Most commonly through his numerous schemes to get his own way, which usually ends up in a disaster.
Despite these struggles and insecurities that he has, BoJack really does care about others, such as his friends, can even be insightful, doesn't really want to hurt anybody and has proven to be more tender-hearted than he appears to be.
BoJack is plagued by his utter self-loathing and struggle to accept himself, this depressed side to his nature often comes out when he is with Diane. However, his sentimental moods have been more common recently, even with people like Mr. Peanutbutter, most notably in season 2.
In addition, BoJack finds himself haunted by his past, on a regular basis, flashbacks are often seen of BoJack remembering his corrupted relationships—especially his mother and ex-best friend.
While he can seem hostile on the outside, BoJack does have a caring, melancholic side to him, but rarely shows this side of himself to others—partly because of his insecurities to show any weakness others. Fearing that others will catch on that he dislikes himself, he feigns narcissistic behavior like having sex as he sees footage of himself and masturbating to his own image, or at least he says he does.
As a foal, he was inquisitive and keen to earn his father's trust, making him a card which his father referred to as "shoddy craftsmanship."
As a younger horse, he was polite, cheerful, charming but also a lightweight, who consciously avoided all alcohol, in stark contrast to his current boozhound self. His attitude only soured in his forties.
Added to this, he is not very mannerly—on a date with Princess Carolyn in the first episode he preoccupies himself with eating the bread (nine baskets) and later on he belches while drinking beer and watching old episodes of his show. In Season 3, he belches again after raiding Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's fridge. These episodes of gluttony can be seen as yet more failed attempts to handle his inner turmoil resulting in his appearing inconsiderate and repulsive to others.
In contrast to his perceived ineptitude at being responsible (in one context, for his own breakfast), BoJack has repeatedly demonstrated a masterful command over philosophy, political science, and history. Also, judging by the way his current home is decorated he also has good taste in horse-themed fine art.
This is ironic, considering that one of the main commentaries of the series is that Hollywood (or Hollywoo as it is known in the show) is a town of shallow, nihilistic people who would be completely incapable in any other industry or lifestyle. For example, in the episode, Let's Find Out, BoJack receives the question "To what extent was Feudalism a cause of the French Revolution?"
Even though he is distracted by Princess Carolyn to properly answer the question, what he actually wrote was quite competent. "A continent ravaged by war, coupled with the retreat of the church from secular life..." BoJack is also very principled about his perspectives, too; on one occasion, he sets off a media flame war to defend his critique of the public's automatic treatment of veterans as heroic without regard for their individual characters.
On another, when Ana Spanakopita explains to BoJack that the French are still annoyed with him for what he "said about them in the press," he states he stands by his criticism of revered French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Elaborating, he states, "his philosophical arguments helped many tyrannical regimes justify overt cruelty," a reference to Sartre's idea that "humans are condemned to be free," and his stated admiration for Stalinists and Maoists.
As the series progresses, BoJack clings onto the people who even remotely comfort him and goes out of his way to keep them around so he isn't completely alone. Ultimately, most characters avoid or even completely cut ties with him for his toxic domineer.
This seems to change slightly when he meets his half-sister Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack. He is very protective of her and she shows concern for him. The two agree to try to form a loving sibling relationship at the end of Season 4.
Background
The Horseman Family: Butterscotch and Beatrice Horseman with their son BoJack.
History
Born on January 2nd, 1964, BoJack F. Horseman was born and raised in San Francisco, California, and grew up in a dysfunctional family.
His mother, Beatrice Horseman, was a housewife and the heiress of the Sugarman Sugarcube fortune, while his father Butterscotch Horseman was a failed novelist from a working-class background.
His father, Butterscotch, resented his wife's financial independence. He worked at a fish cannery for low income due to his spite for the upper class until BoJack was six. After that, he begrudgingly took a well-paying job for Beatrice's father's company.
Butterscotch was an alcoholic and regularly verbally abused, and sometimes even physically abused, BoJack while he was young. He was also often seen yelling nonsensical ultra-conservative hyperbole, usually to cover up his failures, and "easy comings" in the world, typically blaming it on Democrats, Jews, or Communists. He would also apparently regularly flirt with and commit adultery with various women and "fillies."
His mother, Beatrice, resented and hated BoJack for everything he had "done" to her, including being born, saying that she was beautiful before she got pregnant. To her, BoJack was a reminder of all of her bad decisions, and her own traumatic childhood did not help this fact. She and Butterscotch would also constantly get into loud arguments.
Her smoking habits, forceful will, addictions, and constant bickering with Butterscotch made BoJack's formative years difficult, and eventually shaped how he turned out as a grownup.
To escape from his terrible home life, young BoJack reveled in the fame of Secretariat, the 1973 Triple Crown winner. BoJack grew fond of Secretariat and wanted to be just like him.
BoJack sent a letter to Secretariat, telling him how much of a fan he is, but also telling him sometimes he gets sad and asking what to do when that happens. Secretariat actually received this letter and he answered BoJack's question while on The Dick Cavett Show, telling him to just keep running forward and never look back or let anyone stop him. Sadly, BoJack never got to hear the answer as his parents started having a loud argument in the other room.
As BoJack became older he turned to comedy for solace after the 1973 suicide of Secretariat.
BoJack was introduced to performing in front of audiences at his mother's Sunday supper club parties, where she would force him to sing The Lollipop Song.
In the mid-80s, BoJack left home and headed to Los Angeles and started working on his career as a comedian.
In 1985, while trying hole-in-the-wall comedy clubs, BoJack met Herb Kazzaz, and later Charlotte Moore, Herb's girlfriend. The three became good friends while BoJack and Herb tried to become big stars, with Herb mentoring BoJack on how to better his comedy.
Herb finally landed a show called Horsin' Around and convinces the executives to cast BoJack as the star of the show.
Right before this, Charlotte tells BoJack she’s moving to Maine, saying she doesn’t think she’s the person Herb is looking for. She tells BoJack L.A. is a pretty town on top of a tar pit, and by the time you realize you’re sinking it’s too late.
Charlotte also asks him if he would have made a move on her if Herb wasn't around, and she answers this question by saying she thinks he wouldn't have because she thinks he's a coward.
BoJack on Horsin' Around
Horsin' Around is a huge hit, and BoJack quickly rises to fame. However, during the show, BoJack slowly becomes more and more depressed, bitter, and cynical. He also lets fame go to his head.
He turns to smoking and alcohol. The latter of which he used to reject, just like his parents, in order to deal with the pressure and loneliness of becoming famous in Hollywoo. His relationship with Herb also became strained.
Around the same time, Mr. Peanutbutter's House, starring Mr. Peanutbutter, premiered, which BoJack rightfully assumed was a Horsin' Around knockoff. Due to this BoJack considers Mr. Peanutbutter a rival, whereas the latter is constantly energetic and cheerful around BoJack, considering him a friend, which just annoys BoJack even more.
On Halloween 1993, Mr. Peanutbutter and Katrina went to BoJack's house for his Halloween party. BoJack lies about having his own Halloween party, so he wouldn't have to go to Mr. Peanutbutter's party. Mr. Peanutbutter then ended up bringing his party to BoJack's house. Mr. Peanutbutter would continue to do this every year, despite BoJack hating the parties. BoJack would always get extremely drunk by the end and would always tell the leaving guests to do it again next year.
In the early-mid 90s, BoJack's agent Marv told him that a Secretariat movie is in the works, and he might have the lead role if he can avoid scandals.
However, around the same time Herb was caught doing lewd acts in public with another man, which garnered a large negative media reception due to homophobia at the time.
Herb talks to BoJack about how the executives are gunning for him, and asks BoJack to back him up and threaten to quit. BoJack, at first hesitant due to what Marv told him, agreed, as he owed all his success to Herb.
Later, Angela Diaz, an ABC network executive talks to BoJack about letting Herb go. Although against it at first, BoJack ends up betraying Herb. He agrees to stay when Angela tells him in "Hollywoo you don’t get to be successful or achieve your dreams, especially the Secretariat movie, by being a good friend."
Herb is fired, and BoJack doesn't talk to Herb until 2014, when Herb is on his deathbed from rectal cancer.
BoJack continues the show until its cancellation during the ninth season in 1996, and the Secretariat movie ended up going into "development hell." The Horsin' Around finale features the death of BoJack's character, The Horse, and the doctor telling his adopted orphans that he died of a "broken heart" because they didn't love him enough, and they are sent back to social services.
BoJack didn't get many roles for the next twenty years, mostly due to the fact he had no urge to work again, turning down any offers Marv got for him, and his reputation of being difficult to work with.
The minor exception was The BoJack Horseman Show in 2007, which was critically panned and canceled. It was created by Cuddlywhiskers, and was originally titled "Mitch's Life" and was well received by network execs. However, BoJack convinced Cuddlywhiskers to have the two of them rewrite it, as BoJack was scared the show wouldn’t help him break away from his reputation of being "the Horse from Horsin' Around." The end result was a disaster, and BoJack refuses to talk about it in public to this day.
Around the same time, he began an on again off again relationship with his agent, Princess Carolyn, who he had known since 1993 as Marv's secretary and was given his position when he quit in, in an effort for both of them to not be alone.
On Halloween, 2009, during BoJack's annual Halloween party, he gets a call from his mother, who tells him that his father, Butterscotch, died from injuries he sustained in a duel.
During this phone call, Mr. Peanutbutter's new girlfriend, Diane Nguyen, awkwardly introduced herself to BoJack, but he rudely shooed her off. Mr. Peanutbutter later assured Diane BoJack would probably not remember her.
That same night, a young slacker named Todd Chavez went to his party. After the party ended, BoJack laments to Todd, the only guest who stayed, that he thought he would feel something when this (one of his parents dying) happened, but he doesn’t. Todd offers to stick around for a bit, and BoJack agrees and tells him to stick around as long as he wants.
Season 1
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A washed-up, has-been BoJack in 2014, spending his days drinking heavily and binge eating while watching reruns of his old show
In 2014, BoJack is still trapped in a cynical, depressed life and spends his days on the couch drinking heavily and binge eating. He also watches reruns of his has-been show in an attempt to live in his past. Todd is still living with him. BoJack actually cares for Todd, despite saying otherwise. He doesn’t want Todd to leave him, for fear of loneliness.
BoJack is dumped by Princess Carolyn in the first episode, telling him that, besides a lot of other reasons, he’s afraid of commitment and he hates himself too much to let other people love him. However, they still sleep together later in the episode and in Zoës and Zeldas.
He also must still deal with Mr. Peanutbutter and their one sided rivalry, with Mr. Peanutbutter innocently interrupting the date where Princess Carolyn dumped BoJack.
Reaching utter despair, BoJack is approached by Pinky Penguin of Penguin Publishing to write his biography, as the company is in dire straights. Believing to be up to the task, BoJack promised to write the book himself.
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BoJack meets his ghostwriter, Diane Nguyen, for the first time
Unable to after several months, Pinky forced him to hire a ghostwriter, Diane Nguyen, the writer of his hero Secretariat's biography. Already hating her for her supposedly "unpronounceable last name," he doesn't meet her until late into a party hosted by Todd. Attracted to and hitting it off with her immediately, he is disappointed when she reveals that she is dating Mr. Peanutbutter.
