What Makes BoJack Horseman an Amazing Show?

Having watched BoJack Horseman (2014-2020) several times, I’ve become convinced it’s one of the best shows ever made. Let me tell you why. 

**Content Warning: suicide**

Overview

As we finished our however-many rewatch of BoJack Horseman, my husband asked me what my favorite things were about the show. Well, once I got on a roll, I couldn’t stop coming up with all the things I love about the show. So I thought I’d share all the reasons this show is so good. 

Balance

Two of the best things about the show are the sense of humor and, on the flipside, the deep moments that leave you devastated. Most shows are either predominantly funny or predominantly serious/sad. Some funny shows have the occasional impactful, heartbreaking moment, and some serious shows have some humor throughout. But BoJack Horseman has a lot of both aspects, and somehow manages to stay well balanced between the two. And it’s not just these two aspects that stand in opposition and harmony. There are plenty of plotlines and scenes that are so far out there that they could never happen in reality. And then before you know it, the characters are having the most shockingly realistic conversation or argument I’ve ever seen. I’ll delve more into the specifics of these different aspects, but lets focus on the humor side first.

Animal Puns

The world stage environment hinges on the fact that all animals in this world are anthropomorphized. They work this seamlessly into the characters and the backgrounds all throughout the show. For example, one of the main characters is Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Thompkins), a yellow Labrador retriever. And, boy, does he act just like you would expect a dog to act. He’s abundantly optimistic, easily excited, and constantly makes stereotypical dog behavior references. For example, he gets all worked up when someone’s at the door, he’s suspicious of the mailman, and he hates tennis because no one ever catches the ball. 

Similarly, another main character, Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), is a cat, and has her own set of cat-like behaviors, such as lapping up milk out of a cup instead of drinking it, landing on her feet when falling, and trimming her whiskers to look cute even though it throws off her balance.

It’s not just the specific characters either. If you pay attention to the backdrops, there are often additional animal references as well. Once when two characters get into a heated conversation on the sidewalk, they happen to stop in front of salon with the prices advertised on the door, and the price for octopi manicures is higher. The valets at BoJack’s (Will Arnett) restaurant are different species, and each have their own unique example: the cheetah drives way too fast, the giraffe has to tuck his neck into the car, and the corgi keeps playing catch with the keys.

Celebrities

Since the show revolves around BoJack as a TV and movie star in Hollywood, there are tons of references to a wide variety of celebrities. Some of these celebrities even voice themselves on the show, happily participating in self-deprecating references. Naomi Watts laments that women’s roles have become so three-dimensional roles, when all she wants to do is play a shallow love interest. Jessica Biel pokes fun at her not-so-great series of roles. Henry Winkler proudly mentions that he is likely best known for his one episode appearance on Law & Order: SVU (2002). One of my favorite jokes in the show is the moment Daniel Radcliff is on a game show with BoJack, and he annoys BoJack so much that when asked who the star of the Harry Potter franchise is, BoJack purposely announces that it was Elijah Wood, at the cost of the grand prize.

Aside from just the voice actors, often times the celebrities will overlap with the animal references, particularly if they have an animal-related name. Matthew Fox is a fox, Scott Wolf is a wolf, Ethan Hawke is a hawk, and, as a twist on the theme, Cameron Crow is actually a raven. They also slightly alter some names to make them more animalistic, like Maggot Gyllenhaal and Quentin Tarantulino.

Off-screen Characters

There are some characters mentioned in such depth I feel like I know them, but they are never actually shown. This isn’t the only show to feature such characters, but it feels more common here than in other examples. These characters include Kelsey’s (Maria Bamford) ex-wife Marla, news reporter Tom Jumbo-Gumbo’s (Keith Olbermann) teleprompter writer Randy, and Mr. Peanutbutter’s friend Erica. I’m honestly not sure what Erica’s connection is, but she’s always at celebrity functions, and based on the various references made by Mr. Peanutbutter and other characters, she seems to be a very unlucky woman.

Word Play

This show has such amazing, snappy dialogue. It features some of the best alliteration, usually from Jumbo-Gumbo, and assonance, particularly by Princess Carolyn. Amy Sedaris does a fabulous job at rattling off these tongue twisters at incredible speed.

Era References

Every now and then, the show jumps to a time in the past, such as the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. Whenever this happens, the showrunners had a field day with the references! Pretty much every jump into the past includes a song with lyrics about the era.

Also the background will have era-specific shop titles, and the characters will reference all sorts of things that were popular at that particular time.

