And the balloon floated away — Bojack Horseman season 5
This season is phenomenal on many levels. The imagery, the metaphors, the dialogue, and THE monologue.
- There will be a lot of spoilers, reader discretion advised
Many people think this season is not as dark, not a whole lot happened. But I beg to differ; I think this season is the best one yet. Season 5 is where all the characters confront their past and wrestle with their inner demon. Bojack with his mother, Diane with her failed marriage and Princess Caroline with her desire for a family. All the miseries these characters lived with, who are really to blame? And the final big question — What does it really mean to be a good person? Can you still be a good person when you hurt so many people in the past? If so, does that mean we all have the potential to grow? Or we’re all just prisoners of our self-destructive impulses.
In all the previous seasons we saw different snippets of Bojack’s past and how it changed him. (Memories of when he first arrived in Hollywood, his falling-out with Herb, and his ruinous influence on Sarah Lynn.) But Bojack was also living in the past — his past glory “Horsin’ Around.” In the previous 4 seasons, he was obsessive in name-dropping in every encounter. He has to make sure everyone knows “back in the 90s I was in this famous TV show...” However, At the beginning of season 5, we see Bojack meeting people without mentioning “Horsin’ Around,” in part because he finally has a new identity — Philbert.
And we hope things will get better….perhaps we all have the potential to grow….
This whole season started with the filming of Philbert and ended with the screening of Philbert. In a way, this entire season is Bojack’s alter ego’s monologue. That version of Bojack was happier and kinder to the people around him, but ultimately still drives himself to ruins because old habits die hard. Viewers (such as myself) love watching Bojack Horseman because we see ourselves in him, and we need to communicate with someone (or something) about our darkest secrets. We feel better about ourselves; we even forgive our own darkness because this self-loathing anthropomorphized horse can always turn up the disaster notch just a little bit above ours. It is a cathartic outlet for a lot of us. And when Bojack finally talked about Horsin’ Around, he was at Beatrice’s funeral — a point where he spiraled down to an abyss, once again.
This season has many stylized episodes that made storytelling much more gripping and compelling. For instance, my personal favorite — episode 6 is comprised of a brief flashback of Butterscotch picking up Bojack from soccer practice and a 25-minute eulogy at Beatrice’s funeral. And this episode is one long monologue delivered by talented actor Will Arnett. Yes — you’re reading this correctly — Will Arnett also did the voice for Butterscotch!! Have you seen any animations, heck even TV shows did episode-long monologues? (The answer to my question is yes, actress Aisha Hinds did an hour-long monologue as Harriet Tubman in Underground. And that was a stellar performance.) But something about monologue with simple 2D visuals that makes the deliverance so riveting. It completely defies television convention which the writers made sure to highlight in a commentary Bojack gave in the previous episode.
Aside from Will Arnett’s astonishing voice acting, the script is even more mind-blowing. This episode is illuminating because we now see Bojack’s troubled personality is not shaped by his mother only — Butterscotch is equally, if not more responsible for it. What Bojack said to his dead mother echoes what Butterscotch said to Bojack. Bojack has been waiting to see that grand gesture from his parents, that one act to convince himself that, perhaps, his parents are not so bad after all. Hence up until the last few moments before his mother passed away, he was still looking for signs of affection. “I see you, Bojack,” when Beatrice was just reading the sign behind him. “I-C-U.” He longed to be seen so much that he misinterpreted his mother’s last words as some grand gesture. And he justifies all his disappointments in unreciprocated love with comments his father made.
“I kept waiting for the proof that even though my mother was a hard woman, deep down, she loved me and cared about me.” — Bojack
But the proof is right in front of him — his mother never answered him. If you see this section as a double act, the person Bojack was talking to never responded, because she is dead. But even if she was still alive, would she answer? Was she ever proud of Bojack? Silence speaks louder than words.
There is so much depth to every detail in this episode; it not only shed lights on who and what shaped Bojack, but also gave clues to Bojack’s looming opioid addiction. And I’m really glad this TV show decided to deal with the most wide-spread epidemic in America right now.The pain we live in, the pain we bring forth and the painkiller that only brings more pain — It is carefully orchestrated in the gradual deviancy of Bojack Horseman, to showcase how trauma can pave ways to an addictive personality.
What struck me the most is when Sassy asked Philbert why does he still have a landline at home? Philbert answered: “so I have something to grab onto if I start floating away.” The incoherent time and space in storytelling gave clues to Bojack’s mental instability. And when I saw the balloon in the following episodes — I decided this balloon is the perfect symbolism for Bojack’s sanity.
Bojack slowly lost grip of his existence and drifted higher and deeper into despair. (half of the time he was literally high as f*ck like this picture suggested.) He was holding onto the reality by a thin thread, and what has kept him grounded through all his self-destructive behavior is his friendship with Diane. Bojack recognizes the critical role Diane plays in his life, but he still manages to burn that bridge like how he ruined everyone ever cared for him. Perhaps he doesn’t understand the concept of love. His parents, who were supposed to show him how to love and be loved, turned out to be the most toxic figures in his life. He takes after that shining example and continues to be toxic around every person in his vicinity. Beatrice and Butterscotch both blamed each other of their miseries, because blaming others is easier than coping with reality. Bojack, not surprisingly, used the same coping mechanism that drove his friends away and put himself deeper into isolation. This falling-out with his one true friend, and its consequences on Bojack’s sanity is perfectly revealed by how Diane accidentally set the balloon loose at Philbert’s premier party, and then the balloon floated away, so did Bojack.
At the end of the season, Bojack finally sought professional help in rehab center. But is this grand gesture enough to make him a “good person?” The irony is he knew the answer all along…
“All I know about being good I learned from TV. And in TV, flawed characters are constantly showing people they care with these surprising grand gestures. And I think that part of me still believes that’s what love is. But In real life, the big gestures isn’t enough. You need to be consistent, you need to be dependably good. You can’t just screw everything up, and take a boat out into the ocean to save your best friend, or solve a mystery, and fly to Kansas. You need to do it every day, which is so…hard.” — Bojack Horseman.
And this is the answer to all our darkest secrets.
(I intend to write three more separate sections on Todd, PC and Diane. If you like what you read, please stay tuned :) ❤)