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BoJack suggest not all of the troops are automatically heroes and some of them are probably jerks
In BoJack Hates the Troops, BoJack denies a seal man a box of muffins he had "dibs" on at the grocery store, taking the muffins just to spite him. The seal turned out to be Neal McBeal, a Navy Seal, to the news network MSNBSea to tell about BoJack's behavior.
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, and 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. He is cut off by Mr. Peanutbutter's antics before he can finish his rant.
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BoJack agrees to tell the full truth, "warts and all"
Afterwards, he agrees to tell Diane the whole truth about himself, warts and all, and for the first time starts to come clean about his abusive upbringing and past shitty behaviors.
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BoJack reunited with Sarah Lynn, who has a public meltdown when her boyfriend, Andrew Garfield, dumps her
BoJack reunited with Sarah Lynn, who played Sabrina, the Horse’s youngest daughter, on Horsin’ Around, in Prickly-Muffin. A few years after the show ended she became a successful pop singer, but her later album tanked. Sarah Lynn showed erotic behavior, turning to drugs and alcohol. After turning thirty her fans lost interest in her for younger pop singers such as Sextina Aquafina.
After meeting Sarah Lynn and attempting to check her into rehab due to a public meltdown due when her boyfriend, Andrew Garfield dumps her, he lets her stay with him for a while. She stays until everyone tires of her throwing chaotic parties. Later, she reveals to him that Herb Kazzaz, his former best friend has “ass cancer."
He works with Todd to help better the latter's rock opera in Zoës and Zeldas, which gets the attention of famous rock opera producer, Virgil Van Cleef. However, not wanting Todd to leave, as he couldn’t handle being alone, BoJack used Character Actress Margo Martindale in a scheme to sabotage Todd's rock opera. He does this by placing a Decapithon video game Todd was once addicted to next to a cash register at a convenience store. As a result, it led to him staying up all night playing it and neglecting in finishing his rock opera.
In Live Fast, Diane Nguyen, BoJack goes to Boston with Diane to attend her father's funeral, who, along with the rest of her family, was "a mean sadistic asshole." BoJack later consoles her by telling her the ways he appreciates her. He reassures her that she does not need to find closure or appreciation from her family since they are horrible to her and that she should concentrate on moving forward and focusing her life on where she's living and simply don't go back to her family.
After returning to L.A., BoJack attempted to reconnect with Herb, who had been diagnosed with terminal rectal cancer, leaving him a voice mail at the end of the episode.
Jealous of Diane's relationship with Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack stole the "D" from the Hollywood sigh in a drunken stupor, and finds it on his deck the next day. Mr. Peanutbutter arrives to confirm his suspicions of BoJack having feelings for Diane by stealing the D, but offers to help BoJack return the D secretly under the condition BoJack stops pursuing Diane romantically. BoJack agrees.
The two come up with a plan involving BoJack distracting the people and the media while Mr. Peanutbutter uses his helicopter to take the "D" back. However, BoJack is double-crossed when Mr. Peanutbutter has the "D" delivered to his house instead as a romantic gesture for Diane.
Angered, BoJack calls Princess Carolyn to complain that Mr. Peanutbutter is ripping him off again, much like their rival sitcoms in the past. Princess Carolyn rebuffs, saying while BoJack may start ideas, Mr. Peanutbutter actually carries them out and expresses them clearly. BoJack realizes he has never told Diane about his feelings for her and sets up a memoir interview in order to do so. While he is able to tell her that she should be with someone who understands her better, he stops short when he is reminded he is being recorded for writing purposes.
When Diane returns home to Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack calls to once again express his feelings, but his call is ignored when Mr. Peanutbutter asks Diane to talk intimately. Mr. Peanutbutter apologizes for his grand gestures and explains how much he loves her despite having different personalities.
Simultaneously, BoJack leaves a heartfelt voicemail about how good she makes him feel. As his voicemail message ends, Mr. Peanutbutter proposes to Diane, and she accepts. Diane then calls BoJack back, telling him the news about her engagement and asking what his voicemail was about. BoJack tells her to delete it, saying it was another drunken message. He goes on a week long bender, which Princess Carolyn ends by giving him a pep talk, as well as a commercial shoot opportunity, to snap him out of it.
However, to the frustration of Princess Carolyn, who had to deal with her rival Vanessa Gekko as their agencies merged—BoJack abandons his commercial shoot and coming to fawn after her, to which Princess Carolyn points out he does so every time something bad happens to him. However, she finally relents to a date with BoJack after much pestering, to pursue happiness by going on a date with him.
The two enjoy their date, but simultaneously get a phone call. Princess Carolyn is called by Vanessa Gekko, telling her that Cate Blanchett, who was previously Princess Carolyn's client, has switched to become Vanessa's client. Dismayed, Princess Carolyn decides to commit to pursuing happiness with BoJack to take her mind off of her career.
BoJack, meanwhile, is called by Herb Kazzaz, who is responding to BoJack's voicemail from the episode Live Fast, Diane Nguyen. Herb scathingly tells BoJack to visit him at his home in Malibu if BoJack has anything to say to him. The call sobers up BoJack, and he admits to Princess Carolyn that she was right earlier when she said they don't love each other, and that they're just lonely and trying to hate themselves less.
Princess Carolyn gathers herself after that evening, swearing to become a "heartless, hard career gal." She is called on the way to work by BoJack, who tells her he is on his way to visit Herb, and wishes to get work when he returns.
BoJack travels to Malibu to see Herb, with Diane and Todd in tow.
Herb, who now appears very sickly, welcomes BoJack and Diane in, but throws barbed jokes at BoJack. Diane eases the tension by getting the two to joke about common topics. Herb also reveals he actually had a good life after getting fired, he started a charity and even met the president. He also kept in touch with Charlotte. Herb ends up admitting it was actually nice to see BoJack again. As BoJack and Diane are about to leave, BoJack complains about the visit not feeling right. Seeking closure, BoJack returns to Herb's bedroom to apologize for the past. Herb accepts, but does not forgive BoJack.
When BoJack says this will probably be the last time they’ll see each other, Herb angrily says he’s not giving BoJack closure, and he has to live with the "shitty thing [he] did to him for the rest of his life." He recounts how he felt after his career fell apart, and expected everyone except BoJack to abandon him. He tells BoJack to “get the fuck” out of his house. BoJack solemnly sighs with acceptance.
On his way out, BoJack picks up a telescope on his way out that Herb had given him on the exact day Herb told him Horsin' Around was being picked up. This sets off Herb, demanding BoJack leave the telescope, and when he refuses, the two get into a physical altercation before Diane separates them. Herb then begins to tell BoJack off again, saying while he thinks of himself as "the good guy," he’s actually nothing but a selfish coward who takes what he wants and doesn’t give a shit about who he hurts. BoJack says he doesn’t know why he came here. Herb says “Yes, you do," as his nurse helps him back to his room.
After this, on the way home, BoJack brushes off Princess Carolyn's phone call telling him she got him a gig she spent all day achieving. He pulled over to the side of the road, distraught. Diane gets out and tells him she thought it took a lot of courage to do what he did. BoJack then kisses Diane, who quickly pushes him away.
Things became awkward for BoJack and Diane after this incident, with BoJack plotting to sabotage Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's wedding, and Diane telling him that she has enough information to write the BoJack, in order to indirectly avoid him.
BoJack has Todd get a job as Mr. Peanutbutter’s personal driver, although this and his other attempts to ruin the wedding fail, and the wedding ends up getting pushed to later in the week.
The wedding is then decided to be held at the restaurant BoJack owns on BoJack's suggestion so he has a better vantage to sabotage the wedding. Todd then learns from a personal conversation with Mr. Peanutbutter that he has doubts about his marriage to Diane.
He remarks he sometimes feels relief when he dreams that Diane disappeared from his life. Conflicted, Todd decides not to share this useful information with BoJack when he suspects that BoJack had used Margo Martindale similarly in Zoës and Zeldas to help Todd relapse back into playing video games.
Having been further held up by jury duty, BoJack is unable to come up with any plans to sabotage the wedding. Spurred on by Margo Martindale at the courthouse to tell Diane his feelings for her, BoJack rushes to the wedding, only to be stopped by an angry Todd reminding BoJack to stop intruding in other people's lives. He attends the wedding without incident, and reconciles with Diane about the awkwardness between them
In One Trick Pony, BoJack was cast to play Mr. Peanutbutter in Mr. Peanutbutter's Hollywoo Heist, the movie based on the events of Our A-Story is a "D" Story. During filming, Todd decides to get involved to do something with his life since his failed rock opera launch in Zoës and Zeldas. He begins to suggest ideas to Quentin Tarantulino, and is reciprocated due to Tarantulino's eccentricity. This causes major changes to the script and film and begins to downplay BoJack's screen time and involvement.
BoJack suspects this is the direct result of Todd enacting revenge for BoJack's sabotage of Todd's rock opera. The changes to the film become increasingly drastic until the film is canceled altogether when Quentin and Todd decide the story should be told as a "bi-monthly curated box of snacks." BoJack confronts Todd, accusing him of sabotaging the film to prevent BoJack from relaunching his career similarly to what he did to Todd.
Todd, however, claims it wasn't the case, as he had learned to move on and had been working with Quentin in earnest. He refuses to fully reconcile with a guilty BoJack in the end.
In the meanwhile, Diane had finally completed the first draft of BoJack's memoir One Trick Pony. However, BoJack discovered that Diane honestly portrayed him as a person that was flawed, yet relatable. He angrily demands to Diane that she rewrite the book, and she in return goes behind his back and leaks early chapters of the book on Buzzfeed, which led to BoJack firing her.
BoJack tried to write the book himself with the help of doing drugs with Todd and Sarah Lynn. This leads to BoJack having a long drug bender where he realizes how psychologically messed up he is and it could be too late for him to change that. He has a dream where he went with Charlotte to Maine, had a daughter with her and lived a long happy life together.
When he wakes up Princess Carolyn calls him to tell him all he write was random stuff and gibberish.
At a small convention for ghostwriters, Diane sits at a panel to take questions from a sparse showing. BoJack shows up eventually and apologizes to Diane, saying she knows what she was doing. He goes on to say he doesn't mind her version being published, since he doesn't care what people think of him anymore. However, in coming to terms with his faults and failures, BoJack asks Diane to tell him that he is still a good person inside and pleads with her to give him that sense of security. His question catches her off guard and the two stare at each other in silence, giving no answer.
The book won a Golden Globe, for Best Comedy And/Or Musical despite not being either, not even being a film. He decided to do more with his career, and he got the life long dream part of Secretariat, his childhood hero, with Diane getting a job as a character consultant.
When he tells Diane this news on the roof top of Mr. Peanutbutter's house during a party, Diane provides an answer to BoJack's question about if she thinks he's still a good person deep down; that she doesn't believe in a "deep down" and that "people are made up of the things they do." She goes on to tell him that she chose to be a character consultant for the Secretariat movie, which would make them coworkers once shooting begins.
The episode ends with BoJack returning to the Griffith Park Observatory, where his success with Horsin' Around began. He signs an autograph for a young horse who says BoJack is his hero. Surprised at the remark, BoJack continues to stare out at the city.
