I guess I’m just tryin’ to make you understand
That I’m more horse than a man
Or that I’m more man than a horse
BOJACK!
A herd of horses run down the side of a highway, topless, gleaming with sweat, pushing themselves as hard as they can, completely free and wild. Animals have never looked quite so much like animals on this program. Yes, they are still running on two feet rather than four, but otherwise they are exactly as you would expect wild horses to be. BoJack Horseman, screeching his sports car to a halt at the sight of them, has never looked more human in comparison.
I’ve returned several times throughout these reviews of BoJack Horseman’s wonderful third season to Cuddlywhiskers’ words of wisdom in ‘BoJack Kills’ (“only after you give up everything can you begin to find a way to be happy”) and to how I simply did not believe BoJack to be capable of such a sacrifice in order to find his happiness. However, I also don’t think BoJack has ever had a moment quite like the one that ends this season where, perhaps, for the first time he is able to envision a version of life outside of celebrity and Hollywoo that he could potentially want.
Thematically, the scene works as a nice contrast to the ending of season 2 where BoJack tried (and failed) to jog; the most structured and human form of running imaginable. What these horses are doing couldn’t be further from jogging. The camera closes in on one specific horse with a glistening golden mane, pushing forward with a drive that the domesticated BoJack (wearing his usual sweater and blazer) has never experienced. BoJack’s face is somewhat hard to read here but this is no fault of the animation (the beauty of the animation throughout this season, and in this scene, proves that the BoJack Horseman animators can create exactly what they want at any moment). BoJack’s face is almost blank here; not out of any boredom or apathy that we may usually expect from him, but out of astonishment at the majestic sight in front of him. The gulp of awe that BoJack takes tells us all we need to know about how overcome he is. It seems as though the season was building to this moment where BoJack willingly realises the possibility of a life that he can enjoy that is free from possessions, rather than begrudgingly accepting something that he does not really want to do.
Then the credits roll and, rather than playing the usual end credits song, Nina Simone’s ‘Stars’ continues until the very end. It’s an interesting choice to not play ‘BoJack’s Theme’ over these particular credits as the final lyrics have probably never felt more relevant than they do in this moment.
I guess I’m just tryin’ to make you understand
That I’m more horse than a man
Or that I’m more man than a horse
BOJACK!
BoJack Horseman is clearly a conflicted person but, outside of this lyric, the show has never particularly shown him to be much of a conflicted horse before. The strange hybrid nature of the anthropomorphic animals on this show is almost always played for laughs (even season 2’s ‘Chickens’ treated the cannibalistic idea of animals eating other animals almost entirely as a joke), but here BoJack seems to have an existential moment of comprehension that he has something specific inside of him that fits more with the world of the horses running free on the side of the freeway than with the world of people living in mansions and acting in movies.
So, will this experience have changed BoJack by the time we meet him again in season 4? The start of both the second and third seasons have had BoJack making an effort to change his ways before he gradually gets worn down by life throughout the season and falls into ever increasingly destructive habits. It is a testament to this program that BoJack can act in predictably repetitive vicious cycles of behaviour and have the program continue to be so dramatically engrossing. Therefore, BoJack could foreseeably be living amongst a herd when we rejoin him but will presumably end up in back in Hollywoo before too long.
It seems as though the revelation that BoJack appears to have a teenage daughter could possibly be the catalyst that brings him back to society. Just as BoJack appears to have found a desire for a life that could free him from the life he detests, it appears as though something is going to drag him back that even he surely can’t turn away from. BoJack has consistently worried about his ‘legacy’ throughout this season and initially hoped that winning an Oscar would solve that problem for him. BoJack’s epiphany in the planetarium that legacies are meaningless was instantly wiped away by Sarah Lynn’s death and in this episode he laments that destroying everything he touches will be his legacy. Diane tells him that his legacy is that millions of people are better off for having seen and enjoyed Horsin’ Around, which momentarily cheers him up, but that’s never been enough for BoJack. He simply doesn’t care enough about other people to have their opinion of him truly matter. However, the presence of a daughter might finally change that. If he can connect with his daughter then he may finally find something to enjoy in his life.
But, this being BoJack Horseman, I imagine that BoJack will almost certainly mess up this opportunity and alienate his daughter before any progress is made. A central theme of this episode (and one of the central themes of the entire program) is how difficult all of the characters find it to try and fundamentally change who they are as people. Princess Carolyn has instantly forgotten how stressed and unfulfilled she was in her work and is already back to working a job that will clearly take up her entire life again (this time as a manager, not an agent; much to the dismay of a bewildered Ralph, who sees no tangible difference between the two in terms of how it will affect their relationship). Diane has a realisation that Mr Peanutbutter will never be able to change into the husband that she wants him to be (Diane’s inability, however, to take the inevitable step of ending her failing marriage highlights her own trouble with inaction). And, in the funniest example of stasis in the episode, Todd becomes a multi millionaire and ponders what kind of crazy adventures this will lead to for him, before (in a move much more suited to his character than remaining rich) accidently signing away his entire fortune as a tip to waitress and sending him right back to where he was before.
This reversion to the status quo for most of the characters makes me wonder how long this program plans to continue running for. Despite how excellent this season of television has been, there is a limit to how many times you can end a season of television by bringing most everybody back to square one and not have it bore or annoy viewers. Even the legendary Mad Men was beginning to be criticised towards the end of its run by some viewers due to the perception that Don Draper was unable to ever truly change who he was from season to season. However, after how good these two most recent seasons of BoJack Horseman have been, I won’t be asking for an ending any time too soon.
