"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

BoJack Horseman (2014-Present)

This is another instance where I’m doubly grateful to have discovered a new asexual character – without pursuing a new fictional ace, I might have gotten around to BoJack Horseman eventually, but it would’ve taken a lot longer, and I’m already disappointed that this show has existed for three seasons without my having watched it.  I’m bowled over by how excellent this show is, beyond my wildest imaginings for how it could have been.

The reason for my surprise is the fact of the show itself.  It’s a Netflix original, an animated series about BoJack Horseman, a former sitcom star struggling to hang onto his waning fame in the fishbowl of Hollywood (later Hollywoo,) all the while alternately fighting and giving into his powerful self-destructive tendencies.  All of which has the makings of a good industry drama or a really dark comedy, but where BoJack Horseman throws you for a loop is in its animated world, populated by humans and anthropomorphized animals living side by side.  BoJack himself is, unsurprisingly, a horse, and the rest of the main cast is rounded out by two humans, a cat, and a golden retriever.

Needless to say, it’s totally bizarre, but it’s kind of incredible just how well it works.  It’s almost equal parts insane comedy and intense human (or animal) drama, balancing hilarious sight gags and seeding jokes for elaborate comebacks with scenes of raw depictions of depression and the soul-sucking nature of celebrity.  Logic says that a show would have to pick one or the other, and given the whole “talking animals” things, this one would have to go with the former, but BoJack Horseman is absolutely both, and somehow, it completely works.  It’s by turns hysterically funny, supremely smart, crushingly sad, and almost hard to watch for the depths mined by the main character.  I don’t fully know how to describe the show in a way that captures it.  The best I can is, just watch it.  See it for yourself, and you’ll understand.  This show is so wildly ambitious in setting out to be unlike anything else on TV, and it succeeds on every level.  I know this sounds hyperbolic, but the show itself appears so ridiculous that it needs the most wholehearted praise to help get past that initial reluctance to check it out.

More accessible is the fantastic voice cast.  Will Arnett positively tears it up as BoJack, heartbreaking as well as hilarious, and I love Aaron Paul as his roommate Todd (his was the hardest voice for me to adjust to, but it didn’t take more than a few episodes before I was hearing Todd instead of Jesse.)  Allison Brie and Amy Sedaris also do excellent work as writer Diane and agent Princess Carolyn (she’s the cat, by the way,) and the series is crammed with appearances from the likes of Angela Bassett, Keegan-Michael Key, Stanley Tucci, John Cho, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Wilde, John Krasinski, and more, not to mention appearances from celebrities like Daniel Radcliffe and Henry Winkler playing themselves.  Great work all around in a truly amazing show.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements, lots of swearing, sexual content (including animated sex scenes involving humans and anthropomorphized animals,) some violence, and drinking/smoking/drug use.

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