Season 2
In Season 2, BoJack attempts to better himself, adapting a "brand new attitude," although this is hampered when he can’t deliver a line correctly. An accident on set puts filming on hold for two days, and when he asks Diane for advice she asks him what he did when he acted on Horsin' Around.
BoJack remembered a conversation with Herb he had after he invited his mother to a taping, only for her to continue to criticize and put him down. Herb told him he was good at hitting his mar, and for now since it was a sitcom he didn’t have to worry at the moment about being a "real actor." In the present, BoJack came to the conclusion that he wasn’t a real actor, and continues to stress over the fact the movie may be his last shot at happiness.
As BoJack sits in his trailer before shooting, he gets a call from Beatrice, his now elderly mother, who tells him she read his book, including all the parts about her and how she treated him. She apologizes by telling him that he was "born broken," and nothing he does will ever fill the void.
After having trouble dating women due to all his dates bringing up details from his book, BoJack meets Wanda Pierce, an owl woman who had just woken up from a thirty-year coma, and therefore had no idea who he was.
BoJack is immediately attracted to her because of this, but to his surprise he also actually cares about her and wants to spend time with her, sober, rather than just have sex.
They begin dating, although one one of their dates they meet Alex, a man who has also woken up from a thirty-year coma. Wanda and Alex connect because they don’t understand the last thirty years worth of references. BoJack is jealous, so he spies on Alex and tricks Princess Carolyn to come along, though she leaves, not wanting to participate. Alex makes a call on a radio trying to contact the KGB and BoJack discovers he’s a communist spy.
He tries to expose Alex at a party, but when Alex does admit it he also gains sympathy from everyone when he says he’s made friends and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to get home to Russia. Wanda is upset BoJack spied on Alex and she leaves with him.
After some motivation from Princess Carolyn who tells him he always sabotages every good thing that happens to him, he goes to Disneyland and apologizes to Wanda, saying that he wants to be better and she makes him better. When she is unsure if she wants to be with him when he’s still trying to get his shit together, he asks her to move in with him, and she agrees.
Herb dies shortly before Still Broken. His cancer had actually gone into remission, but he crashed into a truck full of peanuts, which he was deathly allergic to.
BoJack reconnected with Horsin' Around crew during Herb's funeral, including Sarah Lynn, Joelle Clarke, and Bradley Hitler-Smith. He also reunited with Charlotte, who revealed that she only lived in Maine for a month in the 80s, and that she currently lived in Tesuque, New Mexico.
She gives BoJack her business card and tells him he can visit her if he's ever in New Mexico.
The Horsin' Around gang ends up going on a treasure hunt after finding clues that lead them to Herb's storage locker. Inside the locker they find a brief case with a letter from Herb's friend, Henry Winkler, talking about a novel he (Herb) wrote. They piece together that Henry murdered Herb for his book. They return to the funeral and confront Henry Winkler. He confesses he did steal it, but only because the book was terrible.
BoJack continued to try and make himself a better person and continued his relationship with Wanda, and showed his care for her, even saying "I Love You" to her however the idea of being actually in love scares him and he almost detracts this statement as soon as he says it.
He was also motivated by Kelsey Jannings, the director of Secretariat. He convinced her to go out and shoot the Richard Nixon scene of the film that was cut, for being too dark and gritty, they both didn't like the direction the film was heading in and shot the scene behind the producer, Lenny Turteltaub's back. Kelsey got fired for this and was replaced with another director, Abe D'Catfish.
BoJack was upset and over stressed with this, and the director was upset that BoJack had insulted the film, thus he continued to pack BoJack with repeated re-shoots of the same scenes. He was so stressed, he got into a fight with Wanda, and they broke up, with Wanda saying she couldn't be with someone as negative as him.
He left California, and traveled to New Mexico, to see Charlotte. He finds out that Charlotte is married to a man named Kyle and has two children with him: a seventeen-year-old deer girl named Penny and a thirteen-year-old human boy named Trip. The business went crazy without him, and Princess Carolyn kept giving excuses to cover him up. He lied to Charlotte, and her family, telling them he was there for a boat show. He really went to see Charlotte.
He got along great with her family, especially her daughter Penny. He made himself at home and even took Penny and her friends to prom when her crush failed to ask her out. He encouraged them to drink. However, when one of her friends, Maddy, passed out, Penny and BoJack took off and returned home. They left Maddy with Penny's other close friend Pete Repeat in the Emergency Room.
Penny wanted to have sex with BoJack, to which he initially refused. He talked with Charlotte, reminiscing about the fun times they had in the 80's with Herb—BoJack confesses he cannot run away from his problems, and especially himself. It's a tender moment that causes BoJack to kiss Charlotte and asks her to run away with him, confessing he loved her all this time. He expresses a desire for wanting Charlotte to leave her husband and life for him.
Charlotte refuses and gets angry, saying she has worked hard for this life for her and her family, and BoJack depresses her. She claims he disrupted her life stating, "[BoJack] came in like a hurricane, all because they knew each other for a short time thirty years ago." Charlotte then says he doesn't really know her, telling him he can stay for one more night but must leave the next morning.
BoJack returned to his boat that he purchased to keep the lie going, He found Penny there, still wanting sex, he tells her to go to bed. He goes inside the cabin, but leaves the door opened. Charlotte, seeing a balloon with a glow stick, that leads to the boat, ends up seeing BoJack and Penny allegedly about to have sex.
She then orders Penny angrily to go to her room, and then tells BoJack that if she ever tried to contact her or her family again, she would "fucking kill him," which is the second relationship BoJack has permanently destroyed, the first being with Herb Kazzaz.
He took the boat back to Hollywoo with him. He found the film has been finished without him, as he was replaced with a computer-generated version of himself. His performance and the film are widely praised and he is offered for more and more roles. He hires a new publicist, Ana Spanakopita, who promises him success with winning an Oscar, as that is what she is well-known for—her nickname being "The Oscar Whisperer."
He jogs once again up a hill for exercise, and the Jogging Baboon told him it gets easier but he needs to follow a routine of doing it every single day which is the difficult part.
Season 3
In Season 3, BoJack is seen promoting the Secretariat film and gets annoyed with the several interviews. BoJack had hired Ana Spanakopita as his publicist, and they are working on getting him an Oscar nomination.
Most of the interviewers asked BoJack about Horsin' Around and he defended it. Ana told him to stop defending the show, claiming he was more than a sitcom star now. While in New York, New York, he decides to see a play by his old friend Jill Pill. They worked on the BoJack Horseman Show together. Jill asked him to visit Cuddlywhiskers, who created the BoJack Horseman Show.
Doing an interview with Manatee Fair, the interviewer got him drunk after he got upset about everybody asking him what he'll do next. They end up having sex in his hotel room, where he drunkenly talked about the incident with Penny and revealed that he is not in Secretariat, it's just a computer-generated version of him.
The interviewer recorded the conversation. He wakes up the next morning to find she is gone, and panics. However, Ana Spanakopita manages to fix the situation somehow. Later, at a Q&A at a Secretariat screening, he decided to play Ana's game and doesn't defend Horsin' Around.
Back in L.A, he decided to visit Cuddlywhiskers with Diane, who was having marriage problems with Mr. Peanutbutter. They didn't find him right away, instead they finding a dead female whale in a pool. Her phone showed she had text someone, saying "BoJack is trying to kill me."
BoJack and Diane were interrogated but not arrested due to lack of evidence. They tried to figure out what happened, it turned out the whale was working at the sketchy Whale World, which was basically a strip club that did not use the term "Strippers" so it was "Family-Friendly."
The club was owned by Ritchie Osbourne, who played the character of Goober on Horsin' Around. He was a sexist person who was arrested previously for raping a dozen Laker Girls. It turned out BoJack was not being framed, but the stripper was addicted to a new type of drug made by Ritchie called "BoJack" because horse meant heroin and he's a horse. Ritchie was arrested. Later, BoJack met Cuddlywhiskers for the first time in eight years.
After returning a seahorse back to his family and unsuccessfully trying to reconnect with Kelsey in the Pacific Ocean while attending the film festival there, BoJack begins to worry when Secretariat is officially released. When the film is a success, he, along with Todd, decide to crash a random wedding—which is really a rehearsal dinner. Todd reconnects with his old girlfriend Emily.
BoJack takes over the dinner, but accidentally convinces one of the brides that they shouldn't get married if they don't know if that's what they want. BoJack also tries to set Todd up with Emily, unaware that he is asexual—and does not want to pursue Emily romantically. BoJack eventually set the brides back together when he warns her not to let go of the people close to her, or as he puts it, "Find someone you can halfway tolerate and don't let go." That night, he ended up having sex with Emily, as she was saddened by Todd not wanting her.
BoJack slowly began to lose his confidence as he was losing award such as The Leonard Maltin awards and The Golden Snowflake awards. BoJack was trying to prank Jurj Clooners, who was considered the "King Of Pranks" but found out that Ana was his publicist. Upon finding out Ana was doing great work for other clients, he fired Ana in anger. BoJack hired Todd as his publicist, but he wasn't good at all. Ana fired all her other clients and BoJack hired her once more. Ana proceeded to give BoJack a hand-job.
Since Todd and Emily had been working on their Uber-like business Cabracadabra they were stationed at BoJack's house. BoJack and Emily were nervous and tried to hide their sex secret from Todd. At the same time, BoJack was upset that he was constantly getting newspapers from The L.A. Gazette, which he never subscribed to.
He vents to the closer who is trying to convince him to keep the newspapers. He keeps having sex with Ana but realizes he doesn't know her, and follows her home one day. He is depressed seeing her lonely life.
He also picks a billboard advertisement for Secretariat that he likes, but it doesn't make much sense in that context. He finds out Margo Martindale had been living in his boat for months, stealing the food from the house. He eventually agrees to keep the newspaper coming to the house.
On December 31st, 2015, BoJack was upset that Bradley Hitler-Smith, his old co-star from Horsin' Around was making a sequel series to Horsin' Around titled Ethan Around and hadn't told him about it. Bradley was ecstatic BoJack is "attached" to the series, although he didn't actually want to do it and was just mad Bradley hadn't told him about it.
Princess Carolyn gave him an offer to do a film called Flight Of The Pegasus. BoJack saw this as a chance to get out of Ethan Around. BoJack also got a chance to do another film about a girl who enjoys jelly beans. Even better, it was being directed by Kelsey Jannings!
Princess Carolyn tried to get him to do both films, as he wanted. Meanwhile, Bradley flew over to L.A. that same day, telling BoJack about it. He didn't have the heart to tell Bradley he didn't want to do it. Princess Carolyn ended up accidentally blowing both film deals that night for BoJack.
Not only that, but Ana bluntly told Bradley he didn't wish to do Ethan Around. BoJack had nothing left to do. In early January 2016, roughly around BoJack's fifty-second birthday, he decided to fire Princess Carolyn as his agent for screwing up his film deals. After a long night, that included having them save the restaurant that BoJack owned, BoJack stuck to his decision to fire Princess Carolyn.
Sometime later, early months of 2016, Mr. Peanutbutter was asked to announce the Oscar nominations, but he lost the envelope to the nominations. He and Todd came up with their own nominations, and they included BoJack's performance in Secretariat. He ended up throwing a party and getting drunk and knocked out in a pool after fighting with Diane.
