| “ | Love does things to a person. Terrible things. Beatrice, promise me you will never love anyone as much as I loved Crackerjack. | ” |
—Honey Sugarman to Beatrice Horseman, The Old Sugarman Place | ||
Honey Sugarman was the maternal grandmother of BoJack, the wife of Joseph, and the mother of Beatrice and Crackerjack.
She is shown only through flashbacks, in The Old Sugarman Place and Time's Arrow in Season 4.
She was a housewife with a "sweet face" and a "smart mouth," and who dearly loved her family. But after the death of her son Crackerjack in World War II, she became depressed and emotionally unstable and was lobotomized as a treatment.
Physical Appearance[]
Honey Sugarman is an adult female red dun (reddish coat and darker red mane) colored mare with a curled mane. She wore grey eye-shadow and dark red lipstick, and she had black eyebrows. Like her daughter, she had a gap in her front teeth, and she appeared to have the more delicate head of a Morgan.
She wore a white shirt with round puffy sleeves and a red collar and sleeve cuffs, a knee length dark blue skirt with a black belt and a light blue, navy blue, and red square pattern on the bottom, and green strappy wedge sandals.
After undergoing a lobotomy, she was left with a scar on her forehead that was surrounded by bare skin. She also had dark circles around her eyes with bags under them.
Her mane after the procedure was messier and undone with her bangs moved to the right to reveal her scar, although at other times (such as when Joseph is seen yelling and shaking her, and when Joseph burns Beatrice's belongings) it appeared normal.
At Beatrice's debutante ball in 1963, she wears a white top identical to the one she normally wears, and a white skirt similar to the one on Beatrice's ball gown. Her hair is also messy and undone again.
Personality[]
Honey Sugarman was shown to be a kind spirit, full of life, and had a bit of a "sassy attitude and a smart mouth."
She also had an affinity for music, being an exceptional singer, and she and her son, Crackerjack, shared a special song on the piano together, I Will Always Think of You.
Honey did have internalized sexist views similar to her husband, although not nearly as bad as his, telling Beatrice that ice cream is a "boy's food," and instead to suck on a lemon wedge with sugar sprinkled on it as ”a good, healthy girl’s snack”. She later also tells Beatrice to not lift a heavy suitcase because she will rupture her uterus. However, she was still a kind and caring woman nonetheless.
She and Joseph were shown to act loving and even flirty around one another, although she apparently doesn’t seem to take much stock into him mentioning that he regularly compliments his secretary on her appearance.
She appeared to be closest to her son, Crackerjack; as mentioned before, the two had a special song they played together on the piano. It’s possible she may have favored Crackerjack over Beatrice due to how close she seemed to him compared to her daughter.
When Crackerjack was shot and killed while fighting during World War II, Honey was utterly devastated and grief-stricken to the point of becoming depressed and emotionally unstable. Crying fits were not uncommon for her, and she even blamed herself at one point for his death; saying things such as "I failed him" and "I should never have let him go."
She even made Joseph and Beatrice go back to their summer home in the middle of winter in a frantic search for Crackerjack's old baby-blanket, where Beatrice had left it for safekeeping. Meanwhile, Joseph was both unable and unwilling to learn how to properly deal with her grief other than bare minimum comforting.
She attempts to cheer herself up by taking herself and Beatrice to a party celebrating the end of the war at a local barn, even letting Beatrice get a freezy pop. However, after seeing a piano she begins singing parts of I Will Always Think of You to herself, resulting in confused looks from attendees. (while in the present-day Eddie sings the other parts and we the audience view both of them having a "duet.")
Afterward, she spirals into a full-on breakdown where she drinks heavily, hysterically begging Crackerjack's war friend Sal to tell her about what happened when he got shot, and even kisses him. After breaking down crying and being asked to leave, Honey makes Beatrice drive them both home, and at one point Honey slams on the gas pedal to go faster so she “can feel alive again”, which could be interpreted as a possible suicide-attempt, and results in a car accident; injuring both of them.
Back home, Joseph angrily confronts her, and she admits she doesn’t know how to be better and can’t stop thinking about Crackerjack; she can’t be with people and she can’t be alone, and she begs Joseph to “fix” her.
Honey is given a lobotomy shortly after, leaving her a dazed and empty shell of her former self; speaking in a dead, monotone voice and losing her ability to play the piano. However, she assures a tearful Beatrice that she’s "better now," but love does "terrible things" to a person, and she makes Beatrice promise to never love anyone as much as she loved Crackerjack. Shortly afterwards, it’s implied Honey went catatonic, not even reacting to Joseph shaking her violently or pulling her next to him, with Beatrice's memories depicting her as a silhouette or obscured by shadows.
