When executed correctly, one of the most powerful things a piece of filmmaking can do is invert your ideas about what you have just seen as you reach the end of the film or episode that you were watching. The most obvious (and overused) example of doing this comes in murder mystery or detective programs. You are lead along to believe that Person A is going to be revealed as the killer until a new piece of information is revealed at the end and all of a sudden it is made clear that, of course, Person B was the killer after all. Quotes from throughout the piece that seemed meaningless are revisited in a new light and certain characters that seemed like they were just along for the ride are suddenly revealed to be the beating heart of the action. BoJack Horseman isn’t a murder mystery (usually) but by the end of ‘That’s too Much, Man!’ my idea of what this episode was about was inverted in exactly this way.
At a glance the episode seems like it’s all about BoJack’s quest to make amends to those he has wronged this season, with Sarah Lynn just along to bear witness to the unfolding mayhem. The further we get into the episode, and the more incoherently stretched out this bender seems to be, the more it seems as though the point of it all is nothing more than to show BoJack hitting yet another level of rock bottom. That is until he and Sarah Lynn wake up in a motel room on Oscar night and the demise of Sarah Lynn takes centre stage in the narrative and BoJack is just around to see it happen.
Structurally, the episode lets us know from the very beginning that Sarah Lynn is the one we are meant to focus on. The charming and hilarious cold open is all about her sobriety and, crucially, how ready she is to dispose of that sobriety at a moment’s notice. In an episode that focuses so much of its run time on the failures of BoJack Horseman, it can be easy to assign him blame for fatally dragging Sarah Lynn down to his level (exactly the type of thing that Ana’s metaphorical lifeguard story says he would do). In reality though, it took the question, “You wanna party?” and nothing more for Sarah Lynn to willingly ditch her months of work and grab the nearest bottle (hiding behind the calendar celebrating her sobriety).
I watched most of this episode thinking that the only reason that these two were spending so much time together was because BoJack was so desperate for anyone to get wasted with and Sarah Lynn was the only person he had left to do that with. It didn’t really occur to me until the end that Sarah Lynn is hanging around with BoJack for the exact same reason. She isn’t just in this episode to be an audience surrogate for BoJack to project his problems onto; her situation is even worse than his. My initial explanation for why she is also along for the entirety of this insane bender was simply that ‘she’s a screw-up’ and she is probably the only other character on the program who could match BoJack’s ability for partying for so long. But in light of her death, it becomes so much more than that. The final few minutes make this an episode about (amongst other things): the dangers of child stardom, the boredom of success, the concept of how you need to work towards something in your life to be happy, and the struggles of sobriety.
All of the drunken rants about how nobody else understands them seemed like narcissistic rambling from both BoJack and Sarah Lynn (and definitely was, to an extent). But the ending threw into context just how alone Sarah Lynn was and how scared she was about how her life had turned out. At least BoJack was a grown adult before he reached fame and fortune. Yes, his childhood fucked him up as well, but at least he had worked for something in his adult life. Sarah Lynn had everything she could ever need before even reaching puberty and it completely ruined any chance she had of ever working for something again in her life.
Sarah Lynn returns to the idea of wanting to study and become an architect throughout the episode. The gorgeous final scene in the planetarium had her marvelling at the domed structure of the building and made clear that her earlier desire to go to the planetarium was simply to see the building itself rather than any of the displays inside – a heartbreakingly bittersweet realisation. The sad truth of Sarah Lynn’s life is that if she really wanted to go to university, she easily could have done. She had nine months of sobriety; she couldn’t book a course in that time? Of course she could have. But why bother when you already have the money, the clothes (that somebody else will pay you to wear), the house and the endless supply of drugs? BoJack and Sarah Lynn really are very similar people and they both take the quick fix answer to their problems. Sarah Lynn would probably be really fulfilled and happy as an architecture student but it’s too much like hard work in comparison to getting high and enjoying that for a few hours (or weeks).
Likewise, BoJack knows what he has to do to achieve happiness. We get a flashback appearance from Cuddlywhiskers in this episode to remind us of his advice that one needs to give up their worldly possessions and creature comforts in order to attempt to gain happiness. But BoJack doesn’t really want to do that; otherwise he would have by now. Sarah Lynn would have liked to have been an architect but she didn’t really want it otherwise she would have done it at some point during the infinite amount of free time that she has had since Horsin’ Around ended. The episode seems to put the blame for this inertia on the nature of celebrity and especially the nature of being a young celebrity. A classic sign of depression is to reminisce constantly about your past and idealise it in comparison to your current situation. Throughout their encounter, the only happiness BoJack and Sarah Lynn get is from reminiscing over old Horsin’ Around episodes. Again, whilst it is easy to blame BoJack for how Sarah Lynn ended up (especially given their previous sexual encounters), the program seems to suggest that there are wider issues at hand here.