Mr. Peanutbutter saved his life, but it was revealed what actually happened, BoJack was never nominated for an Oscar. Ana was not at the party, she was nowhere to be found and did not answer BoJack's calls. Todd returned home the next morning. Emily had abandoned the Cabracadabra project and told Todd that neither she nor BoJack hadn't been very good friends to Todd.
Todd and BoJack argued once he returned. BoJack eventually revealed he had sex with Emily. BoJack tried to apologize and give an excuse, but Todd didn't want to hear it, saying “You are everything that is wrong with you. It’s not the drugs, or the alcohol, or the shitty things that happened to you in your career, or when you were a kid, it’s you." He then said “Fuck, man. What else is there to say?” and leaves BoJack alone.
BoJack, with nobody still close to him, decides to drink and do drugs with Sarah Lynn after she had been sober for over eight months. They go on an epic bender for a month and end up visiting Ohio State University, which Penny is attending.
They spy on her to see if the incident with BoJack messed her up at all, but she appears to be OK and having a good time at college. However, she ends up seeing BoJack and she becomes terrified. Fans and paparazzi also see BoJack and Sarah Lynn, and the two flee as Penny disappears into the crowd. Sarah Lynn and BoJack return to LA and break down emotionally after doing heroin, and BoJack tells Sarah Lynn they’re going to the planetarium.
While watching the show, Sarah Lynn rests on BoJack’s shoulder and says she wants to be an architect. BoJack then gives a speech about being small specs in the large universe, saying it doesn’t matter what they did in the past or how they’ll be remembered, all that matters is now. Sarah Lynn does not respond. BoJack says her name and nudges her. Sarah Lynn died from a drug overdose at age thirty-one.
BoJack is deeply distraught over Sarah Lynn's overdose. He stays home and watches old episodes of Horsin' Around. Diane visits him after he returns from her funeral and tells him how much Horsin' Around comforted her as a child. He says people need a show like Horsin' Around in their lives.
This inspires BoJack to call Bradley and tells him that he does want to do Ethan Around. BoJack seems to be getting his life back on track. They film the first episode, but when Chloe, the little girl in the show, tells BoJack her dream is to be like him, he panics, remembering Sarah Lynn and flees the building. He drives up the highway, and speeds the car, trying to commit suicide, but he sees several horses running, and he watches them in the distance.
Around this time, while at her new office Princess Carolyn learns from her assistant, Judah, that someone is trying to contact BoJack, and that it sounds like a teenage girl. Princess Carolyn tells him to ignore it, as she doesn’t work for him anymore. We then see who was on the other line: a teenage female horse, who looks sad at not being able to contact BoJack.
Season 4
Season 4 begins with the reveal BoJack has been missing for a while. In the second episode it picks up at where Season 3 left off. BoJack gets a call from Diane, but ignores it. After watching the wild horses leave, he drives further up the highway, across the country. He arrives in Harper's Landing, Michigan, staying at the lake house he and his mother stayed in during their childhood summers, which has become run down and depleted in the last few decades.
He stays there for over a year, not revealing his identity and becoming a legally missing person. He meets Eddie, a dragonfly who lives next door. Although a bit of a grump, he helps BoJack fix up the house. He doesn’t leave the lakefront because he refuses to fly although BoJack says he could take a plane.
By the end of summer the lake house is almost finished, all that’s missing is a weather vane that was stolen by a local restaurant in a barn. While BoJack goes to get the weather vane Eddie distracts everyone by singing I Will Always Think of You on the piano, and at the end, he breaks down crying. BoJack is seen by the owners and the two run off in BoJack’s car. Later, while BoJack puts up the weather vane, he purposely falls off the ladder to get Eddie to fly and catch him. Eddie does end up flying, which enrages him.
He picks BoJack up and they start flying higher, with Eddie revealing he got his wife Lorraine killed because he made the, fly too high and she got sucked into a plane engine. Eddie attempts a murder-suicide with BoJack by trying to get them sucked into a plane engine, but BoJack gets loose and the two fall into the lake. After BoJack rescues Eddie, the latter asks BoJack why he saved him and breaks down crying saying he doesn’t want to live.
BoJack leaves Eddie and goes back inside and calls Diane. He apologizes to her for everything and tells her where he is. He says he can’t come home because he doesn’t belong anywhere. Diane reassured him that everyone belongs in Los Angeles, it has no barriers for entry.
BoJack jokingly agrees with her that L.A. will let in literally anyone. The two then admit they missed each other. The next morning BoJack calls in a demolition team to destroy the lake house. When Eddie asks what's going on, BoJack tells him that he has decided to stop wallowing in the past and move forward in life. As the house is torn down, BoJack drives back to Hollywoo.
Shortly after BoJack returns to Hollywoo, the teenage horse girl who tried to contact him over a year ago also arrives. She knocks out Todd with chloroform, and after he wakes up she introduces herself as Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack.
She has eight last names because she was adopted by eight gay men who all live in a gay polyamorous relationship. She explains that ever since she was a baby people have always told her she looked like BoJack Horseman, so she came to Los Angeles to see if he is her biological father. She came to Todd first because BoJack said they lived together in his book.
Todd says they don’t live together anymore, but he agrees to take her to BoJack’s house to find a DNA sample, a strand of hair, to get tested. However, they discover BoJack has returned, and he is passed out on his couch, in his underwear and surrounded by garbage.
BoJack is in a deep enough sleep for Hollyhock to yank out a strand of his hair. Hollyhock says “Ok, let’s blow" and the word blow wakes up BoJack, saying to save some for him. BoJack asks who she is and she introduces herself.
Todd says she’s his new maid. BoJack starts to thank Todd and tell him how grateful he is for him, but Todd says they haven’t spoken in a year, and that actually has been working for him. BoJack sadly agrees, but then begins to question why he got him a maid. Hollyhock knocks out BoJack with chloroform and tells Todd to take the hair to get it tested.
However, when Todd gets to the lab he finds out he needs a sample from Hollyhock too, and, after going to a restaurant with Courtney Portnoy he goes back to discover she has not cleaned up at all, instead she has been going through BoJack’s stuff to learn about him.
Hollyhock also ate a box of doughnuts, got sleepy, and took a nap, which makes Todd certain the two are related. She doesn’t want to yank out a strand of hair because it sounds painful and asks if they can just use Todd’s hair. The doctor tells him no and Todd runs back and gets a hair sample from a comb she has.
BoJack complains to Todd his new maid isn’t doing her job and he’ll fire her, and Todd convinces BoJack to get drunk and fall asleep, and while he does that he’ll get the maid to clean. However, Todd ends up cleaning the house while Hollyhock eats, reads a magazine, and goes on her phone, and watches TV. When Todd has to leave again, he tells her to stay there and he’ll get the DNA test later, but he sees that she has fallen asleep.
After multiple shenanigans, the hair is able to be tested, and it is confirmed the DNA is a match. Todd later goes back to BoJack’s house looking for Hollyhock, but instead, he only finds BoJack. Todd tells him that Hollyhock is his daughter. BoJack laments about how he’ll just hurt her like everyone else in his life, like how he hurt Todd by sleeping with Emily, The only person he’s ever seen him in love with. Todd says he doesn’t think he ever loved her and thinks he doesn’t deserve to love. BoJack tells Todd he’s a great person, and he got more of him than he deserved.
Todd confesses he thinks he may be asexual. BoJack says there’s no problem with that, and Todd officially accepts himself as asexual. However, Todd rejects BoJack’s offer to stay at his house again and says he’s not ready to be best friends with him again yet, but they can be more than not friends. Todd welcomes BoJack back before he leaves, and after he leaves Hollyhock returns to BoJack’s house, leaving the two alone.
When BoJack tells her he’ll be a terrible father, Hollyhock reveals she doesn’t want another dad, she wants to know who her birth mom is. While BoJack claims he banged a lot of chicks in 1999, he suspects a woman named Marcy, because she was a “poking holes in the condoms type,” although she was “a nutter” and “a good lay.” BoJack agrees to take her to Marcy’s apartment the next morning to meet her, and Hollyhock says after that she’ll leave him alone. However she is able to guilt him into letting her stay at his house for the night instead of her hostile, which is in a bad part of town.
The next morning, BoJack wakes up to find that Hollyhock has set the microwave on fire for trying to make him breakfast, a Pop-tart, to thank him for letting her stay there. She kept the tinfoil wrapper on to make it “popcorn style.“ He forgives her however because making food is impossible. He also eats the charred Pop-tart on the way to driving Hollyhock to Marcy’s place.
BoJack explains Marcy was the president of his fan club. They arrive at Marcy’s apartment, and she tells BoJack she knew he would come back and says she did give a baby up for adoption seventeen years ago. Hollyhock hugs her “mother." Marcy says she tied to call BoJack but the number he gave her was for a sandwich shop in Temecula. BoJack lies and says he would have called her, but 9/11 happened.
Later, Marcy shows them a scrapbook of all the women BoJack had been with and their home addresses due to the fact she was so in love with BoJack and he never called back, which made her jealous. Hollyhock excuses herself to use the bathroom and then calls BoJack into the bathroom telling Marcy it’s a dad bathroom thing.
Hollyhock tells BoJack that Marcy is not her mom, because she found a photo of her from the premiere of the movie Autumn in New York, which premiered August of 2000. Hollyhock was born the following month, in September, and Marcy does not show signs of being eight months pregnant in the photo.
She tells BoJack they have to get the scrapbook, as it has every woman BoJack slept with and that will help them find her mom. BoJack agree to distract Marcy, but as Hollyhock sneaks into the living room to get the book, to her horror and disgust BoJack and Marcy are having sex behind the couch and BoJack is quizzing Marcy on random and obscure Horsin' Around trivia.
The next woman they go to is Tilda Madison, a hairless cat who is the Timedium on CBS. She did, in fact, get pregnant, but she got an abortion, with BoJack sending her a check for half of it. BoJack says that’s good because, "you don’t want any little BoJacks running around," because the last thing the world needs is more of him. Hollyhock is offended, and BoJack says he likes her but he would go back and try to prevent this. Hollyhock storms out angrily at this comment.
While driving away from Tilda’s set, BoJack tried to apologize, Hollyhock sarcastically apologizes that he has to interact with the women he was shitty to. BoJack says he doesn’t know why they’re doing it because she’ll never switch bodies with her mom or anything. Hollyhock commands BoJack to pull over, and she says she can find her mom on her own now that she has the book. She leaves and tells BoJack to have a bad life. He responds with “Joke’s on you! I already have one!”
However, BoJack returns home and misses her, so he goes to every woman he slept with and asks them if he got them pregnant and gave a baby up for adoption seventeen years ago. Neither he or Hollyhock find her mom.
Late in the day BoJack finds Hollyhock and tells her what he did. Hollyhock says this was stupid and that she shouldn’t have come here because she doesn’t need a Mom because she did great with eight dads.
She gets upset over wanting a mom because that means her dads weren’t good enough for her, but they were. BoJack tells her to give up for looking for enough, because it’ll never be enough. Hollyhock starts crying and he, not knowing how to comfort her and asks what her dads tell her. She says they tell her it’s OK to cry and she shouldn’t feel bad about feeling bad. BoJack tells her she can stay with him a little longer, but Hollyhock questions how they’re going to find her mom.
