Diane Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American writer, misunderstood intellectual, and third-wave feminist from Boston, who lived with her well-off and famous husband, Mr. Peanutbutter, until their divorce in Season 5.
Diane is the only daughter of Pa Nguyen and Ma Nguyen, the younger sister of Tommy, Marty and Artie, and the adoptive younger sister of Gary.
In the first season she serves as the ghost writer for BoJack’s memoir, "One Trick Pony”, which gains massive success and earns BoJack a Golden Globe.
At the end of Season 2 she is hired to be a celebrity Tweet ghost writer for Princess Carolyn's agency, VIM, and she holds this job until the agency closes in the Season 3 episode It's You.
Two episodes later, in That Went Well, she is hired by Ralph Stilton's sister, Stefani Stilton, as a writer for the website GirlCroosh.
In Season 5, she becomes the consulting producer for the first season of Philbert.
Design
Diane is a Vietnamese-American woman and one of the few main characters in BoJack Horseman that is a human. She has light skin and midnight blue hair. In Seasons 1-5, Diane's hair was long with some of it worn parted over her shoulders.
In Season 5, Diane cuts her hair into a very short bob, with layered bangs that are styled to the left, and an undercut that is partially covered on the right side and appears as a faded purple color.
Diane typically wears thin, square glasses, a green jacket with an orange arrow designed on each end near her abdomen pointing towards her center, a white short-sleeved undershirt that shows her cleavage and a bit of her stomach, blue jeans with a dark grey belt, and black heeled boots that each have two yellow stripes at the top.
According to model sheets she is 5 1/2 feet tall.
In 2007, she had short hair with long bangs, a similar style to how she wears in Season 5. When she worked at Starbucks, she wore a blue and white baseball tee under a Starbucks apron with orange arrows pointing to her abdomen, and a name tag that said "Blarn".
As a teenager, from what was seen in her brothers' "Cry-anne" video, which was filmed on the night of her homecoming dance, she had rounder, larger glasses with thicker frames, she had pimples, and her hair was puffier (although she may have styled it like this for the dance). She wore a purple dress with big ruffled sleeves.
As a pre-teen, Diane wore her hair straight, she had thicker eyebrows, thick black glasses with square frames, and pimples. She wore a long sleeved blue shirt with yellow, red, blue, and white stripes going across the middle, light blue jean shorts, and a choker necklace.
Background
History
Diane Nguyen was born on March 19, 1980 and she grew up in Boston, Massachusetts.
In Live Fast, Diane Nguyen it was revealed that Diane had a tough childhood, with her parents and four brothers tormenting and belittling her and acting rude and crass.
One time, when Diane was in high school, her brothers all took turns writing letters to her under the pseudonym Leo, then hired a hobo to pretend to be Leo and take her to homecoming.
They then tape recorded this incident where Diane bursts into tears realizing she has had a cruel prank played on her. The brothers still play the tape every time Diane visits. They dubbed the tape the "Cry-anne" video.
According to Diane, her father was a "mean, sadistic alcoholic who never supported anything [she] did and actively delighted in seeing [her] fail". It is unknown if he was like this to his sons, but it seems unlikely.
Her mother was no better, acting obnoxious and condescending towards her, frequently nagging her, guilt- tripped her in her adult years for leaving the family to make something of herself, and freely letting her husband and sons abuse her and coddling them into staying lazy alcoholics.
School wasn’t much better for Diane, as she was seen as and got bullied for being a nerd, and never got invited to parties.
In One Trick Pony, Diane described one incident where the cheerleaders stuffed her into a locker and wrote "virgin slut" on her forehand. When Diane questioned how she could be both a virgin and a slut, they made her eat a lipstick.
As revealed in The Stopped Show she had very little friends with the exception of a girl named Abby, who was really close to her until she was "adopted" by the cool kids. Abby then proceeds to join in on the bullying Diane was facing by using all of her secrets against her, until one day over the summer her mother got very sick. While her new friends went on vacation, despite everything she did to ,her Diane was there to provide emotional support.
Diane attended Boston University where she majored in Literature and Equine Studies. At some point in her 20's, she relocated to Los Angeles, California. When she first moved there, she worked as a barista at Starbucks and as a part-time caterer with her friends Roxy and Wayne, the latter of whom she briefly dated. She first met Mr. Peanutbutter in 2007 at the Starbucks she worked at, and after his wife, Jessica Biel dumped him at an event she (Diane) was catering the two dated for seven years before getting married in 2014.
She first met BoJack Horseman in 2009 at the urging of Mr. Peanutbutter a Halloween party that he (Mr. Peanutbutter) imposes on him (BoJack) annually. BoJack, however, did not acknowledge her awkward attempt to introduce herself and rudely dismissed her, as unbeknownst to her he had just learned about the death of his father, making her feel embarrassed.
This incident, involving the pressuring of Diane to speak to BoJack, is another one of Mr. Peanutbutter's mistakes as he was obsessed with all of his girlfriends being fun and exciting and forgetting that people eventually mature over time.
She is the author of Secretariat: a Life, which she prepared for by spent three years conducting researching and interviews in order to bring light to Secretariat, The Rise and Fall of Strongheart, and the New York Times bestseller Tracing Zippo Pine Bar.
Season 1
At the start of the series, she is hired to ghostwrite BoJack's autobiography, meant to serve as his comeback, by BoJack's publisher, Pinky Penguin. The two initially develop a strong friendship, with BoJack harboring feelings for Diane, and Diane encouraging BoJack, for the first time, to talk truthfully about himself and about his past, including his shitty behavior and abusive childhood.
In Live Fast, Diane Nguyen, Diane's father dies. She and BoJack, after meeting with Pinky in New York, stop in Boston for Diane to quickly give her condolences, which is the first time Diane had visited her family in five years. However, her brothers make her plan the funeral, and BoJack ends up bonding with them, as he always wanted brothers. After Diane makes arrangements to throw her father a funeral, none of her family show up, and her father's corpse is absent.
It turns out her family is lounging at a bar and had chummed their father's corpse with the intent to throw his remains in the face of their hated baseball rival team's star, Derek Jeter. Calling Diane a big-shot for getting upset at their low expectations, BoJack tactlessly defends Diane by bluntly describing her career and living situation, saying she is not a big-shot.
Diane then flies into a rage and drives off with the truck holding her father's chummed remains. BoJack finds Diane at the city, and he comforts Diane by telling her the ways he appreciates her, and that she is in fact too good for her family, and she shouldn’t waste her time trying to impress them just for closure.
In Our A-Story is a "D" Story, Mr. Peanutbutter starts to become concerned about BoJack and Diane getting close, that becomes strained after he develops feelings for her. Although BoJack denies it, he and Mr. Peanutbutter begin a competition of one-upmanship to see who can impress Diane more.
After Mr. Peanutbutter takes Diane home, BoJack, after getting drunk out of misery, steals the "D" from the Hollywood sign in order to impress her, and he wakes up the next day to find it on his deck. 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.
They successfully distract the public to get it off BoJack's deck with Mr. Peanutbutter's helicopter, but Mr. Peanutbutter delivers it to his house and claims he stole it as a romantic gesture to Diane, to BoJack's anger. Later that night, BoJack tells Diane during their memoir interview that she should be with someone who understands her.
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.
Diane accompanies BoJack on his visit to Herb Kazzaz, his former best friend who was dying of rectal cancer. On the ride home, after Herb refused to forgive BoJack for betraying him and the two got in a physical fight that ended in Herb telling BoJack off, BoJack pulled over to the side of the road to collect himself.
Diane gets out of the car to console BoJack. He tells her she can put this in the book, and that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks anymore. Diane tells him she thinks it took a lot of guts to do what he did. BoJack then kisses Diane unexpectedly. She pushes herself away, shaking her head no and returns to the car wordlessly.
This incident makes things between the two awkward, and the next day Diane tells BoJack she has enough information to write the book, while also wanting to indirectly avoid him. Her stress culminates while shopping for wedding registry ideas with Mr. Peanutbutter, to which they ultimately decide to move the wedding up within the month and to hold a smaller celebration.
At the same time, BoJack plans to sabotage the wedding. His first plan goes awry and Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter end up moving their wedding to the following week. BoJack lets them have the wedding in Elefante the restaurant he owns, 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, and remarks he sometimes feels relief when he dreams that Diane disappeared from his life.
Todd eventually decides not to share this useful information with BoJack when he discovers that BoJack sabotaged his rock opera. 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.
Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter are married June 13, 2014.
In One Trick Pony, Diane tells BoJack the first draft of the book is finished, and she is going to send it to Pinky Penguin. During this, a movie based off of the events of Our A-Story is a "D" Story, Mr. Peanutbutter’s Hollywoo Heist is being filmed at Mr. Peanutbutter's house, with BoJack playing Mr. Peanutbutter and Naomi Watts playing Diane although the movie eventually gets canceled.
