Watched the rest of Bojack Horseman (seasons 3 to 6). So time for my thoughts on the series as a whole.
All in all I had a good time with this, and some of its high points were among the best I’ve seen in animated television. Several episodes in particular were surprisingly experimental, and still managed to hit the mark while doing so. And as I mentioned before, I really liked all of the main characters in this series. Bojack Horseman, Peanutbutter, Diane, Todd, and Princess Carolyn were all memorable, and each brought a different flavor of humor to the show’s eclectic style of comedy. I more or less always found it funny when Peanutbutter made one of his long-winded TV/film references (just to lead up to a simple everyday phrase or greeting), or when Todd came up with a very stupid idea for an invention (some of which would ridiculously turn into entire subplots), or when Carolyn had to relay instructions filled to the brim with unlikely rhymes and alliteration (always with the VA’s perfect delivery, never missing a beat).
That all said, I did feel the show had its ups and downs plot-wise, and for the last couple seasons it struggled to maintain that fantastic comedy-drama balance the first four seasons managed so well (overall). At the conclusion of each of the first four seasons I distinctly felt something… grand? Really strong emotions of despair, but with just enough hope to push you onward. But at the ends of seasons 5 and 6, I think I just felt tired.
Bojack suffers a lot throughout this series (we laugh, we cry, we throw our hands up in frustration), but I guess as time went on his self-destructive cycle started to get too repetitive. A lot of his pain is simply the consequences of his actions of course, but my thinking is there comes a point when a story that’s a comedy at heart needs to dial it back a bit and maybe not have the protagonist make SO many bad decisions. To some degree, I suppose the show simply suffered a bit of what I call “webcomic syndrome.” Back in the day (like, the 00s), there were a lot of funny, silly webcomics I read, but over the years pretty much all of them became increasingly plot-driven and turned surprisingly dark and serious, for good or for ill… Typically ill. Bojack (the show) doesn’t fall straight down that pit, but it perhaps trips over it awkwardly.
My other complaints are small nitpicks. I’ll admit, I was disappointed Princess Carolyn didn’t end up with the mouse Ralph Stilton (they had fun chemistry, and of all the couples in this series they felt the most evenly matched?). Her marriage with Judah in turn felt out of nowhere IMO. Along those lines, I’d say the main subplots for Diane, Todd, and Peanutbutter were all pretty meh in seasons 5-6, all bringing in new side characters that lacked the memorability of those from earlier seasons. I also wish things could have played out a bit differently for Hollyhock? Not saying her subplot with Bojack needed a happy ending, but it kinda felt like they didn’t quite know what to do with her after season 4 (which is too bad, since she was fun, and a different kind of “foil” for Bojack).
It’s times like this that I wish blogging was still a thing! I used to love writing up blog posts for various media, but even ten years ago hardly anyone cared about blogs. =/ Sadly I don’t have a Youtube personality, lol.