BoJack lies and says her mother is “Carla Mercedes Benz Brown." Hollyhock says that’s a weird name, BoJack retorts by saying Hollyhock is the one with a weird name. Hollyhock hopes that the first thing she and her birth mother could talk about when they finally meet for the first time.
However, he promises that he’ll do everything he can to help her find her birth mom, but from his experience with his mother he says moms aren’t that great. Hollyhock asks if she could meet her, and BoJack lies that she’s dead. He then confesses a few minutes later that she isn’t dead. Hollyhock says she wants to meet her and asks where she lives. He tells her she lives in a luxurious nursing home, but he cannot remember the name, which offends Hollyhock. BoJack reluctantly agrees to take Hollyhock to visit his mother, and he says he won’t lie to her anymore.
While driving, BoJack calls Princess Carolyn for the first time in over a year, to her surprise. He apologizes for his behavior and treatment towards her, but then changes the subject and asks her where his mother’s nursing home is. It is learned she lives at Walnut Springs nursing home in Santa Barbara.
At the nursing home, the two find a now elderly Beatrice, but she doesn’t recognize BoJack and calls him “Henrietta." BoJack is annoyed by this and thinks she is just pretending to not recognize him due to her bitter attitude she always had towards him. However, she somehow recognizes Hollyhock, saying “Oh hello! It’s You!”. BoJack is distraught that his mother cannot recognize him. Hollyhock sits down next across from Beatrice and tells BoJack she’d like some orange juice as well.
Later, when BoJack comes back with the orange juice, he sees Hollyhock talking with Beatrice. Beatrice tells Hollyhock she can’t believe she came back, and that she looks “just like him."
A male doctor tells BoJack that his mother has dementia, and their visit has made her the most responsive she’s been in weeks, and them visiting on a daily basis will help her. BoJack refuses, but the doctor says she will not live for another 10 years. BoJack is fine with this and tells Hollyhock it’s time for them to leave. Hollyhock demands they visit her every week, because she’s his mother, and dementia is hereditary, so they might have it one day and they would want someone to take care of them. BoJack reluctantly agrees.
The next week, Beatrice shows Hollyhock a photo album, with BoJack still bitter about the fact she can’t remember him. After he leaves out of boredom.
A week later, BoJack brings a DVD set of Horsin' Around and he puts on the episode “I'm Ready For My Close-up, Mr. Dementia" to learn how to deal with Beatrice. To his shock, Beatrice recognizes BoJack on the TV and laughs at the episode, despite in the past criticizing and dismissing it.
During their next visit, BoJack remembers the limo ride to his father’s funeral with his mother a couple of years ago, and how he felt regret over not saying everything he wanted to say to his father.
He goes outside upset over his situation with his mother. Hollyhock wonders how they can get her to connect the BoJack from the show to the BoJack that visits her every week. BoJack then gets the idea to put on a live episode of Horsin’ Around at the nursing home, and when his mother finally recognizes him, he’ll sit next to her, squeeze her hand, and say “Fuck you, Mom." Hollyhock disagrees with this, but BoJack has already set his mind on it.
One week later, BoJack has set up a fake episode of Horsin’ Around, with Hollyhock playing Olivia by wearing a mop for a blonde wig. She is still skeptical and nervous about BoJack’s plan, but he tells her it’ll be ok, as long as she enunciates her lines. After Beatrice arrives they begin, but Beatrice is confused and scared by what they’re doing, and she ends up having a meltdown where she shoves other elders, and she is wheeled out of the room.
Beatrice is kicked out for being violent, and the doctor from before says due to her rapid deterioration, she should live with them. Hollyhock agrees and says Beatrice can have the guest bedroom and she’ll sleep on the couch. BoJack reluctantly agrees.
While Beatrice is being moved in, with the help of her new nurse Tina Bear, BoJack goes out on his deck and Hollyhock follows. He says his mother is going to die and she’ll never know how much he hates her. Hollyhock says she probably did because she read his novel, and assures him Beatrice will have bad days and good days, and maybe one day she will recognize him.
BoJack's self loathing thoughts are heard throughout Stupid Piece of Sh*t, which is what he constantly calls himself.
These intrusive, self hating thoughts continue as BoJack has breakfast, which consists of him eating cookies out of the package and then berating himself for eating cookies for breakfast.
Hollyhock tells BoJack they need milk, with Beatrice saying it’s "for the baby," and she asks BoJack if she could take the car.
BoJack's mind starts up again, but this time with distorted animation and crude, cartoony drawings.
His thoughts tell him if Hollyhock leaves he’ll be stuck with his mom and he doesn’t want Hollyhock getting her grubby hands all over his car, but another thought says she’s his daughter and tells him he’s a shitty piece of garbage for thinking that.
However, if Hollyhock does leave, he’s stuck with his mom, but if he leaves, his mother will tell Hollyhock how terrible he is and poison her against him.
BoJack blurts out that he'll get the milk. BoJack instead spends the day at a bar, as we hear his thoughts continue to berate him and spiral out of control. He shows up at his house, ashamed of how he spent his day. Hollyhock answers the door, questions where he’s been all day, and questions if he got the milk. BoJack only replies with "Uhhhh..."
The next day BoJack, after waking up and internally calling himself a "stupid piece of shit" again, goes downstairs where Hollyhock tells him Tina ended up getting the milk, and is using it to make breakfast.
Beatrice tells BoJack, still referring to him as "Henrietta," that he should make a healthy breakfast for the baby. He pushes her in her wheelchair into the hallway, and says he’s leaving, passing on Hollyhock's offer to eat breakfast with them. BoJack ends up just sitting in his car while parked on the side of Mulholland Drive, and he mentally bereaved himself for doing this instead of spending time with his daughter and dying mother.
He returns home later to find that Hollyhock has given Beatrice a baby doll, who, to BoJack's disgust, is cooing over and acting lovingly towards it like a real baby. Hollyhock tells BoJack that his mom kept asking where the "baby" was, so she got her a doll.
BoJack scoffs at his mom of all people being into a baby doll, and tells Hollyhock to not indulge in his mom's delusions. Hollyhock tells him he’s not around a lot and it was getting depressing to look at her.
BoJack's jealousy over his mom's doll increases, due to how horrible and abusive she was to him his whole life. Hollyhock tells him he needs to let go of his grudge against her, because she’s just a sweet confused old lady now. BoJack refuses to believe this.
After Beatrice scolds them for yelling in front of her "baby" and tells BoJack ("Henrietta") he’s unfit to be a parent. He sarcastically asks where that insight was fifty years ago, and he takes the doll from her and starts tossing it around, sarcastically asking if neglecting the baby and/or telling it for eighteen years how it embarrasses him and his life would have been better if it wasn’t born would make him a great mother, releasing his resentment towards his mother’s lifelong abuse towards him.
Beatrice tries to get the doll back and called him a worthless waste of her husband’s jizzim. BoJack takes this as a sign that Beatrice does recognize him after all. BoJack then throws the doll over his deck, which leads Beatrice to scream in horror and start sobbing. BoJack is at first pleased with himself, congratulating himself on the "nice throw" but Hollyhock is ashamed of him, and BoJack immediately feels regret.
BoJack starts driving downtown, telling himself he has to get the doll back, although he winds up at the bar again. He thinks to himself he’s making his daughter hate him, which is good, because he hurts everyone who he lets love him, like Herb, Penny, and Sarah Lynn. He decides to got to Diane for help.
He shows up at Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's house, but after Mr. Peanutbutter greets him he decides not to let Diane see him drunk and asking for help. As his mind berates him for doing so, he asks Mr. Peanutbutter for help.
Mr. Peanutbutter sniffs out the doll's scent, which leads them to Felicity Huffman's house. However, she refuses to give them the doll because BoJack has been throwing crap over his balcony for years, and it always ends up in her yard, from cigarette butts to a giant, regurgitated pile of cotton candy. Mr. Peanutbutter is able to meditate their feud and gets BoJack to agree to be on her show, FHBA.
BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter go to the bar to celebrate getting the doll back. Mr. Peanutbutter asks about Hollyhock, and BoJack says that he's scared he's gonna screw everything up and make her hate him, like what he always does.
Mr. Peanutbutter suggests to not do what he does to make people hate him, but BoJack says that when he looks at Hollyhock and her innocence, he thinks about all the shitty things he’s ever done, and he thinks he doesn’t deserve that kind of love. Mr. Peanutbutter tells him that he doesn’t know much about being governor, but what he does know is that that everyone deserves to be loved.
BoJack returns home drunk, and gives the doll back to his mom, who coldly replies "About time, Henrietta." As Tina takes Beatrice to bed, BoJack sees Hollyhock sitting on his deck chairs, lighting matches and throwing them into the pool.
BoJack tells himself to go talk to her, as his intrusive thoughts start up again. The voice tells him his poison is already in her and he’ll destroy her like everyone else in his life, and angrily questions himself what he’s going to do to Hollyhock. BoJack for once ignores his intrusive thoughts, telling them to "shut up," and goes to talk to Hollyhock.
He tells her he got the doll back. She questions where he disappears to all day. He says he just drive around, sometimes he’ll go to a bar, or just stop by the side of the road and stares into the distance. Hollyhock asks why and BoJack just shrugs.
She asks if he would rather do that then spend time with her, and tells him in a frustrated tone she knows he didn’t ask for a "dorky seventeen year old" and apologizes for being annoying. BoJack quickly reassures her that he likes having her here, and his shitty behavior is his own fault and not at all hers.
Hollyhock reveals that sometimes she has a tiny voice in the back of her head that says everyone hates her and they’re not wrong to feel that way. BoJack says he knows what she means. Hollyhock then asks “That voice, the one that tells you you're worthless and stupid and ugly? It goes away, right? It's just, like, a dumb teenage-girl thing, but then it goes away?" BoJack says yes.
In Underground, BoJack finally calls Diane for the first time since returning to LA. He tells her he’s back and he should have called her. Diane is not happy to hear from him because of this.
BoJack goes over to her house and learns that they are having a fundraiser for Mr. Peanutbutter's governor campaign.
The security guy won't let him in unless he pays. Mr. Peanutbutter comes over and talks to BoJack but doesn't get him in. BoJack begrudgingly pays $20,000 for a plate, but Diane still tries to avoid him.
Shortly afterwards, an earthquake occurs, and the entire house falls into a large sinkhole caused by Mr. Peanutbutter's Fracking, trapping everyone underground.
Diane, who is anti-fracking and furious with Mr. Peanutbutter for not listening to her about it, storms off to their room, where BoJack is hoarded up with all the alcohol. He says she can either be mad at him or get drunk with him, but not both.
As chaos ensues over the next few days in the house, BoJack and Diane continue to get drunk.
At one point, Diane breaks down about how she's going to die trapped underground because of her husband, and surrounded by his ex-wives. BoJack tries to assure her that she has a good life, but this makes Diane realize that she wasn’t happy above ground either. She breaks down crying, saying she’s the problem and she can’t be happy. She calls herself a pit good things fall into. BoJack tries to comfort her, saying she shouldn't feel bad about feeling bad, quoting the advice that one of Hollyhock's fathers gave her.
