Thoughts and Prayers

Thoughts and Prayers is the fifth episode of Season 4 of the Netflix original series BoJack Horseman, and the 41st episode overall. It premiered on September 8, 2017, along with the rest of Season 4.

Summary

Princess Carolyn's PR campaign to minimize the effects of recent mass shootings on Courtney Portnoy's new movie Ms.Taken, which leads to Diane pushing gun ownership as a means of female empowerment. Hollyhock convinces BoJack to introduce her to his estranged mother Beatrice.

Plot

The episode begins when Lenny is informed in his office by his assistant that there was another mass shooting. Lenny then questions where the shooting happened, and he is told it was at a shopping mall. Lenny then screams at this. He throws his sandwich out the window and says they've got Ms.Taken coming out next month and the third act revolves around Courtney Portnoy shooting people in a mall.

He then questions what they are supposed to do now, not release the movie? His assistant says he hopes it doesn't come to that. Lenny then says he is sick of real-life gun violence getting in the way of them telling stories that glamorize real-life gun violence. He then questions why this keeps happening and asks if the whole world has gone crazy.

Lenny then tells his assistant he should make himself useful and schedule a sit-down with Courtney Portnoy's team, and distance themselves from this. Lenny then watches the Ms. Taken rough cuts with the mall scene.

BoJack and Hollyhock are driving together and Hollyhock ponders over the name Carla Mercedes Benz Brown which BoJack told her was the name of her mother. Two days later, over pancakes at breakfast, BoJack tells Hollyhock he lied and there's no Carla Mercedes Benz Brown and he tells her, in reality, he has no idea who her mother is.

BoJack then tells her he doesn't want to have a relationship where they lie to each other. Hollyhock then angrily questions why BoJack lied to her. BoJack then vows to do everything to help Hollyhock find her birth mother. He then tells her mothers are not that great and Hollyhock says her grandmother sounds like quite a character. Hollyhock then questions if she can meet her and BoJack lies by saying his mother is dead.

Another fifteen minutes later, in the kitchen, BoJack tells her he lied again and his mom's not dead. An annoyed Hollyhock tells him to stop lying to her. BoJack tells her she does not want to meet his mother but Hollyhock insists she does and asks where she lives. BoJack tells her she lives at a nice elder care facility. Hollyhock then asks him the name of the facility but he can't seem to recall it. She then asks him to take her there and BoJack finally gives in and agrees.

At the sit-down, Princess Carolyn, Lenny, Courtney, and Courtney's assistant sit down together for a meeting. Princess Carolyn watches a different rough cut on her phone and says it doesn't look good. Lenny then tells everyone to set a Google Alert for "mass shootings" saying they can't keep getting caught off guard like this.

Courtney solemnly says it's so sad as you always hear about mass shootings affecting other people's movie openings but you never think they are going to affect your movie opening. As she sobs, she says her thoughts and prayers also go out to the victims and their families. There is then a pan out to show Todd and Judah are also present. Judah is taking notes and Todd says tragedies like this really put things into perspective.

Todd then asks what they are doing in a conference room and says life is too short and they should be holding this meeting in a waterpark. Todd then says a waterpark where people have meetings could be the movie. Lenny then questions who Todd is and Todd introduces himself as Courtney's fake fiance. Courtney elaborates saying dating Todd makes her seem more approachable.

Lenny then says they still have time to cut out the mall scene from the film. They talk about other scenes they are left with but as they are discussing them they get alerts on their phones about shootings happening in real-life that mimic the locations from the film and they have to cut those scenes out.

Princess Carolyn then gets a call from BoJack and goes outside to take it. BoJack who is driving with Hollyhock apologizes for being an awful boyfriend, friend, and client. He then tells her he spent some time reflecting on things and he realized how special the people in his life are. He then tells Princess Carolyn she just might be the most special of them all.

BoJack then says the real reason he is calling is that he doesn't remember the name of the super nice elder facility where they dropped off his mother. An annoyed Princess Carolyn tells him it's called Walnut Springs. BoJack tells her he knew there was a 'W' in there somewhere and hangs up. Princess Carolyn sighs at this.

BoJack then calls again and once again expresses remorse at his treatment of Princess Carolyn. He then asks which Walnut Springs it is as there are a lot of different places with the same name in the SoCal area. Princess Carolyn then tells him bluntly it's the one in Santa Barbara. BoJack then asks why she's so cranky and who died. Princess Carolyn then tells him a lot of people.

Princess Carolyn then returns to the conference room where Todd is outlining his plan to curtail gun violence. Princess Carolyn then says all this talk about gun violence is depressing and Ms.Taken is a movie about empowerment. Lenny says that's what he's been saying and Princess Carolyn says they just have to keep the story focused on Courtney and not on the real-life gun violence that is occurring.