However, this reality will not stop BoJack from adding Sarah Lynn’s name to the list of ‘billions’ of things that he tortures himself over once he takes stock of what has happened here. In an episode spent with BoJack unsuccessfully trying to repair the many relationships that he has ruined, it will not be lost on him that the one person who was still willing to spend time with him was literally killed by the experience. Even worse is the fact that BoJack goes into this encounter seemingly ready for it to kill him and instead he escapes unscathed whilst ending someone else’s life instead. BoJack can’t even drink himself to death without dragging someone else down first. For the amount of times it took for Ana’s lifeguard story to stick in his head, it certainly isn’t going to leave his head any time soon now.
So where to from here for BoJack? It’s a question that the show constantly makes you ask and I’m still not sure what the answer will be as we enter the final episode of this incredible season of television. His inability to repair any of his friendships in this episode suggests that there isn’t going to be anybody rallying around him for support in the finale as he, presumably, grieves his role in ending his friend’s life.
As BoJack intimates in this episode, there isn’t particularly much left for him to stick around for in Los Angeles (again). Last season he escaped to Albuquerque but even that wasn’t far enough away. The problem was that BoJack didn’t go to Albuquerque to find something new, he went to drench up the past. He wanted to escape who he was but found that to be impossible around somebody who already knew him. If he disappears again then staying with an old friend probably isn’t an option this time.
There’s an interesting juxtaposition to the idea of BoJack leaving again. In many ways the idea of leaving his problems behind yet again seems like a cowardly move. In the past he has left in order to run away from his problems, try to leave them behind because if he can’t see them then they don’t have to exist for him anymore. But problems don’t fix themselves if you run away from them. As the cliché goes; the world doesn’t disappear when you close your eyes. BoJack himself knows this. He referenced the New Mexico incident in the opening episode of the season and brings it up again in the AA meeting he and Sarah Lynn crash:
The worst part is I don’t even know what happened after I left. Did I ruin the family? Did I scar that little girl for life? I don’t know. I’ll never know, and that’s just one of the billion things running through my head all the time
The horror of the things he does is never lost on BoJack. However he has reached a point of saturation with his bad behaviour now. If he’s already got a billion terrible deeds running through his head then what difference is another one really going to make? It’s impossible, therefore, for BoJack to ever make amends for everything he has done. So maybe he has to simply give up on trying and walk away. Again, this is exactly what Cuddlywhiskers tells him he will have to do. Yes, it is selfish but if he tries to distance himself from any real blame whilst making amends for his actions (as he does in this episode) then he’s never going to repair his relationships anyway.
The difference between the cowardly act of running and the necessary act of running lies in BoJack acknowledging the real reason for why he is running away and what he hopes to achieve from leaving his life behind. When BoJack ran from his life in ‘Escape from L.A.’ he kidded himself into believing that he could successfully live in a situation that could clearly never last. Even if he never attempted to sleep with Penny, his plan was still doomed because his motives for staying in that family unit were always rooted in his love for Charlotte and his naive belief that she would leave behind her life and fix all of his problems for him. BoJack has to face up to the scary idea that if he walks away again (and does it properly this time) then he will have nobody but himself to blame if it goes wrong or if he finds himself unable to have the strength of character to actually change himself.
However, now that he’s lost the opportunity at the quick fix of winning an Oscar and every important relationship in his life appears to be gone; is there anything else left for BoJack to do other than leave?
Unconnected Thoughts
Joke of the week: This guy’s alcoholism taking the form of not being able to stop drinking, lifting his head, drinking again, lifting his head, drinking again… 
This week in Gorgeous Animation on BoJack Horseman:
“Take a swig: if you have to listen to losers talk about their shitty sober lives it’s a lot more fun to be buzzed”. – So was Sarah Lynn ever sober in the first place?
“I don’t know why you don’t want us to be broken together. What about that isn’t appealing to you?” – BoJack to Ana. This is why she tells the lifeguard story. Just being around BoJack will drag her down. This is exactly the same reason why Diane knew she had to break off contact with BoJack at the end of last season/the beginning of this one. Also, Ana’s story works well as a metaphor for her relationship with BoJack but this surely can’t be something somebody would actually teach a lifeguard, right?