Diane asks BoJack why he didn't call her when he came back to LA after being gone for a year and a half. BoJack says that he wasn't ready, and wanted to be better when she saw him, although he doesn’t think that could ever happen. Diane says that he doesn't have to be better, and that he's the only thing that makes sense to her as she cuddles up next to him.
Later, BoJack talks about how the last few years have been rough, and he tells her about his daughter, Hollyhock, and how he’s trying to help her find her mom. Diane tells him he has to contact the adoption agency and send a mutual consent form to make her adoption open, and if her birth mom says the same thing, she can meet her.
BoJack tells Diane the secret to being happy is to pretend to be happy, and eventually you'll forget that you're pretending. Diane decides that’s not bad advice. Meanwhile, the party guests have turned against Mr. Peanutbutter, and his ex wife Jessica Biel sets Zach Braff on Fire and claims fire is their god. Mr. Peanutbutter is thrown into their room, and explains that fire is the new ruler, and he’ll be fed to it the next day. BoJack and Diane are forced out of the bedroom.
The next day, Mr. Peanutbutter has been tied to a makeshift cross and is about to be burned by Jessica. BoJack and Diane, still a bit drunk, try to figure out what to do, and realize that there might be a well of water beneath them. They start digging despite Woodchuck's, who is tied to the ceiling fan, protests for them not to.
Right when Jessica Biel is about to burn Mr. Peanutbutter, BoJack hits a pipe and water is released into the room. Everyone rejoices, until they realize that the water isn't stopping.
Two days later, The water has almost filled the entire house, with the guests floating just beneath the ceiling. They are about to drown the house when begins to move. Outside, the Ants, whom Princess Carolyn and Todd met and negotiated with earlier, have joined together to bring the house to the surface, as they want them out of there, although it crumbles to pieces immediately afterwards.
BoJack starts his guest judging appearance on FHBA in The Judge. Hollyhock comes with him, and its revealed he told her about the mutual consent adoption form. She says she’s glad to get out of the house, because being cooped up in his house makes her feel like she has tiny bugs crawling under her skin. It turns out FHBA stands for Felicity Huffman's Booty Academy: Los Angeles, and it’s about judging other women's butts, although Felicity claims it’s about judging character.
Hollyhock leaves due to the contestant's voluptuous figures making her feel like a blob, and BoJack has to shoot for another ten hours. The intern, Miles, catches up to her and the two agree to hang out.
She returns home the next day, as she spent the night at Miles's dorm, and tells BoJack about him. BoJack tells her he’ll never contact her again, but Miles does in fact text her and she leaves for a date with him. BoJack asks if she wants breakfast, but Hollyhock rejects, saying she’s good with her coffee, and she’ll be home for dinner.
When she returns home later that night, BoJack confronts her about coming home late and insists Miles is bad news. Hollyhock tells him there’s nothing to worry about because they like each other. BoJack retorts they like each other now, and begins to say something but hesitates.
He then says Miles is a teenage boy who's job is to hang around hot women in skimpy outfits, and then says “You think he’s gonna want...” but quickly cuts himself off. Hollyhock questions if he’s implying she’s not attractive enough. BoJack defends himself by saying she’s the one who said she was a blob.
Hollyhock, distraught, asks BoJack if he thinks she’s a blob, and angrily questions why he would call his daughter one. BoJack says she said it too, but she says she felt like a blob. She angrily questions BoJack again if he thinks she’s a blob. BoJack calmly tells her that he just thinks LA is a superficial town and she should be careful. Hollyhock angrily says Miles likes her just the way she is, and that’s the kind of person she wants to spend her time with.
She begins to storm out, but BoJack tries to stop her, saying “wait, wait, wait!," but Hollyhock heard this the wrong way and says “I get it! It’s my weight!” and slams the door as she leaves.
The next day, BoJack goes to Diane for advice. When Diane asks why it’s so hard to believe someone could genuinely like his daughter, BoJack exclaims that she’s like him. Diane tells him he should just apologize to Hollyhock. BoJack ignores her and comes up with his own plan. He tells one of the contestants to seduce the Pa, but she ends up sleeping with him, and BoJack learns Miles is an intern and not the PA. When the other judges learn about this BoJack is fired.
However, as BoJack leaves, Miles catches up to him, and says if he didn’t want him dating Hollyhock he could have told him, and they could’ve worked out some sort of deal. BoJack questions what he means.
Miles says he has his own screenplay that could really go somewhere. He gives it to BoJack and tells him if he gives it to someone he would never talk to Hollyhock again, showing that BoJack was right about Miles being a jerk.
BoJack tells this to Diane, having yet another massage by the pool. He was hoping that he would be wrong about Miles, and says he won’t tell Hollyhock, because she’s smart and she’ll figure it out eventually. He then says if she believes someone can love her for who she really is, he won’t take that away from her.
Later that night, BoJack finds Hollyhock on his couch with the TV on. After the two greet each other he apologizes for being an asshole, and asks her what she’s doing. She says she’s seeing how fast she can change the TV channels, and earlier she found all the loose change in the house and organized them in alphabetical order by year.
She then asks if a guy like Miles could really ever love a girl like her. BoJack tells her he was just jealous that she was spending so much time with him. She says he hasn’t texted her at all that day, and she’s been trying to distract herself. BoJack tells her to forget him, because she’ll meet many more guys who will fall madly in love with her. Hollyhock thinks she might have scared him off.
She asks BoJack if he ever gets the feeling that to know you more is to love you less. BoJack goes on to tell her that she is an amazing woman and to never settle for someone who likes the idea of her. When he tells her she’s funny, kind, and clever, Hollyhock also asks if she’s pretty. BoJack becomes flustered and asks what she wants him to say, because obviously he thinks she’s beautiful. Hollyhock is flattered.
BoJack recommends they go get some ice cream, but Hollyhock says no. BoJack then recommends pizza, but Hollyhock says she’s not hungry. The episode ends with Hollyhock going back to flipping channels while BoJack looks at her.
In Ruthie, BoJack has decided to go to the courthouse of Hollywoo to find Hollyhock's birth certificate and brings Diane along as Hollyhock is too busy "counting her teeth." Their efforts turn fruitless, however, as BoJack gets fed up with the long lines and paperwork, and they leave empty-handed.
In Lovin that cali lifestyle!!, BoJack, Hollyhock, Tina, and Beatrice are playing Uno. However, Hollyhock is acting very anxious, she keeps scratching herself, we see her vision is dizzy, and she has lost a lot of weight, added by the fact her clothes are very loose.
She goes to get some water, but her dizziness makes her drop the glass, and she cuts her forehead.
BoJack offers to help her out, but she tells him to wait as she heads upstairs to the bathroom. Her dizziness gets even worse as she stumbles into the bathroom and tries to get a band-aid. Just then, one of her fathers texts her to see how she's doing, and she hides the cut with her hair and sends him a reassuring selfie with the text "lovin that cali lifestyle!!" before collapsing.
BoJack calls an ambulance and Hollyhock is taken to the hospital. At the hospital, he is trying to remember her last names so that he can prove he’s her legal guardian because he is not allowed to see her or get any information about her condition if he can’t.
After failing to bribe the receptionist, he suddenly remembers all of her last names and tells her.
He also says she’s 5'8", is seventeen years old, and her birthday is in September. He goes on to say other things about her, like how she looks like him, that’s she loves apples but hates applesauce, she’s funny but not in a mean way, and how she’s sweet and “has this smile,” showing how BoJack has grown found and attached to her.
The receptionist still refuses to let him see her and tells him to have a seat, much to his frustration. BoJack waits in the waiting room for hours, and he ends up falling asleep.
Hours later, her eight fathers come, and angrily reveal to BoJack that she overdosed on amphetamines, to his disbelief, although the father’s question how he didn’t notice as Hollyhock is now "as thin as a pole". Despite BoJack asking to see Hollyhock, the fathers, who all blame him for Hollyhock's overdose, refuse to let him see her ever again and leave.
BoJack rushes home and to his horror finds some of his pills in his bathroom medicine cabinet spilled out. Thinking Hollyhock was taking them, BoJack throws all of his medication into the toilet, flushing them down before he collapses as he has a panic attack.
One week later, Beatrice asks BoJack where Hollyhock is, but he tells her that she's gone, to which Beatrice replies "Oh yes, I took her didn’t I?" implying she knew Hollyhock was the same baby she took from Henrietta.
BoJack admits that while Beatrice was a terrible mother, he blew it more as a father, and then declares that he and Beatrice deserved each other.
However, when Beatrice said that she made Hollyhock some coffee, BoJack horrifyingly realizes that she did something to the coffee, and upon a closer inspection, finds a large bottle of Chub-B-Gone pills in the coffee bag inside the cabinet. BoJack then realizes that Beatrice has been sneaking them into Hollyhock's coffee, and therefore causing Hollyhock to collapse due to weight loss. Beatrice confirms she did, saying "only until she learns to take them herself."
An enraged BoJack lashes out at a frightened Beatrice for ruining the one good thing he had in his life that he never ruined, before declaring that he is not giving her any more chances. BoJack takes Beatrice to a retirement home that is even worse than the last one she was in and puts her in the worst available room.
Before leaving, BoJack spitefully tells Beatrice that this is what her life has ended up to, her living all alone, and says "Best of luck, see ya never!" However, just before he leaves, Beatrice starts to recognize him, much to BoJack's surprise.
The ending continues at the end of Time's Arrow. Beatrice is confused and frightened by her surroundings, and BoJack bluntly tells her that this is where she lives now.
Beatrice does not believe this and asks again where she is. BoJack starts to tell her again where she is and presumably give her his planned “Fuck you mom” speech, but he hesitates for a bit, and says she’s in Michigan, at the lake house. He then goes on to narrate a pleasant scenario at the lake house, which pleases his mother:
BoJack : And it's..uh.. a warm summer night, and the fireflies are dancing in the sky, and....your whole family is here...and they're telling you that everything is gonna be alright.
Beatrice: Yes, that's right. What else?
BoJack: The crickets are chirping, and the lake is still, and the night is full of stars.
Beatrice:I can see it, it's so clear! Wh...What are we doing here, BoJack?
BoJack: We're sitting on the back porch, and we're listening to your brother play the piano, and we're eating ice cream. Vanilla ice cream.
Beatrice: Yes, that's right! Oh, it's all so marvelous
BoJack asks his mother if she can taste the ice cream. Beatrice’s smile fades as she responds to this, as she never got to have ice cream, so she lies and says “Oh BoJack, it’s so....delicious."
In the meantime, Princess Carolyn, who had been going through a rough time as she miscarried and broke up with her boyfriend, Ralph, and has been drinking heavily to cope, was pitched a TV show by aspiring writer Flip McVicker.
She is uninterested at first, until she reads the title, "Philbert," which would have been the name of the baby she miscarried.
She becomes determined to greenlit the project as a producer, but Lenny Turteltaub won’t accept it unless she has a lead actor.
