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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