Diane Nguyen's unpublished book is first mentioned in Feel-Good Story, in Season 6. The working title is One Last Thing and Then I Swear to God I'll Shut Up About This Forever: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the War on Women: Arguments, Opinions, Reflections, Recollections, The Razor Tax.
Physical Appearance[]
This book was never published so it is not known what it would have looked like in published format.
Background[]
Season 6[]
In Feel-Good Story, Diane and Guy go to Parmadillo's to review the binders they got from their meeting at Whitewhale. Diane asks if Whitewhale bought Girl Croosh just to kill their video. Guy then says Diane couldn't have just made a feel-good video about best friends starting a business together. Diane says maybe it's for the best and Guy can get a new job in Chicago and spend more time with his kid. Guy then asks Diane about the book of essays she wants to write. She then tells him the ridiculously long working title. Guy then points out she should save something, for the inside of her book.
In A Little Uneven, Is All, Guy thanks Diane for making breakfast. They hold hands, and he asks if she's working on her memoir. She confirms that was the plan. She then nervously makes an excuse about having to wash the dishes, saying the task will take all morning, and once the morning is over the whole day will be shot. Guy tries to comfort her, by saying he knows starting new things is hard, but the hardest part is starting. She admits he's right. He also reminds her that he is a freelance cameraman who pays child support. Guy then advises her to get an advance, if she could.
Princess Carolyn then gets a call from Diane. Diane then asks Princess Carolyn for advice. She tells her about the new book she's writing. She says she's thinking about not starting, till she sells the book to a publisher. Princess Carolyn asks what is it. Diane says it's a half essay, half memoir, and also a work in progress. She then recites the very convoluted working title. Diane then tells Princess Carolyn she is getting another call.
Princess Carolyn says while Diane was blabbing away, she had her lit assistant take care of everything. Diane starts to protest, and Princess Carolyn interjects that a navel-gazey book of observations sounds fun. She then informs Diane she sold it, and she has six months to work on it. Princess Carolyn tells her to enjoy the process. Diane, who is shocked, hangs up the phone, and then groans.
Diane is later seen typing on her laptop, in the kitchen. Guy says he's glad to see her work. She panics and slams the laptop closed, saying she doesn't want him looking at it yet. She then apologizes, saying she was really into it. Guy asks if it's going well, and she says he was right, once she started it was easy. Diane then goes on to say, that so much of her career has been writing for and about other people, and how terrible everything is. Diane says writing about herself is refreshing.
Guy says he doesn't want to interrupt her flow and exits the kitchen. The screen of her laptop is seen, it says "I am terrible," written multiple times. Diane then looks sad.
In The Face of Depression, as Guy is getting ready to go to the Galapagos to film a photoshoot, he voices his concern to Diane about leaving, as she hasn’t been writing and her psychiatrist said she’s depressed and has prescribed her antidepressants.
However, Diane refuses to take them, claiming that while she is a little depressed doesn’t mean she has depression, and she was put on Prozac in college and she felt worse—she became calm and boring, Dawson’s Creek got bad, and she broke out and gained weight. She worries about Guy coming back and not even recognizing her, but he says he barely recognizes her now. Before he leaves, he assures Diane she’s the most beautiful person in the world to him.
Diane watches Mr. Peanutbutter and Joey's PSA for depression.
That same night, BoJack arrives in Chicago and goes to Diane and Guy's apartment. Diane answers the door. Diane suggests they go for a walk, making an excuse that the heat's broken, to avoid BoJack seeing the messy living room. They go to Parmadillo's and Diane asks BoJack why he didn't tell her he was coming.
BoJack explains it was a spontaneous decision, as he didn't want to be in L.A. Diane admits she's glad he came. BoJack then asks if she's doing OK. Diane tells him she's doing great, has an amazing boyfriend, and got an advance on the book she's writing. BoJack then asks if he can crash at her place. She yells no.
They arrive back at the apartment and BoJack sees the true state of the living room. Diane finally admits to him she's depressed. She goes on to say it started when she was having difficulty starting her book which then snowballed into her boyfriend saying she should take antidepressants. BoJack then questions if she'll start taking them and Diane says she's not sure she sees the point. BoJack says the point would be to get "undepressed" She then talks about flipping over nothings to find something.
Diane goes on to say she and Guy will probably break up soon anyway, saying there is only so much he can take of "the real her." BoJack questions what she means by "the real her." She then gestures around the room.
