‘-FUCKER!’
BoJack Horseman’s take on abortion begins exactly where we left off at the end of ‘Love And/Or Marriage’ with the conclusion of Diane’s outburst at finding out she is pregnant. As to be expected by now from this program, the take on abortion in this episode is nuanced, respectful and horrifyingly biting at the same time (“we’ll book Eddie Redmayne to play the foetus!”). It is comforting to see a television program deal so succinctly with the decision to have an abortion (Diane decides before the opening credits have even rolled) so that the episode can be spent exploring how society and the media puts pressure on those wanting to have abortions, rather than unnaturally dragging out Diane’s decision for an entire episode. Such a move would probably be necessary on a traditional television network but would not feel in keeping with what we know about Diane as a character and the state of her relationship with Mr Peanutbutter. To bring a child into their clearly faltering relationship in an attempt to rescue things would not be fair to anybody and it is a relief to see Netflix’s creative freedoms pay dividends in the exploration of such an important topic.
Throughout the episode Diane struggles to get anybody else to take the issue of abortion as seriously as she does. The episode cleverly makes a call back to season two’s ‘Hank After Dark’ (possibly the best episode the program has so far produced, for my money) with Diane warning Sextina that issues such as abortion (or in Diane’s previous experience: celebrity sexual abuse) will only stay in the public eye for so long and if you miss your opportunity to make an impact on the discourse during that limited time you will come to regret it. Not only does Diane want Sextina to make an issue out of abortion but Diane repeatedly pushes Sextina throughout the episode to make this an issue in exactly the way Diane wants it to be presented. Diane’s feelings on the issue are understandably amplified compared to those around her (she is the one going through an abortion after all) and the episode makes a point to show how there is no one right way to present the issue, as Diane, despite having the public’s best interests at heart, misjudges the effect of what Sextina is doing. Sextina is also not made out to look like any kind of a saint. Despite Sextina’s light-hearted take on abortion having a positive effect on a young girl that Diane meets in an abortion clinic, the program doesn’t attempt to brush over the questionable morality of Sextina falsely using such an important topic to further her career. If Sextina legitimately helps young women struggling to accept themselves, does it matter that it is all borne out of a lie that she is utilising in the hope of increasing her album sales? It is admittedly a difficult question to answer and the program wisely doesn’t attempt to sanctify or vilify Sextina too much for her plan to market this issue.
Sextina’s ability to take control of the abortion issue in her own unique way is, at least, a welcome relief to the traditional outdated portrayal of the situation in the media. Throughout the episode abortion laws and the media’s one-sided presentation of the issues surrounding those laws are treating scathingly. In the doctor’s office Diane is informed that the ‘law’ forces her to watch cute puppy videos set to Sarah McLaughlin’s ‘I’ll Remember You’ before she makes her decision; a mockery of the very real emotional blackmail that would-be mothers are subjected to before choosing what they wish to do with their own bodies. The news coverage of the subject throughout the episode parodies how disinterested the media is in having actual reasonable debates surrounding the issue with news anchor Tom Jumbo-Grumbo asking, “Is Twitter an appropriate forum to discuss a sensitive issue like abortion? Wouldn’t a better forum be nowhere?” before later chairing a panel of ‘experts’ consisting solely of white men in bow ties to debate the issue. Later, outside of the abortion clinic there is a protestor with a picket sign reading: “What if Jesus were aborted?” The writers are clearly having some fun mocking the language and quack science of the Christian-right who refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the need for real world acceptance of abortion; but have a quick google of abortion clinics in the United States and it is clear how little of this is funny in reality. Just like Sextina and her young fan, the writers make fun of the issue here because otherwise it may be too fucking depressing to face the brick wall of legislation and religious protest that continue to block the path of progress.
This episode also makes a point to acknowledge how difficult it is for would-be allies to join the course towards progress in media representation. Princess Carolyn may or may not agree with Sextina’s methods of representation but is more than happy to completely brush aside any moralistic concerns because she knows that the plan will help her business. It is hard to blame her for this. She has invested so much of her money, her time and herself in this business that to see it fall apart would be crushing to witness at this point. Carolyn needs this business to succeed and so it is understandable for her to take Sextina’s side in this.
It is not, however, as easy to accept Carolyn’s resentment towards Diane that comes to the fore in this episode. In my review for ‘Love And/Or Marriage’ I pointed out how Diane currently has everything that Carolyn wants from life and yet it isn’t enough to make her happy. This fact has evidently not escaped Carolyn’s attention and she resents what she sees as Diane’s ungratefulness for the things that she is supposedly lucky to have. Carolyn makes multiple references in this episode to how close to financial ruin her company is and whilst Diane is not as successful, career-wise, as Carolyn is, she is successful (and also more financially secure). Add a marriage, an active sex life and a child to Diane’s scenario and it is easy to see how Carolyn’s jealousy of her has arisen. It is, of course, unfair to expect Diane to want the same things from life as Carolyn does, or to demand that Diane must be happy with her marriage or with her pregnancy. As viewers we know exactly why Diane isn’t happy with her current situation but Carolyn makes very little effort to put herself in Diane’s shoes, up until the very end of the episode when the two of them reconcile.