She quickly listed multiple actors, but Lenny isn’t interested in any of them. She then blurts out BoJack Horseman's name, who Lenny thinks would be perfect for, although he ran out on both Secretariat and Ethan Around. He tells Princess Carolyn to make BoJack sign a contract to finish the deal (and to ensure he won’t run off again).
He tells her to pitch the show to WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com, a website that tells people what time it is but is looking to become a streaming website. However, Princess Carolyn procrastinated in asking BoJack to sign the contract, and when she tries to call him he hangs up, as at that time he was angrily driving Beatrice to the crappy nursing home. Desperate, Princess Carolyn forges BoJack's signature.
In What Time Is It Right Now BoJack returns home and tries to call Hollyhock, but her fathers answer and hang up on him despite trying to explain what happened. BoJack becomes melancholy due to the absence of Hollyhock.
Meanwhile, Princess Carolyn and Flip pitch "Philbert" to WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com. Flip explains the show is about follows John Philbert, or Philbert for short, a detective who gets sent to the future, trapping him in a time he doesn’t understand and where he’s alone - but he’s possibly always been alone. After describing the plot, the executives approve the show especially happy that BoJack Horseman is the lead, though Princess Carolyn is feeling guilty that she had to forge BoJack's signature and he is unaware of the show.
She meets with BoJack at Bellican's Bar and tries to pitch him the Philbert show script, though he's too distracted by the previous events. When she mentions other actors interested in the role such as Matthew Perry, he recalls a time when Hollyhock was trying to figure out a picture to send to the adoption agency to find her mother and mentions an SNL sketch called "Chandler's List" when Perry hosted an episode.
This causes him to have an epiphany and he rushes back home to search through Beatrice's remaining stuff. He finds a pink envelope which is the mail Hollyhock sent returned to her birth mother, Henrietta Platchkey, no longer lives at the address on record.
An empty envelope reveals Henrietta no longer lives at the address listed
BoJack makes his way down to Wichita, Kansas, and visits Hollyhock's Fathers. He then tells the still angry fathers that he has figured out the truth of Hollyhock's parentage, and they begrudgingly agree to hear him out. BoJack reveals that he went to every hospital and county clerks in Los Angeles, but he couldn't find any record of a baby horse born in 2000 in Los Angeles.
This causes him to realize that his father Butterscotch might have knocked up one of the family maids, so he went back to San Francisco and found Hollyhock's birth certificate with Henrietta's name on it. He then looked her up on Facebook and found her living in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her phone number attached to her account.
BoJack shows the fathers the number saying he wants Hollyhock to have it, even stating he doesn't mind if they don't tell her how they got it. After conversing in their own Dad Language, the fathers reluctantly agree to give it to her, but order BoJack to leave.
BoJack is back home as Princess Carolyn comes by. She reveals the truth about her actions, but BoJack agrees to do the show, which Princess Carolyn is thankful for. The two then converse over what has happened in the past months, with BoJack suggesting that Princess Carolyn should consider adoption, because the world needs more good moms. Princess Carolyn decides to go with that suggestion and leaves with their friendship restored.
Later on, as BoJack is reading the script, with his annoyed reaction implying that it's not good) he gets a call from Hollyhock. She reveals that her fathers gave her the phone number, which she knew that BoJack was the one to find it, as she understands their "dad language."
She adds on that she's been talking with Henrietta, and says she's leaving for Minneapolis to visit her. She also rants on how the airport charged her ten dollars for a fruit cup, and its 90% honeydew, and the two agree on how terrible honeydew is.
BoJack then apologizes for any trouble he caused and offers to help with her travels and a better fruit cup without honeydew, but she reassures him that it's not his fault and the travel plans have been taken care of. She then says she’s told him that she doesn’t need another dad, as she has eight of them, but she’s never had a brother. This comment makes BoJack, for the first time, smile for real and he is deeply touched by finally making a loving family connection, something he never really had before.
Season 5
BoJack is the star of Philbert, which is premiering as the first original show on WhatTimeIsItRightNow.com's new streaming service. He is also trying to cut back on alcohol, only drinking a bottle a week by marking his allotted amounts for each day on the bottles.
Shortly before beginning filming on Philbert, BoJack helps Diane, who is divorcing Mr. Peanutbutter, move into her new place, a shoddy studio apartment. One night she came to his place over to get work done, as the crappiness of her apartment distracted her. Within a few hours the two are drunk, with BoJack claiming that today is his cheat day after telling Diane his new system for drinking.
He tells Diane she can stay with him, but she refuses because the last time she did she was a mess, and brings up him leaving for a month and confuses that incident with the time he ran off to Michigan. BoJack corrects her and says that time it was New Mexico, and he almost tells her about what happened there, but he quickly changes the subject. By that point, Diane had passed out, and she leaves in the morning when she wakes up to find a passed out and drunk BoJack.
A few days later, BoJack goes to her apartment to take her to Mr. Peanutbutter's housewarming party, and finds her with a new short haircut and outfit. BoJack tries to give her a compliment, but Diane's attempt to act cool and aloof makes BoJack take it the wrong way. She tells him they should leave, but BoJack is frustrated because he thinks she’s acting weird since she hates parties. BoJack leaves, but before he stops himself and tells Diane that her new haircut looks great and Mr. Peanutbutter will love it.
BoJack begins shooting Philbert shortly afterwards.
However, Flip is revealed to be a complete egotistical hack, who comes up with scripts on the fly, and makes the show and storyline overly metaphorical and dark (in terms of the tone and the actual lighting) to compensate for his terrible writing. He also writes in pointless sex scenes and other scenes that objectify the female costars. Because of this, BoJack is concerned with how poorly the show is written, especially his character Philbert.
He starts sleeping with his costar, Gina Cazador. When she’s about to go home after having sex with him for the first time, he asks her if she has the same concerns about the show that he does.
She says that she gets hired because she does her job right, and she doesn’t particularly love her character, internal affairs director Sassy Malone, it feels "gratuitous and male-gazey," but it pays her mortgage. BoJack offers her to stay and hang out, but Gina leaves because she enjoys being alone.
BoJack goes to his fridge and drinks his allotted amount of alcohol for the night. He likes one of Hollyhock's, who’s in college at Wesleyan University, pictures on Instagram and calls her to make sure she knows that one of the hearts was from him.
He tells her that he misses her, and she tells him that she misses him too and she’ll call him Sunday afternoon like they always do.
BoJack goes to Flip the next day and questions him about the script choices and tries to subtly voice his concerns. However, Flip stubbornly assures him it’s all necessary and gets the idea from BoJack to cut the stripper scene and to only draw Gina naked, as it’ll be more motivated by character.
During a break, BoJack tried to protest the scene to Flip, saying if he’s trying to get back at him for criticizing the script he shouldn’t also punish Gina in the process. Flip tells BoJack that wasn’t his intention, he just wants to make a great show, and he’s the only one with a problem. Gina even blankly denies having a problem with the scene.
However, their arguing makes Flip comes up with the idea to have BoJack star in his own nude scene where he gets on a stool and does a full body rotation on a stool while screwing in a light bulb. He tells BoJack he can either agree to the scene or admit he’s only criticizing him to hear himself talk. BoJack begrudgingly stays silent and Flip says he’ll see him tomorrow.
Later, BoJack waits at Princess Carolyn’s apartment to confront her about Flip's behavior, but Todd arrives home before she does. BoJack gets the idea to have Todd, who’s looking for a job, to ply to be a janitor for WhatTimeIsItRightNow so that he can sneak into one of the Executive's office so that he can send an e-mail to Flip banning him from filming any more nude scenes.
Todd goes for the janitor interview, but due to his numerous accomplishments he is overqualified for the job,and is made the President of Ad Sales. He calls BoJack, who is anxiously waiting in his trailer with a robe on, reveals this news to him, however he cannot help him because he has more important issues with the company to focus on, frustrating BoJack, but does suggest to just talk to Flip.
BoJack goes into Flip's office and insists he will not do the nude scene. Flip is frustrated by BoJack being difficult and not wanting to cooperate with him when apparently all he wants to is make a good show, and he forcefully tries to remove BoJack's robe while angrily questioning BoJack why he’s acting like this. BoJack finally snaps and says the whole show is dumb and boring, badly written, and has nothing to say.
Flip continues to intimidate BoJack by telling him that he is his God, and if he doesn't see him on set then he will see him in court.
While Princess Carolyn is at her adoption agency, she gets a call from Flip who tells her about the fight and how BoJack never showed up on set. A drunk BoJack can then be heard honking his car horn outside the adoption agency and shouts he needs to talk to her.
BoJack confronts Princess Carolyn and tells her that he never wanted to do this show, while she retorts back he still agreed to her that he’d do it to be a good friend. BoJack then admits the biggest problem he has is that he doesn’t like his character, Philbert, because he’s a drunk asshole.
Princess Carolyn explains to him that it's just a character, and that he can take off the character at the end and just be BoJack, and asks him to cooperate for the next ten weeks for her.
BoJack returns to set and does the light bulb scene.
Later that night, he throws a house party. Flip apologizes to BoJack, saying it’s his first show. BoJack tells him that he's just trying to help him fulfill his vision. Flip tells him to not take things so personally and that it's going to be a sensational season of television.
BoJack and Gina continue to sleep together, although BoJack deep down wants to get serious with her despite her not being interested.
He learns in Planned Obsolescence that she’s into musicals, specifically A Kernel of Truth, a poorly received musical about corn. Gina begrudgingly admits to this after he teases her about it, and reveals after seeing the musical, despite its quality, she dreamed of being on Broadway, but she never got to achieve it, and now gets steady TV work, but the musical reminds her of a time she was less jaded and more optimistic.
BoJack later apologizes to her about teasing her, and reveals he arranged an audition for her to sing for a nightclub scene in Philbert. Gina is angry he did this, as she doesn’t have much faith in herself, but he assures her that it's her dream and that if she doesn't try now she'll always wonder what if. Gina agrees to do it, and she hugs and kisses him before she goes to get ready.
Gina sings a song from A Kernel of Truth in front of Flip and Princess Carolyn and BoJack. However, due to being nervous and unrehearsed in singing, her singing is hesitant and a bit stilted, and she cracks on the final note. Gina apologizes awkwardly and leaves with tears in her eyes. Princess Carolyn tells BoJack that what he did was mean, to Gina and themselves, but BoJack insists he was trying to do a nice thing.
Gina tearfully deletes the A Kernel of Truth soundtrack off of her phone.
Later at night, she is seen in BoJack's bedroom, where he tries to apologize, but she stops him, saying that he was right—if she hadn't sung she would've wondered what if. Gina goes to bed, telling him he can have sex with her if he wants to.
BoJack inadvertently becomes a feminist after having made a face at the Forgivie awards when he didn't applaud Vance Waggoner when he accepted his We Forgive You award.
In reality, he made a face because he smelled some funky cheese. BoJack appears on The Squawk to try and clear the air but ends up going against Vance again. Princess Carolyn gets Diane to help make BoJack seem like the perfect male feminist.
It backfires on him though when Vance tells the public that he walked away from starring in Philbert because the show was very anti-feminist.
BoJack goes to Diane and asks her how he can prove that the show isn't sexist. Diane tells him the show is sexist and that she can't help him. BoJack ends up convincing her to join the show as a consulting producer to make the show better. BoJack becomes hooked on opioids due to back surgery he had after an incident on set. He accidentally drove a motorcycle off of a building while Princess Carolyn was in Eden, North Carolina.