At Girl Croosh, Diane struggles to balance on the exercise stability balance at her work desk when she gets a phone call. She struggles to answer her phone and finally manages to pick up the call from Princess Carolyn. Princess Carolyn tells Diane she's got an exclusive for her. She then tells Diane she's going to write about Courtney Portnoy and her new movie.

Diane starts to question this but is cut off by Princess Carolyn saying she can have lunch with Courtney and interview her.

At Walnut Springs, Hollyhock questions if BoJack felt a twinge of guilt leaving his mom there. He tells he didn't and she didn't know his mom. There is then a flashback to BoJack in a football uniform telling his mother he's trying out for the team. She tells a younger BoJack he doesn't have the hunches for it and he'll be likely to fail like every other endeavor he pursues, which BoJack protests. Beatrice then tells him if he wants to get knocked around for an afternoon he could just read one of his father's manuscripts and tell him his prose is pedestrian and derivative. She then says it works for her every time while she takes a drag of her cigarette.

In the present, Hollyhock and BoJack approach Beatrice and nursing home staff tells her she has a visitor. Beatrice then asks BoJack if she knows him and BoJack thinks his mother is pretending not to know him to spite him because he never visits. Beatrice then refers to BoJack as "Henrietta" and shows signs of recognizing Hollyhock saying "Oh, it's you." BoJack tells Hollyhock it's just like the time his mother was embarrassed by his shaky eighth-grade choir solo and he had to get a ride home with the pianist who liked to do more than "tickle the ivories."

BoJack then says when he got home unscathed his mother said: "Huh, I guess no one wants you." Beatrice, still referring to BoJack as Henrietta asks him to get her a glass of orange juice. BoJack then tells her there is no one there with the name Henrietta and to stop calling him that. Beatrice further presses BoJack to get her orange juice. Hollyhock sits down at Beatrice's table and tells BoJack she would also like orange juice. BoJack just says okay to this with concern in his voice.

Diane and Courtney walk out from the restaurant and Courtney tells Diane she's really quite relatable. Courtney then explains how trouser maidens help her put on her trousers to avoid wrinkling. Courtney and Diane are then harassed by the valet and Courtney pulls out her gun from her purse and points it in his direction. The valet tells them he was just kidding before running off.

Diane then questions, why Courtney has a gun in her purse and Courtney, explains it was empowering using it in the movie so now she just carries it everywhere. Diane then says she is very anti-gun. Courtney then offers Diane a chance to hold it and Diane admits it does feel nice. Courtney then offers Diane a chance to shoot at her gun range which Diane accepts.

There is then a cut to Diane shooting the gun on Courtney's target practice.

At Walnut Springs, Beatrice tells Hollyhock she can't believe she came back as BoJack approaches the table with two glasses of orange juice. Hollyhock then questions who she means her or BoJack. Beatrice then says Hollyhock looks just like him and Hollyhock says people tell her that.

Dr. Pepin approaches BoJack and tells him his mother's dementia is progressing rapidly and that Beatrice won't live another ten years. BoJack then says he guesses that's it and says he doesn't want to see his mother again. However, Hollyhock insists that they keep visiting every week because she is his mother, and dementia is hereditary. Hollyhock goes on to say someday when they are old and they are in a nursing home like Walnut Springs they would want someone visiting them as well. BoJack grudgingly agrees to this.

Beatrice then demands to know where her orange juice is. BoJack passive-aggressively drinks both glasses and puts them face down on the table, much to the shock of Dr. Pepin and Hollyhock. He then tells Beatrice he will see her next week.

At Diane and Mr. Peantbutter's house, Mr. Peanutbutter questions why she is holding a gun. Diane then realizes she drove all the way home holding a gun and unintentionally robbed a gas station. Mr. Peanutbutter kisses her and then tells her to be safe before walking away. Diane then looks at the gun sitting on the kitchen counter and then there is a cut to her writing her piece for Girl Croosh entitled "A Handgun of One's Own."

In it, she says men are not going to get it, some of them think they get it but they don't know how it feels to constantly have their guard up. Diane then goes on to say she's tired of making men understand how it feels to be a woman. Diane then says she's putting the power in her own hands and that's why she owns a gun.

The article quickly makes it's way up in rankings as one of the top read articles at Girl Croosh.

At Walnut Springs, the facility is decorated for Halloween, and Beatrice and Hollyhock are looking through an old photo album. Beatrice names the people from her senior picnic and BoJack sarcastically says he's really glad she remembers the important people. They come to a picture of young BoJack and Hollyhock questions who that is. Beatrice responds it's her brother Crackerjack. BoJack then says it's actually a picture of him and thirty seconds after that picture was taken Beatrice yelled at him for getting ice cream on his shorts.