Later in the day, an excited BoJack gets Pinky to email him the book, One Trick Pony, but he turns on Diane after finishing. Feeling the majority of the book painted him in a bad light, BoJack refuses to listen to Diane's explanation that she is honoring their agreement from before to tell his story "warts and all" and how his vulnerability would help connect him to readers.
An angry BoJack orders Diane to rewrite the book, to which Diane spitefully decides to leak the first few chapters of the book through BuzzFeed, with the help of Wayne, her ex-boyfriend.
When shooting of the film is canceled BoJack is shocked when the filming crew begins to laugh at personal details of his life. He quickly learns about the leak and confronts Diane again. She explains the leak was a calculated move and points out that many people love BoJack from reading the chapters and the unreleased book is gaining lots of attention. Despite this, BoJack simply fires Diane.
In Downer Ending, Diane and BoJack meet with Pinky again to discuss the current status of the memoir. Pinky expresses his satisfaction with Diane's work while imploring BoJack to let the book go to print since Pinky's publishing company is in dire straits having waited on BoJack's memoir's success. BoJack stubbornly disavows Diane's work and states that he can write a satisfactory version himself before the publishing deadline in one week.
However, while doing so, he goes on a drug trip that leads to him making revelations about himself. When he wakes up, Princess Carolyn tells him all he wrote was gibberish. BoJack goes to find Diane.
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 and that 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. The two stare at each other in silence, giving no answer.
In Later, her biography of BoJack earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy or Musical, despite not being a movie. Meanwhile, Diane considers her next career move after the success of One Trick Pony. She is contacted by celebrity philanthropist Sebastian St. Clair, who is doing charity and humanitarian work in a foreign country, and wants Diane to travel with him to write a memoir for him similar to what she did for BoJack.
At the same time, she is contacted by Princess Carolyn to be a character consultant of the Secretariat film, which BoJack is starring in, because of her knowledge of Secretariat due to writing a book on him. She is stuck with choosing between the two options. Mr. Peanutbutter convinces her to stay home for the time being.
Mr. Peanutbutter throws a large launch party for "Smoodies", where Diane and BoJack notice each other. Later, BoJack finds Diane sitting on the roof, and he tells her about achieving his dream of playing Secretariat.
Diane also 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. BoJack tells Diane he really wanted her to like him, to which Diane replies "I know".
Season 2
Season 2 begins with Diane beginning her job as a character consultant on Secretariat, but to her dismay, she is given menial tasks such as telling people to not trip over a cord. During a break she gets a call from Sebastian St. Clair, saying he is upset she declined coming to North Cordovia. Diane apologizes, saying she couldn’t just drop everything. She says she’ll be there in three months after filming has finished.
In Yesterdayland, she rolls her eyes at BoJack and Wanda, saying the first woman BoJack got with that’s his age is a stunted twenty-year-old, as Wanda just woke up from a thirty-year coma. Kelsey replies that he is also emotionally stunted because of his fame.
Diane says she’s glad that she never got famous, though Kelsey says that it doesn’t just happen then - your age of stagnation is when you stop growing. It usually happens when you get married and settle into a routine, where your spouse loves you unconditionally and never challenges you or wants you to change, so you never do.
In the After the Party, Diane celebrates her thirty-fifth birthday. She and Mr. Peanutbutter return home later that night, and she expresses to him how amazing the day was. However, to her displeasure, as she hates big gestures, he threw her a surprise birthday party.
The two got in a huge argument on whether Tony Curtis was dead, as BoJack's girlfriend Wanda had asked, thus ending the party early after Diane freaked out as she angrily insisted he’s dead. As Diane angrily cleans up, Mr. Peanutbutter asks if she wants to talk about it.
Diane angrily tells him he didn’t trust that she knew something, and he says he just wanted to double check anyways. Mr. Peanutbutter asks for credit for the surprise party, in which Diane says she didn’t want it and that’s just what he would have wanted, and he threw the party for himself. Mr. Peanutbutter counters this and tells her the whole day was spent doing things she wanted to do.
Diane goes in Mr. Peanutbutter's office, which is filled with ball-pit balls, which Mr. Peanutbutter explains is because he recalled her wishing she had a ballroom as a child, although she tries to correct him, he jumps in before she can finish. Diane continues to explain she didn’t like parties and big gestures and has told him this countless times before.
The next room she goes into is themed after Starbucks which is where in the Season 3 episode The BoJack Horseman Show Diane does admit that he went all out. He recalls her not loving Starbucks, but loving the independent coffee place, although Starbucks is more convenient, showing Diane he does listen.
The two lay on the pool, as it is filled with green Jell-O. Mr. Peanutbutter says he wants every day to be a happy one because they don’t have many days left. Diane realizes he doesn’t want her to go to Cordovia. He admits she’s right because he doesn’t want her to go on a six-month trip to a war-torn country with a billionaire.
Diane says she isn’t happy and that helping people and making a difference with Sebastian St. Clair could give her a reason to get out of bed. He says if she told her that, he would have listened. She says she doesn’t want to be in a routine as an old couple. They go into their living room and he says he waits all day for her to come home. She says that he won’t always be her only priority. He agrees, and she asks for no more surprise parties.
In Chickens, she, along with Kelsey’s cynical teenage daughter, who she was assigned to watch, gets involved with Todd's scheme to help a food chicken he named Becca to escape from captivity.
In Hank After Dark, she, BoJack, and Princess Carolyn go on a tour to promote the paperback version of One Trick Pony while Secretariat is on hiatus. Their first stop is Juneau, Alaska, where BoJack and Diane are at a QandA. Someone has a question for Diane, asking if she was worried that the book would ruin BoJack’s reputation, which BoJack also wants an answer to.
Diane says she thinks the truth is worth pursuing, no matter what, and many other celebrities have done far worse and they still have careers. She begins to list of celebrities, including veteran talk show host Hank Hippopopalous. Someone in the audience cuts her off when she brings up Hank, asking what she means by that.
Diane states that all his former assistants made the same accusations against him, while BoJack tries to change the subject to him as he knows this could get controversial, and that said accusations are just a Google search away. Everyone in the audience does this and are shocked. This makes it to the news, and Diane receives backlash for trying to attack a "national treasure".
The book tour has arrived in Tallahassee. Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane are talking on the phone as the former tells Diane all the details about the set of his new show, Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let's Find Out!, and asks her to not make a "big thing" out of the Hank situation because it could harm his show. Diane assures him she won’t, and she just wants the whole thing to blow over.
At the QandA, the audience keeps egging Diane on her comments on Hank, with one woman saying if he was a bad person they wouldn’t let him be on TV. Diane tries to encourage the audience to only talk about the book until one man says women are always making broad accusations to get attention, and when they don’t have proof they just slink away.
Diane is starting to get angry, while BoJack tries to divert attention to himself by saying he texts and drives. The man then says Hank's assistants took his money and don’t care that they’re ruining his life. This pushes Diane over the limit and decides she won’t stop talking about Hank until justice is served.
Diane is then seen on the news arguing with Cardigan and Tom, as BoJack tries to divert attention to himself. Cardigan asks what she has against Hank, as he seems like a nice guy. Diane explains that’s the problem, everyone loves him so they don't want to believe he’s capable of doing anything bad.
Tom counters that they don’t know for certain if these accusations are true, but Diane argues back it was eight different women who all said the same thing, although Tom believes not enough is known about those women to actually trust their accusations. Diane angrily tells Tom he’s a journalist and won’t tell his audience the truth.
After BoJack turns the TV he was watching the interview on, he gets a call from Wanda who asks him to talk to Diane because Hank is the only thing keeping her network afloat, the same network that employs Diane's husband. BoJack is also apparently upset she’s upstaging him when the book tour is supposed to be about him, and he promises Wanda he’ll talk to Diane.
In New York, she goes to Manatee Fair, where the the editor and chief for Manatee Fair, Amanda Hannity, is willing to back up Diane and help her bring down Hank. She suggests they get someone to go on record. Diane says she's contacted Hank's pasts assistants, but she hasn’t heard anything. Amanda asks about Hank's current assistant. Diane finds out she did get a message from her. On the message she left, she reveals her name is Nicole and says she really needs to talk to someone.
In Burbank, Diane waits in a parking garage. A black car pulls up, and a female bird comes out of the driver's side. She confirms she is Nicole when Diane asks her. Diane gets a tape recorder and notepad out, but as soon as she does Hank gets out of the car and introduces himself. He thanks Nicole with a wicked grin and walks up to Diane.