BoJack attends his mother's funeral where he talks about getting a free churro from a worker at Jack in the Box. He has this really long monologue where he reminisces about the past but in the end, realizes that he's been in the wrong room the entire time. BoJack becomes upset when Diane tells him that her therapist told her that she needed space from BoJack.
He storms into Diane's therapist's office to give her a piece of his mind but instead ends up having a session with her. He tells Diane about this but she tells him that she just wants the therapist to be hers, not his. He goes back the next day and tells the therapist that he will continue seeing her but behind Diane's back. Diane finds out and this drives a wedge between the two friends.
Diane goes to apologize to BoJack but BoJack upsets her when he says that they are both the same person. Clearly not feeling the same way, Diane writes a script for Philbert that includes information about what BoJack almost did in New Mexico. BoJack realizes this while they're filming and he's confused about how they came up with the storyline.
At the end of the episode, he looks at Diane who glares back at him confirming that she knows what he did. BoJack has his annual Halloween party. BoJack picks up Hollyhock from the airport and takes her back to his house. She discovers his pills and throws them down the drain.
This leads to the two of them driving around Hollywoo trying to get BoJack more pills. They end up wasting the day that Hollyhock had to spend with him. After he drops her back off at the airport, BoJack drives his car into oncoming traffic. BoJack attends the Philbert premiere with Gina.
While at the premiere, BoJack and Diane get into a heated argument. Diane leaves but BoJack returns to the party and kisses Gina in front of all the paparazzi. BoJack has trouble discerning between what's real and what's fiction because of all the pills that he's taken. This leads to him getting into a fight with Gina when she discovers all the pills he has hiding around his house.
While on set, Gina and BoJack have to do a choking scene. BoJack, so high on pills, puts too much force into it and has to be pulled off Gina. BoJack doesn't remember any of this happening and Princess Carolyn sets up an interview so that they can clear the air. BoJack sees the footage and admits it was pretty bad.
BoJack tries to apologize to Gina at the interview and that he's going to tell the truth about what really happened. She tells him not to because her career is finally taking off and she doesn't want to be remembered as the girl that BoJack choked.
He asks Diane to write one of her "take down" articles about him but she says no. That he has to take responsibility for himself but he doesn't know how to do that and she is done writing for him or about him. Diane takes him to a rehab center instead. BoJack walks in and checks himself in of his own volition.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Secretariat | Secretariat | Digitally added |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987-1996 | Horsin' Around | The Horse | |
| 2007 | The BoJack Horseman Show | Himself | |
| 2015 | Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let's Find Out! | Himself | Contestant |
| 2016 | Ethan Around | The Horse | Unknown Results |
| 2017 | Felicity Huffman's Booty Academy: Los Angeles | Judge | Guest Judge |
| 2018 | Philbert | John Philbert | Cancelled |
Memorable Quotes
- "What are You doing here?"
- "Y'know, sometimes I feel like I was born with a leak, and any goodness I started with just slowly spilled out of me, and now it's all gone and I'll never get it back in me. It's too late."
- "Life is a series of closing doors, isn't it?"
- "Nothing on the outside, nothing on the inside."
- "What's great about Los Angeles is nobody cares where you're from or who you are. It's a superficial town where you can worry about stupid shit like keeping your pool clean, and what artisanal nuts to put on your salad."
- "Shut up, Todd!"
- "Clean up your shit, Todd!"
- "Princess Carolyn, what are we doing?"
- "Whaaaaaaa haha, get out of here!"
- "Shiiiiiiiit…"
- "WASSUP BITCHES?"
- "CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME ALCOHOL INTO MY MOUTH?!"
- "I can't do this again"
- "Do you want to meet my imaginary friend?"
- (To a young Sarah Lynn) "The thing is, you gotta give the people what they want, even if it KILLS you. Even if it empties you out until there's nothing less to empty"
- "See, Sarah Lynn, we're not doomed. In the great grand scheme of things, we're just tiny specks that will one day be forgotten.So, it doesn't matter what we did in the past, or how we'll be remembered.The only thing that matters is right now, this moment, this one spectacular moment we are sharing together. Right, Sarah Lynn? ...Sarah Lynn?...Sarah Lynn?"
S5: BoJack Tuxedo Model Sheet
Trivia
BoJack Horseman model sheet
- As of the setting of the series, BoJack weighs some 1,200 lbs (544 kg), and is 6'6 (198 cm) or 19.75 hands tall.
- Despite being 1200 pounds, other characters do not have much trouble dragging BoJack or lifting him up.
- One time, at a Christmas party, BoJack sneezed on Marisa Tomei. Embarrassed, he jumped off the balcony and ended up in a full body cast.
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"Oh God, not the sneezing pic - why do they always use the sneezing picture?!"
- The picture of him sneezing is used whenever he is talked about on the news or other related presentations as running gag in the series.
- Netflix also has this image of BoJack for their BoJack Horseman account icons.
- According to the BoJack Horseman art blog on Tumblr (BojartHorseblog), BoJack is 15.2 hands at the withers, and is close to 19.75 hands tall if he is being measured to the top of his ears, which BoJack prefers
- BoJack's house contains animal parodies of art
- In his bedroom, he has three horse show paintings that references Andy Warhol's work
- The horse paining to the right of his front door references Blue Horse by Franz Marc.
- BoJack's hair in the 80s and on Horsin' Around is reminiscent of the character Uncle Jesse from Full House, which Horsin' Around parodies.
- BoJack is very similar to the character Duckman from the early 1990s show of the same name, both are alcoholics, had neglectful/abusive parents, smoke cigarettes, self-loathe and are narcissistic, politically incorrect and sexually deviant.
- BoJack made $30K an episode on Horsin' Around.
Young BoJack model sheet
- The only episode BoJack has not appeared in is See Mr. Peanutbutter Run
- Based on its views of Downtown L.A.'s skyline and close proximity to the Hollywood Sign (as demonstrated in Our A-Story is a "D" Story among other episodes), BoJack's house seems to be located just east of Hollywood Reservoir perched above Bronson Canyon.
- Incidentally the neighborhood is home to Sunset Ranch, which is well-known for horseback riding. It's also quite close to Griffith Observatory, which was of great sentimental significance to BoJack and Herb Kazzaz as well as the location of Sarah Lynn's overdose.
- BoJack is neighbors with Channing Tatum andFelicity Huffman, as revealed in Hooray! Todd Episode! and Stupid Piece of Sh*t, respectively.
- Incidentally the neighborhood is home to Sunset Ranch, which is well-known for horseback riding. It's also quite close to Griffith Observatory, which was of great sentimental significance to BoJack and Herb Kazzaz as well as the location of Sarah Lynn's overdose.
BoJack concept art by Lisa Hanawalt
- The writers have stated that they only have someone say the f word once per season, and it only happens when BoJack has permanently ruined a relationship.
- In Season 1 it was Herb Kazzaz in The Telescope, when he was going to die soon from rectal cancer and he rejected BoJack’s apology for abandoning him in the 90s after the network executives fired him for being caught in a gay related scandal. Herb wasn’t upset about getting fired, but the fact that BoJack betrayed him, and he says “Now get the fuck out of my house!”
- Season 2 was Charlotte Moore in Escape from L.A., after she caught him in bed (on his boat) with Penny, with Penny about to undress him. This scene happens after BoJack and Charlotte kiss and he begs her to run away with him and confesses he’s loved her all this time, and she rejected him and tells him to leave because he makes her too sad. After Charlotte orders Penny to go to her room she tells BoJack to leave in 30 minuets or she’ll call the police, and “if you ever try to contact me or my family again, I will fucking kill you."
- Season 3 was Todd Chavez in It's You, after BoJack reveals that he slept with Emily, whom Todd had been trying to figure out his feelings for. BoJack tries to apologize, but Todd says feeling bad for the shitty things doesn’t make them ok (which is what BoJack keeps doing). He also tells BoJack “You are everything that is wrong with you. It’s not the drugs, or the alcohol, or the shitty things that happened to you in your career, or when you were a kid. It’s you.” He then says “Fuck, man. What else is there to say?”
- Season 4 is actually BoJack’s himself, in Thoughts and Prayers. He takes Hollyhock to visits Beatrice at her nursing home and discovers she has dementia and no longer recognizes him. He cooks up a plan to get her to recognize him, and he says when she does, he’ll squeeze her hand, get real close, and say “Fuck You, Mom!," in order to tell her off for being a horrible mother to him.
- Season 5 was Gina Cazador in The Showstopper , after BoJack, after having mistaken his show Philbert and reality for each other for the entire episode under the influence of pills and alcohol despite her best efforts, almost strangles her to death while shooting a scene. After they are pulled apart by the crew, Gina ends their relationship with a simple question "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
- BoJack bears a strong resemblance to his late uncle Crackerjack, his mom's brother. The two share similar facial features, dark brown fur, and a white snippet and pink spot on their noses and lips.
- One Trick Pony, which took place in 2014, has BoJack reveal he is 50 years old, which also indirectly reveals he was born in 1964.
- His birthday is revealed to be January 2nd, 1964 in Stop the Presses.
- Stop the Presses reveals several things about BoJack through his LA Gazette account
- He was born January 2nd, 1964.
- He is a Grade/thoroughbred cross horse with medium bay fur and a star and snip marking.
- He weighs 1,200 lbs.
- He is 19.75 hands tall
- He has a buck knee, splay foot, ewe neck, wall eye, pot belly, and sweet tooth.
- His temperament is related 9/10, and is mentioned he is spooky, stubborn, unpredictable, and suffers from substance abuse.
- He has had more than 100 sexual partners throughout his life.
- BoJack still has the sweater he wore on Horsin' Around, but now his stomach hangs out of it, due to him being much slimmer during those years.
- In Thoughts and Prayers, it revealed that BoJack played football when he was a teenager.
- The episode also revealed that in 8th grade he was in choir. He describe his solo a bit "shaky", and his mother pretended not to know him and forces him to get a ride home from the pianist who according to BoJack, "liked to tickle more than just the ivories." When BoJack came home safe, his mother said "I guess nobody wants you."
- This is why he is skeptical of her dementia at first.
- The episode also revealed that in 8th grade he was in choir. He describe his solo a bit "shaky", and his mother pretended not to know him and forces him to get a ride home from the pianist who according to BoJack, "liked to tickle more than just the ivories." When BoJack came home safe, his mother said "I guess nobody wants you."
- Hooray! Todd Episode! reveals he has multiple strains of herpes.
- He is currently in rehab.
- Some of the medicine in BoJack’s medicine cabinet (as seen in Stupid Piece of Sh*t and Lovin that cali lifestyle!!) includes
- Menoxidil: forehead reducer. This is used for certain types of baldness
- Heart Burn medicine
- Avanafil, a medicine used for erectile dysfunction
- Fluvastatin, a medicine that lowers high cholesterol
- Bupropion, a medicine used to help quit smoking and/or help prevent types of depression, namely seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
- The blue pentagon shaped pills are likely a form of dexamethasone, which treats inflammation
- Pain Free, which is likely just ibuprofen (pain killers)