Background[]
History[]
Honey Sugarman was likely born sometime in the late 1890s or early 1900s. She married Joseph Sugarman, who owned Sugarman's Sugar, and they had two children - Crackerjack, born either during or before 1923, and Beatrice, born in 1938. They were very well-off financially and lived in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Honey was a housewife with an affinity for music. She was a talented singer and piano player, something she shared with her eldest son, Crackerjack. The two had a favorite song they would sing together while Crackerjack also played the piano - "I Will Always Think of You". She appeared to be closest to Crackerjack, although she was a kind mother to Beatrice as well. However, it is shown she did implement internalized misogynistic ideals into her daughter’s head as well.
Honey with her family, summer 1944
In the summer of 1944, while the Sugarmans are staying at their summer home in Harper's Landing, Michigan, Crackerjack is preparing to leave to fight in World War II, which he volunteered for, and the family is getting ready to take a family portrait together. Honey is seen making pancakes for Joseph, with Beatrice helping, although Honey tells her to only have a whiff of them. When Joseph wonders where Crackerjack is, as he needs to get back to Indianapolis for work, Honey wishes he wouldn't have to work so much with it being summer, and with the government rationing sugar. Joseph admits that that would be a dream, but only he can make sure his company runs smoothly and compliment his secretary on her tight sweaters. Honey admits they do appreciate the sacrifices he makes.
After Crackerjack arrives home with his friend and fellow soldier, Sal, Joseph gives the latter money to get himself a freezy pop, to which Beatrice complains she wants one, too. Honey tells Beatrice ice cream is for boys, but she can instead have a lemon wedge with sugar sprinkled on it as "a good, healthy girl’s snack."
Crackerjack and Honey begin to perform their favorite song, I Will Always Think of You, on the piano. However, Joseph interrupts them; telling them "Time's arrow neither stands still nor reverses; it merely marches forward." Honey then makes a joke about not knowing that arrows had legs, "Look at me! I'm a marching arrow!"
Joseph wonders how someone like her with a sweet face ended up with a smart mouth. Honey, in a flirting manner, says she has half a mind to kiss him with her smart mouth, to which Joseph replies ”Well that half you can keep!” before the two kiss.
Honey and the rest of her family take a family portrait together while looking “far-away sad” for posterity, and she begs Crackerjack to take his old baby-blanket, “Blinky," with him. He decides to give it to Beatrice for safekeeping.
Months later, in the winter, Crackerjack was shot and killed. This leads Honey to sink into a deep depression and begin having what Joseph describes as "fits of hysteria".
In the middle of winter she, along with Beatrice and Joseph, return to the lake house in a frantic search for Crackerjack's blanket. She believes he should have had it with him and that she failed him and she starts crying. Joseph assures her that she is not to blame for this, rather, "the Jews for peeving off Hitler so bad." He tells her that they should leave after Beatrice retrieves the blanket from upstairs.
Honey and her family return to the lake house in the summer of 1945, and she is still depressed. Joseph attempts to cheer her up, although her playing a few notes of her and Crackerjack's song is enough to make her start crying.
Joseph leaves her and Beatrice alone after this, saying as a "modern, American man" he's not prepared, or willing, to deal with a woman's emotions.
A short time later, either around August 15 or September 2, the war ends, as the United States has bombed Japan. Honey decides to try to cheer herself up and go to a celebration for the end of the war being held at a local barn/restaurant with Beatrice.
Honey and Eddie singing I Will Always Think of You in a juxtaposed duet
Honey appears to be feeling better at first, even letting Beatrice get a freezy pop, but she sees a piano and starts singing parts of I Will Always Think of You to herself while everyone watches her. Meanwhile, in the present, Eddie sings the rest of the song and the two have a “duet” in the juxtaposed past/present-style episode The Old Sugarman Place.
She ends up having a meltdown, chugging down a whole pitcher of beer heavily, crying hysterically, and even kissing one of Crackerjack's soldier friends after begging him to tell her what happened when Crackerjack was shot. Beatrice even drops her freezy pop during this. A waiter at the party advised her to leave after having another drink to steady her nerves.
Honey made Beatrice drive them home despite the latter being much too young, wanting her to drive faster and faster in order to combat her grief and to “feel alive again”; even slamming her other foot on the gas pedal to do so. This resulted in them crashing into a gas station and getting hurt.
"Beatrice, promise me you’ll never love anyone as much as I loved Crackerjack"
Back at the lakehouse, Joseph is furious at Honey both for making a fool of herself and putting Beatrice in danger, saying she’s all they’ve got now, and that he can’t run his business when she’s having "fits of hysteria", further showing his unwillingness to support her emotionally. Honey admits that she can't stop thinking about Crackerjack, that she can’t be with people and she can’t be alone. She tearfully tells Joseph she doesn’t know how to be better and drops to her knees, clinging to him and begging him to "fix" her.