Hank tells Diane he didn’t do anything and turns off the tape recorder. He then tells her he isn’t scared of her, in fact, he’s doing this as a favor to her, because he’s not a bad guy and in twenty-four hours the media will move on to some other big story, and he’ll continue his shows that employee lots of people. Hank tells Diane at this point, she’s done, and if she keeps this up, she drags down people close to her. As he leaves, Diane, still not intimidated by him, says she knows who he is. Hank replies "Sweetheart, everyone knows who I am. I'm Hank Hippopopalous. Who the hell are you?"
Back in New York, despite not getting anything, Diane is still determined to bring Hank down. However, Amanda says she’s cutting the story, as the owners of Manatee Fair and she don’t think it’s a good time, although Diane angrily points out the same people who own Manatee Fair also own MBN, the channel Hank is on.
As they leave Manatee Fair, BoJack tells Diane to give it a rest because she's lost. Diane asks if he believes that Hank is innocent, to which BoJack denies.
Diane asks BoJack why he can’t be on her side. BoJack says he's always on her side and tells her she won’t win this, and questions if she's on his side. He brings up the book, and Diane is annoyed he’s still mad about it. BoJack angrily tells her she manipulated him, whereas Diane angrily counters back that the book made people take him seriously and gave him everything he wanted.
BoJack says she still hurt his feelings and she never really apologized. Diane apologizes and says she never intended to upset him, and she should have handled things better. BoJack accepts. Diane asks BoJack to be in her corner because she doesn’t have anyone else, and he agrees.
Later that night, Diane arrives home. As she and Mr. Peanutbutter arrive home, she excitedly tells him Wayne might be able to publish a Buzzfeed article on the situation. Mr. Peanutbutter asks to talk about the Hank situation.
He calmly says he asked her nicely to not make the situation worse, but she didn’t listen, and he doesn’t understand it how that would make a difference. He then shows her the boxes of hate mail and death threats she's been receiving, and the thought of someone wanting to hurt his wife upsets him.
Diane says maybe she’d be safer in Cordovia. Mr. Peanutbutter then says she probably should go to Cordovia, so that she can have an opportunity to make a difference, and because maybe some space would be good for them. Diane asks if he really wants her to go, to which Mr. Peanutbutter solemnly replies "Why does it suddenly matter what I want?".
Diane sits in the airport as she waits to leave for Cordovia. She sees Hank being interviewed by Tom Jumbo-Grumbo on the TV. Tom asks Hank if he did what the allegations claim, to which Hank simply replies "No I did not". Tom states that’s good enough for him, and then announces the big story that Kanye West claims to hate Thin Mints. Diane looks down by everything that’s happened. A man sitting next to her tells her to smile, which makes her more upset.
In The Shot, Diane is seen in war-torn Cordovia with Sebastian St. Clair, writing about him and interacting with the refugees, including a little boy named Kino, despite Sebastian warning her not to get attached to any of them. Diane asks isn’t helping people the reason they’re here. Sebastian says he’s here to help the people, she’s here to help them by helping him write a book about how great he is, so people will donate to his organization.
One night, Diane is jolted awake by the sounds of a bombing. She rushes outside to find the buildings around her in ruins. She asks Sebastian if Kino is OK, but Sebastian says he’s most certainly dead, to Diane's shock, although Sebastian coldly says he warned her not to make friends. Diane angrily tells Sebastian he doesn’t care about any of these people, and he’s only using them for his fame and "superhero act". Sebastian tells her they have to build a hospital, and if she can’t handle it she should go home. Diane says she can handle it, but she ends up returning to LA.
She doesn’t tell Mr. Peanutbutter, who earlier apologized for being against her going to Cordovia and told her he was proud, and she instead hides out at BoJack's House, where she loafs around and sleeps on his deck, much to the annoyance of Wanda.
In Yes And, she is shown to continue lying to Mr. Peanutbutter about being in Cordovia. In the meantime, BoJack's movie is going downhill, as it is now a feel-good film instead of dark and gritty, Kelsey was fired and replaced by a director who doesn’t seem to care that much, and who BoJack ticked off, resulting in him demanding multiple re-shoots, preventing BoJack from acting in an off-Broadway play in New York.
Wanda doesn’t think he should sulk about it, but Diane says he should. BoJack thinks she may be right, although Wanda retorts Diane is the last person to take life advice from. BoJack later goes outside to talk to Diane about how long she's thinking about staying here.
Diane asks if Wanda's making him kick her out, which BoJack denies. Diane tells him that she wasn't the person she thought she was. BoJack tells her that he'd love to wallow with her but he has to go to work. She tells him that she's was gonna drink and watch old episodes of Horsin' Around. BoJack ends up staying home and hanging out with Diane, to Wanda's disapproval.
BoJack is later forced to go back to set because he learns if he doesn’t the studio will sue him. Later that night, BoJack and Wanda have a fight and break up.
BoJack goes out to the balcony and tells Diane Wanda is moving out. Diane apologizes, although BoJack says it’s his fault, and she offers to watch another episode of Horsin' Around with her. BoJack asks her why she won’t go home.
Diane says she wishes she could just go home to her husband and have a simple night with him, a night where she doesn't have to apologize for leaving, for being difficult, or for not being the person she thought she way. BoJack tells her the longer she waits the harder it's going to get. Diane asks him if going to New York or making the Secretariat movie that he wanted would've made him happy. BoJack says for a little while. Diane asks him when was the last time that he was genuinely happy.
As BoJack drives to New Mexico to see Charlotte, Diane calls Mr. Peanutbutter and tells him that she can’t talk on the phone anymore, because it’s just too hard for her but that she still loves him.
Two months later, in Out to Sea, Diane is still loafing at BoJack’s house, and he is surprised by this when he returns home from New Mexico. The next day, Princess Carolyn offers her a job at her new agency, VIM, as a ghostwriter for celebrity Tweets. Diane accepts.
Diane gets herself together and meets one of her clients, teen pop star Sextina Aquafina, at Restaurant Elephanté. However, after their meeting, Diane notices Mr. Peanutbutter from across the room, and he notices her, to each other’s shock. He calls her on her cell phone and she pretends to be in Cordovia even though he can see her.
Mr. Peanutbutter tells her he can’t find the batteries, and she should come home and help him. Diane plays along and says she can make it home that night. The two say they love each other, and afterward Mr. Peanutbutter tells Diane there’s a woman in the restaurant he’s at that looks just like her, which makes her laugh. Diane then jokingly say "I must have one of those faces."
Season 3
However, in Season 3, their marriage has appeared to be strained from Diane's lie, as the two (typically Mr. Peanutbutter) constantly call each other to check in on each other and say they understand and respect what they have to say, and they start going to marriage counseling.
In Start Spreading The News, Diane gets involved in a conference call with Mr. Peanutbutter and BoJack and Ana, the latter two of whom are in New York. After Diane, who is at VIM talks to Mr. Peanutbutter, who is at MBN, he thinks she’s in New York too, but quickly tells her he’s not accusing her and that he feels better when he knows where she is. Diane agrees to this and assures him she’s not in New York.
In BoJack Kills we see that her friendship with BoJack has also become somewhat strained due to her living with him for three months. As BoJack has to go around town to rub elbows with people who are Oscar voters, Ana demands that Diane go with him while also keeping up with her tweeting for celebrities.
Diane tells BoJack in the car, while he drives to his old friend Cuddlywhiskers's house to retrieve something for Jill Pill, as she hasn’t heard from him in years, that they bring out the worst in each other, and they should only keep things professional.
However, the two end up getting involved and trying to solve a mystery involving an orca stripper dying from heroin named "BoJack". After the mystery is solved, Diane and BoJack are still curious about the role Cuddlywhiskers played in the fiasco, and elect to figure out where he is, to which BoJack inadvertently reveals that he's in Ojai, California.
They travel there to meet him, but shortly after they arrive Diane gets a call from an upset Mr. Peanutbutter. He is upset that he went through so much trouble to avoid upsetting her (as he got sprayed by a skunk and enlisted Princess Carolyn to help him with the situation so he wouldn’t have to fight with Diane), only for her to be off, late at night with BoJack. He finalizes the call by stating that they'd discuss what happened in the morning.
While in Ojai, they discover that Cuddly's taken up a peaceful, Buddhist-esque lifestyle. He tells the group that he has decided to dedicate his life to helping others and reveals that his "system" was actually a method of helping drug addicts. He also gives one final bit of advice to BoJack and Diane, that it takes a long time to realize how truly miserable you are, and even longer to see it doesn’t have to be that way, which saddens them both.
In the final moments, they're heading back to L.A. when BoJack attempts small talk. Attempting to deny the truth in Cuddly's words, only for Diane to simply state she just wants to go home.
In Love And/Or Marriage, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter are still attending couples therapy. While Mr. Peanutbutter is able to go into great detail while expressing himself to Diane, Diane has trouble doing so. The therapist, Dr. Janet, tells Diane that for the next time she has to focus on putting her feelings into words.
