Escape from L.A.

“	Don't. Don't you dare. If you are not out of my driveway in thirty minutes I will call the police, and if you ever try to contact me, or my family again, I will fucking kill you.	”
—Charlotte Carson

Introduction

Gallery

Quotes

"Escape from L.A."
Airdate	July 17, 2015
Written by	Joe Lawson
Directed by	Amy Winfrey
Episode guide
Previous	Yes And
Next	Out to Sea

Escape from L.A. is the eleventh episode of Season 2 of Netflix original series BoJack Horseman, and the 23rd episode overall. Escape from L.A., along with the rest of Season 2, premiered on July 17, 2015.

Synopsis

BoJack goes on a road trip to visit an old friend, and gets a taste of existence outside the Hollywoo bubble.

Plot

The episode begins where the previous episode ended, with BoJack standing next to his car outside Charlotte's store in Tesuque, New Mexico.

She comes outside surprised by his arrival and asks what he's doing here. BoJack says he was in town and decided to stop by and asks if she wants to get drinks, despite it being early in the morning.

Charlotte instead invites him to her house. BoJack asks her what would happen if someone needed to buy "turquoise shit" from her store, to which she says it's New Mexico, they can find it everywhere.

The two tell one another that they're happy to see each other, and Charlotte says she can't wait for him to meet Kyle and the kids. BoJack says he hopes that's the name of a band she's in.

Through a montage of photos with an upbeat song called Kyle and the Kids. Parodying a sitcom opening, it is revealed that Charlotte has a family. She is married to a human man named Kyle, and they have two children, a seventeen-year-old deer girl named Penny and a teen human son named Trip.

The montage ends with Charlotte and her family having breakfast with BoJack, who has a shocked expression on his face. He is surprised Charlotte never brought up that she lived in L.A. and knew him after Penny questions who he is.

Penny complains that Trip has a boner again, which offends everyone. Trip defends himself by saying he doesn't know how it works and he thinks he got excited due to finishing the maze on the back of the cereal box.

Penny then questions BoJack why he's in New Mexico, and Charlotte asks him this too. BoJack lies and says he's here to buy a boat at a boat show—certainly not because he thought Charlotte, a woman he knew thirty years ago, was still single. Penny is still suspicious and questions why he would leave Los Angeles, which is right next to the ocean, to get a boat in landlocked New Mexico. However, BoJack gets a phone call from Princess Carolyn, and he pretends it's his boat guy.

He goes outside and tells Princess Carolyn he's in New Mexico because things weren't working out as he'd hoped. and to give him a few days. Princess Carolyn tried to protest that if he doesn't show up to set, they'll sue him, but Charlotte comes outside and BoJack hangs up. Charlotte tells him he can stay for as long as he wants to. Penny comes outside complaining that her dad was going to take her to practice her driving, but now he has to take Trip to his basketball game.

Trip tries to defend himself, but Penny says he'll get a boner and will get benched. Trip counters he'll probably get one now since she mentioned it, and he goes back inside while covering his crotch. Charlotte says she can't take her because she has to go back to the store later. Penny asks if BoJack can take her since he's an adult. Charlotte asks him too, saying he'll really be doing her a huge favor. BoJack agrees.

Penny and BoJack are then seen in his car. Penny keeps drifting by a certain house, and BoJack questions her for it. Penny explains it's her crush Diego Mendoza's house. They have a thing where they always say "hey" to each other, and she hopes because of this he'll ask her to the senior prom. She hopes he'll see her driving by his house and he'll talk to her. BoJack thinks that's a dumb plan. Penny retorts him lying that he was here to buy a boat was dumb too. She then questions why he's really here.

BoJack confesses that he didn't like who he was in L.A., and Penny seems to understand. Penny advises BoJack that if he goes to a boat show and does not come back with a boat, people will notice. Diego comes out of his house. Penny then panics and drives away quickly, going against her plan because she didn't think he would be wearing a tank top. She crashes into a street sign. She begs BoJack to not tell her parents she wrecked his car, and BoJack agrees.

It then cuts to later that day at about sundown, where Charlotte and Kyle are preparing dinner. Trip is bummed that the coach didn't put him in. Kyle assures him he'll get put in the next game, but when Trip is distracted he whispers to Charlotte that they won't. Everyone goes outside when they see BoJack having a boat pulled into the driveway. Kyle asks what "her" name is, BoJack finds it weird he refers to the boat as a girl.

