10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Out To Sea

Well, here we are, folks. End of the line. No more Bojack for at least another year. I gotta say, I’m a little bummed out. This has been one of the most daring, innovative seasons of television this year. From the disturbing episode Hank After Dark to the most recent foray into format experimentation in yesterday’s Escape From LA, Bojack Horseman has consistently subverted expectations and taken interesting risks that have turned the show from a quirky absurdist cartoon into a fascinating character study of what fame does to a person (or horse, as the case may be). I’ll be sad to see it go.

On today’s season finale, Out to Sea, Bojack has returned back to his LA home to find it strewn with pizza boxes and a melancholy Diane, who still has not returned to her husband. Meanwhile, Mr. Peanutbutter puts on a happy face while navigating his sudden success, but really just misses Diane. Todd has been drafted by Copernicus, the leader of that weird improv troupe, to perform on his comedy cruise line, the Giggle Ship. A lot of this installment is going to be thoughts looking forward into next season and thoughts about what that might hold. So if you don’t want to read about wild speculations, too bad!

Here we go.

1. Bojack will do the awards circuit next season

This should be interesting. After Bojack returns expecting to deal with the fall out of his irresponsible departure, he finds that the studio has computer generated his entire performance. And it’s really, really good. The studio is planning on doing a full awards circuit push, led by Larry Turtletaub (J.K. Simmons!) and have asked Bojack to keep his schedule clear for the next year. This means that, undoubtedly, Bojack is going to be seen doing the grueling awards tour, doing press junkets and interviews. That has a lot of potential to skewer the self-absorbed Hollywood community by pointing out the inherent vanity in the process of trying to convince people to give you an award. I’m looking forward to that.

2. Jill Pill=Annie Baker?

Okay, so this might not scan for everybody, but hear me out. Bojack has been offered to do an off-broadway production in New York with a playwright called Jill Pill. Besides being an interesting exciting direction for the show to take, I was wondering what the real world analogue for this character might be. And since I’m apparently just doing wild speculation for this article, I will continue to do so. Annie Baker is one of the most respected playwrights working today. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her exceptional play, The Flick and her new show, John, has opened to rave reviews. I went to go see it and, wow wow wow, it’s really good. Even if it is 3 hours and 15 minutes. There really is no other woman working in theatre now as a playwright who is getting this much attention. Perhaps we’ll get to see an interesting send up of Annie Baker in the next season? Please?

3. Princess Carolyn gets to be a ballbuster

Finally. All season has had Princess Carolyn secretly making plans with Rutabaga, but not really exercising any agency (pun intended) of her own. In this episode, Rutabaga reveals himself to be a total garbage-rabbit and tells her that if she leaves him, she’ll be alone forever. “I’m not afraid to be alone,” is her badass response and then straight up fires him. Her name is on the paperwork! See, I thought that was going to go poorly for her, but instead it backfires onto Rutabaga who is now securely in the lurch after burning all his bridges at the previous agency. He calls after her in a panic. “Carolyn!” he cries. “My name is Princess Carolyn,” she coyly purrs. Bad. Ass. Kitty.

4. Aww, Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter are reunited but, uhm, wait…

Diane, looking to maybe get back on the horse (no pun intended), goes looking for a job being a ghost writer for a celebrity’s twitter account (I’ll get to that). She meets her at a coffee shop and who happens to be there? Mr. Peanutbutter. When he sees her, he calls her phone and they have a conversation that seems to reconcile everything. Although, they end the conversation with Mr. PB saying “Diane, there is someone in this coffee shop who looks exactly like you!” and it’s not entirely clear if he’s making a joke or if he’s really that thick. This was a nice reunion, but it seems a little hurried. The whole season for these two has been about making a realistic relationship, and the fact that they could reconcile so quickly seems odd to me. I dunno. Maybe the turmoil will start back up next season.

5. Oh, right. Sextina Aquafina

The celebrity Diane is ghost writing for is Sextina Aquafina, a dolphin singer (?) who is voiced by Aisha Tyler. And boy, howdy I hope we get to see a lot of her next season. She is hi-diddy-larious.

6. Okay, good, looks like we’ll head to New York next season

So it seems like the writers are setting it up so that next season will at least partially take place in New York. This is a good thing. I mentioned either yesterday or the day before that there is a lot of interesting things to be said about an LA transplant in New York. I’m really, really looking forward to what next season has to offer in that realm.

7. What was the show Jill Pill and Bojack worked on?

Princess Carolyn briefly mentions that Jill Pill, the playwright who wants to work with Bojack, has worked with him before on his show. “Horsin’ Around?” he asks. “No,” she says. “The other one.” We are never given an idea of what that other show is. It has never been mentioned before, as far as I can remember. That’s an interesting chapter in Bojack’s past that I’m now certain will be mined next season. It’s so great that all these different plots are being hinted at for the new season. If season three is anything like season two, it will be a hell of a ride.

8. Todd and Bojack reconcile

After neglecting the relationship for the entire season, we get to see Bojack and Todd have a true moment of reconciliation. It’s long overdue, but Bojack finally apologizes for being such a dick to Todd after he rescues Todd from Copernicus’ horrible cruise line. It was nice to see them make-up, but again, it felt rushed and a tad unresolved. Hopefully, we pick up where we left off next season and get to see some new developments between these characters.

9. This:

For those of you who don’t get it… ahhh, I’m too tired to explain. Google it.

10. That end of season quote

Mirroring the beginning of this season, we get Bojack running up the hill outside his house, no motivational tape this time. Just the will to get to the top. And this time, he does it. And then immediately collapses onto the grass. After a moment, a strange baboon hovers over him, smiling.

“Everyday it gets easier,” he says.
“Yeah?” Bojack asks.
“But you got to do it every day. That’s the hard part. But it does get easier.”

After a moment, he replies, a little hopefully:

“Okay.”

And that’s the end of season two. I’ll see you here next year, folks.

Check out previous 10 Thought installments of Bojack Horseman below!

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Escape from LA

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Yes, And

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – The Shot

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Let’s Find Out!

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Hank After Dark

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Higher Love

10 Thoughts on Bojack Horseman – Chickens