Diane explains to Mr. Peanutbutter that it's hard for her to talk about her feelings because she didn't have the support growing up as he did. She gets a text from Alexi Brosefino, famous movie star and member of the entourage "The Snatch Batch", and how he wants her to party with him that night so that she can take Instagram pictures. She agrees to go despite Mr. Peanutbutter wanting to just stay in. She assures him she'll call him if she’s out late, and that she’s probably not going to have a good time and she’s only doing it for work.
Diane shows up at Alexi's house, although he seems confused about her appearance. He eventually realizes who she is and invites her in. He introduces to the Snatch Batch - Carlos, David, and "Shitshow”, although they claim only the news calls them "The Snatch Batch", despite they actually do sleep with a lot of women.
They eventually convince her to do a drug called "Gush". While she anxiously waits for it to kick in, Alexi's friends bring up how Alexi texted a "cool sexy" girl named Diane and told her to come to the party. Diane says that wouldn't it have been funny if he'd accidentally texted her when he meant someone else but realizes that’s exactly what happened. Just then, the "Gush" starts to kick in, and she starts to leave.
Alexi catches up to her outside her house. Diane, as the imagery around her, starts to get distorted, says she gets it- they’re the cool kids and she’s the nerd, and she doesn’t belong at parties. Alexi says those labels don’t exist in the real world, this isn’t high school anymore, and they’re just adults hanging out. He assures Diane she belongs wherever she wants to, even he sometimes feels like an outsider. Diane, still tripping, says she wants to go home to her husband.
Diane returns home, still tripping. Mr. Peanutbutter listens to a hyper Diane as she tells him that she doesn’t always know how to express herself or what kind of Diane she is, but she realized she’s, "all of the Dianes". She tells Mr. Peanutbutter she loves him and all the crazy things he does, and he’s good for her. Mr. Peanutbutter agrees to all of this. Diane tries to carry him to their room, as the drugs make her think it’s a good idea, but they both end up falling over and Diane breaks her left wrist.
At the hospital, Diane's wrist is now in a blue cast. She’s sad because she thinks things will go back to normal the next day - they’ll fight because she’s mean, and she doesn’t know why she is. Mr. Peanutbutter assures her she isn’t. Diane says she wants to go to the Labrador Peninsula to spend New Years with his family, much to Mr. Peanutbutter's excitement. The doctor comes in and tells her blood work is good, but to not do any more drugs in the time being - because she’s pregnant.
Diane curses at this news, which continues into the next episode, Brrap Brrap Pew Pew. On the car ride home, she and Mr. Peanutbutter agree that they’ve always decided they didn’t want kids, and to get an abortion.
However, at an award show after party BoJack annoying her with asking her what’s bothering her leads her to shout at him that she’s getting an abortion - only for her to also accidentally tweet out "I’m getting an abortion" for Sextina Aquafina.
This angers both Princess Carolyn and Sextina, who wants to fire Diane, but when Diane is about to release a statement explaining everything, she discovers that Sextina is getting lots of support and publicity for her public announcement. Sextina is pleased by the attention this will bring her, and tells Diane she’s re-hired and that she wants to keep going along with the lie.
Later, to Diane’s dismay, Sextina releases a raunchy song and video called Get Dat Fetus Kill Dat Fetus. When Diane shows concern for this, Sextina ignores her and says it’s show business. Later in Sextina's limo, Diane tells Sextina, who’s in a hot tub, that she's using the pro-life movement for her fame, but Sextina is bored by her. Princess Carolyn also tells Diane to drop it, but Diane tells Sextina that she has everyone's attention right now, but that pretty soon it will go away, and she'll regret not making a difference with it when she has the chance.
Sextina then announces she’s going to have her abortion live on pay per view TV. Diane questions to Sextina how that will even be possible because she isn’t even pregnant, but Princess Carolyn is already planning it out, saying they’ll fake it and pre-record it, and put a "live" icon at the bottom of the screen to trick people.
Diane is completely against this, but Princess Carolyn angrily tells her it’s what Sextina wants and to stop making the whole situation about herself. She says she’s tired of her creating problems and sarcastically pities her for having a husband and being able to have children (two things we’ve seen her struggle to get or learn might not be possible at her age).
Sextina figures the conversation isn’t about her anymore and begins to leave. Diane refuses to be a part of the plan and leaves. At the abortion clinic, Diane complains about Sextina bad Princess Carolyn to Mr. Peanutbutter, who listens and voice his support to everything she says. Diane decides to take the high road and go on the news and rat them out, which Mr. Peanutbutter reluctantly tells her may not be a good idea.
Just then, a young woman sitting next to them asks if she knows Sextina Aquafina, and when Diane confirms this the woman says it’s really cool she’s using her music to empower women, and that she herself feels stronger due to her music. Diane questions if she finds the lyrics in her latest song offensive at all, but the woman says everyone knows she’s just joking and doesn’t actually mean it. She says getting an abortion is scary, but it becomes less scary when you can laugh at it. This gives Diane a sense of realization, and she gets called in for her abortion.
Princess Carolyn and Diane sit watching Sextina's "abortion" on television at the former's apartment. The two are surprised at how tasteful an informative it actually was. Princess Carolyn asks Diane how she's feeling, and she says she feels shitty but that she's glad she did it. However, she felt old when she did it because all the other women there were teenagers and women in their early 20s, and she should feel ready to have kids, but Princess Carolyn cuts her off and sternly tells her she shouldn’t have to explain anything to anyone.
In Old Acquaintance, which take solace New Years Eve 2015, she and Mr. Peanutbutter go to the Labrador Peninsula to spend New Years with his family, and she meets his older brother, Captain Peanutbutter. However, when she is alone with him he says very nihilistic things about life. She worries it may be about the abortion she had, but Mr. Peanutbutter assures her to not worry about it.
When the two are in bed at night, Diane tells him she’s worried about Captain Peanutbutter and tells Mr. Peanutbutter he should talk to him. Mr. Peanutbutter assures her he knows his brother. When Diane starts to doubt him, he gets mad at her and says just because she has a bad relationship with her family doesn’t mean everyone else does. He quickly apologizes and goes to talk to his brother, who reveals he has a twisted spleen and he’s getting surgery to remove it.
In It's You, after it is announced BoJack is nominated for an Oscar, he throws a wild party. Diane visits BoJack to make sure he's okay knowing how he's still an "empty husk", but BoJack responds to her care by questioning why she doesn’t think he can be happy insulting her, saying things such as "you used to be cool and care about shit”, “you think you're better than everyone", and saying “I’m not like you I don’t fetishize my own sadness”.
Diane, furious, responds with telling him that after he wins his Oscar, he’ll go home and will be so miserable he’ll kill himself, and he’ll have no one around to stop him. BoJack scoffs this off, claiming the dozens of people chanting his name at his party prove that he will have people around when he kills himself.
Later, Princess Carolyn is forced to fire Diane due to VIM closing for failing. Diane is unaffected and thankful to be a part of her company. Princess Carolyn, in return, tells her it was an honor to work with her.
At a diner, Diane complains about BoJack to Roxy, who wonders why she's still hanging out with BoJack. She doesn't reply directly to the question, only saying she just worries about him, and the states that "nobody thinks about the world outside themselves" after ranting that the restaurant is giving everyone water when there's a drought.
In That's Too Much, Man!, BoJack goes on an epic bender with Sarah Lynn, and while he does so he wants to make amends to the people he’s hurt. One of them is Diane. BoJack and Sarah Lynn, while drunk and on a lot of drugs, break into their house and BoJack eat all their food.
BoJack then puts on Mr. Peanutbutter’s clothes and Sarah Lynn puts on Diane's clothes and pretend to be the person they’re dressed as. Diane (who’s wrist has healed and is no longer in a cast) and Mr. Peanutbutter are actually home and watch them do this. They offer to let the two of them sleep it off in their guest bedroom but in their high state, BoJack and Sarah Lynn run off. As they do, they shove into Diane and break her wrist again.
In That Went Well, Diane, now with another cast on her wrist, visits BoJack after he returns from Sarah Lynn’s funeral. BoJack is watching an old episode of Horsin' Around when Diane comes in and tells him she was worried about him. BoJack explains that the funeral was huge.
Everyone who attended had expected this to happen to someone like Sarah Lynn, but BoJack says it wasn’t bound to happen. Diane tries to comfort him, but BoJack shakes her off. He tells her that he keeps trying to change but he can't because he’s poison - he has nothing to show for the life that he's lived and nobody is better off having known him.
Diane denies this and tells him how watching his show when she was a kid helped her escape from her terrible home life for half an hour because she could pretend that she had a good home. BoJack asks why she had never told him this, and she replies that she was trying to preserve some journalistic objectivity.