Beatrice then tells BoJack she won't be having any ice cream as she is watching her figure. BoJack then says she wants to look pretty for when death comes. BoJack then tells Hollyhock and Beatrice to enjoy each other and then subsequently leaves. Beatrice then shows Hollyhock a picture from her debutante ball. Hollyhock then tells her she was beautiful. Beatrice then tells Hollyhock she can be thin too if she just cuts back on the sweets and gallops instead of walks. Hollyhock responds with "ice cold, grammy gram."

There is a rise in gun violence and women now have the legal right to conceal and carry. In Princess Carolyn's office, she makes a comment saying again with the crazy gunmen. Lenny tells her on the phone if this keeps up they are going to have to put this movie on the shelf along with the movie about the klutzy babysitter. Todd is at the waterpark and he laughs at the movie about the klutzy babysitter. Lenny then questions what he is doing on the call and Todd explains he was laughing at the idea of the funny movie Lenny just described.

Princess Carolyn then explains the one thing the shootings have in common is they all involve men as the shooters. Princess Carolyn then suggests they play up the "Ms." in Ms. Taken. In a world of increasing terror, their movie tells women they don't need to be afraid anymore. Todd then says when it is put like that it sounds like all the mass shootings could be a good thing for the movie. Princess Carolyn says of course not, they are a terrible tragedy. She goes on to say that anything that makes women feel unsafe may actually help their box office.

Todd then says they don't want women to feel unsafe and both Lenny and Princess Carolyn say nobody wants that or is saying that. Princess Carolyn then says if women already do feel unsafe then there is no reason why they can't capitalize on it. Princess Carolyn then says their just profiting of it, albeit indirectly, from their being more mass shootings.

At Walnut Springs, BoJack decides to play an episode of Horsin' Around for Beatrice entitled I'm Ready for My Closeup Mr. Dementia. Beatrice somehow recognizes BoJack on TV as her son. Beatrice then laughs at the episode.

At Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter's house, Mr. Peanutbutter tells Diane he hates guns and Diane tells him she thought she did too, for the most part. However, carrying a gun allows her to feel like a man does all the time and she feels safer and tells him she's not ready to give up on that feeling yet. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter both express satisfaction that they are able to separate their personal lives from their political lives.

They are then seen debating on the issue on MSNBSea. After the debate, they are heard having sex in a closet.

At Walnut Springs, BoJack and Hollyhock bring more Horsin' Around for Beatrice to watch. BoJack then asks if she loves that BoJack. Beatrice replies he's not much of a son but the show can be a comfort sometimes. There is then a flashback to the day Beatrice and BoJack were on their way to the funeral for BoJack's father. Beatrice then says they were playing BoJack's show in his father's hospital room. BoJack questions which show, the new one or the old one. Beatrice says it was the episode where The Horse walks in on his daughter in the shower.

Beatrice tells him he always could play the fool and BoJack questions if they really need to have this conversation on the way to his father's funeral. BoJack then says there was so much more he wanted to say to him. Beatrice then tells him he can forget it now. In the present, Beatrice is laughing at the episode and then she tells BoJack he's blocking the screen as he walks out.

Hollyhock follows him outside and says she knows this must be painful for him. BoJack replies that it's not painful, it's boring and the retirement facility sucks. Hollyhock then questions if there is a way to make Beatrice connect the fact that the BoJack who visits her every week is the same one on Horsin' Around. BoJack then comes up with the idea to hold a live episode of Horsin' Around at the home. BoJack then says he'll come out and say hello and Beatrice will say "BoJack, is that you?" BoJack then says he's going to get real close to her and say "Fuck, you Mom."

BoJack then says he can finally tell her off and say that now he has the power. Hollyhock then asks if that's really what he wants to say. BoJack then shouts that they should put on a show.

With the rise of women owning guns, the next shooting that happens in Tulsa winds up being at the hands of a woman. Princess Carolyn and Lenny discuss how the situation is bad for Ms. Taken being released. There is then a debate on guns at the California senate. A senator asks what his constituents are supposed to do not compliment random women on the street and says they can't live with that kind of fear.

A gun specialist then says guns were designed for a man's grip and temperament, not a woman's. Diane then says all she's saying is maybe women shouldn't be blamed for wanting guns and the blame should be put on the constant societal messaging that tells women they are allowed to be safe only as long as the men around them allow them to be. Diane then goes on to say that if they have a problem with women carrying firearms maybe men could roll up their sleeves and actually work to create a society, where women feel safe and equal or they could just ban all guns.