Very shortly afterwards, Joseph had Honey lobotomized in order to control her "womanly emotions," leaving her a dazed and empty shell of her former self. This, along with having a large scar on her forehead, was much to the horror of Beatrice; who begins crying in her mother's lap.
The now-dazed Honey says she's better now, and asks Beatrice to never love someone as much as she loved Crackerjack, as love does terrible things to a person, and a tearful Beatrice promises. Honey then says, "Why, I have half a mind!..." as her voice trails off, Beatrice waiting for her to finish her sentence.
In her second appearance, Time's Arrow, Honey is either obscured by darkness or presented only in silhouette, sometimes with her lobotomy scar highlighted in white—suggesting that as a consequence of dementia, Beatrice remembers her mother as merely a shadow. Beatrice may possibly have some trauma as a reminder of what would happen if she would let her emotions consume her, or let her love someone.
Honey does not respond to Joseph's yelling and shaking when he berates her for failing at her motherly duties and blames her for not noticing Beatrice's scarlet fever. She shows no reaction upon being pulled by Joseph towards his side at Beatrice's debutante. This implies that following the lobotomy, she mentally deteriorated to the point of becoming catatonic.
When Joseph had all of Beatrice's possessions burnt—due to scarlet fever, he used Honey as an illustration of what might happen to her if she acted emotionally and if she continued crying over the baby doll. Joseph says to Beatrice, “You don’t want to end up like your mother, now do you?”
Honey was present at Beatrice’s debutante ball, held around June 14 or 15, 1963, where she is shown very briefly still obscured by darkness as Joseph pulls her to his side as Beatrice is presented. Beatrice would end up ditching her party with party-crasher Butterscotch Horseman, where they would end up conceiving their son and Honey’s grandson, BoJack F. Horseman.
Honey At Beatrice's debutante ball
Honey Sugarman later passed away at an unknown time. Although Honey was seen alive in 1963, she most likely died before Joseph did the same in the year 1999, as lobotomies are known to have devastating health complications in real life. It is unknown if this was the cause of her death, or if she died from old age. Her daughter Beatrice died in October 2018 due to complications from dementia.
With the deaths of Crackerjack, Joseph, Honey, and Beatrice, this leaves her grandson - BoJack Horseman - as the last living relative of the Sugarman bloodline.
It's unknown if BoJack ever met Honey or knew what happened to her; unlike Crackerjack neither she nor Joseph appear in The View From Halfway Down, the former does due to Beatrice having constantly mentioned him and compared BoJack to his late uncle. This may imply BoJack had little to no relationship or strong feelings otherwise to either of his grandparents, other than the fact that he stayed at their lake house during his childhood summers.
Season 4[]
Photograph of Honey with Joseph in Beatrice’s photo album
Honey is shown in a photograph with Joseph in Beatrice’s photo album in Thoughts and Prayers.
Season 6[]
In The View from Halfway Down, The Sugarman family photo is shown amongst the photos hung up in the living room in BoJack's dream. Crackerjack also mentions saying goodbye to his mother before he left for war was one of the hardest moments of his life, before he was shot in the head and killed.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
- Brand New Couch (alluded to)
Season 4[]
- The Old Sugarman Place (first/only speaking appearance)
- Thoughts and Prayers (photographed)
- Time's Arrow (non-speaking)
Season 6[]
- The View from Halfway Down (photographed, mentioned)
Trivia[]
Honey as a shadow of her former self
- In a flashback to 1988 in Brand New Couch, Beatrice tells BoJack she hopes for him to die before her so that he will never have to know what it feels like to lose a mother:
- In retrospect, this can be interpreted as Beatrice referencing Honey's lobotomy leaving her practically brain dead.
- Honey only appears in shadow in Beatrice's memories in Time's Arrow, in reference to how she became a shadow of her former self.
- Honey's fate is foreshadowed by her catchphrase "I've got half a mind to—,"
- Especially when she tells Joseph she has half a mind to kiss him, to which he replies "Well, that half you can keep!"
- Honey has the least amount of speaking and episode appearances out of the Sugarman/Horseman family members—she only speaks in The Old Sugarman Place, and her last physical appearance is in Time's Arrow where she is either shown as only a silhouette or obscured by shadows.
- Honey's children, and son-in-law Butterscotch, like her all had fates or deaths related to brain trauma or loss of brain function—Crackerjack was shot in the forehead, Beatrice died after having complications from dementia, and Butterscotch tripped and bashed his head open on a rock.
- It is unknown if BoJack ever met Honey, as it's been implied he had little to no relationship with either of his maternal grandparents other than the fact he went to their summer home during his childhood.