He tells her that she's too good for writing Instagram captions. He also tells her that he wishes she didn't get so distant once she moved out and that she knows him better than anybody and needs him to be a part of his life.
Later, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter have dinner with Princess Carolyn and Ralph. Diane learns that Ralph is a Stilton, meaning he’s very wealthy. Princess Carolyn suggests that Diane work with Ralph's sister, Stefani, because she's creating a new feminist website, GirlCroosh.
Diane later meets with Stefani. Stefani tells her she admires her trying to bring justice against Hank Hippopopalous the year before. Stefani then asks Diane if she'd ever be against writing an article about Mr. Peanutbutter. Diane looks hesitant, and the scene cuts to her tell Mr. Peanutbutter at their home that she got the job.
At the end of the episode, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter toast to their accomplishments while sitting together in their living room. They hear a knock on the door, and Mr. Peanutbutter goes to answer, hoping it’s pizza. To his disgust, it’s his cold ex-wife, Katrina. She is not excited to see him either, but explains that his heroic deeds have intrigued someone she works for and that she now has an opportunity for him: she asks if he wants to be the governor.
Season 4
In Season 4, Diane has begun her job writing for GirlCroosh, although her articles about real-world issues are typically overlooked by the readers in favor of more trivial, superficial articles relating to celebrity gossip and top ten lists.
Throughout See Mr. Peanutbutter Run, a voiceover of her voicemails to BoJack, who has disappeared, keeping him up to date with everything that is happening. At one point, she says "You know, it's funny, because the last time I saw you, you told me that you needed me in your life, and then you just disappeared. So how do you think that makes me feel? Well, wherever you are, I hope you're happy. I really do, BoJack."
She, deep down, is against Mr. Peanutbutter running for Governor, but she still shows support because she knows he won’t get enough backers to get the current governor, Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz, recalled, which he doesn’t. However, Diane accidentally encourages him to keep trying when she tells him she thinks he would have been a great governor.
Mr. Peanutbutter challenges Woodchuck to a ski-race, where the winner will be named governor. Woodchuck declines due to the sheer ludicrously, although after a month people will not let the challenge go. After Woodchuck says during a press conference that if a state senator was willing to actually petition for an amendment to the constitution that would democratically allow him to bid his governor title on a ski race, then he would accept the challenge.
Katrina winds up doing this, forcing Woodchuck to accept the challenge. However, Mr. Peanutbutter doesn’t actually know how to ski, so Katrina sends him to ski school. All the while Diane forced herself to pretend to support her husband.
As Woodchuck is an experienced skier, Mr. Peanutbutter loses the race. However, Todd, due to an incident involving his "drone throne", actually wins the race, but due to him declining the governor position is left open, and to abide by democracy Mr. Peanutbutter and Woodchuck must both run for Governor, much to the exasperation of Diane. She tries to call BoJack once again among, the chaos, but his mailbox is full.
BoJack, who spends a year and a half at his grandparents' old summer home in Harper’s Landing, Michigan, breaks down and calls Diane in The Old Sugarman Place, apologizing for everything. Diane tries to convince him to come home, but BoJack says 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 LA will let in literally anyone. The two then admit they missed each other.
In Hooray! Todd Episode, Mr. Peanutbutter and Katrina are discussing the issue of fracking, where Mr. Peanutbutter shows that he does not have a clear stance on fracking. Diane, on her way to work, shows her dislike of fracking, stating that if Mr. Peanutbutter is for fracking, she will be super upset.
However, Todd accidentally signs a letter giving Mr. Peanutbutter his support on fracking.
Mr. Peanutbutter asks Todd to help him with Diane, where Todd assumes he needs to keep her away from the news/internet. Todd obliges and tries to distract Diane with a dance at Girlcroosh. During this, Diane's boss, Stefani Stilton, addresses Diane about her articles, saying she finds it inspiring that she knows no one reads the stuff she writes about but she does it anyway.
Diane asks Todd how to make her articles liked. Todd suggests writing them full of gossip, to which Diane tries to look at the internet. Todd quickly tells her a lie about Channing Tatum's refugee daughter. Todd asks Diane to run a DNA test on two hair samples which he says are Channing Tatum's and his daughter's, when they’re actually BoJack and his potential daughter Hollyhock's.
Diane later calls Todd and tells him they DNA is a match and goes to Channing Tatum's house, where Todd and Hollyhock are due to BoJack sending Hollyhock to clean Channing's house as a thank you.
Todd pretends to be Channing and talks to Diane through the door. After Diane reveals that the DNA was a match, to Hollyhock's shock, she realizes she does not wish to be a gossip reporter. Todd says she did well to follow her heart.
In Commence Fracking, she and Mr. Peanutbutter hit a snag in their sex life due to his campaign. Stefani confronts Diane about her issues at GirlCroosh and encourages her to speak out against his pro-fracking views. Stefani says that she needs to "do you" because right now no one is.
Diane publishes an article against Mr. Peanutbutter's fracking views, which he learns about during a TV interview with Tom Jumbo-Grumbo, that says if "frack-happy politicians" knew how bad fracking was they wouldn’t allow it in their own backyards. Tom asks Mr. Peanutbutter if he will accept that as a challenge, and Mr. Peanutbutter reluctantly agrees.
Diane later returns home to find fracking drills set up in front of their house, to her horror. Katrina confronts her about the article she wrote, telling her she can either shut up and support her husband or do the opposite and let her marriage crumble.
At nighttime, Mr. Peanutbutter goes into his office where Diane is typing on her laptop. He calmly confronts her over the article she published about him. Diane says she has written another one, but she won’t publish it if he drops out of the race, and when he refuses, saying publishing the article will embarrass them and she always has to air her “dirty laundry” when someone disagrees with her.
She states she doesn’t want Mr. Peanutbutter to be governor because she thinks he would be bad at it. She then publishes her article, which leads to the two throwing and breaking their computers and a coffee mugs, and Mr. Peanutbutter pins Diane to the wall as the two struggle against one another. However, they suddenly start making out, which leads to them engaging in passionate “angry sex”.
In Thoughts and Prayers, A streak of mass gun violence threatens the release of Courtney Portnoy's new movie Ms. Taken which has a lot of gun violence. To keep things smooth, Princess Carolyn calls Diane to make a blog about Courtney's movie over dinner.
That night after leaving the restaurant, the two are confronted by a mugger, but Courtney pulls out a revolver to drive him away. Courtney then takes Diane to her shooting range, where Diane gets more comfortable with guns. This inspires her to write a blog on female gun empowerment that soon becomes the most popular post on GirlCroosh.
Mr. Peanutbutter at one point tells her he hates guns, and Diane agrees with him, but she admits having a gun makes her feel safer and more empowered. The two peacefully agree on their differences, but then it cuts to them loudly arguing on the news about the opposing views. Then are then heard having "angry sex" again in a closet.
Meanwhile, another gun violence outbreak has occurred, only this time the shooter was a female. This causes controversy over women carrying weapons, but Diane tries to argue her case that they need to be more aware of women safety in general and tells the California government that they could either make it safer for women or ban all guns.
The government decides to pick the latter and ban all guns in California, upsetting Diane as she feels that they hate women more than it loves guns. With all the controversy, the movie is canceled.
Todd asks Diane for advice on his sham wedding to Courtney Portnoy in Stupid Piece of Sh*t, while she is talking to Roxy on the roof of her and Mr. Peanutbutter's house. She tells him that marriage is a lie as you can't promise someone that you'll be with them forever, but it’s still a lie based on truth, and the belief is more important than the thing itself. Todd thanks her, because he now has a lot to think about, and later he tells Princess Carolyn he can’t go through with it.
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. Meanwhile, Mr. Peanutbutter is throwing a campaign fundraiser at his house. BoJack shows up but Diane still avoids him, while both Katrina and Jessica Biel, Mr. Peanutbutter's ex-wives, are also in attendance.
Mr. Peanutbutter begins to makes a toast promising to beat Woodchuck Coodchuck-Berkowitz and thanking his pro-fracking supporters, but he suddenly senses an earthquake coming. Nothing happens, and Mr. Peanutbutter assumes it was a false alarm. An earthquake immediately occurs, putting all the guests in panic. Some guests begin confessing their regrets. Diane shouts "I regret everything!". The earthquake stops, but the entire house falls into a large sinkhole caused by Mr. Peanutbutter's fracking, trapping everyone underground.
Diane is furious at Mr. Peanutbutter for not listening to her about fracking, which resulted in their current situation.
She 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. She felt bad for crying, but BoJack assures her it’s fine, and to not feel bad about feeling bad (quoting the advice that Hollyhock mentioned receiving from one of her fathers).
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 afterward.
