BoJack Horseman — A Perfect Ending
**Spoilers**
I think it’s safe to say that most viewers started watching BoJack Horseman thinking it would be a fun, adult, animated comedy starring random talking animals. And while, that is true in some capacity, the show proved how incredibly profound it was underneath the surface — tackling mental health, depression, lost humanity, and existential dread.
BoJack is one of the most interesting characters in all of television. You understand how harmful his actions were, and it doesn't make any sense to sympathize with him…yet you do. The characters around BoJack can’t stand him — and rightfully so, but there’s a feeling of unapologetic disdain towards anyone who does wrongdoing to him. Why do we keep wanting him to succeed?
And the show answers that perfectly in the final episode. We shouldn’t. After what seemed to be the most logical resolution for BoJack which was his death, the writers stripped that fulfillment away and let him live — continuing on his cycle of fucking things up, playing the victim role, and trying to cope with his mistakes before making another one. The other characters such as Diane, Princess Carolyn, Todd, and Mr. Peanut Butter seemed to have all found some type of peace within themselves…leaving BoJack alone to figure it all out still. And I think that this was the perfect way to end the show.
In the final scene, BoJack tells Diane “Life’s a bitch and then you die, right?” Right after, Diane tells BoJack that “Sometimes, life’s a bitch and then you keep living”. All of the people and past experiences BoJack has dealt with have shaped who he is, but no matter what, he will keep making mistakes. The cycle is not going to break, but Diane reassures him that that’s okay. It’s all part of life, and the only way to survive it all is to learn from them. After Diane tells BoJack this, the camera pans upwards slowly as the song, “Mr. Blue” by Catherine Feeny starts to play. The lyrics seem more prominent than ever:
“Mr. Blue
I have to go now
Darling don’t be angry
I know that you’re tired
I know that you’re sour and sick and sad
For some reason
So I’ll leave you with a smile
Kiss you on the cheek
And you will call it treason
That’s the way it goes
Some days a fever comes at you
Without a warning”
When life hits you without a warning and you feel live you’ve lost it all, it’s important to remember that “that’s the way it goes”. This perfectly sums up the conclusion of BoJack Horseman. BoJack can no longer be the main star of his own friends’ lives, and it’s time that he creates his own story for himself. After hurting everyone around him, he learns that no one else is responsible for his actions but himself.
The writers subverting the expectations of its viewers by not having BoJack dying was brilliant. It really felt like there was simply no other direction but his own demise, yet here we are: ending the show with the same direction as it started — moving forward.
He may have lost his mother, his father, Sarah Lynn, Herb Kazzaz, Hollyhock, and more in his life, but what else is there to do than to keep on living? Maybe one day, BoJack will come to peace like his peers did…but the ambiguity is exactly what was needed because that’s what BoJack Horseman is trying to teach us — it’s okay to not know what the future beholds.