Penny says he should call it the "Escape from L.A." BoJack lets Kyle and the kids go on the boat. He then tells Charlotte, that he should probably leave since he got his boat. Charlotte assures him he can stay here because her family loves him. He gets another call from Princess Carolyn, and he tells her he's not sure when he's coming back. He hangs up on her and then steps on his phone to break it.

BoJack stays there for two months, living in his boat in the driveway. One night, during dinner, Penny gets annoyed at a dad joke Kyle tells, and she eventually storms up to her room. BoJack and Charlotte go to talk to her. Penny reveals she is upset since Diego never asked her to prom. She was the one who asked him, but he rejected her for another girl named Lyla K. BoJack says he'll take her, because it'll make Diego jealous, and she'll have a better time with him. Penny agrees.

On prom night Charlotte and Kyle take pictures of Penny's prom group. This includes her and BoJack, and her two friends, Maddy, her current best friend, and Pete Repeat, who repeats things he says (a running gag throughout the episode is that he forgets to do this). Penny drives them to prom. When BoJack finds out that Maddy is drinking a flask filled with Red Bull and whiskey he orders Penny to go to the liquor store so she can have real alcohol.

At prom, Penny is sad over seeing Diego with his date, and Maddy becomes drunk. BoJack tries to perform his "Do the BoJack" song from the 90s, but the teenagers reject it and he stops. He suggests to Penny and her friends that they just leave. Penny says they can't just leave prom. BoJack says that they can do whatever they want because they're young, and no one ever tells you that before it's too late. They leave, and they go out to the desert and release balloons with glow sticks attached to them.

BoJack and Penny climb to the top of a water tower. Penny says she's kinda bummed they didn't get to dance, and BoJack offers to do so. Penny plays music on her phone and the two slow dance. Penny says the night has been amazing. BoJack tells Penny she looks just like her mom.

Pete calls them down. Maddy has passed out, is unresponsive, and has slurred speech. Pete says this happened to his cousin and he died from alcohol poisoning. They take Maddy to the hospital. BoJack does not want to go in. He tells Pete to stay with her and say he doesn't know where Maddy got the alcohol from. Pete is reluctant, but BoJack is able to convince him that it's the right thing.

BoJack and Penny go home. As they walk to the front door, Penny begins to wonder if they did the right thing, and BoJack convinces her they did. She thanks him for the night they had, and says that he actually treats her like an adult. She kisses him on the cheek, but BoJack pushes her away when she tries to kiss him on the mouth.

She says she wants to have sex with him, claiming it's okay because she's sober and she has condoms in her room, she even knows how to put one on with her mouth. Also, seventeen is the legal age of consent in New Mexico. BoJack says she's too young and she doesn't know what she wants. Penny starts crying and goes inside.

BoJack meets Charlotte in the backyard, where she is sitting at the fire pit. He tells her Penny went to bed. Charlotte says Kyle is sleeping and Trip is at a friend's house. BoJack asks her if she remembers when they and Herb released balloons with glow sticks. Charlotte says she does and notes that was really bad because a seagull could have choked on one, but she remembers it fondly, along with the other times the three had together. BoJack asks if she remembers when she said that L.A. was a tar pit (which was seen in a flashback in The Telescope).

Charlotte says she said a lot of things when she was young, she thought she was so deep. BoJack asks if she still believes that. Charlotte says she actually believes “you're the tar pit,” as in who you are doesn't matter where you are. BoJack jokingly says she sounds like his mother.

She snuggles up next to him. BoJack says he doesn't know what to do about his problems. Charlotte tells him a story about a man who goes to the doctor, he says "Doctor, it hurts when I do this!" and the doctor tells him "don't do that." BoJack says that's actually good advice, and Charlotte jokingly says the doctor was a woman.

They laugh and they kiss. Charlotte tells BoJack he has the wrong idea. BoJack tells her to leave with him, confessing he's loved her all this time. He has been sitting on his hands thinking of what could have been. Charlotte tells him he should leave tomorrow morning because she has worked very hard to make this life for herself—and he comes 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.

BoJack pleads her to forgive him and pretend this never happened because he loves her family and living here and he doesn't want to go back to L.A. Charlotte says she doesn't care where he goes, but he can't stay here, because he makes her "too sad." BoJack agrees to leave.

BoJack goes up to his boat, where Penny is. He asks what she's doing here. She tells him she knows what she wants. BoJack tells her to go to bed. He goes into the captain's quarters and leaves the door opened.

It then cuts back to Charlotte, who is still in the backyard. She is shown sighing, but one of the glow stick balloons from earlier floats by. She follows it out to the driveway, and she stops in her tracks when she hears a lamp break and whispers from inside BoJack's boat.