Katrina tells Mr. Peanutbutter the agenda for his campaign the next day before she leaves. Diane tells Mr. Peanutbutter that he's the best thing that's ever happened to her and that if he really wants to be governor then she'll support him. Mr. Peanutbutter says he doesn't want to be governor because he’s a terrible leader and he just wanted people to like him. The two of them begin to leave but realize they already are home.
Princess Carolyn and Todd join them, and the former congratulate them on a great party. BoJack joins the group. BoJack breaks the tension and suggests getting Ethiopian food, which leads to a conversation about how the Ethiopian restaurant has good bread.
Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane stay in a hotel due to their house getting destroyed. Mr. Peanutbutter drops out of the race in The Judge and throws his support behind Woodchuck.
Diane spends the majority of the episode getting back massages by the pool.
She tries to give BoJack advice when he accidentally insults Hollyhock when trying to warn her about a boy she was dating, but he ends up ignoring her and coming up with his own plan.
Diane returns to the room and finds, to her shock, that Mr. Peanutbutter and Todd have started a "clown dentistry" due to the former being done with his campaign.
She turns on the TV, and a news broadcast reveals that Jessica Biel is now running for governor against Woodchuck, with Katrina as her manager.
Diane tells Mr. Peanutbutter he has to help Woodchuck win the race because he has no idea what he’s up against. He is not sure if it’s the right thing for them, because it’ll distract him from his and Todd’s clown dentist business. Diane says it’s definitely the best thing for him.
In Ruthie, Diane accompanies BoJack to the Hollywoo courthouse to find Hollyhock's birth certificate, although he tricked her by telling her it was a "feminist emergency". However, BoJack gets frustrated by all the long lines and paperwork, so he gives up and goes home.
In Lovin that cali lifestyle!!, with the California Governor Election coming to a close, it seems that Jessica Biel's approval ratings are higher than Woodchuck's ratings due to his lobster claws for hands. Later on, however, Woodchuck reveals that he has gotten new hands, and his new "Hands Up For Woodchuck" campaign raises his ratings higher than Jessica's.
Katrina, however, believes that they could use Woodchuck's new hands against him, and a DNA look at the fingerprints reveal that his new hands used to belong to Ernest Contralto, a pedophile murder (as in a pedophile that also murders kids). This causes Woodchuck's ratings to drop even more.
Meanwhile, at GirlCroosh, Diane's boss convinces her to take Jessica out for lunch and do an article on how they might be getting a female Governor soon. Diane agrees, and at lunch the two talk, with Biel mentioning how Mr. Peanutbutter was obsessed with magic eye posters when they were married, but the longer she squinted at them, she would finally see the beautiful illusion.
Then, Biel has a public meltdown over having avocado on her plate despite requesting not to have them, and Diane decides to make it her new blog post. This causes people to backlash against Biel for hating avocado, much to Katrina's dismay.
Despite Woodchuck believing that it may not matter, the results next week reveal that he won the campaign. While Mr. Peanutbutter is happy that he and Diane saved the campaign, Diane is annoyed because he was responsible for the problems in the first place.
In What Time Is It Right Now, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter are about to get "back to normal" as they prepare to move into their new home. However, as the pull into the driveway of their new home, they seem hesitant to get "back at it again", and on the spot decide to go to Hawaii on the new bridge. However, the huge amount of traffic starts tension between them, but they collect themselves and decide to pull over and stay at the hotel.
As they eat dinner while sitting on the edge by the hotel, Mr. Peanutbutter asks Diane about her once saying she wanted a ballroom (which was briefly mentioned in After the Party). Diane admits she always a "Belle-Room", a giant library filled with books, like the one Belle got in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Mr. Peanutbutter soon gets recognized by some fish people from his Sea Horse Milk commercials, and he takes some pictures with them.
The next day, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter finally return to their new home. However, Mr. Peanutbutter surprises Diane by revealing he had a "Belle-room" installed in their new home.
Diane is furious, as besides the fact she's told him numerous times she hates grand gestures, the room was her personal dream/fantasy, and to her, it’s ruined now.
This in return angers Mr. Peanutbutter, who besides the fact painted faces on the furniture and filled the room with fake books, says he does stuff like that so that she won’t get bored of him and leave like his past wives have.
After they stop arguing, Diane says, as a metaphor, their marriage is like a magic eye poster, which Mr Peanutbutter says he loves, because “it's messy, and at first glance, it doesn't seem to make any sense, and it's hard to figure out but sometimes, if you squint at it just right, everything lines up, and it's the most perfect, beautiful, amazing thing”.
Jessica Biel said something very similar to this to Diane two episodes prior referring to a memory involving the poster during their marriage.
Mr. Peanutbutter positively agrees to this. However, Diane confesses she’s tired of squinting and breaks down crying, leaving a downed Mr. Peanutbutter to realize their relationship has finally come to an end.
Season 5
As her divorce with Mr. Peanutbutter is being finalized, Diane moves into a crummy studio apartment.
Shortly before, she has dinner with Mr. Peanutbutter, who have remained on good terms, although she is annoyed by him and the waitress, Pickles, an excitable, young female pug, hitting it off. She gives him the idea to have a housewarming party, and she agrees to come.
BoJack helps her move into her apartment, and after voicing his disdain for her crappy apartment he tells her if she ever wants to crash at his place she can.
Diane invites BoJack to come with her to Mr. Peanutbutter’s housewarming party. She then goes to GirlCroosh but sees the office has been tented, and Stefani tells her to work from home for the next month.
Diane tries to work from her apartment, but its crappiness prevents her from doing so. She goes to BoJack's place but they both end up spending the night getting drunk.
Diane asks if it's weird that they're both single at the same time. BoJack offers for her to stay overnight in the guest room but Diane says she can't stay here again because last time she was a mess, and mentions how he left for Michigan.
BoJack corrects her and says it was New Mexico, and begins to tell her about what he did, but says all that happened was that he stayed with a family he knew, got a boat, and came back. Diane passes out by this point, and BoJack covers her with a blanket. The next morning Diane, after seeing a passed out BoJack on the chair next to her, sneaks out.
Diane later has a session with her therapist, Dr. Indira, who advises her to get out of her routine for a bit to help her process things.
A newly divorced, "fun" Diane with a short haircut
When BoJack arrives at her apartment to take her to Mr. Peanutbutter's housewarming party, Diane is now wearing a new outfit and has cut her hair into a very short bob.
BoJack tries to give her a compliment, but Diane's response is taken 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 after telling her that her new haircut looks great and Mr. Peanutbutter will love it. Diane goes to the party alone but runs into Todd. She asks if he's seen Mr. Peanutbutter and he says that he might be in the library - the one he tried to give her when they decided to split up.
She runs into Mr. Peanutbutter who compliments her haircut but leaves her to talk to Erica. Princess Carolyn sees the exchange and hugs Diane. She offers to be Diane's rock as long as it doesn't conflict with work but leaves to take a work call, leaving Diane alone again.
Diane sees Mr. Peanutbutter and Pickles, The waitress from the restaurant, kiss. She isn’t too bothered at first, but when he puts his hand on the small of her back, Diane is reminded that Mr. Peanutbutter will never love her like that again.
Diane leaves the party sobbing. She goes to her apartment, packs a bag, and flies to Vietnam.
Diane tries to find her roots in Vietnam.
Diane arrives in Vietnam but gets a call from Stefani, telling her she wants more content for GirlCroosh. Diane tells her that she'll write a piece while she's in Vietnam. She calls it 10 Reasons to go to Vietnam: A GirlCroosh Personal Travel Guide.
However, Diane has trouble enjoying her time there, as she can’t enjoy it as someone who is Vietnamese-American, because she just feels too much like a tourist, and she can’t enjoy herself as a tourist because she doesn’t speak Vietnamese, which also influences the former problem.
At one point, she pretends to not understand English and goes on a date with a grip from a movie crew shooting at the hotel she is staying at. However, he eventually calls her bluff, which leads to her leaving him after a fight.
When Diane returns home, Mr. Peanutbutter picks her up from the airport, but when he is about to drop her off at her apartment, he hands her his finalized divorce papers.
Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's divorce is finalized
He also reveals to her he is seeing Pickles romantically, but Diane tells him she’s happy for him.
In BoJack the Feminist, controversial actor Vance Waggoner, with a history of abusive and offensive behavior that inevitably tends to go overlooked, is cast as Fritz on Philbert, and is about to receive a Forgivie Award. Stefani wants Diane to go the award show to take Vance down and do some "Hollywoo hob-nobbing", and ask BoJack why Vance is going to star on his new show - a fact that shocks Diane.
Diane questions Princess Carolyn about her decision to hire Vance and what kind of message that sends. Princess Carolyn says the industry is screwed up, and they need a big star. As they argue, BoJack takes some cheese from a cheese plate. When Vance goes on stage to accept his award, BoJack sniffs the cheese and makes a disgusted face. They catch it on camera and the news claims that BoJack refused to forgive Vance at the Forgivies.