One nice thing about watching and reviewing this program is noticing when it sidesteps certain things that lesser programs would latch on to. For instance, it occurred to me fairly early on in this episode that theoretically Diane could keep the baby and then have Princess Carolyn adopt it after Diane gives birth, in a plot line that would resemble something out of a bad soap opera. This would kill two birds with one stone, narratively speaking. Firstly, it would conveniently avoid having to realistically deal with abortion if Diane ultimately decides not to go through with it. Secondly, it would solve both Carolyn and Diane’s issues in a very easy straightforward way. Thankfully, none of this occurred. Again, we have the creative freedoms of Netflix to thank for this. Netflix don’t have any kind of Standards and Practices that they must adhere to in the same way a traditional network would and therefore Diane doesn’t need to explain why she wants the abortion to the audience; she doesn’t have to morally wrestle with the ridiculous notion of carrying a pregnancy to term just to give the baby away to somebody that she doesn’t really know that well. This may be a hypothetical example but it is the type of storyline that has been done to death on sitcoms and soapy style dramas. BoJack Horseman doesn’t deal in these idealistic fairytale scenarios. Having a baby put into her arms isn’t going to solve Carolyn’s problems and having Diane ‘make something’ out of her unexpected pregnancy isn’t something realistic or fair to put on her character and it is yet another reminder of the consistent quality of this show that it refuses to even flirt with such a simplistic solution to this storyline.
Other Thoughts
- I don’t want to attempt some awkward connection between the abortion plot and BoJack’s plot just for the sake of format so I’m going to give BoJack’s plot its own space for this episode. (The episode actually had a few very nice segues between Diane and BoJack’s plots, the best of which being BoJack seeing the news report on Sextina’s abortion and switching the TV off before focusing on the Jurj Clooners fluff report that affects him. A smooth, clever way of connecting the storylines and a typical reminder of how self-involved BoJack is at all times).
The episode begins for BoJack with him losing out on the first two major awards of the season and being told by Jurj Clooners that he is only in the Oscar race to fill the ballot: meaning that BoJack is the performer everybody knows will not win but looks good for the Academy to include anyway to make it look as though they care about performances not by the lesser stars in ‘Hollywoo’. After this he learns that his publicist Ana has been representing all of the other nominees on the ballot and, in a moment of self-indulgent rage, decides to fire Ana for what he sees as betrayal. Incredibly, Ana then later decides to indulge BoJack’s narcissisms and makes him her only client, promising to focus entirely on his needs (she even literally jerks him off when telling him this, just to highlight exactly how ridiculously perfect her service is to him at this point). BoJack panics at this and wants to back out, but it’s too late. Now his success is vital for not only himself but for Ana as well.
Giving BoJack everything he naively wants here then having him realise exactly what this entails is indicative of a theme that the show likes to return to quite frequently. Throughout the run of the program there have been many times when characters have achieved something they have set their mind on, only to have it blow back in their face when they realise how little they thought through what they wanted (examples of this include Diane’s trip to war torn Cordovia that she hoped would be fulfilling but proved to be as depressing and unfulfilling as seeing real-life war and death up close obviously would be; Princess Carolyn getting her dream job as an agent only to find it to be as lonely and tough as her former boss warned her it would be; BoJack achieving his stardom dreams in the nineties only to find it left him craving more from it than it could ever give him; BoJack getting his dream role in Secretariat only to find the studio system ruining his chance at fulfilling work… in fact, most of BoJack’s storylines tend to fall under this theme when you think about it). We already know that BoJack is putting far too much stock into what winning an Oscar will mean to him (and how losing it will therefore crush him) and demanding that Ana make it her be-all-and-end-all as well will surely only have negative consequences through the rest of the season for BoJack, who cannot cope at all with being a responsible part of somebody else’s world.
- I don’t usually feature a joke of the week but I couldn’t go the whole review without at least mentioning Mr Peanutbutter’s “It’s a
boyborted” balloon. Maybe one of my favourite visual puns the show has ever done (and it’s done a lot of them) and perfectly fit with the tone of an episode that wasn’t afraid to have a teenager sing about shooting her foetus. It really is incredible that this program can make these jokes whilst in the midst of a genuinely caring and sensitive look at abortion.