She goes up to the top of the captain's quarters. She opens the door and finds Penny and BoJack on his bed, seemingly about to undress each other. Charlotte is horrified and angrily tells Penny to go to her room. Penny runs out crying. BoJack tries to apologize, but Charlotte, furious, cuts him off: she then tells BoJack if he is not out of her driveway within thirty minutes she will call the police and if he ever tries to contact her or her family again she will kill him.

BoJack and Penny are caught by Charlotte

Now having lost all ties with Charlotte and the rest of Carson Family, BoJack is seen wearing sunglasses while sitting on his boat, which is being driven back to L.A. His face is expressionless as the boat drives from day to night from the desert of New Mexico to the busy highway of Los Angeles. BoJack arrives home. He goes into his house to find it a mess with empty beer cans and pizza boxes. He goes to his balcony and looks out. Diane says "Hey." BoJack is surprised she's still here, and Diane says "Yep... still here."

Cast

Actor		Character
Will Arnett	...	BoJack Horseman
Amy Sedaris	...	Princess Carolyn
Alison Brie	...	Diane Nguyen
Jermaine Fowler	...	Pete Repeat
Ed Helms	...	Kyle
Adam Pally	...	Trip
Ali Wong	...	Maddy
Ilana Glazer	...	Penny Carson
Olivia Wilde	...	Charlotte Moore

Trivia

• For the first five seasons, the 11^th episode of the season is very significant and is usually very bad for BoJack. In this episode, BoJack reconnects with his old friend Charlotte in Tesuque, New Mexico who he becomes very close over the two months BoJack lives there along with the rest of the Carsons. But in the end, BoJack kisses Charlotte, and she pushes him away telling him to leave as he makes her too sad. He leaves to his boat, and Penny follows him, Charlotte sees a glowing balloon floating and follows it and goes onto the boat, she sees he is about to sleep with Penny before she catches him and says she "Will fucking kill [him]" if he ever tries to contact her or anyone in family again.
  • In Downer Ending, BoJack goes on a frenzy trying to get closure from Diane, which ends up ruining their relationship temporarily.
  • In That's Too Much, Man! BoJack and Sarah Lynn go on a month-long bender trying to make "amends" for people they hurt. They visit Princess Carolyn, Ana Spanakopita, Diane, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Penny before going to Sarah Lynn's favorite place, Griffith Park Observatory, where they stare into the planetarium sky as Sarah Lynn lies on BoJack's shoulders, she overdoses on BoJack's heroin and dies.
    • Although it is worth noting that in Xerox of a Xerox, it is revealed by Biscuits Braxby that Sarah Lynn did not actually die resting her head on BoJack's shoulder that night, but due to BoJack waiting seventeen minutes to call for medical help, she died at the hospital.
  • In Time's Arrow, it is the first significant episode that is not centered around BoJack, instead, it is centered around Beatrice Horseman, and we learn about her troubled childhood, her pressurized debutante ball, and how she met Butterscotch Horseman and BoJack's childhood. In this episode, the existence of Henrietta Platchkey is revealed, who was temporarily the Horseman's housemaid until she was fired for being pregnant with Butterscotches child (and gives birth to Hollyhock). Due to her dementia, she calls BoJack "Henrietta" until she finally recognizes him in the same episode.
  • In The Showstopper, BoJack strangles Gina Cazador, his co-star on Philbert in a drug-induced rage, which leaves her cutting all ties with him.
• The episode was originally going to have BoJack sleep with Charlotte, but it was changed to her daughter Penny when the writers decided they had to go farther out on a ledge.
• This is the second time someone says the word Fuck to BoJack, the first being Herb Kazzaz.
  • The writers have stated they only use the word fuck once per season, and only to signify when BoJack has permanently ruined a relationship.
• Mr. Peanutbutter and Todd Chavez are absent in this episode.
• Penny's yearbook has a quote from the Green Day song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" (It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life), although it claims Gandhi said it.
• "Little Earthquakes" by Imperial Mammoth plays when BoJack, Penny, and her friends decide to leave prom and release balloons with glow sticks into the desert sky.
• The scorpion DJ at Penny's prom is one of the rare instances where a character has a tail. Ordinarily, all animal characters in the show, regardless of species, are depicted as not having tails.
• At one point a roadrunner can be seen going for a jog in front of Charlotte's house, with a coyote jogger following not too far behind. This is a reference to the Looney Toons Roadrunner cartoons.

Intro Differences

• For the first time, the regular opening theme is not played. Instead, a montage of Charlotte's family is shown with a song about it called “Kyle and the Kids."