Princess Carolyn makes BoJack go on The Squawk to clear up what happened, but he ends up going along with being a feminist due to liking the positive attention he gets. Princess Carolyn is angered at first, but after she calls Vance and he tells her he’s not doing Philbert anymore since he did indeed get better offers, she tells BoJack they’re gonna take Vance down.
Princess Carolyn brings Diane and BoJack together in her office. She tells them that she brought them together because with Diane's feminist brain and BoJack's male face they can actually say things that people will listen to.
Diane tries to teach BoJack about the media cycle and how pop culture normalizes things - for good and bad. However, BoJack is bored and doesn’t really take it seriously. Diane gives up and tells BoJack to just sprinkle in a few words like "intersectionality" or "micro-aggressions" and Vice News will name him Feminist of the Year.
Diane leaves and goes to her car. Inside waiting for her is Ana Spanakopita, who wants her to stop harassing Vance because he's her client. Diane goes off on Ana saying all Hollywoo does is let men like Vance off the hook over and over again, and as a result, they never learn and people who support them are culpable for their actions. Ana calmly tells Diane she’s given her a lot to think about, and leaves.
BoJack is on MSNBSea when he learns that Vance came out as a feminist, and says he left BoJack's new show Philbert, because it was sexist.
BoJack and Diane look over Philbert scripts at her apartment. BoJack tries explaining the plot lines to Diane, admitting he doesn’t understand them either, but what’s important right now is to prove their not sexist. However, Diane says they are sexist, but BoJack says he has to go on a show saying they aren’t, and he wants her to tell him what to say.
Diane admits what Vance said was right - Philbert is trying to deconstruct toxic masculinity, but it's just using that as an excuse to relish in its own excesses. She then vents about how more people will watch Philbert than read anything she writes, and how being a woman isn’t just a hobby, and men get a lot more advantages then women do.
BoJack tries to cheer her up and says they can promote feminism and destroy the patriarchy if they take down Vance. Diane tells BoJack in a resigned tone to say whatever he wants and asks him to leave because she has work to do.
BoJack is on Deep Dive with A Ryan Seacrest Type. BoJack tries to explain how the audience isn't supposed to like Philbert as a character or agree with anything he does and realizes that what the show is doing is normalizing Philbert's behavior.
BoJack leaves and goes to Diane's. He asks her to come work with Flip on the show to make it something that they can all be proud of. BoJack tells her that this is her chance to change society for the better. Diane says that nothing she does causes any real change to happen, but BoJack says that she changed him.
Meanwhile, Mr. Peanutbutter ends up being cast as Fritz.
Diane arrives onset, but Flip tells her to just sit in his office, don’t bother him, and collect her paycheck, and get recognition for being a woman working on a TV show so that people won’t think it’s sexist.
Diane goes in her car, where Ana is waiting for her again. She tells Diane she was right about Vance, as he created another controversy, so she dropped him and he’s finished with show business - for a few years until the public decides to forgive him yet again. Ana also tells Diane she was right about how men are always given cover for the bad things they do over and over again.
She pulls out a tape recorder and tells Diane to listen - it’s the recording of BoJack telling Heather, the Manatee Fair writer, about what he almost did to Penny in New Mexico from Start Spreading The News.
In The Amelia Earhart Story, Diane calls Princess Carolyn while the latter is in Eden, North Carolina asking her how to get Flip to listen to her ideas. She tells Diane to make Flip think it’s his idea.
She is able to convince him to write in BoJack and Mr. Peanutbutter doing stunts during a scene that involves them on motorcycles, but BoJack, who fired his stunt double because Mr. Peanutbutter was doing his own stunts and he was jealous of the attention he was getting, ends up falling form a building and landing on a car, severely hurting his back.
Princess Carolyn tells Todd she’ll get BoJack a specialist to drug him up so he feels ok to shoot later in the week.
Diane later calls Princess Carolyn and says she feels guilty because it was her idea for the stunt, but Princess Caroline convinces her that it was Flip's idea.
In INT. SUB, Diane's therapist, Dr. Indira, tells her wife, Mary-Beth about her week, but she changes the names of the people. Diane becomes "Diana, Princess of Wales".
Diane consults in her therapist, Dr. Indira, about the BoJack tape Ana gave her with BoJack confessing that he almost did something to a girl, which Diane says that must mean she was young. She wonders why BoJack didn't tell her about it.
On the set, BoJack announces that his mother died, but he doesn’t need any condolences. Everyone listens to him, but BoJack is still offended no one wants to talk about it-indicating he is in denial about his grief.
Diane tells her therapist that she knows BoJack probably wants her to confront him about it, but she's still mad at him. Dr. Indira tells her to focus on work, but Diane says that Flip, who in Dr. Indira's story is a dolphin named Flippy who only speaks in dolphin squeaks, won't let her do anything.
Diane flashes back to going into Flip's office, and he has severe writer's block. She offers to help him, but Flip insists he can do it himself. She leaves and runs into BoJack, who says that his mom died. Dr. Indira tells Diane to tell BoJack that she needs some space.
When BoJack goes to talk Diane later on set, Diane tells him that her therapist doesn't want her to talk to him.
BoJack drives to Dr. Indira's office and asks her why she told Diane to stay away from him. She tells him to have a seat, and BoJack ends up spending the next forty-five minutes talking to her. She schedules him for the same time next week, and BoJack declares her as his best friend.
BoJack returns to set and drags Diane aside into another room and tells her about the great time he had with her therapist. However, Diane says Dr. Indira is her therapist, and one of the few things she has for herself, so she asks BoJack to not see her. He agrees, but he goes back to Dr. Indira and tells her they can see each other behind Diane’s back.
Diane goes to see Flip, who has only managed to type out gibberish. He confesses to her that everyone on set thinks he’s a genius but he has no idea what he’s doing. Diane tries to help him simplify things, but when that doesn’t seem to help she leaves him alone to think about it. On the way out, she runs into BoJack, who lies about seeing lunch with a friend, but says something Dr. Indira always tells her, making Diane suspicious.
While BoJack is having another session with Dr. Indira, Diane breaks in and catches him. When she angrily tells him that she told him not to see her, BoJack says that she isn't the only one going through stuff right now. Dr. Indira offers to allow them to have a conversation in her room because it’s a safe space, but Diane doesn't feel like it's safe now that BoJack is here.
Dr. Indira says that BoJack needs her more so she cuts ties with Diane, saying she's learned to set boundaries. Diane tells them both that they deserve each other. Dr. Indira then tries to get BoJack to talk about his mom to get to the bottom of how he can get help, but BoJack freaks out and says she’s helped him and doesn’t need her anymore. He quickly leaves, leaving Dr. Indira having to lose two clients in one day.
Diane goes to talk to BoJack on set. She apologizes for her behavior and admits he needs more help than she does. However, BoJack reveals to Diane that he didn’t go to Dr. Indira because he needed help, he just wanted someone to spend his lunch break with.
He doesn’t believe therapy would work on him because he’s too intelligent for it. Diane is bewildered that he hasn’t changed at all. BoJack retorts that if she talked to him about his mom dying this wouldn’t have happened. Diane asks if he wants to talk about it, but he questions why she keeps bringing up his mom.
Diane sternly tells BoJack, "You say you want to get better and you don’t know how. Well, here's me, your friend, telling you how: get therapy. Otherwise, don’t waste my time". BoJack says that Dr. Indira said they didn’t need her and that they both are equally screwed up - they’re the same. Diane angrily rebuts that they are not the same.
She storms into Flip's office and starts furiously typing. He stands behind her as she types and likes what he sees.
Diane ends up writing what BoJack did to Penny based on his dialogue on the tape into the episode, with Philbert finding and kissing a teenage girl on the submarine, and leaving her to die while escaping the submarine.
Flip asks Diane where she got the inspiration for the script from, she says,"it was a story she once heard, and she just changed the names".
Flip yells cut and calls himself a genius. BoJack, having realized during filming that Diane knows something about his feud with Penny, looks at Diane with guilt as she glares at him.
In Head in the Clouds, she attends the Philbert premiere. She bumps into BoJack during the red carpet and asks him why he has an arm sling. He explains that he T-boned some asshole and quotes something Philbert says. Diane remarks that the quote was removed because it was offensive to people who didn't know the time (the quote was very sexist).
The airing of Philbert begins with a word from BoJack, explaining how the show makes him feel better for the unforgivable things he's done in the past. Diane is surprised by this and talks to Flip after the screening. She talks about how she made Philbert a more vulnerable character to make him more relatable but also notes that his actions should not justify actions made by the viewers. Flip explains how the series has already been released and broadcast. Diane then decides to leave the premiere.