Characters Miss Super Obvious Things

Sometimes characters wind up in situations where something super obvious is happening, but they continue to remain oblivious. This happens in a few different instances, but the biggest example is Vincent Adultman (Alison Brie), who is very clearly three boys stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat, but BoJack is literally the only person on the show who can tell. He even points this out multiple times to everyone, but they just assume he’s jealous or doesn’t like him. Princess Carolyn, one of the smartest characters on the show, even dates Vincent for several months, never catching onto his odd behaviors.

Running Jokes

A few of the running jokes have already been mentioned, but there are also some generic running jokes that are always fun. Throughout the show, BoJack will randomly encounter a fan who will say “Hey, aren’t you the horse from Horsin’ Around?” (his old 90s sitcom that made him famous). And while this sometimes comes at the best possible time, like when his car broke down and he needs a lift, it can also occur unexpectedly, like when he and Diane (Alison Brie) are in the middle of a tense, emotional moment.

Early in the show, BoJack steals the letter “D” from the Hollywood sign. For the rest of the show, Hollywood is always referred to as Hollywoo.

Whenever Mr. Peanutbutter orders a sign, it usually includes some extra note clearly not intended to be included, such as “Peanut Butter is one word”.

Modern Issues

Sometimes the show treads on political, social justice, and ethical topics, such as elections, gun control, abortion, and food processing. Whenever they do, they manage to do it in such an over-the-top and entertaining way. Some of these topics can be touchy subjects, but they go about them in a satiric way without diminishing the importance of the topic itself.

Now lets move on to the more serious side of things.

LGBT+ Representation

One thing this show doesn’t really play as a joke is the LGBT+ representation. Several characters are simply gay, with no additional attention drawn to this. They exist as regular people, just going through life like any other character. The one time a big deal was made about a character being gay was BoJack’s former best friend who created the show Horsin’ Around and helped propel him to fame, Herb Kazzaz (Stanley Tucci). Herb was publicly outed against his consent in the 90s, and unfortunately was ultimately fired from Horsin’ Around. But it’s always clear that this was an issue of the time, not that there was actually anything wrong with Herb’s sexual identity. One of my all-time favorite things about the show is that Todd (Aaron Paul), one of the best characters on the show, turns out to be asexual. I’m ace myself, and we don’t get a ton of representation, certainly not so boldly stated and not from such a prominent character. Once he figures this out, his asexuality is often highlighted as he navigates the dating pool, attempting to date someone he has nothing else in common with except that she is also ace, and ultimately creating a dating app specifically for asexuals.

Mental Health Awareness

Another thing the show takes seriously is the real impact of mental health issues. BoJack has panic attacks, Diane is depressed, and Hollyhock (Aparna Nancherla) has PTSD flashbacks. Towards the end of the series, Diane struggles with the decision to get on medication, worrying it will change her core personality. Eventually she does get on medication, and it causes her to gain weight. She is never made fun of for her weight, she never loses it, and it’s always portrayed as a good thing that she decided to get treatment for her depression.

Generational Trauma

A lot of BoJack’s issues come from generational trauma. We’re given this gradually at first, with clips now and then showing something his mother Beatrice (Wendie Malick) said to him as a kid or young adult that influences his behavior today. As the show progresses, we see more and more of Beatrice’s past, particularly in season 4. There’s an episode that delves into her childhood, and later an episode plays out in a style to mimic her dementia, jumping around to various key moments of her life. The more we see, the clearer it becomes that Beatrice, like BoJack, was not always the awful person they are in the modern era. They each transitioned into their current state as a result of a series of events, subtle comments, and overall upbringing from ancestors. It’s sad to see the pattern repeat, but at the same time it’s such a realistic dynamic to feature.

Shockingly Realistic

This may seem like a strange aspect to attribute to a show starring anthropomorphized animals and involving some truly whacky plots such as: rabid clown dentists roaming the woods, a governor recall decision determined by the winner of a ski race, and a character recreating their own super unsafe version of Disneyland (and beating Disney for the copyright). And yet, some of the things the characters deal with – such as the generational trauma mentioned above – can be uncannily realistic at times. A big example of this is Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter’s relationship. We watch the couple go through a series of key moments in their relationship, including several fights. The way they navigate these ups and downs, and even the flow of their fights, makes it feel like a relationship you’d find in the real world.

**Heading into very spoilery territory**

Foreshadowing

One of the best things about rewatching the show is uncovering all of the foreshadowing throughout the show. I’m not sure how much they had planned in advance, but it’s mindblowing how certain things from as far back as season 1 do come back around in important ways in later seasons. In one of the first episodes of the whole show, BoJack tells Sabrina (Kristen Schaal) when she’s little in a flashback on the set of Horsin’ Around to never stop dancing and always value her fans above everything else. This leads Sabrina through a life of struggling to keep up with her fan’s expectations of her, until she ultimately dies far too young (also alluded to in that same episode). In the second to last episode of the show, BoJack has a hallucination of a party with all of the people who have died along the way, and Sabrina puts on a performance of a song called “Don’t Stop Dancing.”