BoJack then tells her someone got mad at him and told him he ruins everything and that's just what he is. BoJack then says it took him saying that out loud to realize how stupid it sounded, even though that's what he believed about himself for so long, and he thought he was someone who couldn't be changed. He then thanks Diane for believing in him, when he didn't believe in himself, and encouraging him to get help.
BoJack wakes up in the living room the next morning and cleans up the mess in the living room. He then leaves the apartment.
Later, Diane goes to the airport to pick up Guy. She has presumably begun taking her antidepressants, as she has gained some weight and looks happier. Diane holds a sign that reads "Dawson's Creek Was Always Bad," which Guy smiles at.
In Good Damage, Diane is seen trying to sort through her childhood memories at the mall. In particular, she tries to remember the times her father was abusive towards her but her memory is still foggy. Out of those memories pops out a fictional character named Ivy Tran who is a teenage detective who solves mysteries in the mall. Diane then snaps out of her fantasy and looks at her computer and realizes she has written about Ivy Tran, Food Court Detective.
Diane's internal struggle with her writing process seen in Good Damage.
At home, Diane shows the story to Guy and he tells her it's fun and he likes it. Diane tells him her book is supposed to be a profound treatise on damage but she can't even access her damage due to the medication. Guy reminds her she had trouble writing the book back when she was depressed and she's having trouble now. He suggests that maybe she just doesn't want to write the book.
Diane counters she wants to but it's hard. She says she is not going to be writing The Mall Mysteries of Ivy Tran. Guy then tells her to come on and think about it.
Later, Diane is sitting in bed trying to work on her book. She tells Guy his whistling is distracting her from work and she couldn't sleep last night. He then encourages her to keep going with her work. Guy later returns and asks her how her progress was on her work. Diane questions what he means. Guy then says he thought she was going to write today. Diane looks out the window and realizes it's night time. Diane says she was thinking her thoughts and then bursts into tears. She then heads to the bathroom and vomits in a plant.
Guy then tells her maybe she should stop for the day and try again tomorrow. Diane then says she has got to get back to work. She once again tries to sort through her thoughts but gets overwhelmed and starts breathing heavily. Guy then comes into the kitchen and asks her what's going on. She responds that her chest feels heavy and then breaks down and admits to Guy she stopped taking her medication. He asks her why.
She tells him she is terrible and breaks down crying saying she deserves this. Guy then tells her she is going through withdrawal. She then asks if she is going to need to be on drugs forever. Guy tells her to take her pills again and when she feels better they can think of a different strategy.
Later, when Diane has started taking her medication again Guy asks her how she's feeling. She tells him she feels a little better. Diane then apologizes for being stressed and says maybe she should call Princess Carolyn and ask for more time. Guy tells her before she does that he has to tell her something. He makes her promise she won't be mad. He then confesses he sent Princess Carolyn the Ivy Tran pages as Diane receives a phone call from Princess Carolyn.
Princess Carolyn tells Diane over the phone that she loved the Ivy Tran pages and she sees merchandise potential and she pitched it to a few studios. Diane protests saying that's not the book she wanted to write. Princess Carolyn says she's hearing a "maybe" as she hangs up.
Guy then asks if they will have a Boston style fight which Diane smiles at.
In her imagination, Ivy asks Diane why she is so sad all the time. Diane says she doesn't know. Ivy says Diane should be fun and popular just like her. Diane says it's not that easy. Ivy replies, "Yeah I know but wouldn't it be nice if it was?"
At Wesleyan, after BoJack's showcase, Diane goes after Princess Carolyn and says she appreciates that she is trying to help but she does not want to write a middle-grade book. Diane then says that if she doesn't write her book all the damage she got wasn't good damage it was just damage and all those years she was miserable would have been for nothing. Diane says that all those years she felt the abuse and neglect made her special somehow. Diane said she wanted to write the book to help other little girls like her feel less alone.
Diane at her book signing for Ivy Tran, Food Court Detective
Princess Carolyn says maybe the other middle-grade book can accomplish the same goal. Diane then agrees to finish writing the Ivy Tran book.
In Angela, Diane goes to the book signing for her book Ivy Tran, Food Court Detective. Diane then gets a call from Guy. Guy tells Diane that his ex-wife Lady is moving to Houston for her dream job and taking Sonny with her as she has full custody of him. Diane then tells Guy she can write anywhere and she's sure they need cameramen in Houston. Guy says he couldn't ask that of Diane and Diane says if Sonny's going to Houston they will also go to Houston.
Trivia[]
- This book is not released and instead, Diane writes Ivy Tran, Food Court Detective, her middle-grade fiction novel.