Diane finds BoJack near the red carpet. Diane asks him if he really meant what he said at the Philbert premiere, and before BoJack can answer, she states that she doesn't want Philbert to justify shitty behavior. BoJack praises her work on the show and claims that she did a great job on writing for the show.
Diane brings up some of her concerns about BoJack, stating how shes been disconnected from him in their friendship. She also mentions that she knows that BoJack did something to a girl in New Mexico. This causes a big argument between the two, ending with Diane leaving the writing team for Philbert and with BoJack telling Diane about what happened in New Mexico.
Diane goes to the main entrance. She angrily kicks a cardboard cutout of BoJack, sending a Philbert float into the air. As she waits for the valet, Mr. Peanutbutter offers her a ride home. In the car, Diane praises Mr. Peanutbutter's role in Philbert, and Mr. Peanutbutter praises Diane's writing for the show, and can't wait for her to contribute to the second season. She explains that she won't be working on the second season of the show. When they get to the apartment, Diane asks for Mr. Peanutbutter to come inside with her.
In The Stopped Show, Mr. Peanutbutter comes over and tries to convince Diane to tell Pickles about their affair. Diane refuses and asks Mr. Peanutbutter to take responsibility. He rebuts, explaining how he doesn't know how to do it and talks about how he feels like trash. Diane says that he should feel guilty, and rants about how she also feels like trash over the past year; not like a cozy trash can fire but as a full-on flaming garbage barge. They argue, and end up having "angry sex" again despite being divorced.
Diane meets with Stefani at Sandro's Place. Stefani explains that GirlCroosh is moving to video format and that she wants Diane to be the face of it. Diane says no to the offer, which shocks and confuses Stefani as she literally has never been said "no" to before.
Diane then explains how she's an untrustworthy new source and a hypocrite after her actions. Stefani then explains to Diane what her problem is; that she often holds people and herself at a very high standard, allowing her to write juicy take-downs, but harrowing for her self worth. She explains that the world is already very unforgiving and standardized, and it's best to forgive each other. Diane asks if the content on GirlCroosh should be more forgiving, but Stefani blows off the idea.
Despite not being on good terms with BoJack, Diane drives him to a rehab center, not because she forgives him for what he is and what he has done, but rather because he is her best friend and she still believes in him. Diane is then seen driving through a tunnel and the season ends.
Personality
Diane is a nice, intelligent, nerdy, and third-wave feminist woman who is shy at social gatherings but ironically bold and upstanding when she sees it's necessary, tries constantly to achieve notoriety of some sort but it falls flat on three fronts: her stubborn belief that her way of doing things is the only correct way (even when she's no longer involved), her refusal to be pragmatic or compromise her position at all, and her flip-flop morality when it comes to doing the right thing. An example of this is her stance on guns, making her rather hypocritical (which she herself does admit).
In addition, similar to Todd, Diane often tends to get dragged into BoJack's shenanigans, especially in Season 1.
Like BoJack, Diane had quite a tough childhood, having been raised in a house full of spiteful and lazy four brothers and parents who didn't seem to be very affectionate towards her, hence her determined, dedicated and somewhat aggressive nature. This often enables her to put up with people like BoJack Horseman at the most trying of times. Although she can seem quiet and very much enveloped in writing, Diane has been seen to snap and lose her temper, which has been shown in the past to be quite violent.
She is socially anxious, as she hates parties and can act awkward when in situations as such.
She also has a spiteful streak when provoked, leaking chapters of BoJack's biography against his will, accusing her husband of making things "all about him" (despite his selflessness) to cover for her own unhappiness with her life choices, and writing BoJack's confession about Penny to the reporter from Start Spreading The News into Philbert, after Ana gives her the confiscated confession tape and after BoJack tells her "we’re the same".
As noted by Stefani in The Stopped Show, Diane holds everyone to an impossible standard, including herself. She wants better from everyone including herself, but doesn’t realize it can’t happen immediately. This makes her too critical of herself and others, which leads to her disappointment and unhappiness, and damages her relationships and self worth.
This also plays into her being quite hypocritical, as she presents herself as a center of morality and won’t hesitate to call others out on their flaws, but she usually cannot recognize her own flaws or attempt to improve on them.
Her idealism leads her to constantly question her happiness, which only makes her more miserable, as this leads her to find problems in her life and relationships and focus on them too much to the point she breaks down, due to her unrealistic expectations, which not even she can live up to.
Throughout the series she grows disappointed at not being able to make a difference in the world with either her writing or opinions, as no one seems to listen or care, they shame her for it, or they only agree with her if it benefits them somehow.
These traits only continue to lead Diane down a path of unhappiness and disappointment, to the point where she is just as self-destructive and even as toxic as BoJack.
Relationships
- Mr. Peanutbutter (ex-husband; good friend)
- BoJack Horseman (best friend)
- Todd Chavez (good friend)
- Princess Carolyn (former employer/friend)
- Wayne (ex-boyfriend)
- Roxy (best friend)
Trivia
- Diane was first created as a network/development executive who wanted to help BoJack with his comeback.[2]
- Her last name Nguyen is the most common Vietnamese family name and most characters in the show comically mispronounce it.
- The reason for the name being unpronounceable is due to the various regions of Vietnam having a lot of different accents. So ironically, despite being the most common name in Vietnam, it has no uniform pronunciation.
- Common ways to pronounce it are: Wyen, Newen, Ngyen, Nuyen.
- Her phone number is 310-555-5443, and her email is nguyenisthelonliestnumber@aol.com.
- Even though she's a ghostwriter, her name is on the books she wrote.
- She turned 35 in the Season 2 episode After the Party, which took place in early 2015, setting her year of birth in 1980.
- She published a novel about Secretariat.
- She also served as a consultative writer for the film but was asked to do tasks such as making sure nobody tripped over the cables.
- Diane is one of the few characters to said "fuck". However Diane is cut off by the end credits before we can actually hear it, but the following episode does immediately picks up at the final second it left off at, and thus, actually saying it out loud.
- In the show "fuck" is only used whenever a relationship is ruined (In BoJack-related Story Arcs), the only time it is not uttered in this manner, is by Diane Nguyen, who is cut off by the credits scene.
- Although if that instance counts, that would make her the first main character to say "fuck". The other two being Todd in It's You and BoJack in Thoughts and Prayers.
- In BoJack Kills, Mr. Peanutbutter says he and Diane “are like five big fights away from a divorce". The two do indeed have five arguments up until What Time Is It Right Now.
- In Old Acquaintance, Mr. Peanutbutter gets angry at Diane when she insists he talks to Captain Peanutbutter, due to him acting weird, questioning if she thinks she knows his brother better than him and just because she has a bad family doesn’t mean everyone else does.
- In Commence Fracking, Mr. Peanutbutter confronts Diane due to the latter publishing GirlCroosh articles against Mr. Peanutbutter being pro-fracking for his governor campaign, as Diane is anti-fracking.
- Diane says she won’t publish it if he drops out of the race, and when he refuses, saying publishing the article will embarrass them and she always has to air her “dirty laundry” when someone disagrees with her. she states she doesn’t want Mr. Peanutbutter to be governor, because she thinks he would be bad at it.
- She then publishes her article, which leads to the two throwing and breaking their computers and a coffee mugs, and Mr. Peanutbutter pins Diane to the wall as the two struggle against one another. The two then engage in passionate “angry sex”.
- Diane says she won’t publish it if he drops out of the race, and when he refuses, saying publishing the article will embarrass them and she always has to air her “dirty laundry” when someone disagrees with her. she states she doesn’t want Mr. Peanutbutter to be governor, because she thinks he would be bad at it.
- In Thoughts and Prayers, the two argue on MSNBSea about gun control, and in the next scene, they can be heard having “angry sex” again behind a closed door.
- In Underground, Diane gets angry at Mr. Peanutbutter due to his fracking causing their home to collapse into a sinkhole.
- Finally, in What Time Is It Right Now, Diane gets upset when Mr. Peanutbutter builds her Belle-Room, a giant room filled with books like the library the Beast gave Belle in Beauty and the Beast that’s she dreamed of having as a little girl, claiming that it was her own fantasy and she hates big gestures as also seen in After the Party.
- Mr. Peanutbutter in return gets angry for trying to do something nice for her and claims he does big gestures because he’s scared she’ll get bored of him and leave like his previous wives, Katrina and Jessica. After they calm down, Diane says she thinks their marriage is like a magic eye poster, as at first glance, it’s messy and doesn’t make sense, but if you squint hard enough, everything lines up. However, Diane says she so tired of squinting and breaks down crying, as Mr. Peanutbutter looks upset, as an implication their marriage has failed.
Gallery
![Diane model sheet]](/wiki/File:Diane_model_sheet.png "Diane model sheet.png (575 KB)")
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/BoJackHorseman/status/1108116479801589760?s=20
- ↑ BoJack Horseman: The Art Before The Horse