At the end of a productive legislative session, it is announced that possession of any firearm is illegal in the state of California. Diane then tells Princess Carolyn she thought that was going to go the other way. Princess Carolyn then tells Diane she passed sensible gun legislation. Diane then says she can't believe this country hates women more than it loves guns.

At Walnut Springs, BoJack and Hollyhock are dressed up for their live Horsin' Around performance. Hollyhock tells him she's not sure about this. The episode causes Beatrice to have a panic attack, attack another resident, and be kicked out of the facility. Beatrice is seen outside with her belongings and Dr. Pepin tells BoJack that with Beatrice's rapid deterioration and becoming violent she can not stay at the facility.

BoJack then asks if he could recommend another facility and the doctor tells him it would be better for her to be surrounded by her loved ones. BoJack then asks who are they and does the doctor have their number. Dr. Pepin clarifies he meant Beatrice living with him and Hollyhock. Hollyhock then says they can take her and BoJack says fine but tells the doctor if Beatrice is still hanging on by this time next year he'll be getting a very strongly worded letter.

Lenny and Princess Carolyn see the rough cut of the film without the guns. Lenny suggests it could work as an H&M commercial and Princess Carolyn says it was a shame as it was a really great movie. Princess Carolyn tells Lenny she's sorry for his loss and he just shrugs and says he'll be fine.

Beatrice arrives at BoJack's house with her caretaker Tina Bear. Hollyhock offers her a Pop-Tart but Beatrice refuses. She then offers her more episodes of Horsin' Around but Beatrice asks what the point would be. BoJack goes out on the balcony with a bottle of alcohol. Hollyhock approaches him apologizes for him not being able to tell his mom off. BoJack then tells her there were so many things he never got a chance to say to his mother. Hollyhock then questions why he just doesn't tell her these things now and BoJack says it would mean more if she remembered who she was.

Hollyhock then says she's sure she knew how much he hated her since she read his book. BoJack then says he would have preferred to say those things to her face. Hollyhock then reassures him maybe there is a chance Beatrice may remember him again and then he can totally rip into her. The episode ends with BoJack almost putting his hand on Hollyhock's shoulder, hesitating, and then deciding not to.

Cast

Trivia

• It is revealed Beatrice has succumbed to dementia and has been living at Walnut Springs Nursing Home for the last several years.
• It is revealed that Butterscotch Horseman died sometime after The BoJack Horseman Show premiered.
  • The Old Sugarman Place previously revealed he was dead, as BoJack said he and his mother were the last living members of their family.
• It is revealed BoJack played football as a teen and was in choir in 8th grade.
• It is revealed BoJack still has the sweater he wore on Horsin' Around, although his stomach now hangs out if it.
• While the streak is happening, Todd makes a reference to the indie-pop band Foster The People song Pumped Up Kicks, which also talks about a shooting massacre.
• While looking at the photo album with Hollyhock, Beatrice points out a picture of her at her debutante, an event that is seen later in Time's Arrow.
• When BoJack and Hollyhock enter the Walnut Springs care facility, "I Just Met My Perfect Match" is playing in the background.
• The scene where the rough cut for Ms.Taken is in front of the gumball machines in a mall is also where Sabrina (Sarah Lynn) got her arm stuck in an episode of Horsin' Around, as seen in Prickly-Muffin.
• Joseph Sugarman and Honey Sugarman, Beatrice's parents, are seen in a photograph in the photo album Beatrice shows Hollyhock.
• When Beatrice is trying to turn off BoJack's live Horsin' Around performance, the "remote control" she tries to use is actually a calculator.
  • The old man whom Beatrice attacks for the calculator mistakes BoJack and Hollyhock (who plays the oldest child, Olivia) for a married couple working through their differences.
• The "One F Word per season" rule was used in this episode to represent any irreparable damage in a relationship with BoJack. However, unlike the previous seasons, in which it represents BoJack had somehow destroyed a friendship (Season 1 = Herb, Season 2 = Charlotte, Season 3 = Todd), it was BoJack himself who uses this word to signify his horrible relationship with his mother Beatrice.
  • He's also the second main character (third if you count Diane's half F-bomb in Season 3) to say the word, the first being Todd.
• MSNBSea Tickers:
  • President stymied by ball and cup game
  • White House calls for investigation probing ball and cup game manufacturers
  • President blasts "fake news" for "not reporting all the times I won at ball &cup game"
  • White House plans rally celebrating president's glorious achievement in ball and cup game
• Beatrice's nurse, Tina, is the same live-in nurse that Herb had.
• Lenny mentions Chomsky and Linkletter.
• Portnoy's Toys: AK-47, RPG-7, M-16, 4 pistols and Borner Super Sport 708.
• Princess Carolyn recommends Diane to try Borscht.