Speaking of the penultimate episode, the reason BoJack is having the hallucination in the first place is because he is on the verge of drowning in his pool, somewhat intentionally (he is wasted for the first time in months so it’s possibly at least partially accidental, but Diane later mentions that he left her a voicemail essentially implying he was trying to commit suicide). All throughout the show, there are little hints about this ultimate near-demise. Towards the end of season 1, BoJack mentions that ideally he will eventually die by going for a swim when he’s old and tired, and just letting the water take him. This leads to a drug induced nightmare where he’s struggling to stay afloat in his pool (the same pool he nearly drowns in later), and when Mr. Peanutbutter asks if they should save them, Diane says he loves treading water. Season 3 in particular has several references, such as BoJack mentioning that he feels like he’s drowning, BoJack falling into his pool and nearly drowning but getting saved by Mr. Peanutbutter, and Ana Spanikopita’s (Angela Bassett) stories about how she nearly drowned, how she saved herself, and the lessons she learned from it. Heck, even the theme song always ends with BoJack sinking into the bottom of his pool with Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter looking at him from above. Diane also mentions at one point that if he keeps driving everyone away, no one will be around to stop him from killing himself. This is essentially what happens, since Diane didn’t answer the phone when he called due to moving to a different state by then, although he is ultimately saved by strangers. 

Lasting Consequences

There are many things that happen throughout the course of the show that have lasting impacts throughout the rest of the show. Sometimes shows will conveniently forget some dramatic event, or even for shows that do follow through with consequences, it’s not always this thorough of an impact. Of course, there are some obvious key moments, like his history with Sabrina and the events in New Mexico at the end of season 2, that naturally would come back around. But there are also a lot of smaller choices and actions that come back up over time, including several events that happened before the show even started, such as during his childhood and his time on Horsin’ Around and The BoJack Horseman Show. This all builds up to season 6 when BoJack is investigated by reporters and everything comes under the spotlight.

Emotional Moments/Episodes

This show has some of the heaviest moments I’ve experienced. The first time I watched it, I found I couldn’t binge it for long because there were portions that were so overwhelmingly emotional and devastating. Keep an eye out for the second to last episode of any given season. They always pull out all the stops on those episodes. Some of the roughest moments include his attempted reconciliation with Herb (this is the first time it becomes clear this show isn’t just for laughs), his questionable decisions in New Mexico, Sabrina’s demise, Beatrice’s funeral, and BoJack’s own near death experience. Beatrice’s funeral, in particular, is my personal favorite episode of the show, season 5, episode 6, titled “Free Churro”. The entire episode is focused on BoJack monologuing through his mother’s eulogy. And boy, I can’t watch that episode without crying. It literally changed the nature of my relationship with my mom (for the better).

Characters

This probably goes without saying, but the characters in general are all so amazing. I literally can’t pick a favorite. And it’s truly incredible how they are able to bring each of the major characters through a full character arc by the end. The finale shows how Diane, Todd, Princess Carolyn, Mr. Peanutbutter, and yes, even BoJack himself, have found their path and are in a place in their lives where they are finally content. This is one thing that I feel makes the show stand out from other shows with characters that are often compared to BoJack. BoJack is a terrible person, period. That’s not a matter of debate. And sometimes he’s grouped in with other awful people in comedy shows, like Rick (Justin Roiland) from Rick and Morty (2013-present) or Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) from Archer (2009-2023). But BoJack at least tries to be better. He doesn’t always succeed, which honestly just makes him more human (or… horseman, I guess). But he’s at least aware of his awfulness and does put effort into being better, and in the end, he’s finally sober and able to accept his friends in their various life places, even if they no longer involve him.

Conclusion

There are so many things to love about this show, and the more I watch it, the more I notice, and the more I love it. If you haven’t watched it, please do, and if you have, watch it again. There are so many things that take time to truly appreciate.

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Love Nerd Union? Consider supporting us over on Patreon. You’ll get access to early access articles, commercial-free video essays, online discussions and more. Plus, you will be directly responsible for supporting journalism in a field that’s currently being overwhelmed by clickbait focused sites. Supporting us keeps the lights on but it also sets a standard to sites in our field about fair wage practices, citing sources, debunking unconfirmed sources, and helps us investigate stories better.

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