Season 3 left a lot of questions. First of, who’s that young mare on the phone and what role will she play in the series? All Bojack’s friends have cut contacts with him, how will that affect their lives? And finally, what was Bojack thinking looking at those horses running, and what will he do with his life next?
(Well, if you don’t know already and would rather learn yourself, don’t read this!)
The promotional material for this season (trailers, clips and pictures) has cleverly played into the cliffhanger, showcasing only the supporting cast and omitting Mr. Horseman himself. Even later, once the season dropped, viewers found out that Episode 1 is completely void of Bojack. Instead we get to see how PC and Ralph’s relationship develops, Todd struggles with his newly realized sexuality, Diane finally finds her place as a writer for a popular blog and PB decides to run for California governor as the latest in the endless string of his vanity projects.
It’s only Episode 2 that finally shows us the title character, and we see him right where Season 3 left off. He looks at the horses running, seems to briefly consider joining them, and then just gets in the car and continues driving. What follows is perhaps the most important episode of the show, and I would consider it a pivotal moment for Bojack. He decides to go to his family’s old, long unused cottage, which is now in ruins. His brief attempts at restoring it are widely unsuccessful, but a neighbourly fly decides to dedicate several months to help him fix and clean everything.
Soon it becomes clear that his new friend experienced a trauma in the past which caused him to leave society and choose the life of seclusion. Our broken celebrity tries to push him to confront the darkness, but when faced with it, Flyman breaks and tries to kill himself. This causes Bojack to realize something important - what happened in that past, happened. Not always is there a meaning to it, nor something to be learned. Sometimes you just have to accept that stuff happened and move on.
All his life, Bojack has been running. Dashing forward, keeping himself busy as to not let the dark past and heavy emotions tie him down. But also bolting away when he was overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. Disappearing from public eye after his tv career ended, escaping into drugs and other forms of hedonism in his daily life, and most notably, staying with Charlotte’s family in New Mexico. Back then he didn’t get a chance to reflect on whether fleeing there was a right thing to do, because he fucked up and got chased away. But this time in the family cottage there was nobody to run him off, no one to screw up relationship with. He had all the time in the world to reflect on himself, and moreover, his neighbour was a reflection of himself. And understandably he didn’t like what he saw.
So this time Bojack returned to Hollywoo by his own volition. And what else awaits him there, but Hollyhock of 8 surnames, his biological relative, assumed to be a daughter at the time. After last season people speculated that being a father is the thing that would finally give Bojack fulfillment that he’s been chasing all his life. But as it happens, Hollyhock already has dads - not one or two, but eight of them. She doesn’t need another one.
It’s another relationship between a parent and child that receives most of the focus this season, and that is with Beatrice Horseman and her disappointment of a son. Because of some circumstances Bojack takes his mother in and gets forced to take care of her. But unlike with Todd, Sarah, Herb or Hollyhock, there’s nothing in it for him. He doesn’t care about her, doesn’t need her in his life, has nothing to gain from her. He only helps her, because… Well, that’s a bit complicated. At first, he gets goaded by his daughter to do it, because she wants to get closer to her biological family, and also because she sees an old lady suffering from dementia, and the doctors are telling her that contact with family could do wonders. But then he figures out his own reason - he wants to help her regain consciousness, and then verbally assault her one last time, throw all the hatred and suffering caused by his upbringing back at her.
But that doesn’t happen. As we learn in another episode, Bojack isn’t exactly great at listening to his inner voice. Usually this works against him - he knows what’s the right thing to do, but because of anxiety, laziness and selfishness he ends up doing something stupid. In this case, he wants to exact this thought-out revenge, take it all out on his helpless mother… And he can’t bring himself to do it. He just doesn’t have the heart for it. He ends up comforting her, perhaps one last time.
In Season 1, Bojack asked if he’s a good person. Diane told him that what’s on the inside doesn’t matter, it’s his actions that define him. And perhaps that remains true, but as this season shows us, circumstances do matter. Bojack isn’t a hate-filled maniac who wants to watch the world burn. He’s a broken man who can’t stop making mistakes. But he realised that this is not a reason to stop trying. As a wise baboon once said - doing it every day is the hard part, but it gets easier. Keep at it long enough and his work has to eventually bear some fruit.
And as it turns out, his impact on the world isn’t as grave as he might think. He cut contact with all his friends, and their lives didn’t really change. Mr. PB and Diane’s relationship didn’t improve without the horse around. PC experienced perhaps her biggest hardships yet. Todd didn’t even get with the girl that he thought Bojack was driving away from him. Everyone’s lives remain a mess in Hollywoo, and if anything, it’s nice to have a friend who makes you feel better by comparison, and whom you can do some bonding with by complaining about really insignificant things together.
Plenty of great moments in this season. Todd as the Forrest Gump of Bojackverse splendidly fills the role. Mr. PB’s never ending quest for affection and validation is fascinating to look at. PC trying to stand strong no matter how much the world shoves her is inspiring. Diane continues her intriguing life of contradictions. And for better or worse, Bojack wants to do the right thing. He doesn’t always succeed, oh no. But he keeps trying. And that’s gotta count for something… Right?
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